The Effortless Yes
El Sí Sin Esfuerzo
A gentle invitation to notice how effortlessly everything is already happening and to let go of the quiet struggle against what is.
The Effortless Yes
Settling in
Connect with the sense of your body,
the experience of sensation.
Allow the breath to happen as it happens,
and maybe notice the belly,
how the belly, when we're relaxed breathing,
tends to become a little deeper.
A very traditional meditation,
just observing the breath.
You could call it natural meditation when you're not trying to do anything.
Just being present with what happens.
My teacher used to say,
the heart pumps blood
and the mind pumps thoughts.
Even if it's just the surface of the thinking mind.
Letting go of effort
When I say "notice,"
it seems like it points to something that's more than what's really needed.
"Notice" could sound like some effort.
Usually we're trying to do a lot of things with our mind,
even in this practice of meditation.
And none of that is needed now.
The mind is active.
It's crazy.
That's perfect.
What we're trying to do here has nothing to do with the mind.
I'll be pointing to something that's extremely subtle,
extremely deep.
The deeper we go,
the more subtle things get.
The feather
Imagine that reality is like a feather
and we're getting close,
just about to touch you but not yet.
The closer it gets,
the more refined and subtle your attention.
Just hovering right around, about to touch you.
If you imagine reality coming close to you
like a very soft feather,
and you want to know the moment it touches you.
It's so close, you're not sure.
Just in that point,
your attention gets so attuned,
very relaxed focus.
You're wanting to detect something.
That's the kind of attention we're looking for.
And reality is constantly happening,
touching,
extremely intimate,
extremely alive.
Every perception,
every sensation,
every thought.
Just so infinite.
So alive.
We long for it, that intimacy.
Die into every moment.
So attuned.
Receptive,
just like that lightest touch of a feather,
the caress.
There's no longer a sense of me being caressed,
so immersed in the sensation.
We die into every moment,
every moment we've ever had that we cherish.
Be so immersed,
so trusting.
That is the long game.
Get back there.
Where every cell celebrates,
our whole being says yes,
and we're fully in love with being alive.
The negotiation
That intimacy, that aliveness, is reality itself.
We misunderstand it
and we negotiate and set conditions.
That starts a kind of tug of war
which we call suffering.
And at its foundation,
it's the deepest and most subtle form of arrogance:
negotiation and setting conditions to life.
From that foundation,
the struggle is the losing battle
to try to change what is.
And every instant, reality is exactly as it is.
So fast,
so mysterious,
so unknown.
We may find it terrifying.
That struggle is control.
What is, exactly as it is
Just notice everything you're experiencing right now.
This "right now" is always, at any moment you call "now," the obvious nature.
At every moment it is exactly as it is.
Mind at every moment is doing exactly what it's doing.
Thoughts that are happening are exactly the ones that are happening.
Emotions, sensations, perceptions are exactly as they are.
Pain, frustration, discomfort in any form, anger.
It's exactly what is happening.
Then there's a part of us that comes in and says "no."
Reality as it is should not be.
If only this or that changed,
if only this or that were different,
then I'll be okay.
If you can notice that part of you right now:
it's subtle,
it's constant.
Sometimes it screams.
It's a form of "no."
It starts a losing battle, which is,
this moment should not be as it is.
I should not be thinking this.
I should not be feeling this.
Something should be different from what it is.
You rarely even notice it.
Effortless experiencing
For life and reality to be full,
total, complete,
there's just no room for reality and us.
Start noticing how effortless it is
to experience everything you're experiencing right now.
Especially focus on whatever is uncomfortable,
whatever you don't like.
A hundred percent of what you don't like is going to be mind.
My foot hurts; the disliking of that is a thought.
But notice how effortless it is to dislike.
All of the resistance,
all the no's,
all the struggle,
a hundred percent of it is happening as part of reality,
and the experiencing is effortless.
Notice how hearing my voice is effortless.
Nothing needs to be done to hear.
It happens as part of reality.
If you pay attention to your sensation,
is there any effort?
Notice how sensation just is.
Sounds just are.
Notice how everything that you think, imagine, feel
just is.
What you think, imagine, and feel, exactly as effortless.
Even if we don't like what we think, imagine, or feel,
especially if we dislike it,
the disliking is happening effortlessly.
It's experienced as directly and effortlessly
as the sound of my voice right now.
Freedom in what is
Just noticing this misunderstanding, over time,
is the key to freedom.
To recognize that what we long for
is what is happening now.
Recognizing and understanding
that this deep acceptance is our nature,
we are free to be ourselves
rather than fight with ourselves.
Trying to accept is not possible.
You might discover that you're absolutely in love
with the opportunity to,
rather than push and struggle with reality as it is,
rather than control and try to change it
the way you think it should be,
instead notice that it is what it is.
Fully alive.
It's exactly as it is.
And from that understanding, you're free to flow.
Free of conditions.
Free to move and co-create,
starting from a full immersion
and trusting what is,
creating from there.
Free co-creation
without the condition
that we have to be a certain way in order to be okay.