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7 Little Things That Make Life Effortless Post written by Leo Babauta.
Life can be a huge struggle, most of the time, and for years it was a struggle for me.
I’ve gradually been learning what causes that struggle, and what works in making life easier, better, smoother.
Life can feel effortless, like you’re gliding along, if you learn to swim smoothly, to glide, to stop fighting the waters of life and start using them to buoy you up.
I stopped thrashing and fighting, and started gliding and enjoying the swim.
I’ve written a new book on this topic, called The Effortless Life, which I should be publishing digitally next week. Some interesting things about this book:
It was written publicly, on a public Google Doc, while the world watch. That was tremendously fun — normally writing is a solitary act, but with technology I was able to make it a public act.
I allowed the world to edit it, as I wrote. That was incredibly scary, giving up control as a writer. When I was done, I had written it in a blur, as everyone edited it … and so I had no idea what changes had been made. I thought I should figure out what changes were made, and whether to keep them or not … but then I just decided to go with the wisdom of the crowd, and kept it as is.
It’s a compendium of some of the most important things I’ve been learning recently. It builds on some of the things from my previous books, The Power of Less and Focus, but takes them further.
I will allow readers to buy it at any price you like. I will set up a donation model — pay what you think it’s worth, and what you can afford.
More about this later. For now, I thought I’d share a few things you can do today, to make life feel more effortless.
Take what you want from this list. I find these things work, but your mileage will vary.
1. Do less. This is my productivity mantra, and it’s counterintuitive. I actually don’t believe in productivity, but instead believe in doing the important things. Do less, and you’ll force yourself to choose between what’s just busywork, and what really matters. Life then becomes effortless, as you accomplish big things while being less busy.
2. Having less is lighter. Start asking yourself if you really need everything you have, or if you just have it out of fear. Start to let go of what you have, so it doesn’t own you. And then, as you have less, you feel lighter. It’s wonderful.
3. Let the little things go. People who struggle often fight over little things. We obsess over things that don’t really matter. We create resistance instead of letting things glide off us. Let the little things go, breathe, and move on to the important things.
4. Clean as you go. I haven’t written about this for a long time, but early in the life of Zen Habits I wrote about the habit of cleaning as you go. Instead of letting the cleaning pile up, put things away when you’re done. Wash your bowl. Wipe the counters clean as you pass them. Sweep up dirt when you notice it. By cleaning a little bit at a time, as you make messes, cleaning up becomes a breeze, and it’s never difficult. By the way, this applies to everything in life, not just cleaning.
5. Make small, gradual changes. Most people are too impatient to follow this advice — they want to do everything at once. We have so many changes to make, but we don’t want to wait a year for it all to happen. As a result, we often fail, and then feel crappy about it. Or we don’t start at all, because so many big changes is intimidating and overwhelming. I’ve learned the hard way that small changes are incredibly powerful, and they last longer. Gradual change leads to huge change, but slowly, and in a way that sticks. And it’s effortless.
6. Learn to focus on the things that matter. This is implied in the items above, but it’s so important I have to emphasize it. Swimming (or any physical activity for that matter) is best done when you do only the motions that matter, and eliminate the extraneous motions. Stop thrashing, start becoming more efficient and fluid. You do this by learning what matters, and cutting out the wasted activity.
7. Be compassionate. This makes dealing with others much more effortless. It also makes you feel better about yourself. People like you more, and you improve the lives of others. Make every dealing with another human being one where you practice compassion.
POSTED: 10.10.2011
What’s in a name?
I was asked today whether if given the choice, if I would prefer that yoga classes not be named (Jivamukti, Dharma Mittra, Astanga, etc). Interesting question, as all yoga asana leads the practitioner to ‘the One’ Yoga, but still, I didn’t have to think long before responding ‘no’. Naming yoga classes serve a purpose for students as well as the teacher.
For a student, placing a label on a yoga class can give an indication of what to expect from the class. Will there be a brief shavasana after every pose? Will there be music? Chanting? Sweat? Holding the postures for a long time? A focus on a specific area of the body or a general well rounded class of diverse postures? Will the same postures be practiced in the same order in every class, or will they be different from class to week? There are a many elements that differentiate one class from another.
For the teacher, it can serve to remind them of honouring their lineage; what are the main aspects of the particular method that make it unique from other practices? If the original teachers of the yoga school were in the room, would they be satisfied that this class could be held as an example of their teachings?
Of course, a label is based in language, and the semantics of language has a subjective element to it – we each bring our own perspective of the words into account. More importantly, no two teachers, or students are identical. One Astanga teacher may be terse and egotistical, another may be compassionate and nurturing.
At the end of the day, what the teacher and student bring to the class together as authentic and unique becomes the true vehicle for experiencing Yoga….but labels can sure help to break the ice….
A reason, a season, a lifetime
I’ve always been in awe of those yogis who have had their Gurus magically appear for them, showing up in all different forms at the right time to shine a light on the yogi’s practice. I spent many years seeking this type of relationship, but as much as I tried to present myself to my key teachers as a ready and able disciple, no force, human or other, appeared in quite the way I envisioned.
Don’t get me wrong; I have and have had some amazing teachers in my life and consider myself extraordinarily lucky to have studied with whom I consider some of the best yoga teachers of my time. Students constantly inspire and challenge me, and countless other extraordinary beings contribute to making my daily life mentally stimulating and enchanting. I’ve even had moments questioning whether or not those teachers are my Gurus…but somehow my lack of certainty has stifled the mere possibility. You see, my concept of Guru is bigger than my mental ability to second guess, or analyze the nature of the relationship. I always figured that if and when it happened, I would just know, kind of like falling in love, or meeting a soul mate.
Maybe I have had an idyllic picture in my head of how it would be to have a Guru. I’ve envisioned a special relationship, one that is tremendous effort but incredibly rewarding. A relationship based on trust and deep understanding, enriching one’s knowledge and acceptance of a larger self- one that is interconnected with all beings and limitless. In fact, what I’m describing sounds a lot like the relationship I have developed with myself by means of practicing yoga.
Teachers are fundamental in accepting one’s self unconditionally. To have the blind faith in another being needed to develop the surrendering fully of one’s energy and intention instills both humility and confidence, enabling a progression outside of one’s daily drama and into the interconnectedness of all beings.
My experience has been that teachers come in and out of our lives in waves. When we are open to it, the possibilities for learning are limitless. As we ebb and flow and continuously transform, our influences are also likely to change. It is only the teacher that accepts us unconditionally who can nurture us over a lifetime. Is the one guru, like the only true asana, the Self?
Living by suggestion
In the Fundamentals of Yoga by Shree Brahmananda Sarasvati, he writes:
Suggestion is the underlying and fundamental cause of all mental phenomena…The whole universe is nothing but suggestion; the world lives by it. The greatest power of nature is the power of suggestion…we are constantly moving every moment by our suggestion. First we think, then we do. First we plan, then we accomplish that plan. The newborn baby is not able to walk like a young child; it gives constant suggestion to its body through the mind and after one or two years’ practice of suggestion and trial it becomes able to walk…
So how does suggestion pertain to the practice of asana and relate to who we are as individuals as well as collectively?
In our asana practice, every thought that enters the mind, from the focus on a slow and steady breath, to our mind suggesting our bodies move in a specific way, to the emotional aspects of having the confidence to practice to our fullest potential, comes from suggestion. The negative thoughts also come from suggestion, fluctuations of our mind constantly trying to send us back into the tailspin of illusion. After all, our perception of the world is based on our understanding of self, or ego, which dies with the mind – it isn’t ‘real’. What we think suggests how others feel when they are around us, and ultimately becomes the negative and positive words and actions we put out into the world. Each individual uses their own power of suggestion to influence the collective whole, setting the energetic vibrations of our total experience.
I have had many students who are relatively new to yoga tell me that they have no control over their breath; they forget to breath and become red in the face before the instinct to survive takes over and they take a deep, gulping breath. Their minds are elsewhere, so busy with trying to ‘hold’ the pose and with the sensations of the physical body being in a position of discomfort that they haven’t yet learned to create space or time for suggestion.
In an open class, it only takes one student’s tension of holding the breath, lack of physical and mental awareness, insecurity, to affect the whole group.
Imagine you are hurriedly preoccupied with moving into the future when you hit a wall. Because you are hurried you don’t take a step back to waste precious time in thinking about ways to go around, or through, the obstacle you’ve hit. A more likely scenario is to crash into it again and again, in the same way as the first time, never getting anywhere. This is how it can feel for the new yoga practitioner to practice asana without a guide to offer up suggestions for alternative ways to use the body to move in and out of postures. However, with practice and patience, one’s perception widens and new ideas are given space to expand. In this way that through the practice of yoga we grow, and in this way we can have a positive impact on the collective whole of which we are a part.
