I was in the Redwood National Forest Information Center in Crescent City, California recently.  I wanted information on possible hikes in the local area. The Ranger recommended a short hike, accessed via a road he recommended traveling as well.  I had asked for about 3 hours worth of hikes with a rating of easy to moderate.

He sort of apologized for the shortness of the hike and the ease of driving the road.  He then justified – or at least that is how it felt to me – the drive.  He said both the drive and the hike had some of the most amazing trees to look at.

Here’s the possibility for exploration – I actually needed him to justify the drive and explain the ease of the hike.  In my mind I was thinking “How can it be worth it?  What could I see in a 30 minute hike?  Driving?  That doesn’t seem very nature like.”

It all comes down to my underlying beliefs.  There is one that comes up a lot of me and I suspect for many of you too – if it isn’t hard, if it doesn’t take effort, then it can’t be good enough, or it can’t be worth it.  Let me say that another way – if I don’t work hard, if it doesn’t take me a lot of effort, then I’m not good enough, I’m not worth it, and whatever I’ve produced or done isn’t good enough.

Hmmm…who says it all has to be hard?  As I explore my gifts and what I’m meant to do in this world, I keep coming up against this belief.  Here’s the trick about your gifts – they are often the things you do with ease, things you don’t even know you are doing when you do them so readily and easily.

Here’s an example.  I’m a good listener.  I’ve always been a good listener.  I didn’t know I was a good listener.  My friends did.  They tell me that’s why they always call me when they have something to work through, when they need someone to listen. But I didn’t spend 10 years doing various degrees at university learning how to listen.  So how can listening be something of value? I haven’t worked hard to learn how to do it and I have ease around it.

What if accomplishment and value didn’t have to come from “hard”?  What if living life, coming from an energy of ease was enough?  Was magnificent?