I just noticed how happy I am today. I started writing the photography article in the morning because I felt like doing it. Then when I was tired of working on that, I did the next thing I felt like doing. Now I'm about to go to the studio to do some things I'm eager to do.
Effortlessness feels very good indeed.
These times of relative effortlessness make me more keenly aware of what it's like when I try to use force on myself. I "should" do this. I "have to" do that. If I don't do this, I'm afraid this will happen, or that will happen. Of course, any pressure on me creates an equal and opposing force of resistance. (People in relationships quickly learn this fact of life.)
One nice thing about not using force on myself, is that I'm less tempted to try to use it on others. No, I don't pull out a gun and threaten people with it. But like all of us, I have my ways of using force. Like most liberals with a nice hippie/radical background, I can be quite subtle about it. Haven't you noticed how pressured a peacenik can make one feel?
Force can be mental - "shoulds" and "logic." Force can be emotional, as in emotional blackmail or conditional love. Force can even be spiritual, as in "I'll pray that..." or "I'll visualize you doing..." "I'll put a curse on you" is a more blatant use of spiritual force. Of course there's always physical force, but that's usually the least effective for any longterm effect.
As I grow older, I wish less to force other people to behave as I want them to do. (I just said less; I didn't say never. OK, would you believe "less than all the time?") This is partly because I've learned how often I'm wrong about the best thing to do.
This is consistently true in relation to my daughter. If I think she's making a poor choice, I can be positive that she'll turn out to be right and I'll turn out to be wrong. So I've learned to apply this to other people as well, even though they may not be as smart or wise as she.
Mostly though, I still just treasure freedom. I love feeling wild and free. I want that for us all: wild, free, effortlessness.
4:16:47 PM 
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