Is there any real value in effort ?

What is effort? A question so simple that it might be tough. Or visa versa. Effort implies some type of conscious will. When we think we are putting in effort, then we feel like we are putting in effort. At least that is what we tell ourselves.

Effort deals with conscious attention. A focus if you will. Focus implies an orderly and limited action towards something. A goal. A task. A means to an end. Any type of focus requires a division from anything that might be considered a distraction. Conscious attention is by definition a limit to all things not being attended to. 

Since effort deals with the end result of some action or series of actions, it implies a type of struggle. Why would need to put effort into something if it doesn't seem natural or organic for us to do it in the first place? Effort relies heavily on the mind using thought as a tool to implement some type of process. If you are thinking about putting in effort, you are inventing some type of directive that creates a type of resistance. For every effort filled journey, there seems to be a set of obstacles to overcome. Why is that such a necessity? If we are thinking about putting in effort then we are taking ourselves away from the actual action of doing. The totality of doing. Your mind creates a series of steps to achieve something. The mere thought of putting in effort is a type of resistance. 

When we get so heavily focused on going from step to step, we miss the process that could unfold in front of us. We miss the spontaneity of action when we are so eager to move into the future. Where is learning involved in effort? Effort relies so heavily on the self that it really only deals with justifying, pleasing and enhancing the sense of self. Effort is a construct that ties the value of the self into productivity and achieving goals. We all know how good it feels to achieve goals. It gives a boost of confidence. It makes us want to achieve more goals. Effort just allows for a continuing pattern of achieving goals while inflating the image of the self.

So why not try? Trying is putting in effort. Do we feel like we are putting in effort when we are not trying? Think about it. How many times have we used effort as a means to do something that we do not feel like doing at the time? If we were truly with the process of what needed to get "done" we would not need to think about putting in effort. We would do something and be with the totality of the doing. Effort acts as tool to make us more productive and force ourselves in a way to complete a task. Trying and effort are a distraction of the mind. When we think too much about doing something then we tend to not want to do it anymore. Does it even matter if we want to do something in the first place?

What's the point in trying if you don't know what you are doing in the first place? 

So why put in any effort if it is a deceptive tool based around resistance and enhancement of one's sense of self? Like all things, it's not always simple. The act of trying not to put in effort is effort itself. Do you see? It is the same of trying to get rid of or suppress the ego. It is the ego deceptively enhancing itself. Resistance is created from the self. The self that is a product of time. A self that is a distorted construct to make sense of the world around us. The self that creates an identity of what we think we are as well as what we think we want, like, love and hate.

Recognizing that we are putting in effort is bringing about awareness that we do not need to put in effort. 

The value in effort is understanding effort. It is understanding how we have been conditioned to accept the concept if we need to "make it" in this world. Do artists put in effort when they are in the moment of doing their art? Does it feel like work? Does it feel like a struggle towards or away from something? When people are in tune and in a state of flow, they need no effort. They surrender their attention to what they are doing. This is where the term "effortless" comes into play. They are being the doing. They are doing the being without thinking about it. Can we think back to when we were doing this? When our sense of time dissolved and there was a connection with what you were doing without distraction and without a sense of effort. Think on it. Does it take effort to try to remember the last time you were in a state of flow?

Implementing effort tends to go against the flow of what is. 

Effort begets effort. Effort requires more energy the more it is attempted to be used. Effort has as much power as we give it! 

Do you every try to think really hard on something you wanted to memorize and it isn't coming to mind? What happens when we just let it go and get out of our own way? What happens when let our minds run in the background? Most of the time the answers come to us when we are not seeking them. It's funny how our minds can work so well when we just let them work on their own with little intervention from the "I" trying to intervene. Do you see how effort can be a distraction from doing?

Effort is a program of getting in our own way for the main purpose of getting in our own way. 

Does it take any effort to breathe? No. It is automatic unless we bring conscious attention to it. We can manipulate it and stop it. When we think about the way we were breathing, how does it affect the way we breathe when we think about it? We may stop the natural rhythm or affect it. Most of the time we are not thinking about the way we breathe and our body just does it naturally without any resistance. If we observe how our mind works and how it jumps from one to thing to another, we can start to flow with what needs to be done without rushing or trying to complete a task just to get it "done".

We can tell the difference between a deep natural breath and a forced breath. Relax. 

We all feel like we have to do things that we don't want to do.

Why is that? How much of it deals with the feeling? When we put the feeling first, then we already create a resistance or motivation. Motivation is temporary and not necessarily sustainable. Motivation tends to run dry when we start to lose the energy to sustain it. Feelings and emotions are also fleeting. What if we just see them as visitors and not main motives to complete goals and tasks? What if we stepped back from being a character in our own made up story and see what happens?

Effort deals with moving from what is to what should be. It thrives in the realm of lack and want. When we want to add something to our life, we add in effort to attempt to get to a state where there is less lack. When we get to the place we want to be in the future, we feel like we want more. A hunger to chase a bigger sensation. Effort relies on some type of end sensation. Some type of stimulus worthy of acting out. The act of effort is that act of completing for a certain reason and purpose and not necessarily for the enjoyment or learning experience of the act itself. Effort is enacted from an environment of insecurity.

When we are present with movement and not concerned with the outcomes, we are absent of any effort. 

Overall, effort is subjective. We all have a different image, feeling or idea of what effort means to us. Some of us have been fed what effort should be and why we should we use it. Some of us have taken it and reconstructed to fit our own needs and desires. Although we can define effort in a dictionary, it is only limited to words. The definition of effort cannot define your experience or the way you see the world. Think of effort as a tool that can do more things for others than it could possibly do for you.

Effort ironically comes off as a distraction. A distraction from the flow of things. A way or measuring and making sense of the world around us. It almost seems counter-intuitive to focus so much energy and attention on effort when it takes away from the natural process of doing and being. If you are putting so much energy into effort and not the actual act, what are you even doing? It's a disruption of energy and flow. It can be a limiting of potential. When we focus so much energy on effort, are we even learning?

Why does effort seem like such a hard thing? Why does it seem so laborious and out of the way of what we want or what we think we should be doing?

In reality, when we see something as "hard" we are only coming from a place of ignorance. Hard tasks are mostly made of smaller and easier steps. If you move with each step of a process with no sense of perfect execution or expectation, you can free yourself from the mental block of seeing things as "hard". If you can move with each move that needs to be done without resistance, rush or necessary motive, you can move with the flow of what needs to get done without thinking about it too much. It is thought that creates walls around our perception. We get too attached to the image of the way things should be done that we forget how to actually do things in totality.

If you get frustrated with a small task, slow down breathe and try again. As William Burroughs would say, Do Easy. Why let emotions dictate your next move? Why not a slow sense of peace and attention guide your next move. It does not require effort, only the attention and patience to move with observation and attention. No agenda or frustration. Thinking tends to get in the way with what we think needs to get done.

When you are thinking about putting in effort, stop. Look at what your mind is doing. Do not try to escape it. Let it play out. Let the observation make you see how you have been lead to this moment.

Ask yourself: Do I even need to put in effort? Why have I been listening to people that have told me that I need to put in effort? 

Effort is so reliant on time. Our sense of time tends to be very linear. Very measured and constructed around things that we have to and want to do within a certain time period. Effort requires this framework which can make the mind very routine and rigid. We use time as a means to measure the efficacy of effort. Since effort relies so much on time, it tends to be limited and constrained. It acts like motivation and will eventually lose its luster and productivity. 

Effort thrives on measurement. Measurement is constrained to analytical limits. When we measure, we tend to fragment out perspective. Who is doing the measuring? Measurement is centered around the "me". The self and the "I". Measurement tends to take away from the totality. We break things down into to smaller things. We take those smaller things and compare to other things. Measurement leads to more measurement. An analysis of parts that leads to a distraction from the bigger picture. It takes effort to continually measure things and hold them to our own presuppositions and conditioning. 

The self tends to be the center of measurement. The center is constrained and limited and open to conflict. Any sense of effort and measurement is for the most part driven by conflict and not by spontaneity and curiosity. What are we discovering when we are so focused on putting in effort? 

Since effort is reliant on time and measurement, we can see its main value is contained within these two constructs. Effort cannot exist without the self. The ego is driven by conflict, measurement and effort. What is the value of the self if we are not truly conscious or present with what we are actually "doing"? 

DG