To be.

There are three things we all want to be:

• Seen
• Heard
• Loved

That’s the simple foundation of all of our relationships.

We want to give and receive the ability to be known and to be held.

I think about the times that I am feeling lonely, sad, angry… many times the root of those feelings is wanting “to be” something and not being that.

It’s easy “to be” not enough if you root your being in anything other than your true self – the present self – and the moment that is here now.

I recently read a poem that encapsulated this yearning of being well:

“To be seen without performing.

To be heard without screaming.

To be missed without disappearing.

To be enough without proving it.

To be held without falling apart.

To be understood without explaining.

To be wanted without conditions.

To be.”

I have found in recent reflection that my yearning “to be” is rooted in the lack of “being” that I feel at times.

Something I’ve struggled with all of my life is the act of maintaining presence.

The further my mind wanders towards what I want to be better at, what I feel the outcome of something represents in me from my past, the further away I get from experiencing life.

If you’re not here, where are you?

The current moment will pass without feeling if you are living in moments that have already come or have yet to come.

Mindfulness – presence – is a practice.

It is not a “snap out of it and pay attention” choice.

It is a repeated space that you place your mind in.

I want “to be” many things, but ultimately, within the relationship of myself, I am “to be” one thing only:

Me.

I cannot do anything other than be myself.

Anything outside of my current being, my current knowledge, my current ability – it is a fallacy of reality.

If I am authentically present, I will never have “to be”.

I always am.

What is given back from the world is never expected, only accepted.

I will always believe that the roots of people are good. They will always do what they want, but they should.

As should I, but what I want is the simplicity of “to be”:

• Seen
• Heard
• Loved

And if I can be myself in this moment right now, I don’t have to yearn “to be”.

I simply am.

NS

“I believe a few words can change your day and your life.”