Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Just Be - guest blogger Morna McEver Golletz

A portion of a recent e-zine - The Professional Quilter - resonated with me. I've received the magazine for about 5 years, and always learn from it. This recent message was a different one, and something I wanted to pass on.
"When I go to my local yoga studio, Follow Your Heart Yoga in Germantown, Md., I see a tile hanging by the door. It says Just Be! I've seen it for years now and never really gave it a lot of thought. What does it mean to "just be"? On one level it means to be present in the moment, without distraction, still. And, that's probably what we're supposed to consider when we see the tile and begin our practice in the studio. But who is it that you want to be?

I don't know if you are familiar with the Be-Do-Have principle. I think I first heard of it years ago, probably on a Tony Robbins audio program. It got a lot of play recently with the movie The Secret and the Law of Attraction principle. Early on most of us learn that if we do whatever, we will have whatever and then we'll be whatever. That's DO-HAVE-BE; it really should be BE-DO-HAVE. You first need to figure out what kind of person you want to be. Being is how you create the life that you want.

This past Sunday my husband and I went to church in Connecticut, and, in her sermon, the deacon asked, "Who Are You?" Most of us say, "I'm a wife, a mom, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a quilter, a writer, a cook, etc." But who are we really and who do we want to be? It can take some listening to figure it out.

Spend some time thinking about who you are and who you want to be. For me, I want to be a person of integrity, filled with joy and gratitude. I want to be generous and open and spirited. Since I know the person I want to be, it makes it easier for me to do things in accord with that. My actions are based on who I want to "be" and what a person of that "being" would do.

So, who do you want to be? You need to listen to your inner voice to find out. And, to do that you need to Just Be!

Here are two quotes on being that I like:

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.
e.e. cummings

I think of life itself now as a wonderful play that I've written for myself, and so my purpose is to have the utmost fun playing my part.
Shirley MacLaine"

Morna McEver Golletz is the editor and publisher of The Professional Quilter, a business journal for serious quilters. You can learn more about Morna and The Professional Quilter at www.professionalquilter.com. You can also sign up for her free e-zine filled with tips, tools and techniques to grow your quilt business.