life is easy

Today we ask that you hear that life is easy.

It is okay if you don’t believe it.  All that is asked is that you hear it.

Most of you were taught from an early age that life is hard.

You were taught this by parents who believed that life is hard.

And your parents were taught by their parents that life is hard.

And on and on back into remote history, humans have been believing “life is hard.”

It is encoded into your religions.  You are told, you have fallen out of Eden, so life must be hard.  You are in the wheel of birth and death and karma, so life must be hard.

But actually, life is not hard.

Butterflies do not believe life is hard.

Animals do not believe life is hard.

They may experience pain, fear, and discomfort.  But they do not go around believing “life is hard.”  Only humans do that.

“Life is hard” is a belief.  It is not a fact.

It is all a matter of perspective.

Some people believe that life is hard because they are poor.

But of course very rich people also believe life is hard.  There are not many rich people who believe their lives are easy.

In fact, a rich person might look at someone with relatively little money, who lives a simpler life, and think: “That person’s life seems so easy and uncomplicated.”

Parents with young children think that life is hard.

But couples who desire children but cannot have them also think that life is hard.

People who have a lot of work to do think that life is hard.

But people who are not employed also think that their life is hard.

Can you see that it is a matter of perspective?

Really, life is easy.

You wake up.

There are things to do.

When you are not doing things, you rest.

That is how animals see it.

The problem is, humans spend too much time thinking about problems when nothing bad is actually happening to them.

So instead of resting when it is time to rest, you think about problems.

That’s why so many of you are tired all the time.

It would be good for many of you to play with the idea that “life is easy.”

Notice how this is true.

Consider all your modern conveniences.  Consider how easy it is for most of you to eat and drink and stay clean.

Consider the warmth of your bed at night.

Consider how easy it is for you to communicate with someone all the way across the world.

If you think about it, you may see many ways that your life is easy.

And if you tell yourself “life is easy,” and teach your children that “life is easy,” your life may transform in interesting ways.

It is okay if you feel a lot of resistance around this idea.  It is natural, since most of you learned in early childhood that “life is hard.’

And yet life is easy.