The Subtle Trap Of Trying Too Hard || Alignment

Let 2026 be your commitment to healing and knowing your True Self. Alignments are taken from monthly live offerings in support of that commitment. In this alignment (January 2026), learn to recognize what is often the last peg keeping us from knowing our True Nature, when we assume that we are flawed and need to perfect ourselves first. This sharing includes a Music as Medicine practice.

Transcript

Hello and welcome.

This is Beth and I am here to support your commitment to healing and knowing your true self by offering these monthly alignments that are inspirations and practices around either a healing topic or some facet of our awakening.

Okay,

Let's talk about a subtle trap of trying too hard.

So every sincere seeker eventually falls into the same paradox.

We want awakening and we want it badly so we try everything.

We chase peace,

Love,

Stillness,

But the very effort to get there soon becomes the obstacle.

So many of us strive for awakening,

Happiness,

Fulfillment,

Or love as if they're distant states that we must achieve.

However,

They are not something we can force or manufacture.

When we have to fix some aspects of ourselves before we can know who we truly are and that's the myth.

And when we believe in that myth,

We fall into the trap of trying too hard because we're trying to make something happen that doesn't need to happen.

In truth,

Light doesn't even need to be created.

It's always there.

You are that light.

Our work is simply to remove the layers that obscure it.

This is at the heart of nearly every wisdom tradition.

The Buddha called it removing the defilements.

The Sufis called it polishing the mirror of the heart.

In the Christian mystic tradition,

It's cleansing the doors of perception.

And because there seems to be work to do,

We tend to think there's something wrong with us that we must fix.

We start our journey from a misguided assumption that one of my former teachers used to call the myth of our imperfection.

And when we start our journey from that place,

We go forward with that assumption in place and it colors everything that we do.

If we believe we're somehow imperfect at the very start of our quest,

We're already operating with or from a powerful falsehood that will usurp and expend a lot of unnecessary energy.

At some point,

It becomes a trap.

We just are never thinking we're good enough.

We're never getting anywhere.

We cannot quicken our awakening for the same reason the heart can't be commanded to love and a flower can't be commanded to blossom.

All of our efforts to perfect ourselves must be kept in perspective.

The mind can only prepare the space,

But the flowering happens on its own through grace.

I was listening to a satsanga teaching by Muji,

Who you may be aware of.

He's a non-dual teacher.

He was saying how there's nothing we can do.

We can't force the awakening,

But it's important to never stop trying.

I thought that was such a beautiful and relevant saying for misalignment.

We must first and foremost be willing to consider that we might actually be perfect already in our true nature.

So I'm not talking about our person,

The persona,

The identity.

This doesn't mean that we stop our practices and we sit back and do nothing.

It means we work skillfully on what we actually can do,

Which is clearing the clutter and misunderstandings that blocks what's already present.

Awakening happens naturally when the obstacles to awareness are released.

Peace arises when resistance softens.

Love flows when the fear of our imperfection is no longer guarding our door.

When we stop taking everything,

Including ourselves,

Personally.

And this quote from Rumi,

Just to reiterate,

Your task is not to seek for love.

It's what you are.

But merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

So the art of removing obstacles.

Is it not obvious that the sun is always shining,

Even on a cloudy day?

Sometimes it's not so obvious.

You are the sun,

Not the clouds.

Each obstacle we remove,

Be it an old story,

A self-judgment,

Or an unprocessed emotion,

Is like a cloud.

Removing it allows more of our natural state to shine through.

In practical terms,

The work of healing might look like acknowledging pain instead of bypassing it,

Or denying it.

Breathing into tension instead of resisting it.

Choosing gentleness over constant self-improvement.

Seeing others as mirrors rather than enemies.

And being disciplined in our practices.

None of this arises from the idea that we are inherently flawed.

None of these force awakening.

But all of it invites it.

The work isn't glamorous.

It's daily.

It's patient and humble.

Noticing tension,

Meeting resistance,

And allowing space for life to move again.

But this is the real alchemy.

Removing what is false,

So the true can shine.

This is what these alignments are all about.

And this is what a commitment to healing and knowing your true self is all about.

So consciousness is not an achievement.

Trying to make ourselves enlightened is just another form of wanting to control.

And awakening turns into just another egoic self-improvement project,

Disguised as spirituality.

You are already divine,

That's the truth of your being.

But that divinity is covered up by all that other stuff you think you are.

It's all in the head.

But genuine awakening is an undoing,

Not a doing.

It happens when we stop defending,

Pretending,

And forcing.

Modern neuroscience and ancient wisdom are meeting around this shared insight.

Consciousness expands through integration,

Not domination.

Imagine that.

Living the practice.

So also every month I will offer up some journal prompts.

Journaling is a really good way to gain some clarity,

To work through things.

And so if that is something that you like to do,

I'll give you some ideas to work with this month's theme.

Am I ready to embrace,

Or at least consider the notion,

That I am essentially perfect already?

And so get really curious about what it means,

And just follow the trail,

See where it leads you.

What am I trying too hard to make happen right now?

So this month,

When you catch yourself striving to overcome yourself,

And this can include wanting to feel better,

Wanting to push away something uncomfortable,

Ask yourself what feeling you are pushing away or against,

And maybe ask why.

That question alone can bring you back into alignment with what's real.

And often,

Right there in softening around what is uncomfortable,

A quiet peace arrives.

The world doesn't need more people trying to be spiritual,

Or prove how spiritual they already are.

It needs those committed to knowing,

And disciplined enough to merit the grace of knowing.

It needs more people willing to simply be spacious enough to let the light through.

When we stop building walls,

Awakening walks in on its own.

As our practice this month,

I offer up music as medicine.

Simply let the words wash over you and through you.

Take it in.

In fact,

Before I start playing it,

Go ahead and just make sure that you're sitting comfortably.

Maybe feet on the floor,

Back straight,

Rest your hands on your lap perhaps,

Just whatever's comfortable,

But so that you can relax.

And then just feel yourself grounding into whatever surface you're on.

Feel how it supports your body.

Breathe.

In each exhalation,

Drop any tension that you may be holding.

Drop any residual emotional energy from the day.

Drop as much as you can your sense of self,

Who you are on the personal identity level.

Relax.

Let tension in the face,

Jaw,

Eyes,

Melt.

And with that melting,

Let it continue into the muscles of the neck and shoulders.

Deeper now.

Into the muscles around the heart.

And down into the solar plexus.

Lower abdomen.

Draining down,

Down the legs,

Through the feet.

Relax.

Letting go.

Letting go of holding,

Of resistance.

And being willing to accept that you may already be absolutely perfect.

So,

Thank you so much.

Until next time,

Be gentle with yourself.

Bye-bye for now.

Reviews

Thank you Beth. This was really great.

Such a profound topic 🌟
Really enjoyed the song as well. Were you singing on it ?
Thanks Beth so appreciate all you share 💖