What Is the Difference Between Doing and Being?

Maybe you’ve never considered the difference between doing and being. After all, you’re a human being, right? Aren’t we all?

Well, yeah. If you’re a sentient creature, you are a being.

However, think for a moment about how much of your time is spent every day feeling over-worked, over-scheduled, and/or constantly time-challenged. If that sounds familiar, you’ve become more of a human doing than a human being. And no time for mindfulness can be problematic.

Doing Versus Being

The difference between doing and being may seem straightforward. When you’re doing, you’re taking action – whether that’s thinking, writing, running a marathon, or eating record amounts of cheese. (We all have our favorite activities.) Doing is a verb.

But wait. Hold on. ‘Being’ is also a verb. It’s one of the first verbs you learn to conjugate when tackling a new language. So it must be pretty important.

It is. But being is also more abstract. It’s what you are underneath all those other verbs. It’s your thought patterns, conditioning, beliefs, and character qualities – the invisible stuff – that form your worldview.

So Is Being More Important Than Doing?

Here’s the thing.

When you’re stuck in a goal-setting ‘doing’ pattern, you begin to fixate on one track. When operating with such tunnel vision, you’re missing the richness and complexity of each moment. Being, on the other hand, gives you access to that. Think of it this way:

“There’s a peace that can come as the mind and body settle down. This ‘being’ mode, as it’s sometimes known, is a place of present-moment sensing, of giving up the chase to get somewhere else and drop into the experience of now. It’s not easy to drop into this mode, but it brings rewards that ‘doing’ never can.”

–Ed Halliwell from One Simple Way to Get out of ‘Doing’ Mode

This doesn’t not mean that being is more important that doing. Of course, there are always going to be times when you want to or even need to take action. Organizing your closet may make it easier to find the clothes you need in the morning. Or cutting back on those copious amounts of cheese can benefit your heart health.

And it’s important to also understand that being does not mean a cessation of activity. Both doing and being are modes of the mind that exist during times of activity and stillness.

Thus, the ultimate goal is to strike that balance between being and doing.

What Ultimately Happens When We’re DOING

Think about a recent action you took that had a measurable result.

First, you had an idea of how you wanted something to be. You compared that desired result with the current state and noticed there was a difference. So you began to conjure up ways you could close that gap. You may have had quick success with your first idea. Or perhaps you had to try a few different things to increasingly close the gap.

Once you got to the place where your idea of how things should be coincided with your idea of how you wanted them to, you knew you reached your goal.

This is considered healthy doing. Your approach worked as a general strategy to solve a problem and achieve a goal. Maybe it was something simple like substituting ingredients for a recipe. Or it could have been something more substantial like training your puppy.

Whatever the case, it worked.

So it makes sense that the mind would take the same ‘doing’ approach when it comes to altering our internal worlds. And this is wherein the problem lies.

When Being Becomes ‘Doing’ in Disguise

When activities of doing are performed with the express purpose of trying to attain a certain identity, desired feeling, or self-worth, the results are lackluster. Rather than achieving these qualities, the doing mind continues to unfavorably compare your current reality with your perceived ideal reality. And it will keep spitting out more tasks in hopes of landing in utopia.

For example, perhaps you’re struggling with some internal thoughts or feelings that you’d like to change. You’re aware that you’ve been constantly busy in hopes that maybe those feelings would pass, but they haven’t. And now you realize that going 100mph all the time is wearing on you – both physically and mentally.

So you decide you’re going to become a master at meditation. You purchase a load of meditation books and apps, buy the nicest meditation pillow, carve out the perfect spot so you can be the best and most effective mediation practitioner EVER.

Then you sit down to practice ‘being’ and you’re annoyed because you can’t get calm or relaxed. You’re angry when a sound interrupts your planned reverie. And now you feel like you’re failing at ‘being’ too.

This isn’t being though. It’s a doing-driven meditation is doing-driven. You’re driven to be calm and relaxed. But your self-worth and sense of identity are so wrapped up with being productive that you may not even realize you’ve adopted an unconscious belief that success relies on struggle. It’s a trap.

So What’s the Answer?

Once you’re able to pinpoint what’s important to you and what you’re about, you can begin to embrace the idea that you don’t have to struggle, you don’t need to always be going, and it’s okay that you don’t know (and never will know) the future.

Consider starting with a guided mindfulness practice that helps you shift from the doing to being. And don’t get discouraged. Although learning how ‘to be’ sounds like the simplest thing in the world and the steps toward achieving a peaceful state of being ARE simple, the process isn’t. It takes time, patience, dedication, and practice.

The payoff is well worth it though.