In a recent class discussion, the topic of being busy came up and all heads seemed to nod. At least on a college campus everyone I know would claim to be busy. My fellow faculty colleagues certainly see themselves as very busy people. And no doubt, the students are sure they are quite busy. But it is not confined to these two groups. Staff will let you know how busy they are. And colleges are not alone. I do some work for a large global company in my city and I am sure most of the folks there feel like they are very busy. And so it was that I began to think about busyness.
When I think about how I talk about being busy or ponder other people describing their busyness, two things seem to me to be at stake. Mind you, this is not a scientific study, but it is my impression and my judgment of what is going on. In this first place, I think the claim that “I am so busy” is often a claim rooted in my ego. It is as if busyness is an issue of identity. To be busy is to be important or, at least, needed. Being busy is a kind of badge of worth. If I am busy, then I am worth something---or worth a lot. The implication is if someone is not busy, he or she is worth less. In fact, this can be a way of judging someone to be worthless. Shakespeare might have quipped, to be is to be busy!
My other perspective on busyness is it comes as a form of complaint. It is easy to hear the voice tone when someone laments, “Ohhh, I am so busy.” Often there are facial expression to augment the tonal disgust. When busyness is articulated as a complaint, it is usually someone else’s fault. When students make this complaint, the faculty are at fault. But listen to the faculty is to hear even more grumpy people. And we have so many to blame. It is the students. It is the administration. It is the committees. It is as if everyone and everything in the institution conspires to make faculty life miserable by condemning us to a busy existence.
I suspect this is true in other organizations. I have heard it in hospital settings and in the corporate world. Oddly enough, I have often heard from retirees that they are “sooo busy.” Again, that retired person may be investing too much ego in the fact that even though they no longer are in the working world, they are still busy, which makes the somebody---instead of a nobody. Or like, the working world, the retired person may be complaining.
The devilish aspect of this claim of busyness is people seldom do anything about it. Of course, it might well be people feel powerless to do anything about it. To be busy often feels like a sentence we have been ordered to serve. Being busy is like doing jail time. We are in bondage---either to our own ego or to someone else’s demands on our lives.
If this is a fair description, the question comes to be: what can we or what will we do about it? It is at this point I would say busyness is often a spiritual issue. I can be bold at this point and suggest the spiritual life is not intentionally meant to be busy. For sure, I am willing to allow there probably will be seasons in our lives where being busy may be unavoidable. But being busy is not inherently spiritual. In fact, being busy should raise a spiritual flag.
I want to make one more move in this analysis. I think a key point in being spiritual is recognizing it is almost always about meaning. I am sure for myself the spiritual journey is designed to be a journey of making meaning and sense out of life. Meaning typically gets hooked to some sense of purpose. A meaningful life is normally a purposeful life. Of course, some things I might choose for my purpose, i.e. simply to have pleasure, may not be spiritual nor have long-term meaning.
When I return to the issue of busyness, I am confident being busy does not automatically link to meaning or tie in with purpose. Often being busy interferes with meaning making in my life. If I am too busy, I usually am too busy to think much about whether it is meaningful and actually worth doing. Being busy frequently blunts my awareness and inhibits any reflection on deeper, more purposeful living. And I would go further and suggest that some of us choose to be busy in order not to have to think about meaning and purpose. It is actually fairly easy to become “too busy.” Reflecting on our lives and arriving at some sense of what is our purpose and how to make meaning is not always easy.
In a sneaky way I have already offered the antidote to busyness by introducing the twin issues of meaning and purpose. They are not either or categories: either I am busy or I have meaning and purpose. It is not that simple. I suggest if we can come to have a sense of purpose for ourselves and our lives, we probably will have a sense of meaning emerge at the same time. If we have meaning and purpose, then we can deal creatively with our busyness.
We might decide to become less busy. This might mean doing less. Or it might mean framing our busyness and what we want to do and see it in a positive light. The more we can come to see busyness as our choice and something potentially tied to meaning, the less like a sentence it will feel.
Busyness is not the goal of life. Having a sense of meaning with a cherished purpose usually come with the spiritual adventure called life. That’s the goal.
When I think about how I talk about being busy or ponder other people describing their busyness, two things seem to me to be at stake. Mind you, this is not a scientific study, but it is my impression and my judgment of what is going on. In this first place, I think the claim that “I am so busy” is often a claim rooted in my ego. It is as if busyness is an issue of identity. To be busy is to be important or, at least, needed. Being busy is a kind of badge of worth. If I am busy, then I am worth something---or worth a lot. The implication is if someone is not busy, he or she is worth less. In fact, this can be a way of judging someone to be worthless. Shakespeare might have quipped, to be is to be busy!
My other perspective on busyness is it comes as a form of complaint. It is easy to hear the voice tone when someone laments, “Ohhh, I am so busy.” Often there are facial expression to augment the tonal disgust. When busyness is articulated as a complaint, it is usually someone else’s fault. When students make this complaint, the faculty are at fault. But listen to the faculty is to hear even more grumpy people. And we have so many to blame. It is the students. It is the administration. It is the committees. It is as if everyone and everything in the institution conspires to make faculty life miserable by condemning us to a busy existence.
I suspect this is true in other organizations. I have heard it in hospital settings and in the corporate world. Oddly enough, I have often heard from retirees that they are “sooo busy.” Again, that retired person may be investing too much ego in the fact that even though they no longer are in the working world, they are still busy, which makes the somebody---instead of a nobody. Or like, the working world, the retired person may be complaining.
The devilish aspect of this claim of busyness is people seldom do anything about it. Of course, it might well be people feel powerless to do anything about it. To be busy often feels like a sentence we have been ordered to serve. Being busy is like doing jail time. We are in bondage---either to our own ego or to someone else’s demands on our lives.
If this is a fair description, the question comes to be: what can we or what will we do about it? It is at this point I would say busyness is often a spiritual issue. I can be bold at this point and suggest the spiritual life is not intentionally meant to be busy. For sure, I am willing to allow there probably will be seasons in our lives where being busy may be unavoidable. But being busy is not inherently spiritual. In fact, being busy should raise a spiritual flag.
I want to make one more move in this analysis. I think a key point in being spiritual is recognizing it is almost always about meaning. I am sure for myself the spiritual journey is designed to be a journey of making meaning and sense out of life. Meaning typically gets hooked to some sense of purpose. A meaningful life is normally a purposeful life. Of course, some things I might choose for my purpose, i.e. simply to have pleasure, may not be spiritual nor have long-term meaning.
When I return to the issue of busyness, I am confident being busy does not automatically link to meaning or tie in with purpose. Often being busy interferes with meaning making in my life. If I am too busy, I usually am too busy to think much about whether it is meaningful and actually worth doing. Being busy frequently blunts my awareness and inhibits any reflection on deeper, more purposeful living. And I would go further and suggest that some of us choose to be busy in order not to have to think about meaning and purpose. It is actually fairly easy to become “too busy.” Reflecting on our lives and arriving at some sense of what is our purpose and how to make meaning is not always easy.
In a sneaky way I have already offered the antidote to busyness by introducing the twin issues of meaning and purpose. They are not either or categories: either I am busy or I have meaning and purpose. It is not that simple. I suggest if we can come to have a sense of purpose for ourselves and our lives, we probably will have a sense of meaning emerge at the same time. If we have meaning and purpose, then we can deal creatively with our busyness.
We might decide to become less busy. This might mean doing less. Or it might mean framing our busyness and what we want to do and see it in a positive light. The more we can come to see busyness as our choice and something potentially tied to meaning, the less like a sentence it will feel.
Busyness is not the goal of life. Having a sense of meaning with a cherished purpose usually come with the spiritual adventure called life. That’s the goal.
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