I woke up this morning feeling a little better. The sinus fog is lifting. My first thought: Yay, I can finally get some shit done.

The laundry. The yard. The watering. The dogs. And the list grows. There’s stuff everywhere. Purchases piling up, things I keep bringing in but not putting away. The clutter outside feels like the clutter inside.

So I grab my book, my journal, my coffee (or I think I do). I step outside, ready to breathe. Ready to reboot. Ready to perform.

Only—my coffee is still inside. Which somehow takes me thirty minutes to fetch, because instead of getting coffee I manage others so I can avoid myself.

Back outside, finally. Okay, let’s do this presence thing, I tell myself. This is my scheduled time for being. Now let’s get to work.

I open my notebook. Blank. My mind follows. Blank.

The birds are there though, flitting and swooping. I watch them, not knowing how much time has passed. For a moment, my mind quiets.

I’m wasting time, I chide myself.
I think I just lied, I retort.

Who is chiding? Who is retorting? Am I going mad?

Because here’s the truth: my mind isn’t catastrophizing, or worrying, or managing, or manipulating. It’s just… playing with the birds.

And when that happens, when the monkey mind finally loosens its grip, a different panic sets in. If I don’t have the busy brain—am I still me? Will I lose my edge? Will I lose control?

So I call the monkey back. Let’s do email. Let’s be important.

But part of my mind is still with the birds. Still playing. Still free.

This is the sick game I keep playing: begging my mind to slow down, wander, rest… and then yanking it back when it dares to obey.

It’s ridiculous. And human. And maybe exactly the work I’m here to do: practice letting my mind sit blank with the birds without demanding it come back and perform for me.

I don’t have a neat answer, but I know this much: the mind that plays with birds is still mine. The blank page, the nothingness, the wasted time—they’re not wastes at all. They might be the most important thing.

So here’s today’s reminder for me (and maybe for you too):

Be more. Do less.

The world will wait.
The birds are already singing.

✨ How do you handle the tug-of-war between being and doing? Do you panic when your mind actually rests?