I’ve been thinking recently about how there is an easy way and a hard way to do practically everything. Sometimes I purposely choose the hard way. For example, I deleted the email and social media apps off my phone so it would be harder for me to access. The inconvenience dramatically reduces the amount of time I spend there and helps me be more present. Another harder path I chose this year has been to shovel snow by hand. We have had record snowfall this year and admittedly, my husband has done most of the snow removal, but the few occasions that I have had that duty I have bypassed the snowblower in favor of the hand shovel. It is significantly harder. And takes a whole lot longer. But I figure its a good workout I can count as weight training and moving my body.
These harder choices I have purposely made because I see the benefits the harder path will bring. In the grand scheme of things the harder way here will give me so much back in return.
And yet, the harder way is also not necessarily always the better way. Too often, I inadvertently choose a harder way that does not have a high return rate at all. This most often occurs in my own personal energy. For example,
-Trying to complete a task in frustration or anger
-Pushing through on a project when I’m really tired and burned out
-Committing to things I didn’t want the responsibility for and doing it in resentment
-Mediating family drama when I myself am in a state of fight or flight
-Making decisions when I feel overwhelmed
-Forcing my kids to follow my instructions when they don’t want to
-Putting expectations on myself or others that are not realistic
-Shutting down in a relationship and not communicating when I feel hurt
-Avoiding confrontation so the other person won’t feel hurt
-Assuming I understand something when I actually lack important details
-People pleasing at the expense of my own needs or desires
-Overriding my own intuition to follow what some outside expert or authority thinks is best for me
These moments, are all times that I choose the harder way and there is not a greater return. In fact, often this harder path only makes things harder or makes things worse. When it comes to things being easy or hard, I believe at the core it has more to do with our energy than anything else. And by energy, I mean the combination of our thoughts and our feelings.
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There have been countless times that doing the dishes appears to be the hardest thing in the world to me. Especially if that task awaits me after 7 p.m. Or there have been times that asking my child to go hang up their coat you would have thought I had just added a full day of manual labor to their life. In reality, these tasks are really easy to do, but in context of energy, they can feel deeply difficult. Can you relate? In this regard, hard or easy is extremely subjective. It’s not so much about the task as it is about the energy I approach it with.
When we operate out of alignment with our true self, EVERYTHING IS HARDER. EVERYTHING. Unfortunately, we aren’t really taught how to be in alignment. We’re mostly taught what is expected of us and given a checklist of the things we’re supposed to be doing. We are taught how to be human doings more than we are taught how to be human beings.
But goodness the doing is hard, when the being doesn’t match. This, is what being out of alignment feels like.
I was watching The Chosen recently, when Jesus spoke the words of a scripture I’ve heard a million times over, but this time the meaning landed differently with me. Jesus says,
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Mathew 6:33
Knowing that Jesus also taught that the kingdom of God is within you, this scripture suddenly sounded differently to my ears. I literally put the two together. Instead, what I was hearing was,
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God (within you).”
You don’t have to do life the harder way. We make it harder than it needs to be all the time. There is an easier way to do everything.
See it.
Say it.
Feel it.
Do it.
Become it.
You are a creator. Now go Co Create something great.
