Question for you: do you think life is (or should be) easy?
For most of us, the answer is a resounding no.
Life isn’t supposed to be easy, is it?
Anything worth having takes hard work to get, right?
No pain, no gain…obviously?
I have to say that I have been–and to some extent still am–a believer in all of these statements.
It was a big part of how my parents raised me. I was lucky enough to have a mother and father who busted their tails to give my brother and me a life that was amazing.
But aside from my family, I learned that lesson for myself over and over in life (or so it seemed). I put in hard work into getting my piano performance degree. I worked hard in medical school. And I continue to work hard in residency and for the sake of what Megan and I do online.
This “you have to work hard to get what you deserve” mentality has become a real belief system of mine.
As I develop my connection to my life purpose (or my Higher Self or God or whatever you want to call it), I’ve come to challenge that core belief.
It’s not the “working hard” that I have a difference in. After all, there is something to be said for devoting yourself to a cause, whatever that cause may be.
I’ve come to question whether “working hard” is always necessary for something good to come into my life.
What if I started believing that there’s a component to letting life flow by you with less resistance?
Instead of forcing my plans on the planet (I’m a type A person, what can I say?! Planning is everything), I’ve started considering how I can more effortlessly use what life throws at me to my best use.
What if those things that seemed so “hard” all the time were opportunities for me to practice allowing circumstances to unfold in a new way?
Instead of trying desperately to control every situation, how can I allow life to take me in the direction of my dreams?
That’s where this mantra on allowing unfolds:
I allow life to flow easily, allowing myself be guided in the perfect direction.
After working on this a while, I’ve realized that allowing is surprisingly hard. Do I really deserve things to plop into my lap?
It’s funny how when you ask yourself that question, there are a whole bunch of answers that come pouring out in your mental chatter. Things you were told as a child, mean comments that were directed your way, and all the thoughts you’ve rehearsed inside your head all these years.
But even more so, I’ve realized that taking the time to NOTICE the nice things that do show up in your life without hard work is also something that takes a bit of effort up front.
Because we often believe that we don’t deserve good things in our lives, we haven’t trained ourselves to appreciate what shows up.
The weekend that lined up perfectly for you and your girlfriends to take a trip together, the check that came through when you really needed it, and the lesson you learned right when you were looking for an answer.
Things like this happen all the time…but it’s up to us to go out of our way to be purposefully grateful for it.
Happy Mantra-ing!
XOXO,
