Less doing; more being

A new song and an invitation to chat

Oh, the gifts of synchronicity! As we’ve been considering the importance of “Taking Part in Stillness” this month, singer and songwriter Lea Morris just created a delightfully singable new tune about doing less and taking more time to be and remembering “what this precious life is for.”

Conceived in a single hour of creative and musical musing with a small group of her patrons, it’s a beautiful example of a collaborative creative process facilitated by a gifted musician, who then adds finishing touches and records it. Shared here with Lea Morris’s permission, I hope you’ll give it a listen (and maybe sing along!), and let me know how you experience its joyful invitation to “Do less” and “Be More.” I’ll share your thoughts with Lea and her co-creators.

The song, “Be More,” by Lea Morris and friends:

(You’ll find other music by Lea Morris on her website and on YouTube and Spotify.)

Lea’s impromptu creative collaboration with her patrons is akin to the online chats I host monthly with Threshold Times paid subscribers. Instead of writing music, we create conversation that is generative and supportive — and sometimes even poetic, although we never record them. Sometimes there are tears; often there is laughter. We gather online in a small group, some for the first time and others returning, all showing up, hearts and minds open, for an hour of listening and sharing.

Paid subscribers who wish to join this month’s chat on Thursday, May 30 at noon CDT, will find a registration link below. If you’re not a paid subscriber or are unable to attend, why not start a conversation of your own with someone you know, taking time to consider together what it could mean to “do less and be more”? What might be made possible by “taking part in stillness,” listening for the whispers of your own heart and the knowing of your body and your feelings? Does that practice come easily to you or is it difficult? What supports you in stepping out of the busy-ness of life to be still and more present to the moment?

“It takes a lot of time to be a genius,
you have to sit around so much doing nothing,
really doing nothing.” Gertrude Stein

Gertrude Stein once noted that creativity depends upon sitting still. She said, “It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing.” By “genius,” I like to think she was giving a nod to the origins of the word, meaning a person’s innate abilities and disposition. A reminder that sometimes we need to “really do nothing” to tap the true and creative resources of who we are and the wisdom we each carry.