When I discern the distinction between what is and is not my business, this immediately impacts my experience of life. It directly informs my embodiment of honesty, integrity and dignity. It frees up my life force to be directed only where it’s meant to go.

There is a subtle mechanism of self-listening that can alert us to whether we are attending to our own business, or something other than our business. I’ve found it can be extremely useful to turn up the volume on this mechanism of overhearing oneself— in thought, in action, in where we are placing our attention— and see if what we are attending is truly our own business, or in fact something else?

Sometimes this can be a surprising and counter-intuitive revealing! At times what seems to be entirely my business— such as an intimate unfolding in my personal life— when I check and see, is actually NOT my business at all! And the opposite can also be true. Sometimes the struggles or needs of seeming “strangers,” or global issues of far-reaching impact, when I really inquire within, are exposed to be entirely the business of my heart and prayers.

When I fail to mind my own business, sometimes the first clue is feeling bothered by something I can’t control. Another clue can show up as an intensely opinionated or righteous stance about my own or another’s life unfolding. Tending to business other than my own can conveniently serve to distract me in avoidance or procrastination around that which IS my business. It can also be a way of subconsciously resisting the discomfort of continuous uncertainty.

What IS our business—yours and mine??

I can tell you why this question matters for me, personally. It matters to me because life is fleeting, presence is precious, and attention is the currency with which we “spend” our life energy. I can’t speak for you, but I want my life to be of good use. I want to find fulfillment in the tedium, as well as the glory. I want each day for my attention to flow in the directions that can best serve my life’s offering and expression. I want to make LOVE my primary business. And to do that, to BE that, I need to clearly and honestly face everything else I make my business that runs contrary to this love.

When our own peace and love is truly our main business, and we take responsibility for the creation of anything other than that, we have a chance to move into right relationship with life. We no longer demand that Life dutifully perform and provide us with the experiences and people and exchanges that will bring us joy and security and peace. We instead realize that it’s none of our business what Life does, or what other people do. Our business is to meet our lives and whatever they bring with the precise presence of heart we wish to experience.

How about for you? How are you at minding your own business? 😉 When it really comes down to it, what is the business of your lifetime?? What do you want? Where is your attention?

I love you! ~*~