Introduction
It was twenty-five years ago in a "Psychology of Adjustment, " class given by a wise college professor by the name of Tom Ripaldi that I was first introduced to the notion that being was more important than doing or having. In fact, he would often drill the point home that what you did or had was a direct result of who you were being. Other professors I encountered at the time introduced me to concepts from Eastern Religions, Scientology, EST Training, and other esoteric realms that would stay with me until those concepts became part of my life experience. The world now seems more receptive to embrace the science and spirit of these concepts that I found so breath-taking, so many years ago, as a freshman in college. Scientists are exploring quantum physics and bringing metaphysics into our understanding of how the universe works. Many books and movies that have come out in the past few years are mirroring these themes and showing us the big picture. We are being shown in visual, demonstrable ways how these principles come together and can make a difference in our lives.
Conversations With God, a book authored by Neale Donald Walsch is one of the writings that explains the ideas of "being, doing, and having" in ways that show how the principles can make a difference in our lives. A couple of years ago, I attended a retreat with Walsch, who shared one of his experiences of "being clarity and wisdom" as he made his way through a grocery store one day. He came across a distraught mother who was screaming at her child. Neale approached her, while holding the space for clarity and wisdom to occur, and just listened to this mother and suggested that there were better ways to communicate to her daughter. By the time Neale left her, the mother was feeding her daughter grapes, and she was speaking to her daughter in calmer, softer tones. Clearly, holding a particular state of being while moving through life, can cause great shifts in consciousness and effect change.
This was the message repeatedly shared with me over the years. The idea that "to be" was more important at least at a soul level, than to do, or to have. To do and to have both have their place in the universe, but to choose what it is that I would be while doing or having was the most powerful and responsible choice to make. After all, if I chose what it was that I was being at any given moment, I would have a choice in not only how I would respond to life, but also, I would be drawing in more of the very thing I was calling forth in myself to be.
I cannot foretell my every experience in this lifetime, or foretell any given day's events for that matter, but I do know that we have a choice as to our perception of our experience on this plane of existence. My observation of my own life and others lives is that like does attract like, whether we like how that principle operates or not.
I decided to try an exercise, one that would act as a catalyst for keeping me aware of my perceptions in life, aware of what I may be resonating on an energetic level, and in effect, helped me become more consciously aware of what I may be calling forth into my life. This is an exercise which ultimately led me to leading a more conscious, life-affirming, and joyful existence. I invite you to give it a try. If upon trying this exercise, you would like to share your experience with others, I would be happy to hear from you. I would like to collect stories of other's beingness experience and present them in book form to inspire others.
Other resources for further reading and inspiration:
