Effortless Peace (Mystic Girl In The City) [1]

Effortless Peace,

Hard work and effort, that's just what it takes?

I don't agree, and I almost never recommend it. Simply because effort will never equal effortless, or say effortless peace, or fulfillment, bliss, etc.  And a life lived in constant effort is purely exhausting. Especially when effortless peace and fulfillment, bliss, etc., is an option. And it is an option...its your birthright!

Let me explain.

When you have a very solid sense of a separate self, a very strong personal will, no actual experience of the mystery, a very cut and dried, black and white sense of the world and who you are in it ... then yup, that separate self is very, very powerful. You can do a lot with that will, apply some solid technique, a ton of effort and a lot of hard work, and wham ... you will see results! Almost every time. Keep on pushing it, and keep on seeing some results ...

Want to lose 10 lbs? Got a really solid separate self? Then it's just calories in and calories out. That's it, that's the whole story. So count all the calories, plan out every meal, start up a massive program for food and exercise, make it a constant focus....dig in, dig deep, and you'll likely get there.
 

But, if you have a sense of the mystery, or if you have begun to open up to the vast eternal universe ... Or say, you have always known something deeper is animating this world, and sometimes life feels so unfathomably mysterious to you. If you have felt this way since you can remember, maybe since childhood, or your early adult years, then your separate self is a bit soft. Your personal will is not so powerful. Because it's not fully in charge. It's not really at the wheel. You lucky dogs have a sense of reality spilling in, and you get to have truth pulling on that wheel.

And you lucky folks may have noticed that when you wanted to lose some pounds, or make a ton of cash, or find eternal bliss, and you followed the program, and you put in a lot of effort, and you worked really hard ... not much actually happened. Not the way you see it play out with others ... not the way the program promises results.

If you're aware, in any way, that this eternal mystery animates us ... if you have always been kinda sensitive, or have had some direct glimpses beyond the so called separate self, then that personal will is no longer as operational. It just doesn't get you very far. Trying, efforting, lots of hard work, sadly doesn't add up to much. 
 

Again, that's because it's not in charge. It's not the personal will that is driving the car ... it's the mystery! It's always been the mystery for everyone of us, but a really strong separate self can create an illusion, a very strong illusion, that very illusion that is so very painful and begins to crumble once your separate self gets a bit soft, once you get a good glimpse of reality beyond the illusion.

So, if you have a soft separate self, or almost no separate self, then the job is, as my pal Adyashanti puts it, "to get into the passenger seat". It means you have to drop the effort, drop the trying, drop the idea that "you" can do any of this ... and let the mystery take charge. That gorgeous, profoundly amazing mystery that is alive and animating your body right now.

And how do you do that?  How do you let go of "trying", of "trying to make it happen"? Well, it's a big deal ... it's not nearly so easy as a lot of hard work and good old effort. Instead - you have to let go. Let the mystery take you. You have to trust that the mystery is benevolent, you have to trust the words of all the masters through all the ages, that all say, this sweetest love, this friend, this bliss, is taking good care of us.

And to let go is not some external, just-let-it-all-happen kind of thing. That external reality is the illusion. The power you have is in the internal world. You have to let go of the internal movements of trying, trying to be better, trying to change. You have to replace it with a warm, welcoming trust that whatever is arising for you, is compliments of the mystery. And in that warm welcome, you can begin to actually see what is really going on. This warm welcome, is actually the beginning of some powerful movement.

In essence, to get something moving, you have to honor your "Yes!" (I have talked about this in my past posts). But your yes, what I like to call your "delicious yes", is a place that only exists in this moment, and it feels like a really yummy option of what to do right now. Like the most natural, effortless, delicious thing to do right now.  And it doesn't come from a mental idea, but rather a visceral feeling. This is how you navigate. This is how you get over into the passenger seat, and let the mystery fully take the wheel. That very delicious option,  in this moment, is actually where there is no separate self... no personal will. Because all the mental ideas, and all the trying, efforting, and hard work, are courtesy of that personal will. And yours is too soft to really get you anywhere.

This doesn't mean you give up the wheel and sit in the back hanging out, letting everything else take care of you ... big difference between being in the present moment ... and living for the moment! ( more about that in the previous post!)

It means you let the mystery drive while you engage and participate and marvel in the passenger seat. You surrender your "shoulds", "have to's", and trying, and lean into the delicious yes, but only in each moment, guiding moment to moment.

And you will hear me say this again, and again: effort will only ever equal effort, but effortless will always result in effortless. That is how you begin to find your birthright of effortless peace, effortless fulfillment, bliss, etc. That's how you begin to live in alignment with the mystery.

Lucky dogs ... only you soft ones get to find this ...

Mystic Girl In The City