The power in trusting the stream....

No pain, no gain! Nothing worth having comes easy! To double your gains, you have to triple your effort! We have all heard these quotes growing up, no doubt. I would agree with them in the context that they are given. One of Google's definition of effort is "strenuous, physical or mental exertion". Yes, we all need to put forth the effort to get up in the morning and go to work. Work or school takes physical and mental exertion, as does relationships. But what if we LOVE our job... love our life? Is it considered an effort to get up to something we love and look forward to? Or would it seem effortless?

In our culture and society, it’s actually a popular concept to “fight” for what we want—to "struggle and persevere" and to never give up. We wage a “war” on drugs, we “fight” cancer, we compete, we resist, we come out on top—or do we? We were told that the path of least resistance is for lazy people who do not have a purpose, or is it? Here's another idea...

Most of us are familiar with this universal law of the path of least resistance or the path of most allowance. This law is based on the idea that nature's intelligence functions with effortless ease, whether it's a blossoming flower, a drifting cloud, or a rushing river. Each moves in harmony with the universal energy without having to "try" and "struggle". The water in a shallow babbling brook will choose to go around a boulder instead of going over it, or try to fight its way through it. Most of us seem to accept this truth for the earth, but not for ourselves. The concept behind this law is you accomplish more by striving less. It sounds like a paradox, but when you think of it in terms of energy, it makes a lot of sense. Effort occurs when there is resistance. If there was no resistance, then there would be flow and harmony which would not require effort. One difference between humanity and the nature around us is that we have an ego or human nature, which puts up resistance when we aim to be on course to flow with our purpose and true desires. We are taught to judge, to make assumptions, and to think it must be too good to be true if something comes too easy.

Proverbs 20:27 (GNT) tells us that humanity was created with a conscience/spirit ... which is that inner part of us that constitutes humans as spiritual beings with moral, intellectual, and spiritual capacities. We all have this inner connecting guidance to our source, whether we understand this or not. If we learn to follow our "gut" guidance or this inner blueprint, then life will unfold seemingly effortlessly. It is when we add ego resistance to what we know we are inspired to do at an innate or intuitive level, that we experience pain and suffering on the mental, spiritual, and even physical plane. Letting go of resistance brings relief and harmony to our experience. Some people might say that change is hard. Change is not hard... it is our resistance to change that makes it seem difficult. Just let go of the resistance and let what is just be. You just might be surprised at what shows up for you.

Do you find yourself spending so much time paddling upstream instead of going with your natural flow? Are you constantly trying to open doors that are closed to you? Do you fret and worry? How is that working for you? Do you try to control and manipulate other people and situations? Is paddling upstream getting to be too hard and not fun for you anymore? Have you lost your joy? I don't think God intended that life should be tough.. Sure, contrast is good. In order to appreciate joy, we might need to experience some sorrow. Sometimes, we might have to experience illness or disease in order to appreciate well-being. Contrast teaches us lessons. It helps us to be clear to know what we DO want by having experienced what we DO NOT want. But, must we continuously paddle upstream to the point of exhaustion and not-appreciating the life experience anymore?

How about just letting go of the oars... letting go of other people's expectations of you, letting go of self doubt, letting go of resentment, letting go of judgment... judgment of yourself and others, letting go of trying to control situations and people with the understanding that everyone is on their own journey and must experience what they are experiencing in order to get to where they need to be. By accepting what we cannot change, and acting on our own inspirations that show up everyday, then our own flow and joy can truly begin. Life will actually become a whole lot easier.

Jesus said to deny self... deny this resistant human ego, which holds us back from our potential because of its judgments and stored unconscious programs... Surrender to your inner guidance system... to your conscience, to your greater being who is the real YOU, to what really resonates with you internally, to what your gut instinct is leading you to do, to what you know is innately true and inspiring for you. Once you learn to let go of the paddles and all resistance, doors will begin to open for you, life will open up to you in all aspects... physically, mentally, and spiritually. Once you take your focus off the daily grind of working the oars and trying to control every aspect of your life, you will find that you will be able to sit back and enjoy the ride with delight. Don't get me wrong... our ego is good when is does what it is supposed to, and that is to facilitate our desires and inspirations, but it makes a very lousy leader in and of itself.

To begin to flow in our path of least resistance is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness. This state is no longer dependent on things outside of ourselves, to make us happy. Go with your flow. Force nothing. Let it happen, trusting that whatever way it goes, it is for the best! Trying harder just leads to greater resistance, causing more suffering, It's letting go of the paddles that brings joy back into our experience. It's trusting the process. It's trusting the stream.