Working Harder is Not the Answer
It’s not unlike swimming… not that I’m an expert at swimming—I’d drown if I had to tread water for more than a minute—but that’s my point…
Working harder doesn’t help when you’re already working.
Yes, working harder helps if you’re sedentary. But most people (probably you, certainly me) are already working. For us, working harder isn’t the answer—in fact, it’s likely to hurt more than it helps.
That’s what I’ve heard about swimming anyway—working harder at swimming, thrashing and flailing about, is a quick way to run out of energy and drown one’s self. It’s how big strong dads get pulled out to sea trying to save their child from a riptide.
Strength is not the answer. At least, not that kind of strength.
In repentance and rest is your salvation.__In quiet and trust is your strength.
Muscle without flexibility is weak.Work without trust is impotent.
Speaking for myself, my work-harder muscles are plenty big. It’s my ability to _trust_that needs help.
And even as I write that, I immediately think of ways to work harder at trusting.
Do you see how deep this goes?Can you relate?
How do we learn to trust?
We learn trust—we can also call it faith—not by doing, but by _un_doing.
Here is the place in this writing where I’d like to share a sure-fire way to “do less and trust more,” but I don’t have one.
The best I can offer is a hunch—something my intuition has been pointing me toward repeatedly over the past decade:
Open—listen, look, feel, taste, sense. Really do this. Give it a full minute. And while you do…
Let—turn off judgment, don’t change anything, let it all in. Let it all be (“it” includes whatever you sense in yourself).
It’s impossible to worry while in wonder.
Notice what happens in your body when you let yourself wonder…
This is how trust feels.
This is where we’re headed. Not to a life we can explain or understand, but to life, embodied.
Our culture has been stuck in our head. Look at the internet—an extension of our thoughts. We literally had to build an infinite digital library to house our thoughts, and it’s still not enough.
When will we realize that who and what we are cannot be contained, explained, or understood?
Our life can only be lived.
I’m calling out to my flailing friends today—stop working so hard!
For just one minute, today, stop treading water. See what happens. You will not drown; you will sink into your full self, out of just your head and into your whole self. Life, embodied. This is where we’re headed.
You won’t drown, but you may exhaust yourself! You don’t have to. It’s safe to rest. Your true strength and security are in your ability and courage to trust.
I’m going to practice this today. I invite you to do the same.
Today’s challenge: smell a flower; taste your food; really look, really listen; wonder. That’s it.
If you do this, reach out to share what you find—we’re not alone on this journey, so let’s talk as we go!