Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy
“That’s so easy,” a phrase that used to annoy the shit out of me in my childhood years, unless I was the one saying it of course!
What is it about easy that we find so attractive? Is it the fact that it seems to require little effort, or no thought, or maybe that it gives us a sense of accomplishment, like if something is easy for us, but not for others, we are somehow better than.
What does it mean for something to be easy anyway? The more I ponder this question, the less easy my answer becomes. Merriam Webster defines easy as: requiring or indicating little effort, thought, or reflection. Well, put this way, easy sounds quite the opposite of everything I value…. effort, thought, and reflection are all the vertebrae in the backbone to honor……so why would I expect my path to be an easy one? One that is free of roadblocks, traffic jams, accidents, and turtle crossings….if those are the events that require what I value, of course, they would be present in my life.
Because without that traffic jam, I may have never made the time to sit in my own pain that lead me to make the apology to my father that renewed our relationship, and without that accident, I may never have learned that I am perfectly capable of changing a tire which gifted me with a sense of independence, and without that turtle crossing, well, I may have never taken the time to simply observe the magnificence of a turtle, and be reminded to slow down.
Maybe life is not supposed to be easy at all, maybe it’s designed to require our full on effort, thought, and reflection. Maybe when something feels easy, it’s not because we didn’t give our effort, thought, and attention to it, maybe it feels easy, because WE DID. Because we practiced that asana thousands of times, or rehearsed that guitar solo till our fingers bled, or spent countless hours refining the recipe for that homemade apple pie.
Maybe we could re define easy as: requiring the necessary amount of effort, thought, and reflection until one is filled with a sense of ease.
Maybe easy is simply the outward appearance or expression of our handwork, practice, and dedication.
Maybe we must experience dis ease, to experience ease, maybe we must understand that life is not easy or hard, right or wrong, black or white……life is EVERYTHING, and you are life, so you are everything as well.
So remember, next time life feels hard, or messy, or complicated or scary, or like it’s just not worth it, simply continue to offer your effort, thought, and reflection. For it is in your continued practice that you will dis cover your ease.
You are Beautiful. You are Whole. You are Enough. -Andrea Dawn
