“Not only is another world possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” Arundhati Roy

I like Arundhati’s statement. It reminds me to slow down. To listen to the world breathing.  Where are we racing to anyway? Or perhaps running from? Today I’ve felt like the cartoon character with legs racing in circles going nowhere.  Doing stuff.  Minding  details. Recording data. Deposits. Emailing. Twitting. Doing. Doing. Doing. As if life depended on completing tasks.

Ever notice  when we meet new people, once we find out where they’re from we inevitably ask, “What do you do?“  Doing seems to be the indicator of usefulness in our western world. How much do you get done?  I have so much to do! “Hello, my name is Carol and I do things.“  Once you’ve identified my doing-ness I’m then a category of person.  Labeled. Boxed. Stacked. Ready for shipment.

I often want to respond to the question, “What do you do?” by saying, “I breathe“. Lately I find myself holding my breath a lot.  At least that’s what my trainer, Nicole observes because she always has to remind me to “BREATHE”. (Did I mention MKG Martial Arts in Edmonds has gifted me a trainer while I’m upontheroof?)

At Ndiaw Ndiaw Village in the Senegal desert, when we finished each day’s workshop we would rest.  The plastic mats would be spread on the sand and we would all lie on the ground and stare up at the sky.  And we would breathe.  And sometimes someone would tell a story. The night sky would unveil the stars.  It would be so still one could hear the stars twinkle.

When I first began working in Africa it would take me days to slow down. I would always feel a sense of urgency to do stuff. I became anxious if a meeting didn’t start when it was planned. I found myself frustrated because “time is money”.  We’re wasting time. Let’s get going. What are we waiting for? I would tap my foot and watch the clock.  Feeling I wasn’t worthy unless getting stuff done.

Finally one of the leadership team would say, “slowly slowly“.  And they would ask how I slept? How was my family? Had I eaten well? How are my parents? Would I like a cup of tea?  And suddenly I’d remember to breathe. To be and not do. And the richness of life would re-appear. When did we become human doings instead of human beings?

There’s always a question in the back of my mind when I think of developing countries.  Who is better off?  We with our stuff and our doing? Or those without stuff and their being?

I love how African friends use story-telling to make a point. Once I was rushing to yet another meeting when a Kenyan colleague in Nairobi reminded me again to slow down.  He told me the story of the great white explorers who first came to Africa.  They would rush to make camp and explore. They would break camp and move on. Set up camp and explore. Break camp and move on. Set up camp and explore. Break camp and move on. You get the picture.

One morning, the local guide refused to break camp.  The explorers were impatient sayingm “hurry, we must move on, we have places to explore and things to discover.”  The guide said simply, “You are moving too fast.  I must stay behind in this camp, to allow my soul to catch up to my body.”

I’m going to my tent to breathe.  Good night.

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