Have you ever felt as though you have to constantly exert so much effort to making things work for you in the way you want it, to the point of frustration and exhaustion?
That was one of the most common questions I have asked myself countless times when I first began my expat life years ago. I found myself "working hard" and not quite sure what that was all for specifically - other than to feel good about myself and beam in pride of the person that I have become. That was all about earning certainty and significance in life, a process which can get us addicted for more. It was a feat which challenge was compounded by the unfamiliar environment, new people (hence their expectations), exciting career and peculiar language. However, these were plain excuses that got the better of my patience and continued to reinforce my need to work even harder. As results, any positive outcomes were short-lived, I was knackered with immense lack of energy. Weekends were rarely for anything fun but mostly for catching some breaths if I was fortunate enough to reserve them for myself. Resistance started to get more intense when I literally had to push myself to move forward where every step felt like a chore. What a way to live! I started imagining my life on a treadmill all the way to my retirement and that idea, honestly, scared the hell out of me. There has to be another way and a whole lot more to life!
Little did I know that everything works best the reversed way - that is to make peace with where I am in this moment, love and be myself just the way I am and then do whatever it takes towards what it is that I intend to achieve in life. I got the formula wrong all this time! It has been 'BE. DO. HAVE.' (BE Grateful and Happy. DO the right things that serve your higher goals. HAVE the results you want.) all this while instead of 'DO. HAVE. BE.'. It is not as easy as it sounds to simply shift from 'doing' to 'being'. Your protective mind and your immediate environment will try to convince you that your decision is unconventional and settle you back to your comfort zone. Asking someone who has been busy all their life to sit and relax doing naught even for just a short few minutes and avoid being consumed by stress will be futile, seem absurd and cause discomfort within them. That is because they have unconsciously associate busyness and stress as achievement badges or trophies of significance and recognition, although it is ideally just a belief that they have formed over time and slowly builds into their personality. If "doing" takes time to build into practice, so does "being". To take the path of least resistance, where you focus on making incremental progress while feeling happy with what you already have and allowing everything to unfold in their own divine timing, there are few key measures to keep in mind.
Fuel Your Intention
For anything that you want from life, you have start with a strong intention and keep return to it until your goals are met. You need to ask yourself why you need to take actions to initiate the change in your life. Many a times, we get stuck at the how, that easily sets us back because we may not know exactly how to get to where we want to be yet. Reasons come first, answers come second. When you have a firm and meaningful intention, your resourcefulness will be ignited to help you find your way and overcome any obstacles in your journey. Instead of seeking certainty and significance, you may start to shift towards attaining personal growth and making an impact in this world. Focus on your WHY and not the HOW.
Tune Into Your Emotions
Always pay attention to how you feel at any time. Take any negative emotions that arise inside of you as signs of something important about yourself that needs addressing. Emotion is essentially energy in motion that drives you to take actions and grow. Yet, emotions often get in the way of the very change we need in our life. For example, you may not 'feel like it' to consistently work out or eat healthier even though you understand how important they are for your health and vitality. The simplest way to change the way you feel instantly is by changing your physiology. For example, try taking a deep breath, lifting your chest slightly, slapping your shoulders back, sit or walk tall - when you feel down and demotivated, and see how these simple moves can already alter the way you feel. Well, never forget to take advantage of the positive feelings when they come up and celebrate the person you have become in every moment. Celebrating your wins serves as great reinforcement for you to keep taking another step forward.
Enjoy The Process of Becoming
When you have a strong intention and tune into your emotions regularly, you understand that every step that you take here forth can only lead you to where you intend to be. Even any barriers that show up will be interpreted as necessary to reveal the important lessons that you need to take heed of as you move ahead. As long as you are not resting on your laurels and just keep your eyes on the prize, you are heading in the right direction. Remember, the only progress that you must have is to be the much better version of you today when compared to the person you were from yesterday. When you choose to make the best of the present moment, there is literally nothing that you need to worry about the future. Imagine how much lighter and happier you can be, as you surrender and wait patiently in faith for everything to unfold itself to you in the most intriguing way and fully enjoy this wonderful process of becoming.
And that, my friends, is how you stay on the path of least resistance. Now, think about it.
How can you start integrating the idea of BE. DO. HAVE. into your own life and follow these three-step approach to create a meaningful and exciting life you can have and so deserve?
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