Have you ever wanted to be at peace with something that is making you miserable?
Here's an idea: The law of least effort. I read about this in Deepak Chopra's book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. The law of least effort is based on the idea "do less and accomplish more." Sounds great, huh?
Think about how certain things on this planet happen with very little effort. Mother Nature is a perfect example of this. There is a rhythm, peace and simplicity to the cycles of life in nature that seem to happen spontaneously. Nature has an innate intelligence that we can learn from. Since we are part of nature we can benefit by allowing things to take their course.
What we call "miracles" are actually an expression of the law of least effort.
Sometimes when we can sit back and let things unfold, we can accomplish a lot more than if we fight battles. Especially when we are trying to do or change something and getting nowhere! Can anyone relate?
Also when our actions are motivated by love versus power or ego, our energy can expand and be used to create that which we want. Love and compassion are powerful forces in the world.
The first component of the law of least effort is acceptance. Acceptance involves making an agreement with yourself to accept everything as it occurs, knowing that things are as they should be. When we do not accept things as they are it’s almost like we’re fighting the entire universe. Who wants to do that? Who can win that? It’s okay to wish and work towards things being different but we still can accept, in the moment, things as they are. Ideally, we also accept our feelings about situations, fully understanding that those are our feelings and no one else’s.
The second component is taking responsibility. This involves not blaming anyone or anything for your situation, including yourself! Chopra suggests to think of responsibility as the ability to respond creatively. It’s a nice play on the word responsibility. So every difficult situation can be an opportunity to be transformed into something better. Every negative experience can teach us something.
The third component is defenselessness. This means not feeling like you need to defend your point to anyone. When you do that there’s no ability for any argument. And you can enjoy the present moment. By being in the present moment we actually experience this incredible freedom. We can become lighthearted, joyous and totally free.
Try to follow the law of least effort for a few days and see what happens. I've found it to be very freeing. I’d be curious to hear your feedback.