Life Is Easy, Isn't It?

"Life is easy" seems easily understood intellectually. Take
what comes along with thanks and gratitude; the
circumstances and choices we make are perfect for us. All
this feels right when said in a contemplative atmosphere.
But after a few doses of life's reality, we have a difficult
time bringing "life is easy" to daily application. Loved
ones with health problems, layoffs and down-sizing,
widespread terrorism, and random killings, all cause us to
choke a bit on the phrase.

But is life easy? Well, it can be. Deepak Chopra reminds us
that other natural beings simply are who they are. Birds do
what birds do, as do fish, dogs, deer, etc. They may be very
busy hunting food, rearing young, seeking safety, but they
don't seem to be stressed by it all. Grass grows and dies
back, only to grow again. Trees grow and spread, drop their
seeds, shed their leaves, and grow them again. Don't we all
aspire to the easy life? Aren't the benefits of it self
explanatory; peace, tranquility, harmony with our
surroundings?

Then why is life hard for most of us? What prevents us from
sustaining a life is easy belief? Some of the harshness of
life stems from our one-dimensional view of success; don't
we tend to believe that to have more money, position, power,
and friends is to succeed? So we compete for our piece of
the pie with everyone around us. Accumulating more, and then
protecting it, is hard work. And once achieved, offers
little satisfaction, only a temporal glow of achievement
until we are compelled to launch another offensive of
accumulation. There are flashes of insight when we recognize
that this effort isn't satisfying, doesn't bring joy, and
doesn't feel right as our purpose in life. But then we tend
to fall back into the race and put our doubts behind us.
Chasing a goal of accumulation is a lose-lose situation.
Those who achieve it join those still struggling, both
feeling unfulfilled.

Another reason that life seems so hard to us is that we try
to control the outcomes of our endeavors. We take ownership
of a specific result, and then when something else shows up
we aren't able to see the beauty of it because we feel that
we've failed. Renowned author Elizabeth Kubler-Ross tells us
"You won't always get what you want, but you always get what
you need." Set your goals and intentions, and work toward
them, but take what comes about as a perfect gift, just the
result your soul requires.

The final obstacle to living the easy life, regardless of
income or situation, is that we forget we're immortal. We
forget that real life, the life of our soul, is eternal. My
present physical embodiment is only one of many. If I don't
get it "right" this time I have other chances. It's like
getting an infinite number of tries to make a free throw in
basketball. No pressure, just keep shooting until you score.

So do you want an easy life? Well, then choose it. Choose to
be at ease with life. Set your goals, declare your
intentions, but don't own specific results. Take what life
brings to you as your rightful gift, the perfect result for
you at this time. There was a time when I wanted a promotion
to the next management level. I saw that as a way to provide
more of the leadership I could give to more people. But it
didn't happen, and that was perfect. You see, with hindsight
I saw that the brand of leadership I can provide is better
suited to the level I already held. And what life did bring
me was increasing insight and competence in leadership at
that level.

Now it isn't always easy to simply choose to be something.
Even though that's the most straightforward way, if a person
isn't used to it, isn't confident it can be done, it can
seem impossible. A hint from Lou Tice of The Pacific
Institute may help. The next time you're in a set of
difficult circumstances, the next time life seems very
difficult, Lou suggests asking this question, "What would
this experience be like for me if life were easy?" If you
can see the results that would occur if life were easy
you'll be close to accepting that reality as a possibility.
Once you can visualize yourself in a situation you're well
on the way to achieving it.

In the past I often viewed life as a struggle. And of
course, it was because of my belief--just the same as if I
prayed for life to be a struggle, just the same as if I
affirmed, "I am a person who struggles with life." So affirm
that life is easy. See the world around you as a world where
life is easy and watch it become easier. And remember that
life is eternal. Not everything is riding on your shoulders
this one time around.