I think, therefore, I am. ~ René Descartes
I think (too much), therefore, I am (not there to live my life). ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

*****

Perhaps, like me, you’ve waded through this type of internal dialogue. Twenty years ago, I taught full-time, wrote and recorded two CDs, traveled the nation speaking, and wrote books. When I retired from the classroom, I expanded my speaking opportunities and wrote more. Then I stepped away from speaking. I continued writing, got involved with community commitments, and, along with my canine companion, Roxie, became a certified pet therapy team.

I enjoyed each shift to a different phase of focus. I loved what I was doing.

Now, I’m in another phase. As my world has become significantly smaller—that is, fewer scheduled time commitments and projects—I feel the opportunity (and the need) to slow down and breathe.  And I’ve thought about Otto.

Otto was a teaching colleague back in the 1990s. He told me something to the effect that we spend the first part of our lives learning, the second part doing, and the third phase being. At that time, I was smack in the middle of the doing phase. And with each new thing to do, there was a bundle to learn. I didn’t quite understand Otto’s being phase. Like the inner critic in the story above, being seemed like something you do later in life, if at all, when you’ve nothing else to do.

Which leads to, “Can we do a state of being?” and “Can a state of being have purpose?”

And “How do we make peace with being?” Especially if we led or still lead a life of constant motion and doing? How do we get to the point of understanding, accepting, and nurturing the idea of what we need to do is to be? And how is that accomplished?

Works by Pema Chodron and Thich Nhat Hanh have helped me step back and recognize (once again) that often I rush through my days, weeks, and life. Mostly focused on where I’m going, I miss the present.

I know. I know. That sounds cliché. But with each book, article, and teaching I’ve read, I’ve been reconsidering Otto’s message of being.

A commonly repeated lesson in Buddhist and Taoist philosophies is that we’re always in transition because life is impermanent. It changes constantly. Every moment is born and then dies. A new beginning is the end of a previous beginning.

Or as Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus said, “You can never bathe in the same river twice.”

But our monkey mind keeps interrupting the moment. It never seems to shut up! So, rather than focus on what or who is in front of us, we think of what already happened and what might happen.

Thich Nhat Hanh shared the story of the cypress tree in the courtyard. Its essential lesson is that if we miss the beauty of what is in front of us as we obsess about what is coming next, then when we get to that point, we will miss it, as we now focus on the next thing to happen.

 In other words, if we can’t see what we pass each day, how do we connect with the significant people and events that are in front of us?

That’s where, I believe, being enters. It does not mean we sit and do nothing all day. To be is “to stop and observe deeply what is happening in the present moment.” (from Hanh’s book Good Citizens) This, in turn, helps us improve our doing by being more mindful. Meditation and focus on breathing help.

Retired teacher and current yoga leader, Mary Beth Croom, shared with me that there’s “always that question and struggle about being in the present moment. But to me, the cool thing is the awareness of that question, of that struggle. I think it leads to introspection, meditation, and the realization that there is nothing but the present moment.”

Think of the monks who recently engaged in the 2,300-mile Walk for Peace. Their 108-day journey was a walking meditation. They practiced mindful movement with each step. Calmly being in the present while doing something of immense importance to millions.

But how can we let our minds rest (be) while living a purposeful life for ourselves?

Well, that takes practice. Croom, the yoga instructor, reminded me that we get good at what we do again and again.  “We practice hate and judgment, we get good at that. Practice forgiveness and love, and that’s what we get good at. It’s about awareness and practice.”

How do you do it? What has helped you develop and nurture your sense of being?

©2026. Steve Piscitelli
The Growth and Resilience Network®
Atlantic Beach, Florida