This morning I read a chapter of Sadhguru’s book – Karma and strongly feel the resonance with the following paragraphs.

The human equation was always meant to be like this: to move from being to doing to having. This means we were never meant to act in order to find fulfillment. Filfillment was seen as an inner condition. It could not be pursued externally. We act in order to express our fulfillment, not to acquire it. We act in order to celebrate our inner completeness, not to pursue it.

For most people, however, this simple equation is reversed.

Most people do in order to be. They act because they feel incomplete. Their action is prompted by a desire to acquire something or to enhance their identity in some way. This is the ancient hunter-gatherer impulse, which still endures in human beings. It is the need to act in order to accumulate—–whether it is physical, emotional, or intellectual satisfaction. It is action impelled by a desire to augment themselves, to become more than what they are. They act in order to have; they have in order to be.

This is tragic.

Most people have already determined what they want to have. Therefore, their doing is invariably to acquire something. Someone wants to earn fame so they might get into the movies or write a book, for instance. Their identity is now film star or author. They identify with this label. It now determines their being….

I am not doing in order to acquire an identity. The way I am is untouched by what I do. I am not a yogi because I teach yoga. It is not my activity that makes me a yogi. It is my being that makes me a yogi. Yogi is a description of my inner dondition, not my activity.

When you live like this, who you are always communicates itself in its own subtle way to people. The fragrance of who you are always gets conveyed. People sense that I am operating from this place of inner freedom even if they don’t understand how it works.

~~Sadhguru, Karma

Today, everyone is obsessed with a title, especially on social media platforms. It is as if we all need a title in order to let the world know who we are. On Instagram, we can see people with multiple titles in their descriptions of themselves. Sometimes, I can’t help feeling they are just labels. Posting a picture with a yoga pose or one sitting on the meditation cushion becomes hip. However, besides the beautiful image, I crave to know what’s underneath the beautiful image. I don’t want to know your label, but your core.

Many podcasts, Youtube videos and books focus so much on doing and having. There are many ways of doing something in order to have something. I used to work so hard on trying all sorts of self-improving methods, learning all the new concepts, and implementing them in my life. However, I often feel exhausted and empty inside and most of the time, I fell back to the old patterns easily.

The point is not with willpower to push through obstacles.

The point is inside of my core. If my being is anxious, whatever I do, only shows my anxiety. It’s not easy to just be, especially with myself. I realized all the doing and striving to have something are only the escape from the real core issue, my being.

Last year, I finally convinced myself to slow down and start to listen to my body, heart and soul. I learned so much about myself in this process. Gradually, I went doing and being busy all the time to being slow and aware of what my being is going through in the moment. It’s still an ongoing process to change this ancient impulse.

I am still learning and experiencing this fulfillment from my being and how it affects my actions in the world. Quite an interesting journey.