We’ve been programmed.

We’ve been trained by well-intentioned parents, teachers, and others that hard work is the only path to the rewards in life, that nothing can be achieved without hard work, grinding away.  And, of course, there is often work and commitment involved in creating something worthwhile or amazing.

But, often that programming on the importance of the work ethic leads us to a focus that makes everything much harder than it needs to be.

Our definition of the notion of “work ethic” often includes a sense of morality and goodness.  The dictionary lays exactly that perspective out for us:

“ a belief in work as a moral good; a set of values centered on the importance of doing work and reflected especially in a desire or determination to work hard.”

Another definition includes the idea of compulsion (fun!) “to exert oneself physically or mentally especially in sustained effort for a purpose or under compulsion or necessity.”

 

Another dictionary definition uses the word sustained “toil.”  Again, doesn’t sound like fun.

Hey, I’m all in favor of working toward our life purpose and contributing our very best talents to the world.   And, I’m not opposed to hard work!  I have definitely been one of those “work hard” people at times.  I think law school was the very epitome of “sustained effort under compulsion” as was “toiling” for a big law firm.

Yet, now that I understand how our energy works and the enormous power we have available to us when we “work” in concert with our Inner Being, the Source that is within us, I no longer buy into the old perception of grinding away as the best path to a successful and happy life.

I do love to work on things that bring me joy and a feeling of purpose.  It just doesn’t feel like the old definition of work.  It feels more like getting into the flow of my talents and strengths and as if I’m not doing it solo.  I know I have a team behind me and within me.  I know I’m leveraging the energy that creates worlds when I’m “working it” the right way.

This knowing has led me to have a few rituals, some of which I use when I’m about to send the important email, work on a blog post or book, or have a session with a coaching client.  I also use some of those rituals when there is something that appears challenging that requires some sort of action on my part.  First, I remind myself that the situation carries only the meaning that I give it.  If I define it as challenging it will be.  If I tune-up my vibration before “working” what I had thought of as a challenging situation, the results will be better, the process will be easier, it won’t feel like I’m being forced to do something I don’t want to do.

I have had things that certainly felt like miracles happen when I took the time to tune up my energy and get into a better mood and vibe before I did ANYTHING!  I’ve written about some of those in my books, How to Allow and You’re Not Stuck, as I think examples definitely speak louder than words.

Recently, I had to renew some services for my website hosting and needed to confirm that what I was renewing was the right service, not a duplication of something I already had and that the price I was being quoted was accurate.  It also appeared from the renewal email that I was going to have to do the installation myself.  Let’s just say the phrase “user error” immediately popped into my head.  I wasn’t exactly feeling confident about that and reminded myself that sometimes it’s smart to just acknowledge what you “don’t know.”  I also dreaded phoning the hosting company and being on hold with customer care and discussing options that are out of my wheelhouse.

But, while I wasn’t exactly excited about undertaking that little project, I knew that I would feel much better when it was done and it would feel good to know that it was done right.  So I did one of my rituals that gets me into the zone.  And, then I made the call.

There was no long hold time.  Someone answered immediately.  Yep, that actually happened.  It was instantly clear that the rep knew what she was doing and intended to be helpful.  As we were discussing the options, she asked me what kind of work I did as she was looking at my website.  The next thing you know, we were having a great conversation about energy, the law of attraction and she was buying both of my books from Amazon while we were on the phone.  She told me that when she had awakened that morning, she realized she didn’t like the book she was currently reading and really “needed a new book.”  Yep, that actually happened.  And, what was also miraculous to me, having dealt with tech support for many years, was that she gave me her contact information so that I could contact her directly if I ever needed any information or had an issue.  Then she said she would take care of the installation. Yep, that actually happened too.

If you haven’t had a lot of experience dealing with website issues, these occurrences would be roughly the equivalent of calling your cable provider and having them answer immediately, no hold time, and then offering you a discount on your cable/internet service and a free upgrade to your internet speed. And, there would be no expletives used at all and no hanging up in frustration.   I’m pretty sure the likelihood of this happening isn’t lost on anyone.

Abraham has actually said that “no effort is required when you are tuned in.” The effort is in the:

learning how to tune. . . Caring about how you feel, reaching for the thoughts that feel as best as you can find.  That’s it.  That’s the work.  That’s the whole of the work. . . Look for things that feel good.”

I agree.  I do know for sure that action is an important part of the creative process.  We are not here to sit and meditate on our couch all day and wait for things to happen.  Yet I also know that it’s inspired action that gets the job done and makes the job fun.  Things begin to flow, ease replaces “compulsion and toil” and you find yourself creating more good things than you ever imagined before.  It feels so much better to think of our work ethic in this more leading-edge way.

 

There are some great stories of how things work when you line up your energy in these!  You can find them on Amazon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you’d like some support in learning some of those rituals that can get you into your zone and create so much more ease in your life, I’m happy to assist.  You can reach me at susan@howtoallow.net