Do you remember when one of the big office supply stores developed the big red "Easy Button" as a reminder to "keep things easy at work?" Years ago one of my fellow staff members at The Ford Institute started bringing a big red "Easy Button" to all of the in-person workshops and trainings we did. He would keep it out at the staff table at the back of the workshop room. It was actually a perfect reminder for all of us that an invitation for transformation exists in every moment and it can happen in an instant if we choose to open up and receive the invitation. Unfortunately most people don't recognize the miracles that are always dancing right in front of them
On a daily basis I watch and hear stories about what I categorize as "people who are committed to struggle." Wherever they go and whatever they do, drama seems to follow them, upset seems to happen, disappointment permeates every experience, and even the little things seem to get blown out of proportion. Whether they realize it or not, they are on some level always looking for what is wrong and as a result find it! They miss the magic of the moment or anything good that might be coming their way or even standing right in front of them since they are committed to clinging to a past that has betrayed them, being the victim, and telling themselves a story that ends "unhappily ever after."
But just like one glance at the big red "Easy Button" can be the catalyst for transformation, we all have the choice to shift from struggle to ease in any situation. In order to do so, first you must be painfully honest with yourself about what's going on. If you are experiencing struggle and drama in more than one area of your life, in several situations, or with multiple people, then you have to be willing to recognize that you are the common denominator in the creation of this chaos. No matter what you might be saying you want - such as peace and quiet - there is something happening inside of you that is creating the friction, fighting, and fatigue.
One of the fundamental concepts of our work is that your outer world is a reflection of your inner world. If you are experiencing unrest in your outer world, then you must look within. You must take 100% responsibility for the reality you are experiencing. Is there some belief you have or maybe adopted from your parents that "life is hard" or "life is about surviving and not thriving?" Is there some action, reaction, or pattern of behavior that you keep repeating that keeps you stuck in a cesspool of turbulence, disappointment, or discontent? Or maybe the conflicts that you are experiencing in your outer world come from the conflict within yourself. Do you constantly have a demeaning dialogue running inside your head? Are you berating yourself for not being good enough, smart enough, or charismatic enough?
It's time to declare "enough is enough!"
As the saying goes, "Struggle is optional!" If you want to switch from struggle to ease, the choice is yours. Now is the time to bust free from the past, to give up your righteous beliefs about how unfair or hard life is, to bring awareness to the voice of condemnation inside your head, and to call a truce to the internal war inside of you. When you start feeling ease within yourself it will be reflected in your outer world.
Transformational Action Steps
1. Allow yourself to see how you are addicted to struggle or identify an area or situation in your life where you have created struggle.
2. Honestly evaluate the behaviors, actions, and patterns that you engage in that lead to struggle, the beliefs you have around struggle vs. ease, and the turbulent internal dialogue inside yourself that is being reflected in your outer world.
3. Allow yourself to identify what you could do to shift these behaviors, beliefs, and thoughts to promote more ease in your life. Take some of those actions and notice what changes.
4. Set a strong intention to create more ease in your life and create a structure that will support you in manifesting your intention.
5. If you want to understand what motivates your choices and switch from a life of struggle to high-level choices, join us for Every Choice Matters, a guided interactive program you can do from the comfort of your own home.
With love,
Kelley