Plenty of Effort, Not Enough Time
I'm discovering and hearing over and over again that there are no short cuts on this journey towards enlightenment. Two commodities are required: time and effort.
Effort is required to break our old habits of living an ordinary life and pulling ourselves up a few notches until we are living elevated lives with elevated thoughts, words and actions.
Effort becomes lax when we believe the myth, 'I've got plenty of time to... - I'll make effort tomorrow.' What we don't realize is that transformation from ordinary to elevated does not happen overnight. It requires changing our thought patterns and this takes time - lots of it. In Raja Yoga, it is recommended that you spend 8 hours a day on this effort. Eight hours for sleeping, eight hours for working, eight hours for meditation. Why so much time? Because that is how much time it takes!
My first reaction is, 'I don't have that much time, I should give up!' But if we're honest with ourselves, giving up is not really on the cards. Giving up doesn't make things better. Instead, let me start now with 5 minutes. And increase the amount daily. When I make a habit of putting some time aside, then it accumulates.
Om shanti.
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