Summertime,
An’ the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’
An’ the cotton is high.
Lazy afternoons with a book, digging your toes into lush grass or gritty sand, sitting beside cool waters lapping at the shore, eating an abundance of fresh fruits, crisp salads and delicious barbecue (yes, my mouth is watering as well)… It’s July and summer is in full swing!
But in amongst all of those summer activities, how many of us actually take advantage of this time and truly let the living BE easy? I know the old tune reminds us to, but with the constant pressures to take on and achieve more, it has become increasingly difficult to really just let go and let things be easy. And I’m telling you, I’m a BIG fan of easy!
Ease is about choosing the path of least resistance. It’s about doing the thing that you are going to be best at, most comfortable with and the happiest while doing. It’s about stepping away from the overwhelm of taking on more and more. The saying “Do less, and accomplish more” is perhaps the simplest way of summing up easy. Sometimes, easy can mean saying no to certain tasks, other times it can mean branching out in a different direction. Ultimately though, ease comes down to maximizing who we naturally are.
In his book, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, Deepak Chopra presents the Law of Least Effort. (And, by the way, I highly recommend this book! It’s one of those ones that I could read every single day and get something totally new out of.) This Law of Least Effort is all about nature’s natural intuition. The natural state of things is to do what’s easiest. Daffodils don’t try to grow; they just grow. Easy! It is intrinsic and effortless for them to do so, so they do.
When we don’t push things, when we don’t put extra effort in, we actually allow the universe to unfold at its right way and pace (that pace part is important too, by the way!). Yet, we humans seem to exert so much additional effort chasing and overworking. Somehow, we’ve gotten to a point where society thinks that the harder we work the more value something has. We have a hard time permitting something to be easy. Why are we fighting it? Why are we pushing against the universe’s natural state?
When we let life flow we come to a natural state of equilibrium.
So this summer (scratch that – this year, this life) let the living be easy. Take a deep breath in, absorb the world around you and allow it to just… unfold. Ease is a natural path, allow it to guide you into being your best self.
Okay over to you:
What steps are you taking to make your life easy? How has it changed things for you? I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment below.