We DON'T do. And we don't try to do. We start to BE.
I saw a post that said: "What do you do to be in the present moment?" It made me smile.
Honey, I thought, you cannot do to be, you can only be to be.
What has this crisis tried to teach us? To slow down. To stop. Because the direction in which we were headed was leading us off a cliff, and as a species we've been following it blindly and self-destructing apace. And if we were only destroying ourselves, it wouldn't be such a bad thing, but we are destroying not only myriad other species but the very planet itself. Shazam!
So. Can you slow down? Can you stop? Can you take a breath, have a good look around and see? Can you see how life is out of balance on the planet? Can you then take a good look at yourself, and see how you are not only out of balance, but out of alignment? Out of alignment with your own Self.
It's a matter of identity: Who do you think you are?*
If you are identified with the attributes of the organism and its persona, you are stuck in the realm of doing and cannot know what it is to be, because you think you are the doer, and keep trying to do what you think is the right or good thing to do.
On the other hand, when we rest in our true identity, we are then be-ing.
In be-ing, there is stillness and serenity and harmony, and we are guided from moment to moment in our doing—which requires no effort at all.
Lao Tzu said it way back when:
There is no need to run outside
for better seeing,
nor to peer from a window.
Rather abide
at the center of your being;
for the more you leave it, the less you learn.
Search your heart and see:
If he is wise who takes each turn,
the way to do is to be.
Now we have that opportunity. Stop. Don't rush back into your old doing. Take a breath. Be still. Discover who you are, and be.
*Heading of the first piece in Please—Wake the Flock Up.