More Ease

Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session, we're going to talk about a phrase that you can use to create more ease in your life. Now, a lot of us are under the impression, often subconsciously, that we need to be tense or stressed in order to get things done. We tend to live in a caffeinate and go sort of culture where our productivity is associated with a lot of effort and a lot of tension. And I like caffeine and I do a lot of work and I like to work hard, so I'm familiar with what that can be like.

And I think there are times and places for that in our life. But if that is our primary mode, our primary gear that we're operating under in order to be effective in the world, we can easily burn ourselves out. And one of the things I often noticed for myself is that I don't actually need to be as tense as I think I might need to be in order to get something done. If on a scale of one to 10, one was total Zen and 10 was total stress, I might have an idea in my head that I need to be at like a five or six in order to get all these emails done or power through this workday. But if I really drop in and look at the task at hand, the thing I'm doing right now, do I really need to be at a five? Could I do it at a four? Could I do it at a three? Could I do it at a two? And often what I find is that there's there's somewhere along that number line that's less than where I am right now, that allows me to be as productive with a little bit more ease.

So the, the phrase I want to offer you today that you can take into today and the rest of your life is, can I do this with more ease? Can I do this with more ease? And just drop this in throughout the day. When you're doing work at home, when you're at work, when you're taking care of your kids. Whatever the task is, ask yourself very honestly and openly, can I do this with more ease? The mind might say, no, we actually need more tension. So, okay. Honor the mind and play that one out.

But often what you might see is, actually, yeah, I don't need to be gripping the steering wheel right now. My shoulders don't need to be up to my ears. I don't need to be as worried as I am. I can do everything I need to do with more ease. So offer yourself that question.

Can I do this with more ease? And make that a mindfulness practice throughout the day. Thank you for your practice. Let's settle in for today's meditation.