Since my return here in late March I’ve been very much in my beingness and stillness, and not as active as I might have been over the Summer in other years. I’ve been enjoying the deeper communion with myself, the land, the trees, the birds, the Sun and more …

And as Winter came and wrapped herself around us, I felt I became more inclined to activity than I had been over the summer.

A part of me felt that maybe I was doing something wrong, that I was out of step with the seasons in some way … though I knew that all my movement arose out of my beingness - that I often refer to as my feminine principle - and I certainly did not feel out of alignment.

This started a deep reflection questioning this belief of following the ‘old ways’ and doing less in the Winter and more in the Summer, and I have come to feel that it doesn’t really account for the complexity of a deeper simplicity - and is limiting.

For a start it is limited to those of us who live either far enough North or South, depending on hemisphere, to experience such fluctuations between day and night hours over the seasons.

It is limiting because it is coming from an assumption that not only are we are out of step with the natural world and her cycles, but we are also out of touch with ourselves.

Which many are in Westernised culture with work commitments etc. pushing people out of sync. Yet many of us, like myself, choose a lifestyle where we can live more deeply connected with those cycles - making this choice because we are already deeply connected to ourselves. And so the underlying assumptions of this belief system are generalised and by not considering an individuals connection to self, risks becoming another way of externalising our sovereignty, giving away our power. Thus replicating the very system it attempts to dismantle ( though if work was aligned more with light hours it would be a start - but it is still a chicken and egg situation, as sovereignty would need to be present somewhere to begin with).

The paradox then with this belief is that we are still disconnected, not more connected to self.

The concept of ‘being and doing’ originates from Buddhist philosophy and by translating it and then fitting it into our seasonal pattern, as we’ve lost so much of our own indigenous wisdom, we lose the essence and the interconnected fluidity of the original meanings.

Sure from Equinox to Equinox - depending on what hemisphere you’re in - the year is roughly divided into the Feminine, Darkness and being and the Masculine, Light and doing.

This simplistic division of the year does not allow for the natural flow of the two principles working together to create harmonious balance - but seems to hand everything over to the other for 6 months and do nothing. No … this doesn’t work for me. There is a seasonal dance, there is a daily dance, a monthly dance and a moment by moment dance within the backdrop of the season, the month etc. of that connection. And relationship to those two principles within myself comes first - far before anything that is external to myself - and this is sovereignty.

If we’re not careful these intricacies are lost … essentially I follow my own rhythm which is rooted in a beingness that doesn’t change with the seasons.

For me, doing isn’t about activity - it is about the mind and consciousness. When something arises out of my beingness that requires activity - this may or may not involve the mind or doing, calculation or planning. What I find is that the doing may be required for new skills or work I am not familiar with - and so seeds are planted for what I will need to work it out, communicate, collaborate, delegate, research, and so on. But for work or activity that I am familiar with, which is deeply embodied within my being - encoded within my muscular and cellular memory - this arises out of being without any doing, even if it is active, for it comes with ease.

This is more in line with what Lao Tzu meant by 'Do you have the patience to wait. Until your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving until the right action arises by itself?'

For where we are not in deep knowing of ourselves we become limited by belief systems and self- judgement, even replacing one set with others that appear to be more aligned.

This year the birds have become my teachers. I’m living in a kind of deconstructed house set up here on my land. I have my camper van, a shepherds hut for my office space and medicine room, the old, partially derelict house is currently a makeshift workshop, a compost toilet and a shipping container for storage. I travel outside between spaces - not through corridors or doors from room to room - there is no soundproofing, there are no walls - just thin sheets of cladded metal - and I am so much closer to the land from day to day then I have ever been.

The birds have taught me about the spaces that exist within relentless rain and wind … how to make the most of the warmth, stillness and sun … to rest at night and to gather resources by day …

( unless you’re an owl … and there are other birds who move around at night too! ), how to harness these momentary pockets of time … I may sleep longer in the winter, because of the long nights here, and less in the summer … and yet 6 hours of physical activity in the summer seems like a lot less then 3 in the winter … because it is perspective … the stillness happens, sleep happens - and so does doing and activity …. It is a perspective … and what is influencing that perspective?

It is one that I am not going to be limited by. Because I am learning that something wise, when taken out of it’s original context and applied as a generalisation without lived experience, becomes devoid of meaning. We can sit around and nod sagely because we may feel that origin -

but repetition without reflection does not arise from the source of our own authenticity.

And by becoming vigilant of the ways we give our power away, we return to ourselves more fully - without limitation.

with much Love,
from my Heart to yours,

Tania Aurora White Crow

Being and Doing ~ Balancing Activity and Stillness