Within, there is spaciousness.

Energy flows. Things rise and fall. All is well.

Peace can be had, easily, when we allow ourselves to go inward and let go of control. Stop trying to make anything happen. Let it all happen as it is. Witness it.

As we do this, our energy softens and opens and then rises in frequency. The thoughts running through our mind gradually peter out and settle into a kind of brilliant open spaciousness; our true nature as consciousness.

All of this starts with letting go of effort. Which we don’t do easily.

I've been thinking about EFFORT lately. How prevalent the belief is, in it's value. How pervasive the idea is that to be valuable requires effort. To have value, requires effort. Even to communicate your value requires hard work - getting clear on it, finding the right words for it. As if, if you don’t people won’t see your value. Wow.

Is it any wonder that people feel unworthy, never enough, uncertain they are worth the money they want for work, or in selling their products or services?

We're told over and over again that we have to fix ourselves to be good enough. That if we don’t do specific things our lives won’t work. So often these are things we don’t feel like doing. We’re encouraged to do them anyway. To act despite our resistance. The value of striving and overcoming is celebrated.

I love challenging myself. Don't get me wrong. It's an amazing things to discover your capacity and one of the ways to do that is to reach for something beyond what you've done already. To challenge yourself in some way that excites you.

But the key here is "something that excites you..." or something that calls to you.

The inner calls to more life, are within us, prompting us to take ourselves into new form. To exalt our embodiment by allowing ourselves to be more.

I love this.

But that, is not what effort is. Effort is only needed when something is not effortless.

When we're in sync with something, when we're excited by it, effort isn’t needed. There’s inspiration, eagerness, we simply move toward it, step into it.

Effort is what apply when we are at odds with ourselves. Effort is what we do when we're resistant and choose to push through it.

Effort is what we feel we need when we think we have to make things happen on our own, with our action. When we lose sight of how things really come about: through consciousness, focus, momentum, alignment, allowing and flow.

What if you took note of where you feel the need for effort and viewed that as a signal to stop? Instead of pushing through, to recognize some part of you isn’t yet up to speed with this course of action. This can be a sign that this way isn’t for us right now.

If it’s something we want to do, but feel hesitant or afraid of, we can recognize that and honor it. We can decide to do something positive like soothing ourselves with thoughts that encourage us, becoming our own inner cheerleader. We can also recognize if it just doesn’t feel right, it isn’t right, for us, right now.

That might change, but our inner knowing is accurate. We’ve all had experiences where we push past this and later realize we wish we hadn’t. Why not heed this clarity and honor yourself?

I want to live a life of ease and grace. That means choosing what feels easy and graceful. That means cultivating those states, unconditionally, on the inside, by how I think and generating my feelings freely, with thoughts that I love, that give me ease and relaxation. Or I can ignore my gut, be aggressive toward myself and push through. I get to choose.

Where are you striving hard, pushing yourself?

Where might you notice that effort is your tactic rather then the real productive work of aligning with what you want? Getting clear on what’s true for you now? What calls to you and what feels the way you want to feel?

The choice that shifts you and me, from striving to ease is already in our energy field - we just have to be willing to allow ourselves to perceive it. This is the “work” of living a sovereign aligned life; using consciousness to co-create. To do this I have to notice how I feel and tune my thoughts and actions to harmonize with me. Having faith in my inner compass.

The inner work of alignment, of coming into harmony with you, is how you experience ease; effortless-ness. It’s how you see the way that feels like that.

It's natural and it's there. Just as effort is. Remembering this allow us to reorient and adjust.

You get to choose. And so do I.

Today I'm keenly aware of this and so glad I am. ♥