Ease, the Myth of Hard Work
This is for all the hard working people out there. We come from certain thinking, thinking that places the value of a human being on how hard that person can work and earn their keep. It's taught as a great work ethic, but it sure sounds like slavery to me, (all races and cultures suffered for that, not trying to bring anyone down). So we only value ourselves when we work hard. We work so hard that we wish things could be easier. We beg for easier while being driven to work harder.
When something easy comes, it doesn't feel right. We distrust how easy it is. "It's too easy," we look down our noses and say. We take offence when someone else perceives that we've got it easy, thinking our grass is greener than theirs. "I worked my ass off for this," we defend our good fortune (right before a storm hits, ripping my new house apart, or a raggedy car rear-ends the shiny new one that I've only had for a week. Yes, this happened). We defend 'hard' as much as we curse it because that's where our values lie.
We can't have anything easy, and resent 'easy' at the same time. This pits our focus and energy against itself, creating a frustrating stalemate that can last as long as we continue to accept it without examination. If things are going to be easy, then we must value 'easy' more than we value 'hard'.
Hard work was, and sometimes is, necessary in certain situations. But we've blown it out of proportion, using it as our "go-to" motto, when it isn't necessary for all situations. A lot of times, hard work can really be nothing more than consistent work, done easily, over a lengthy period of time, but our label-happy brains have learned to assume that hard work is always exactly that and nothing deeper. We don't want anyone thinking we're lazy. Hard work has done great things, no denying it. But that's not to say that great things can't be done in a smarter way. Like I said, I think hard work, in essence, is a throwback to ancient slavery, which every entity on this planet, has been touched by. It's a throwback to a person only being as valuable as what they can produce, or the work they can do. The inability to perform could've meant being rejected by the much needed tribe, which entailed a much worse fate. We are hard-wired now, to work hard (those who do). But being able to see this, can allow us to reroute the wiring simply by giving ourselves a better deal on an emotional level.
Think about it, if I'm convinced that I need you to do the work for me, then I'm going to benefit when you give me all of your power, physical or mental. It would be in my best interest to make you think, and your children's children think, that hard work is what life is all about. And I will always have more for you to do. This has been so ingrained in our thinking, that it works against us.
Hard work presupposes that anything of value must be difficult to achieve and must be very hard to do. It sets us back before we even get started, in terms of our thinking. It has us getting our self-worth (worthiness) from the amount of hardship that we face. Yes, we do value fighting for what we want, and struggle, over peace and ease. We say we don't, but we really do. We claim we want 'easier' but then we couldn't take pride in all that hard work we did and all that pain we suffered. People are proud of their pain. They say, "I wouldn't be who I am today, if I hadn't…" (gone through that terrible ordeal). Well, I think they would still be the essence that they are, but it took the ordeal to make them realize how wonderful they are. They didn't believe they were that wonderful to begin with, they needed the "earning ordeal" to prove it to them.
If we're going to have an easier time of things, it must be pure in thought. It must be 100 percent acceptance of ease, without a hint of resentment for things that come easily, or towards people who seem to make them happen easily. (I always resented people in movies who looked like they had it "too easy". My bad.) It must be without the need for something to be hard, just so that we can have the satisfaction of saying we "earned" it.
Earning is a self-deception. The person who spent years taking steps to get what they wanted, and didn't get it, has earned as much as the person who tried once, and got it. As far as reality is concerned, 'earning' is not as valid as we try to make it. It's only valid inside beliefs that we cling to, not to hard-bed reality. Reality does not give a s**t how hard you worked on something. But you do, and rightly so; it's your private integrity. But use it knowingly. (For a fuller discussion on reality and effort, I recommend, The Nature of Personality by Jane Roberts/Seth). Earning is just a way to grapple with your self-worth. And if that has ever come into question for you, if anyone has ever made you feel unworthy or ungrateful, then yes, you are grappling with that.
I'm not saying that effort is to be eliminated. Effort will simply be what it needs to be, without the burden of difficulty that's placed upon it. Effort, in the right balance for each individual, can actually feel good. So good, that you want to just keep doing things and staying active, but that's another discussion. I woke up this morning and had this on my mind. Thanks!
When something easy comes, it doesn't feel right. We distrust how easy it is. "It's too easy," we look down our noses and say. We take offence when someone else perceives that we've got it easy, thinking our grass is greener than theirs. "I worked my ass off for this," we defend our good fortune (right before a storm hits, ripping my new house apart, or a raggedy car rear-ends the shiny new one that I've only had for a week. Yes, this happened). We defend 'hard' as much as we curse it because that's where our values lie.
We can't have anything easy, and resent 'easy' at the same time. This pits our focus and energy against itself, creating a frustrating stalemate that can last as long as we continue to accept it without examination. If things are going to be easy, then we must value 'easy' more than we value 'hard'.
Hard work was, and sometimes is, necessary in certain situations. But we've blown it out of proportion, using it as our "go-to" motto, when it isn't necessary for all situations. A lot of times, hard work can really be nothing more than consistent work, done easily, over a lengthy period of time, but our label-happy brains have learned to assume that hard work is always exactly that and nothing deeper. We don't want anyone thinking we're lazy. Hard work has done great things, no denying it. But that's not to say that great things can't be done in a smarter way. Like I said, I think hard work, in essence, is a throwback to ancient slavery, which every entity on this planet, has been touched by. It's a throwback to a person only being as valuable as what they can produce, or the work they can do. The inability to perform could've meant being rejected by the much needed tribe, which entailed a much worse fate. We are hard-wired now, to work hard (those who do). But being able to see this, can allow us to reroute the wiring simply by giving ourselves a better deal on an emotional level.
Think about it, if I'm convinced that I need you to do the work for me, then I'm going to benefit when you give me all of your power, physical or mental. It would be in my best interest to make you think, and your children's children think, that hard work is what life is all about. And I will always have more for you to do. This has been so ingrained in our thinking, that it works against us.
Hard work presupposes that anything of value must be difficult to achieve and must be very hard to do. It sets us back before we even get started, in terms of our thinking. It has us getting our self-worth (worthiness) from the amount of hardship that we face. Yes, we do value fighting for what we want, and struggle, over peace and ease. We say we don't, but we really do. We claim we want 'easier' but then we couldn't take pride in all that hard work we did and all that pain we suffered. People are proud of their pain. They say, "I wouldn't be who I am today, if I hadn't…" (gone through that terrible ordeal). Well, I think they would still be the essence that they are, but it took the ordeal to make them realize how wonderful they are. They didn't believe they were that wonderful to begin with, they needed the "earning ordeal" to prove it to them.
If we're going to have an easier time of things, it must be pure in thought. It must be 100 percent acceptance of ease, without a hint of resentment for things that come easily, or towards people who seem to make them happen easily. (I always resented people in movies who looked like they had it "too easy". My bad.) It must be without the need for something to be hard, just so that we can have the satisfaction of saying we "earned" it.
Earning is a self-deception. The person who spent years taking steps to get what they wanted, and didn't get it, has earned as much as the person who tried once, and got it. As far as reality is concerned, 'earning' is not as valid as we try to make it. It's only valid inside beliefs that we cling to, not to hard-bed reality. Reality does not give a s**t how hard you worked on something. But you do, and rightly so; it's your private integrity. But use it knowingly. (For a fuller discussion on reality and effort, I recommend, The Nature of Personality by Jane Roberts/Seth). Earning is just a way to grapple with your self-worth. And if that has ever come into question for you, if anyone has ever made you feel unworthy or ungrateful, then yes, you are grappling with that.
I'm not saying that effort is to be eliminated. Effort will simply be what it needs to be, without the burden of difficulty that's placed upon it. Effort, in the right balance for each individual, can actually feel good. So good, that you want to just keep doing things and staying active, but that's another discussion. I woke up this morning and had this on my mind. Thanks!