Effortlessness, Not Happiness

Welcome to day 6 of the 7 Day Effortlessness Challenge! It’s hard to believe this challenge is almost over already!

Yesterday was a little more difficult personally, because I got caught up in some negative momentum early on in the day. It wasn’t anything major—really just the vibration of annoyance/irritation, but wow did it ever keep manifesting! And once you’re caught up in that loop, it’s hard to get out of.

However, overall it was actually a pretty positive day, and by the evening I was more stable in a positive place again.

But my focus in this email is a misconception that I heard from someone yesterday.

Someone emailed me talking about how the challenge is going for them. They said that they’ve really been trying to be happy, and outlined all the ways it hasn’t been going well or why they can’t be happy.

Oh, but it’s not about happiness.

That’s right, immediately in the moment, it’s not about happiness. Because, sometimes happiness is too far for you to reach. If you are depressed, anxious, fearful, or otherwise have major resistance, you’re simply not going to be able to reach for happiness.

In fact, to try to do so would not be effortless at all. It would be a huge amount of work, sort of like trying to climb 10 flights of stairs, instead of—you know—taking the elevator. ?

That’s why I call this the Effortlessness Challenge, not the Happiness Challenge.

Yes, effortlessness will lead to happiness eventually. But when you try to take control of that and demand that happiness be here right now, that just won’t work.

Effortlessness might look like just lying down for a while and taking a nap, or just reading a good book, or watching some TV. If you’re in a very negative state, then effortlessness is probably going to look very passive.

But, that’s OK. This whole thing is about you taking care of yourself and your own alignment. The faster, more enjoyable momentum will come later on.

There have been times when my anxiety and depression were rather severe, when I’ve literally taken two or three days and just relaxed. No trying to be productive (which is really hard for me), no trying to write blog posts or do other work on the website, just pure relaxation in whatever form sounded the best to me at that time.

And then after a few days, the depression would lift and I’d be feeling a lot better to resume my previous level of productivity.

So we’re talking about effortlessness, not happiness. Don’t conflate these two. Effortlessness means not trying, not striving, not pushing, not resisting. That’s all it means. If you’re trying to be happy, you’re still trying, which is totally opposed to the principle of effortlessness.

This also has nothing to do with action. You could be taking tons of action and still be effortless (usually only if your momentum is very fast and positive already). It’s more about respecting where you are and letting that be OK.

This takes a fine balance. If you’d like to learn how to balance will/deliberate action against effortlessness, this will be my major topic in my upcoming print newsletter, the Circle of Darkness. Click below to sign up for it now before it gets sent out next Friday!

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I’d love to hear how the challenge is going. Please comment and let me know!