The easy path is the one that I know that so many of us would like to take.

Where everything is comfortable and pleasant, where we don’t have to face difficult moments.

However, I don’t believe that anyone really gets to that point!

Life will always have its difficult moments, but the thing is, there is always a way to get through them.

You see, the problem with wanting things to always be easy is that it stops us from intentionally pursuing challenging situations.

Why is that a problem?  Because those difficulties that we go through are where true growth begins.

We learn more from trying and failing than we ever could from not trying at all.

That’s because life experiences have the potential to humble us, open our hearts, and fill us with gratitude.

Take a marathon as an example.  You actually achieve a sense of accomplishment from just running it, not from winning it.

All those thousands of people that sign up for the marathon do it because that feeling of accomplishment comes from effort …. And that my friends is the actual achievement.

When we constantly choose the path of least resistance it will end up taking us further from where we ultimately want to be (physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally).

I’m not talking about you actually signing up and running a marathon, I’m talking about not whining about results we don’t get from effort we refuse to make.

The change within you starts when you acknowledge the difference between “Difficult” and “Impossible.”

Why are we so quick to give up when things seem hard?

Take something as simple as removing a screw from a piece of wood. It is possible but impractical to remove it with a butter knife, it’s easier with an actual screwdriver, and a breeze with a power drill.

Spiritual practice is about developing new tools through sheer determination to get the screw unstuck, whether that means using a nail file to remove it, or diligently working for years to get that power drill, any progress is better than none.

Determination, purpose, and intention propel us forward in life.

We are already perfect the way we are, yet we can all use a little improvement.

There is no guilt, no shame, and no regrets; just experiments and lessons.

That’s why Zen practice, specifically, is about not turning away from painful thoughts or feelings, but turning toward them, and looking at them directly, until they are not so scary anymore.

So, don’t avoid challenges, get curious about them.

They are there to challenge you, after all, not to stop you in your tracks.

We all feel “stuck” in one way or another, whether it’s in our way of thinking or our way of being.

It’s why I made a bucket list of things I didn’t want to do or face, and then proceeded to do them!

You need to find out what feels uncomfortable for you and to acknowledge THAT is your starting point.

To make any progress on our spiritual path, we need to get out of our own way.

There is a lot here to unpack, so start by questioning whether what you’ve deemed “insurmountable” is really just difficult.

Sometimes all you need is some confidence and effort to put one foot in front of the other, even when the path isn’t easy.

To quote the Shawshank Redemption, “Get busy living, or get busy dying.”