If we are trying, we have an eF-ing problem.

I swear this is not intended to be rude
but I am going to start with the obligatory rhetorical
questions that will only insult your intelligence.

Is the path towards awakening an easy one?

Do you struggle with meditating, being present, or understanding teachings?
Do you ever refer to your practice as ‘working” towards enlightenment?   
For the Buddhists – are you applying correct effort?
Just joking Buddhists,,, of course the 6th of the Noble Eightfold Path is better translated as diligence, not effort.

My point being – are you trying? 

Effort = the most noble form of suffering. 

Effort is the suffering we believe we need. 
It is the good suffering in our lives.

Why is it good?   Because it results in… something.
…and we are always striving for more something, aren’t we?

We are taught early in life that effort is good.
Parents, teachers, little league coaches, religious leaders – they all want us to try.
They themselves are Try-ers and they try very hard to teach us to try too!

Effort becomes so commonplace that anything too easy makes us uneasy. 
As they say – “if something seems too good to be true…”

So we develop the habit of always measuring and questioning our effort.
“We can always try harder.”

Lack of effort is sure to receive criticism.  Sometimes, even our best efforts result in criticism and a suggestion that we try harder, which teaches us there is no end to effort! 

So we put our head down and despite effort sometimes feeling quite bad, we have faith that it for our own good.

Some people even claim that effort is more important than results.
Of course this is only applies to them, rarely others.   And it certainly doesn’t apply when the system fails them. 
We may value effort but when results are really expected, effort is rarely good enough.

Effort acts as a pleasant safety net for our ego, protecting us from disappointment when the universe’s plan doesn’t align with our own.  “At least I tried”, we can (and do) say.

This never-my-fault mentality means we need never accept what is. 
We can always do more, expect more, change what is. 
A winning attitude is a “never give up” attitude, even when we lose. 

We are taught to dream big, chase those dreams, reach for the stars.
If we haven’t realized our dreams quite yet, we need only keep trying.
Through hard work and effort, we can achieve everything that we desire. 
Do we notice that the measurement system is always based on the outcome?
Effort is never measured for its own value, it is only used as a means to the end of desire.
Ah desire.  I don’t want to start on desire yet.
We’ll put that nasty D word aside for the moment and finish ef-ing-up effort.

What I find most insane about this whole f-d up illusion is that lack of effort is our go-to scapegoat for the sorrow of unrealized desire when in reality, lack of effort is only path to be free from suffering.  I fear we have effort backwards!

Here’s a fun experiment – let’s not try and see what happens.
For a month, or a week, or just a few hours. 
Give up any concept of effort and just watch and see what happens for a while.

You don’t think that can be done, do you?
You have responsibility, a job/kids/whatever.
You can’t just lounge around doing nothing. 
Or worse yet, you can’t just sit at a computer blithering on about effort!

Careful – don’t confuse effort with action.
Action will continue to unfold regardless of any perceived effort on your part.   
Action is our default mode.  Action happens, regardless of any awareness or effort.
It is only when we are aware of our action that we start to notice effort and measure ease/difficulty. 

We all have our lists of actions that are enjoyable and others that are a chore.
It is highly personal – an enjoyable action for you may be a chore for me.
Some people love to clean/cook/build/help – others dreed it.
Sometimes we love and then hate the exact same action within a few moments of time.

Can we recognize that no action ever requires effort. 
Effort is a mind measurement – an interpretation of good or bad. 
We only notice an action or situation as requiring effort when our realized outcome is different from our desired outcome.
That is Our measurement, it has nothing to do with the action/ situation.

…which brings us to a pair of C and D words – Comparison and Dissatisfaction

Comparison and dissatisfaction are a dirty duo.
They work together like a M-eF’er
(that is mother & father – what did you think I was meaning?)

To compare is to be dissatisfied and vice versa.
Why compare if we are satisfied?   Because we can only know satisfaction through comparison.

What I have vs what I want.
What I am doing vs what I should be doing.
What happened vs what should have happened.
Measurement is the nature of the dualistic mind – mind process IS measurement.

Problem forms desire and the solution will always involve effort.
We wouldn’t desire without comparison and we wouldn’t try without desire.
But we do these things because we have been raised to measure – programmed as a Try-er.

So is it is possible to not be a Try-er?
You probably want a positive answer here, don’t you?
Try-ers want to believe that effort is a problem that effort can solve.

And so we arrive at the granddaddy of them all, the Big C word

Can’t

Despite our regular use of this word, is there any idea that humans detest more than this concept of can’t?

“Can’t doesn’t exist”, so we say “You just got to want it bad enough”

As a species we view our limitations as challenges yet to be conquered.
Remember ‘reaching for the stars’ and ‘never giving up’ and all that crap.
Well, I’m sorry to shit on your hopes and dreams but there are some things you just Can’t achieve
and enlightenment is one of them.

Blasphemy, you say?
So you think…

The thinking mind is incapable of realizing the limitation of itself.
Mind is measurement, it can never measure itself.
This is the problem – your mind is the problem.  The source of all problems.
Mind process will always throw effort at the problem because effort is just another problem.

“This is not working out the way I wanted it to. 
I need to try to change things. 
If it is still not aligning, I must try harder.”
This constant state of measure is how we live our lives.

Do we see how effort is f-ing up how we feel about existing?
We are here to experience, with the opportunity to enjoy, and yet we spend all our time eF-ing things up!
Ever wonder if the soul wishes you’d just give the eF up and enjoy your time on earth a little more?

So how to get the eF out of this mess? 

First off – Real-ize your existence.
Focus on what is real vs residing in mind-fabricated ideas of measurement.

Realization is not practice, it is Truth.
Once a fact is realized, properly realized, it cannot be undone from understanding
so from that point on, you are free to move ahead with the eFing game.

Yes, you do the work and practice but don’t work towards realizing satisfaction,
instead work towards realizing all “this” is happening between your ears.

Confusing, I know.  A practice of trying not to try will always bewilder us.
But the Truth lies in plain sight – there is nothing you can ‘do’ about your mind process beyond realizing it’s full of crap.

Now, as I wind things down here, I suspect I have offended a few people with my choice of words but please try to understand – what is truly offensive is our continued state of mind that includes this idea of having something to do!

Too many of us “try” to accept what is (which requires effort) because if we didn’t have any problems, we’d be ready to admit everything was already perfect.  If things were perfect, what use would the problem creating/ solving mind serve us?

Wake the F up!  Only the problematic mind process tries to figure things out – so stop trying to improve yourself and just sit or go for a walk or do nothing for a while.  Apply no effort.   
… or, keep doing exactly what you are doing, but do it without trying to be otherwise. 
Enlightenment isn’t found in any teaching it is realized through effort and it certainly doesn’t require you to be any different – it is experienced where you are, at this very moment, through accepting your situation exactly as it is.

 So there you have it. 
If you disagree with my opinion, its okay.  I’ll try not to give any eF’s.  

.