You Don’t Have to Do It

Do you ever feel stuck when you have to do something – and you don’t want to?

What do you think about giving yourself permission not to do it?

Whatever “it” is, you likely don’t have to do it. There might be repercussions, but that’s different from needing to do something.

Many of the things we have to do are based on self-imposed rules and requirements. We are the ones setting up the conditions and then holding ourselves accountable.

If that’s the case, then you really don’t have to do it. That means you could do something else or nothing at all.

If you can embrace the idea that you don’t have to do it, you will find yourself enormously liberated. It is amazingly empowering.

‘Going with the flow’

The idea of not having to do something is part of the concept of ‘going with the flow.’ When you ‘go with the flow,’ you take the next step as naturally and effortlessly as possible. It means letting go of the need to plan and schedule. It means being open to what ever happens next.

Or said differently, choosing not to do what you think you have to do if something else feels better.

We’ve noticed that as we practice ‘going with the flow,’ we see many more ‘coincidences’ than before. We actively try not to force things and choose to go with what’s next. We’ve learned when we do that, what we ask for does not always show up in the form we expect.

For example, Beth recently set the intention that she wanted public speaking opportunities to come to us. She didn’t want to pound the pavement the way we’ve all learned you’re supposed to do to be successful.

As soon as she put the intention out there, a bunch of opportunities popped up – but not as we expected them.

Organizations didn’t start calling us. Instead, several networking events showed up, plus a volunteer position appeared where we can reach out to organizations we are interested in contacting. We still get to do the work, but it’s different than what we thought it might look like.

That’s the way it happens

Beth and I still have entrenched beliefs around the relationship between effort and reward. The idea of getting things for free is still challenging for us to acknowledge, but we actively monitor our thinking today to continue learning.

Now we try to limit the requirements we put on ourselves.

As we continue to observe the Universe as it twists and turns to deliver what we ask for, we are also learning to be open to possibilities that show up in ways that may be quite different than our expectations.