The Law of Least Effort: Achieving More With Less – Rev. Linda Jackson
This video features the Sunday “talk” only. Watch the full service on our Facebook page.
DESCRIPTION
The essence of The Law of Least Effort is to let go of resistance, stop striving to control outcomes, and trust that life supports you. Through this practice you can conserve energy, find more peace, and experience the ease of achieving more with less effort. Join us this Sunday to discover how the path of least resistance often leads to the greatest results.
SUMMARY
Rev. Linda Jackson discusses the fourth spiritual law in the book “Seven Spiritual Laws of Success” by Deepak Chopra – the law of least effort. The essence of this law is that when you trust life is supporting you, you can let go of resistance and control, conserve energy, and achieve more with less effort. The key principles are acceptance, responsibility, and defenselessness. By accepting situations as they are, taking responsibility for your response, and letting go of the need to defend or convince, you can experience life with greater ease and flow. Rev. Linda shares a personal example of applying these principles in her experience of being “residentially fluid” during a home renovation project, and guides the audience through a contemplative exercise to reflect on areas of their own life where they can practice the art of allowing rather than resisting or forcing outcomes.
TRANSCRIPTION
This transcription was auto-generated, please excuse typos, errors and omissions.
Rev. Linda Jackson (00:00):
I don’t know about you, but I feel like we can all go home now. That was amazing. Thank you so much. So I am just so happy to be here. This is like a delicious little energy in the room and it’s such a great way to start the Thanksgiving week. So much to be grateful for all of you online. That goes to you too because it’s us creating this together, right? I’m remember Linda, I use she her pronouns. And we are in our November, December theme, this idea of thriving together. And it’s about extending, expanding our capacity for good, whether that means greater physical wellbeing, relationships, finances, job, more time nature. But before we thrive together, we have to move from surviving and striving to thriving in the first place to an abundance mindset. And then we can come together and thrive collectively. And I love this idea of thriving together. I live the idea that there’s more than enough for everyone. And we here know that this is true. We have created this. We have created this space, this place. And again, whether you’re in the room or online as a community, we made this happen. And that’s a big deal. And in that way, we are already thriving together.
(01:46):
Oops. So we are four weeks in on our book, the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra. And every week we’re looking at one of the seven spiritual laws. And as always, it is our intention that we take these principles and learn how to apply them so that we can cultivate a more intentional life to consciously create. So we’re consciously creating this idea of thriving. And this is where we are. We’ve been through the first three of the first four laws and today we’re working on the fourth law, the law of leaster. And these laws in my experience are not just cut and dry. They sort of interweave and repeat concepts within them. But the first law, the law of pure potentiality, it’s funny. No wonder I can’t see the law of pure potentiality, is the idea that at our essence we are infinite, we are unlimited, and we have to come to know ourselves as that infinite nature break out of limited thinking of not enoughness.
(03:03):
We have to embrace our limitless potential. And it’s one of the things that I love about affirmative prayer. The prayer, the way we practice prayer here, because we recognize God as infinite potential and then we unify with it. We align ourselves with it. We recognize ourselves as individual expressions of that infinite potential. And in this process we expand our consciousness, we open ourselves. And then the second law, the law of giving and receiving, and this is the idea that life flows through the act of giving and receiving. We practice it here. We hand out affirmation cards. We offer these inspirational talks and we receive your gifts to help support the sustenance of this community.
(04:00):
Life flows through giving and receiving. Love flows through giving and receiving. The invitation is to give freely and receive gratefully. And for some who tend to be givers and not so good at receiving, we have to remember there can be no giver without a receiver. So it’s equally important for us to learn to receive. And this getting in the flow of giving and receiving supports us to have that experience of unlimited potential. Again, expanding our consciousness to a greater idea of our good. And then the third law, the law of karma or cause and effect. And simply speaking, this is just that for every action creates a consequence, right? And without feeling guilty or dwelling on regret, we can look back, we can reflect on past choices to help us make better decisions going forward.
(05:08):
All of this is just a sort of high level summary of these laws. I really encourage you to look back at the recordings. That’s one of the off some things about recording these services. If you miss one, you can listen to the recording. But when I think of cause and effect, I think of the science of mind teaching symbol. We have conscious mind, subconscious mind, and the world of form. Our thoughts are cause they move through the subconscious, the law and our experience is the effect. Thoughts become things. And we are here to become intentional with our thoughts, to learn to intentionally choose what we are putting into the law, to clear the subconscious and have a clear out picturing of what we desire.
(06:03):
So today we are moving into the law of least effort, but I’m giving you a little sneak peek. What’s coming up? The law of intention and desire, the law of detachment and the law of dharma. And I’m sorry, I’m just a graphic designer so I can’t help it. I have to do things in these sort of orderly ways. So today, the law of leased effort, according to Deepak Chopra, the essence of the law of leased effort is that when you trust that life is supporting you, you can let go of resistance. You can stop trying to control the outcome.
(06:44):
When you let go of resistance and control, not only do you save energy, can conserve energy, you free up that energy to use it more creatively and you can achieve more with less effort. So have you ever experienced that idea of when you stop efforting, something came to you more easily? Because when we’re pushing and striving, it creates a resistance or a contraction. And when we’re contracted or gripping, we’re not at ease. We don’t have that peace. We don’t have that flow. Years ago, a friend of mine who was struggling in relationship, I think she was on her second or third marriage, I don’t recall. She was seeing a therapist and the therapist told her, what happens when you keep reaching towards someone? It’s their natural reaction to pull back, right? It’s a sort of energetic reaction, a contraction. And when you stop that grasping their space for some ease, something else is possible.
(08:04):
Abraham Hicks asks, are you practicing the art of allowing or the art of disallowing? Are you practicing the art of allowing yourself to be in sync with who you really are? And remember who you are is a true extension of source energy, limited potential. That’s who you were born to be. So that’s that first law of pure potentiality, knowing yourself as one with the infinite nature of life, when we get caught up in constructs and stories and limited ideas of how things are supposed to be, how we thought they should be, we resist how things are. And for those of you who remember Byron Katie, it’s a nod to Byron Katie loving. What is when we are worried about something, when we’re in fear, we are spending negative energy contracting the flow. We’re not in the art of allowing, if I’m reacting to what someone else thinks about me or about someone else or something else. When I think something should be different than it is, I’m practicing the art of disallowing.
(09:33):
And I’m not saying that you should stay in abuse or in a bad situation. I’m talking about having the self-awareness to notice how I am being I reacting, whether it’s a family member, significant other coworker, when I contract, I’m disallowing. When I’m striving, when I’m grasping, I’m disallowing. And for anyone who hasn’t been around the last few months, I am what I’m calling residentially fluid. And for those of you who have been around, you’re probably wishing I would come up with another major life event to share with you. But this has been an incredible opportunity for growth. There’s always the opportunity for us to say, what’s here for me? What can I learn from this? So a very quick recap for those who are new to the story. I bought a place with my son a few months ago. We’re doing a gut rehab and I’m choosing not to pay both that mortgage and rent another place and pay for the construction. So with my life the way it is, this is my choice. And I’ve been blessed to stay with friends and family, an occasional Airbnb. I’ve used the opportunity to take trips. I’ve visited people that I haven’t seen for a while. It’s really been lovely for the most part, but it’s also been physically exhausting.
(11:12):
I said to someone recently, it’s funny that I sort of put myself in a position where I have to receive right? When it talks about the flow of giving and receiving, I tend to be a doer, a giver. And it’s not been easy for me to receive all the generosity from people and I feel guilty. I’m living at their expense. I make up all these stories. But the fact is I’ve been having really beautiful opportunities to deepen relationships. So my daughter is one of the most important people in my life and I’m getting the sense that she doesn’t approve.
(11:58):
And in fact, she’s probably just worried about my wellbeing. And even though I kind of understand that, I get that intellectually, I notice the part of me who wants her approval, the three on the Enneagram part of me needs her to think I’m good. And it’s really helpful that I know this about myself because when she’s projecting, which is what it feels like to me, something at me, instead of me being in a triggered reaction and then having it become something I can just notice, oh, there’s that part of me that feels like she doesn’t like how I am. And I can just do some work around that. I can call in all my prayer partners, which I do. I have prayer partners almost every day of the week, and they help me remember the truth of who I am, that infinite nature, that unlimited potential. And it doesn’t have to look the way someone else might think it should look.
(13:09):
And being in that practice of prayer and remembering infinite possibility, I can let go of self-judgment because that’s what it comes down to, me judging myself. And I can also let go of worrying about what someone else thinks I can lean into the art of allowing. So I’m going to just touch on a few points that were from today’s reading, the Deepak Chopra reading from the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. So this law of least effort, the law is based on the fact that nature’s intelligence functions with effortless ease. The principle of least action of no resistance, the principle of harmony and love. We’re invited to learn this lesson from nature. When we practice least action, no resistance, we more easily fulfill our desires. Because when I’m gripping, when I’m striving, I’m not in harmony, I’m not in love, I have to let go. I have to relax to return to my true nature, and then I can actually experience harmony and love.
(14:29):
And when you observe nature, you see least effort is expended. And I love how he says grass doesn’t try to grow, it just grows fish. Don’t try to swim, they just swim. Flowers don’t try to bloom, they bloom. Birds don’t try to fly, they fly. It’s their intrinsic nature. And our intrinsic nature is that unlimited potential, that infinite possibility. I mean, doesn’t it just feel better saying that? I mean it does to me. I’m the one saying it. Does it feel better hearing that it is human nature to make our dreams manifest into physical form easily and effortlessly? What are we creating? Are you allowing or disallowing? Are you in contraction and gripping? Are you fighting against or are you open and in flow and allowing love to be your predominant experience?
(15:29):
And continuing the nature theme. Letting go doesn’t mean giving up intentions. It means planting our intentions mindfully and letting them grow, letting them flourish. I shared about the science of mind creative process. And using that same metaphor, we plant seeds of thought from conscious mind into the soil of the law or the subconscious mind where the law is operating and the seeds grow to match the beliefs of the subconscious mind. So if we can get our conscious mind and our subconscious mind aligned, we will grow the seeds that we planted. But once we plant the seeds, we need to let them go. We need to let them grow. We can’t keep digging them up. We can’t say, oh, is this one going to be three inches tall? Is this one going to make it a foot? We got to just let them grow, let them become what they’re going to become or they wouldn’t make it.
(16:36):
Letting go is crucial for moving forward. It does not mean letting go of your goals or desires. It means letting them flourish, allowing them to become. We have to trust that our intentions will unfold organically and to let go of an attachment to a certain outcome. So in this experience of buying the three flat, it was a huge letting go. I let go of the comforts of my home. I let go of a large part of my savings. I let go of controlling the outcome. While I have to practice that every day because I’m in a construction project and there is no final outcome, clear, it’s like it changes every day.
(17:31):
That’s why I call it residentially fluid. I have to stay fluid as well as the fact that I’m living in a fluid way. And since the intention is to ultimately get another building or two, my son wants to have four in five years, I think he’s going to kill me in the process. But if we actually do get another building soon, I will not be settling down very quickly. I have to stay fluid for a while. So it’s required me to be in this sort of flow. And from the beginning, the search itself, the property search, the purchase, it was like the universe aligned. Things just worked out. Everything fell into place. I had to let go. And in this process of moving around, opportunities have kept presenting themself, generous friends who were willing to have me in their home for a week and deepen our connection or who were willing to let me stay when they were on vacation or the opportunity to support someone after surgery and visiting friends that I don’t normally get to see. It’s been really wonderful when I let go and just let it happen.
(18:55):
I originally thought it was going to last two or three months, approaching month five, and after about four months, I started to hit a wall. Like I said, it’s started to physically be exhausting. And I kind of felt like if I have to move my suitcase in and out of my car one more time, I might lose my mind. So I started looking at short-term rentals, looking at Airbnbs, what might I do to make this a little easier on myself physically? And it really sort of defeats the purpose to pay that to pay rent and a mortgage and the construction. I’m not really saving anything there.
(19:42):
And even the phrase hitting the wall, it doesn’t sound like the art of allowing does it. So I had to shift. And again, I called on all my prayer partners and really opening to remember that something else is possible and that I don’t necessarily know how to figure it out, that the universe can conspire on my hat behalf like nature. Nature works itself out. I have to trust the process. And if I rent an apartment right now, it would be sort of digging up the plants. And then out of nowhere, actually out of infinite possibility, a friend of a friend sent me a text saying, I’m leaving town Saturday if you want to stay at my place. And I thought, well, you know what? I’m leaving town. This was last week. I’m leaving town too. I have to take a trip and I am not sure if the timing’s going to work out and that is this unbelievably generous and kind of you, but I am not sure the timing’s going to work. How long are you going to be gone? And she said Till June.
(20:57):
Yeah, a friend of a friend, very generous offer, not even someone I know very well. And of course I thanked her and I’m so grateful. And we made some clear agreements because I know clear agreements eliminate drama, but it’s really unbelievable. I could have never come up with that solution on my own. I open to the flow of life, I put it back to God, the infinite intelligence, the limitless potential. I am still in awe. So for the law of least effort, PAC Chopra gives us these three concepts for how to put the do less and accomplish more principle into action, acceptance, responsibility, and defenselessness acceptance is this idea of accepting what is. Embracing situations as they are without trying to control the outcome, without trying to manipulate or change it. And to remember that everything is as it should be based on nature. Everything that we are experiencing now is the culmination of everything that has been put into action up until this point. It is as it should be. It’s based on your previous choices decisions. It’s that law of karma, right?
(22:23):
And Chopra says, when you struggle against this moment, you’re actually struggling against the entire universe. That’s a really powerful quote. And you can make the decision to not struggle against the whole universe by choosing to not struggle in this moment. You have to accept things as they are, not as you wish they were. He also says, when you feel frustrated or upset by a person or situation, remember you are not reacting to the person or the situation, but to your feelings about the person or the situation. Just like my story with my daughter, it’s triggering something in me.
(23:11):
Your feelings are not someone else’s fault. When you recognize and understand that, then you take responsibility. When you accept things as they are, you are ready to take responsibility for your situation, for anything that you see as a problem. And a responsibility is that second point in the law of leased effort. When you take responsibility, when you’re accepting how things are, you can have a creative response to the situation as it is now. So upsets become opportunities and tormentors become your teachers. When your internal reference point, another Deepak Chopra quote, when your internal reference point is the ego, when you seek power and control over other people or seek approval from others, you spend energy in a wasteful way When that energy is freed up, it can be rec, channelled, and used to create anything you want.
(24:30):
And when your internal reference point is your spirit, you are immune to criticism and fearful of any challenge. And you can harness the power of love. You can use energy creatively for the experience of affluence, evolution for however you want, as long as it harms no one. And the difference there is your internal reference point being ego. You’re seeking power, control, approval, and your internal reference point as spirit, you’re harnessing the power of love. So when your internal reference point is spirit, you can experience defenselessness. You can let go of the need to defend or convince, and you regain all of that energy, all the energy that you’ve wasted on trying to convince someone you were right. When you stop resisting, you can experience the present moment you experience spirit. That’s where we experience God is in the present moment, not tomorrow.
(25:53):
So when you release defensiveness, resentment, you feel more lighthearted, joyful. And then our desires are born from happiness and not from fear. It is through acceptance, responsibility, and defenselessness that we experience life with ease. So I’m going to put this into some practice. If you’re willing, I invite you to turn your attention inward if you’re comfortable closing your eyes, if not, whatever works for you to create a sort of contemplative state. And just give yourself a moment to take a couple of deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling at your own pace a couple of times, a couple breath cycles, allowing yourself to sort of sink into your seat, to really feel your body, to really feel yourself fully present.
(27:07):
And I invite you to reflect on a situation in your life where you are currently meeting resistance or perhaps trying to force an outcome. Just allow that to rise up a situation where you are currently meeting resistance or trying to force an outcome. Once you’ve identified that resistance or forcing, I invite you to ask, what do you lose or miss out on by resisting or forcing? What do you gain by missing, by resisting or forcing? How does this keep you in your patterns? And what would it be like if you accepted this situation just as it is without judgment?
(28:46):
Imagine letting go of the need to control the outcome, trusting that the universe has a plan, the universe is operating on your behalf. Imagine how might things unfold when you align with ease instead of struggle. How might things just naturally resolve themself? Just feel into this for a moment. And then consider what is one small action in the coming week where you can consciously practice letting go. Set that intention for yourself to practice consciously letting go. Taking that step this week and just remembering that when you open to all points of view, when you lean in, when you get curious, when you’re not rigidly attached, as you open your dreams and desires will flow. Like nature flows. You can put out your intentions without attachment. And just know that in the appropriate time, in the appropriate season, your desires and intentions will bloom when it’s time.
(30:45):
This is the law of least effort. And I’m going to close with a prayer and tapping into that idea of God as infinite potential, as unlimited possibility, as expansive, generative, creative, knowing that it is infinite, that it contains everything that could ever be, everything that has ever been. It is all there is. And opening myself to recognize myself as an individual point in that consciousness. I am an individual expression of the infinite. I am one with all that God is. I am one with that generative creative nature, that unlimited potential, that limitless possibility, the freedom, the abundance, the love, the harmony, all that God is here for me when I open myself to it. And since we are individual expressions of the divine, I know it is true for everyone. Hearing this prayer. Every individual is an individualized point, an expression of the divine, of that infinite possibility, that creative nature, the harmony, the abundance, the love.
(32:08):
So from that place, I just speak a word of gratitude for the coming together of consciousness to remember this truth, gratitude for this space to practice and explore our spirituality. Gratitude for this teaching that supports us in opening ourselves to experience more freedom, more joy, more abundance in our lives. And I affirm that each one who says yes to this is expanded this week. Letting go. Letting go of controlling, letting go of gripping, letting go of limited thoughts and expanding into greater and greater good. Greater and greater freedom. Greater and greater love. And I’m so grateful, so grateful for the fulfillment of this prayer. I release it into the law that always and only says yes. And with gratitude, I let it go and call it good. And together we say, and so it’s amen.
(33:21):
Thank you Reverend Linda.