Be... Do... Have

One of the most profound teachings that I have come to live by and practice is from a quote by Margaret Young:

“Often people attempt to live their lives backwards, they try to have more things or more money in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are then do what you need to do in order to have what you want. “

I have encountered this teaching in a variety of schools over my past years of study. It can be summarized as “Be, Do, Have….. NOT Have, Do, Be”.

If we live life where we think that we first have to Have something (a relationship, a job, money, a skill, a house), in order to Do certain things (make love, go on a yacht), and that will eventually lead us to Be (happy, fulfilled, rich, worthy, etc.) then we are always mortgaging our present against the future. The being (happy, rich, fulfilled) is always in the future, and the future never arrives. This is absolutely crucial to understand, and to practice. What’s the practice? It’s to BE first. We can learn to be whatever we want to be. It’s not necessarily easy, and it involves leaving behind many beliefs and protections that we have constructed for ourselves to try and keep us safe. But if we can learn the skill of creating new beliefs, of new ways of being, then we can have whatever we want, and we can have it in a moment.