Making Life Easy

We’re conditioned to think everyone has to kill themselves to have “a good life” and I was one of them. Work hard, I was told, and life will come to you on a silver platter. Horse Poop!

There are millions of people who bought into that – look at all the folks at Enron that lost everything they worked for – they worked very hard with the expectation that there would be something at the end of the rainbow. Look at all the people who spent their lives working for retirement, then retired only to pass on to another world shortly thereafter with little or nothing to show for it. Tell their family’s hard work pays.

Everyone wants more. More is better, bigger, faster, newer, harder, softer blah-blah-blah! Employers want more! Governments want more! People want more, more, more, and more. I was told, and have therefore erroneously told others, to learn as much as you can and you will never be without work. Oh Boy! Don’t get me wrong working and learning are prerequisites to successful living but not the only things and not now, in my humble opinion, the most important.

All of this can seem overwhelming and can drive us to the brink of disaster; it already has in so many cases. Don’t believe me? Watch or read the news, listen to the conversations among the people dining around you at your local restaurant (if in fact you can still afford to dine out) and what do you hear? Don’t take my word for it, please, just listen. People are talking about the poor economy, the loss of jobs, the latest political unrest or natural disaster. We certainly don’t need more of this, do we?

I wish I had a dime for every time I’ve heard “life is hard” or “nothing comes easy” or “there are no free rides” or a hundred other sayings about the quality of life. While I recognize there are two sides to every story and there will be those who subscribe wholeheartedly to this philosophy, I have come to a different conclusion.

Life is easy! It’s as easy or as hard as we make it. Again, I understand there are those who feel another way, especially because of their life circumstances, of which I do not intend to be insensitive to but, in my reality I’ve come to the idea that I do have a choice in so many areas of my life and I can optimistically influence the outcome of much of my world! And, so can you!

This article isn’t intended to be a dissertation on the subject of positive thinking or the law of attraction, just the humble commentary of one man experiencing life with a robust desire to share a little of his own story and to help himself and others see and experience life through a different lens. The lens of goodness and how dwelling there, even momentarily can have tremendous results. Life may never be easy, but I believe we can make it better and thus, easier and more fulfilling in many ways.

Believing works, believing is seeing! Imagination works, visualization works, the “I can” attitude works and all are components for change. Experience and doing are the machinations that manifest our thoughts, hopes and dreams. But first, in my humble opinion, in order to actualize an easier life, even if only mentally, we must choose consciously to want a new outlook.

When you know how to dream, visualize, experience and do, and when you understand that you are the primary contributor – life gets easier.

Waking up to a colorful, new, abundant world has provided much joy to me and to those with whom I have come into contact. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, I didn’t need more, bigger, better and all the other stuff Wall Street was trying to sell me. What I needed was just what I had, and the knowledge that it was enough to make life exactly what I wanted it to be, no matter what that was. And, the same is oh so true for you!

In the words of Brother David Steindl-Rast – “open your eyes and be happy that you have eyes to open.” And when you do open them, look for the good in people, places and things! You may just be surprised at what you will discover!

May the peace that transcends all understanding be with you on your journey, wherever it leads you!