I am so busy today! The thoughts in my mind spin like a pinwheel, rotating from thought to thought. Thoughts full of intersecting stories of what to do, where to be, who to meet. 

I can barely see, let alone think. I am feeling busy. I am lost in a blur of shifting thoughts. 

In those moments of constant mental activity, I realize that in those moments, I may feel busy yet the busy-ness of life is more an illusion than real.

In those moments, when I am caught up in my busy mind, I find myself actually in a paradox of in-action. I am more in my mind, in a made up world of constant activity that has yet to see the light of day. I feel a type of urgency that manifests more in frenzy than planning, more fear than purpose, more anxiety than momentum. A false sense of urgency.

Thomas Edison said: “Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing.”

In the moments when you feel the pull of the busy mind, ask yourself: are you being busy or feeling busy?

As I become more aware of when the busy-ness of my mind is a distraction, I shift to better discern between being lost in thought and impulse and being found in forethought and insight.

When my mind and my actions work in unison, I bring focused insight and purposeful action together into a sense of true urgency. In such moments, I am laser-focused. This is very different than being lost in a sea of stories, suppositions and speculation, the track of a busy mind. A busy mind traverses dangerously close to the fragile ego. The ego that cares more about making an impression than making a difference.

I am sitting at my office, lost in the spin of the pinwheel of thought. As I bring my attention closer to the surface, I realize that more than fifteen minutes have passed into a daydream of thoughts that may or may not serve a purpose. Perhaps I just needed to drift away to refocus myself back to where I started? Yes, I am more apt to find the good in the wanderings of my mind!

Yet, I am unable to retrieve those precious minutes. So, I re-focus on the task at hand. I realize that my thoughts were actually lost in impulse, in a black hole of ego-enforcing thoughts of making an impression and avoiding failure. As I re-engage in working towards what I want, I find myself laser-focused, determined and on a roll of creativity and purpose. I work on the project at hand. A couple of hours pass. I hear the hum of the printer and the zig-zag sound of words and graphics making a solid impression on sheets of white. 

Now that the right impression is made, I focus my efforts on slowing down and getting ready for the challenges and opportunities already set in motion. It is a constant practice to remind myself that the right connections, relationships and opportunities are already in place. I shift my mindset towards being present and making a difference.

• Attitude
• Mindset

by Lucy Shenouda