Dear Spirit to Spirit friend,
I just finished participating in a 4 day virtual retreat led by meditation teacher Jeff Carreira.
Jeff spoke about coming into meditation in "complete effort/no effort". The art of being simultaneously in fully committed engagement-intention and residing in absolute effortlessness.
A beautiful way to enter into meditation. Utterly intentional-effortful in engaging in the practice and yet fully let go/surrendered while in practice. A dynamic pairing that can be vividly opening and quite profound.
Given this guidance for meditation practice, what kind of guidance could support us when we are deeply involved in the intricacies of daily life? How would we, could we, engage with full effort-intention and yet be in effortlessness? Is that even possible?
It seems that it is...and that we can. What we are leaning into here is the other side of the same coin. What it is to be present in our True Nature, the deeper Stillness that we are. And, at the same time, engage whole-heartedly in outer connection and expression.
As we cultivate the effortless stillness that is the hallmark of meditation and is who we truly are in our Core, we may begin to engage life from a steady groundedness, a spaciousness that of its nature holds a deeper quality of being and a broader perspective.
A spaciousness that gives a platform for True Nature, the Essential Self, to awaken through us. One that elevates not only who we are but also how we are as we step fully-intentioned into life. And, elevates the entire conversation and direction of what we bring our attention, our words, our actions to.
In this. In being this: complete effort/no effort. Not only will our experience within ourselves and in life begin to open in unexpected ways. But perhaps this is also how we will begin to create a new paradigm, a new way of being and living, that we so deeply need on earth right now.