Don’t Try so Hard

Don’t try so hard – when you just do the results can be amazing.

For a lot of people I know, myself included, sometimes you give 100% or more to thoughts and feelings you have. These are ideas and notions you work to expand or build.

There may be times when you don’t see results. So you make a few changes, shift your approach, and try again. Then, if things are still not going as you would hope, you continue to try with more alterations.

Attempts to do things can be really good, because in order to make changes you need to take actions. However, when you try so hard that you become frustrated, you can’t help yourself.

I have done this a few times. There was something I desired to do, or to achieve, and I gave it my all. When it didn’t work out I gave it my all and then some. I would try so hard to get it to work or to go, that when it didn’t I became frustrated and agitated.

Often I have gotten better results by doing without trying so hard. This has applied to things both big and small in my life.

When you constantly push and put too much effort into trying to make something happen, one way to change that energy is to just do, and let it happen as it may.

Surrender to the universe

This is the part that tends to trip people up, myself included. The idea of surrender is tough because it either feels like bullshit, seems over-reliant on faith and the unseen, and/or otherwise comes across as hooky-spooky hippy-dippy silliness.

The trouble is that surrender is not a lack of effort, nor is it giving up in the sense of waving a white flag. Surrender to the universe is manifestation of mindfulness. You had a thought, gave it the necessary feeling to back it up and make it as real to you and your mindset as possible, then took the necessary intentional actions.

Now you might have to wait. The agent has your book, the college has your application, you sent out the message on the dating website, the interview has been completed and you await a decision.

I hate waiting. It tends to try my patience, and it can be frustrating because it’s all-too-easy to get negative in the wait. You can easily begin to see evidence of pending failure and you wonder how much more you could have tried.

You try so hard to push at possibility that it actually makes it much more difficult and opens you up to more negativity.

This isn’t easy. I try so hard to accomplish this, that, or the other thing, work to consciously create the reality I most desire…and if at first don’t succeed I try, try again.

The problem is when you try, try, try, try, and try again ad nauseam. Things tend to more likely happen when you surrender to the universe. This is not a lack of trying, it’s about doing and accepting and moving on.

Results vary when you don’t try so hard

I spent the last two days at a huge fencing practice. Many fencers of every skill level in my medieval reenactment group attended from different parts of the country. I love this game, and I have developed over time some skill.

But there is still room for improvement. Of late I have developed a subconscious angulation of my blades (when fighting sword and dagger) that opens a line an opponent can use to “kill” me. This was identified by a friend.

try so hard I worked Saturday to very consciously fix it. The results were mixed, some good fights and some not-so-good. It was still a fun day.

Following a night of very little sleep, Sunday I went back. I just did it, exerted less mental effort and I did not try so hard to focus on correcting the issue. My fights were cleaner, I had a handle on the angulation issue, and I felt really good about the practice.

In The Secret this is the notion of ask, believe, and receive. In my own practice of conscious reality I think this equates to think, feel, and do. Then you surrender the rest to the Universe and keep moving forward.

The positivity that comes of not trying too hard can have a major impact on what you do and how you do it. You are worthy and deserving of finding and/or creating awesomeness – don’t try so hard to be awesome, just BE and have a good day.

You need not try so hard to find positivity, but it does require action

Knowing that you don’t need to keep on pushing over and over again, but just use thought, feeling, and intentional action and then surrender to the Universe, you can ease your mind and better center yourself. When you are calmer and more centered you will likely find you accomplish your goals with more ease and positivity, which ultimately empowers you. When you feel empowered, your mindfulness increases, you become more aware overall, and that tends to spread to people around you.

As such, you can build more positive feelings and discover more reasons to feel positivity and gratitude. That can be the impetus to improve any number of aspects of your life for the better, generating even more positivity and gratitude.

An attitude of gratitude is an attitude of immense positivity that can generate even more good energies – and that, like you, is always worthwhile.

This is the three-hundred-fifteenth entry of my Positivity series. It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.

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