The Things We Do Between the Things We Do

Between the big things, the loud things, the calendar things.

In the spaces that no one marks down.  A lot of life happens.

Our day is filled with layered doing-ness. We call it “multitasking.”  And it moves us through our to-do lists.

We answer emails while we prepare and stir the supper.

Walk while returning calls.Fold laundry catching up on a recommended podcast about slowing down.

We plan tomorrow waiting in the queue for today’s coffee.

Think ahead while living now. 

One moment braided into another. Until the day often becomes a clump of tangled strands.

But maybe this way of doing stuff is not just about output, aiming for efficiency or productivity.

Maybe concealed within the clump of doing, is something richer.If you tease out the tangled strands you find spaces between them.

The space in-between, that holds a promise very different to the doingness.

The in-between that shows up in the half-second we pause to remember what we were saying. In the tiny silence after laughter fades.

Where we meet a rhythm, you can’t measure in checklists or progress bars. Life layering itself naturally.

In the present

And in that momentary space of presence… we meet another part of our self.

Not the self who performs or plans or posts, but the unmeasured, unmanaged part of us. And the quiet hum of a life in motion.

There’s a grace to these elusive moments. They don’t ask you to be brilliant or busy. They ask only that you be there.

Look up while the coffee brews.

Breathe between thoughts.

Let your hands rest in the sink and feel the water.

Watch dust float in a ray of morning light and remember -

this, too, is time.

This, too, is living.

The in-between teaches us that meaning doesn’t always need to announce itself full blast for all to hear.

It whispers instead.

It reminds us that not every pause must be filled,

not every silence needs an answer.

Maybe that’s the quiet lesson of the in-between:

That being present is enough.

That waiting, wondering, not knowing.

All belong.

So, as you move through your day, notice the edges of your moments.

The edges of your movements.

Notice how one dissolves into another

How one evolves from the other.

The beauty in the soft seams of time where for a moment, nothing much seems to happen. And yet, so much does.

Let the in-between be your companion.

Let it slow you down.

Draw you inward.

Open you gently to the pulse of your own being.

Because life is not only what we do.

It’s what happens while we move between the doing.

It’s the blink, the breath, the heartbeat of the ordinary.

Where the humble fullness of life lives and breathes.

Multitasking, then, becomes less about juggling.

More about weaving threads and spaces of time, of creativity, of care, of tender presence.

The “seemingly important” with the simple.

The mundane.

The all too often overlooked and undervalued stuff.

The nurturing, the care, the nourishing,

The behind-the-scenes, not spoken about stuff that we don’t shout about or lead with.

What rises to the surface and reveals itself there?

You might find a small piece of wonder waiting for you.Not a grand revelation, not a task completed - just the soft reminder that life is not only the things we do,but the things we feel, dream, create in between

With ease, lightness, joy.

And when the day ends, when the list is mostly done,you may look back and realize that the between-moments were possibly the heart of it all.

They were where you laughed, you breathed, you cried

Where you were, simply, yourself.

Beautifully messy, beautifully scrappy, beautifully human,

Doing the things between the things you do.

The spark to write this came out of chatting to a client. Reflecting on all the things we do in running our lives. Our professional selves and our behind-the-scenes self.

How as mothers we are constantly doing things that are invisible…to the world , our loved ones and to our-selves.

Image by Jonathan Kemper, Unsplash