Martha Stewart has a new Masterclass, apparently teaching us how to “Think like a boss, live like a legend.”

Ed Mylett, in his podcast on entrepreneurship, asks, “How HUNGRY and FOCUSED are you on your dreams? Do you want it as bad as breathing? Do you want it as bad as LIFE itself? Are you literally DESPERATE to achieve?”

Business moguls and social media influencers tell us we have to live on overdrive to succeed. Only tapping into our deepest well of emptiness, they suggest, will drive us to achieve Enough. Then we will feel full, satisfied.

Acting from Authenticity

I like motivational speeches as much as the next guy. They can trigger positive energy (“I can take on the world!”), and positive energy can fuel joyful creation. The joy of creation — in whatever way we are gifted and inspired to create — that’s Life.

But why do we think we need to be More than we are, have more than we have? And why do we think that focusing on feelings of emptiness will lead us to someday feel full?

A couple of years ago, I came across this quote:

“Those who perceive and acknowledge that they have everything have no need for driven behavior of any kind.”

As someone who often feels exhausted by drive, it struck me so forcefully I wrote it down, capitalized and underlined the word “any,” and added the heading “PEACE.” Now I can’t remember who wrote it or where. (If you know, please drop a comment!)

Or, as Eckhart Tölle said in A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose,

“Doing is never enough if you neglect Being. The ego knows nothing of Being but believes you will eventually be saved by doing. If you are in the grip of ego, you believe that by doing more and more you will eventually accumulate enough ‘doings’ to make yourself feel complete at some point in the future. You won’t. You will only lose yourself in doing.”

Doing from Being

Tölle doesn’t say we should sit motionless on a mountaintop forever. He doesn’t deny doing. Rather, he suggest that true creativity — creating from the energy of the Creator — comes not from doing but from Being. And we find this creativity by focusing on our completeness, not our emptiness.

I’d like to find a podcast that focuses meaningfully on Being. Several good podcasters bring depth and presence to their interviews — I like Michael Gervais and Rich Roll; Gary likes Jay Shetty. I’m still searching for a podcast that focuses squarely on peace as the true source of creative energy. (If you know a good one, please drop a comment!)