The Effortless, Everything; Flow With Life

Join Tiger in this episode as he discusses the concept of swimming upstream for a future prize, the importance of understanding one's genuine interests, and how it can lead to an effortless life. He emphasizes the importance of honoring oneself and recognizing the love that's already present.

Transcript

Now here's the disaster. You're swimming upstream for a future prize. And what do you find out when you get that prize? That something in the future that you thought was so important in this moment, What is it other than an idea of some imaginary sense of self-importance, Which is completely ephemeral? It's not really here. And so often we can chase these future prizes, Completely neglecting the miracle we've been given. We don't honor ourselves. And then by default, It makes it impossible to honor anything else that's real. Because we're so preoccupied with this fantasy of tomorrow where the world will finally approve. The effortless everything flow with life. The effortlessness, Something that's been pointed to spiritually speaking throughout time, Find the effortless. And then we wonder, Is that even really possible to live an effortless life? Is that real? Because the life I'm living doesn't seem like it's effortless. I feel like I'm trying all the damn time. But as always, These are just words, Silly, Silly words, Attempting to point to something beyond the words themselves. And so that's what I'm going to do as well. I'm going to use these silly words of love, Compassion, And freedom. And hopefully you'll make contact with that love, Compassion, And freedom more than trying to remember the words I'm saying. Because you can just forget everything I say and take with you the good stuff, Which is what's recognized as deeply true within what you are. As a playful pointer, There's two types of effort. There is the anxious effort that exhaustingly swims upstream trying to get somewhere. And then there is the effort that arises from a genuine curiosity that unfolds itself into discovery. This of which is an effort that flows downstream. And I like this illustration, Swimming upstream or flowing downstream. And you're in the water, So it's going to take some effort. It's going to take some attention. You're going to have to engage. But what a contrast between being in the water and flowing downstream and being in the water and trying to swim upstream, Trying to get to that something that you think you need or want. You know, There's an illustration here that I think wraps this up. And I wrote about it briefly in the pre-broadcast reflections. But that is to ask a question. And that question is, Am I engaged in this activity in order to get to a prize that will make me feel important? Or am I engaged because I'm genuinely interested and curious about where this will go? Maybe we don't need a lot of words. This isn't complicated. Yet you will be faced with what we'll playfully call a choice. Either continue the insanity of the game being played in the world, Trying to get to the future, Trying to get the world to validate you, Trying to get love outside of yourself, Trying to collect trinkets so you can imagine yourself as important, Or you come home. You let go of the world, You let go of seeking validation, And you get in touch with the reality of what's in you. And you're free. This isn't a should or shouldn't. You are free to chase an imaginary sense of self-importance in the world. You're free to do that. It's allowed. You are free to try and get other people to like you. You are free to try to hold on to things that are not meant to be held on to. You're free to try and control that which is not meant to be controlled. You're free to try and change the weather. But how's it going? Oh, It's not going good. You're also free to not do that. Well, Tell me there's another way, Man. Yeah, There's another way. You can recognize that what you're trying to control doesn't need to be controlled. You can let it go. What if they think I'm an idiot? We're all idiots. Welcome to the club. What if they don't like me? They're free to not like you. What does it mean about me? Nothing. What if I wanted to mean something about me? Good luck. Okay, So here's the deal. And I want to say this in the most compassionate way possible, Without any judgment. The world is fucking crazy. The way that we've been taught about what's real and what's true about what life is or life is not, It's so far removed from the depth of this miracle that we're swimming in. There's so many fearful shenanigans going on where people are so scared that it moves us to restrict other people's freedom. Don't be what you are. Be what I want you to be. Because I don't want to see that there's nothing to hold on to. So I'm going to try and hold on to you. And if you don't let me hold on to you, I'm going to withhold love from you, Which is really withholding love from myself. But I don't see that yet. That'll be quite the shock. When you were in school, And they said, You have to be interested in this. How did that go? Do you see how that took a lot of effort to learn? You had to swim upstream to do what somebody else wanted you to do, Partly because you were terrified of being rejected, Because you were sold this game that said your worth and value was determined by how authority saw you. And so you denied your adorable little inner wisdom, Understandably, And swam upstream to do what others wanted you to do. You struggled because something inside was like, I'm really not into this. But you're telling me I'm gonna get a gold star. So I guess and apparently when I go home and I bring gold stars, Then mom says she loves me. And when I don't bring home gold stars, It seems like she doesn't anymore. So I guess I got to make my life about getting gold stars, Because there's this game going on all around me. That's called I'll love you if and so I'm gonna do what other people want me to do and match their conditions so that I can get this love thing. Now on the other end of this coin, When you stumble upon something that you're genuinely interested in, How quickly do you learn? Do you see how that's downstream? Do you see there is less effort? It's not no effort. It's effortless, Which is almost like playful effort. The effortful is striving with a fear and anxiety that says you might not get the gold star. And so there is a complete lack of enjoyment in the process as one struggles to maintain the possibility of collecting gold stars. What a weird form of conditioning, Like to send your child off to school to collect gold stars by doing what somebody else wants them to do so that they can feel validated. And if they show no interest in it, Then something's wrong. But even if you're not interested and you still do it will give you gold stars. Genuinely interested. Do you know what that means? Genuinely? It means what's true. It means what's real, What's present, What's alive. It means what is already flowing. There is a flow within what you are that is not divorced from within what is life that's already flowing in the direction of an amazing discovery that's appropriate for your journey, Not what somebody else wants your journey to be. Do you ever notice how people are interested in different shit? It's almost like if you step back and you look at the whole thing, Life has already put the puzzle together and put the seed of interest in that particular puzzle piece within each human being. And to get in touch with your particular flavor, Your resonance and pull on that thread, You'll go on a wild ride of discovery. Now, Here's the disaster. You're swimming upstream for a future prize. And what do you find out when you get that prize? Well, Let me ask you, What is the shoebox full of gold stars worth today? That's something in the future that you thought was so important in this moment. What is it other than an idea of some imaginary sense of self-importance, Which is completely ephemeral? It's a cloud. It's not really here. And so often we can chase these future prizes, Completely neglecting the miracle we've been given, Which is almost like saying we don't even take care of ourselves. We don't honor ourselves. And then by default, It makes it impossible to honor anything else that's real because we're so preoccupied with this fantasy of tomorrow where the world will finally approve. And it's so interesting how as a society, We celebrate the most absurd things in our fascination with praising other people. I think it's amazing. As an illustration, I was talking to someone, We were working through some shit. They were telling me about how they get all this praise, Somewhat of a leader in their field or industry. And they get all this praise about what they've accomplished and they hate themselves in the way that during this journey, Completely disregarded their own heart. They divorced themselves from themselves in order to capture this prize that the world celebrates them for. But it is a prize that they cannot even connect with because it's completely imaginary. There's no reality to it at all. There's no connection with life. There's no authenticity. There's no genuineness. It was simply, I was chasing this idea that said, If I get here, Then I'll feel valid. And I get there and now I still feel empty. And I've wasted my life. But yet the world celebrates me. I swam upstream to get to this something that's nothing, This gold star. And now I have the most gold stars and the world thinks I'm awesome. What the fuck am I going to do with all these gold stars? Especially as it relates to being at peace in my own heart and feeling an abundant gratitude for the gift of life itself. How are the gold stars going to help me with that? And you see, This is the lie that we've been fed that encourages you to live an effortful life, To strive, To not even take care of yourself and to do shit that doesn't speak to your heart at all. Do you know what happens when you do shit that doesn't resonate? You become a not fun person to be around. I've seen that a lot. I've seen that a lot in teachers, Teachers who were there just to get a paycheck. They didn't really want to be there or teachers who were afraid of losing their job. So they had to control everything to make sure they look good. There was no sincere interest to connect with the hearts of those kids. I see it in people just working around town. And then equally so I see people working around town who do want to be there. There's a flow happening. And my goodness, When we are under this spell of illusion that thinks the prize is in the future, You don't allow yourself to connect with sincerity. You don't allow yourself to investigate what's genuine because what's genuine, What's here right now doesn't care about your gold star in the future. And so we tell that sincerity to shut up. I don't have time to play right now. I've got gold stars to get. We can become extraordinarily divorced from the sincerity of what we are as we've taken on this character of trying to be what the world wants you to be. Rather than saying to the world, No, Thank you, But I love you. Yes, I understand you want X, Y, And Z from me. Thank you for sharing, But no, Thank you. I really hope you can figure it out. Maybe ask me tomorrow. Could be different. No, I can't be honest because they might not like me. They might not give me a gold star. So even though my body's asking for rest right now, I'm going to not listen to that. And I'm going to swim upstream, Not even to get gold stars, But to make sure I don't lose the gold stars I have. That's a disaster. Do you see the love that I'm pointing to? I wonder if you see that because this is holding space for love to be seen. And sometimes we have to wade through some bullshit to see the love that's there. Like, Holy shit, I can come home. I can honor the reality of what I am. I don't need to collect gold stars. And then we take a big, Deep breath. Oh, That's love. That's I love you now, Not I love you if. This isn't about judging the status quo. I have no issue with the status quo. I just think it's insane, But it's allowed to be that way. I don't even want it to be different. I can be at peace without it being different. I don't need it to be different in order to be at peace. I don't need it to be different in order to be free. I can let the world play their game and just not play or play parts of the game that seem to be required, But play them in the most non-serious and playful way. For example, I remember a time when I was broke, I had, You know, Bills to pay. And so that was the game, Right? You pay this bill and we'll keep the lights on. Okay. Let's find out if the lights stay on. That's going to be an adventure. This will be interesting. Someone shared this story with me and I thought it was hilarious. You have a bunch of debt collectors calling you trying to get paid. And every time they call you, You tell them this story, You say, Hey, Look, Man, I've got you and everybody else calling me trying to get my few last bucks here. And I'm going to put you all in a hat. And at the end of the month, I'm going to draw a name and that person's going to get paid. And if you call me again, I'm taking your name out of the hat. That's just how it's going to go. If you call me again, You don't get to play. Sometimes, You know, There's bills that you got to pay that you just don't really want to pay. You're like, This is a dumb bill. This is ridiculous. And then you go, Okay, Well, I'm not going to pay this bill. I'm going to make this payment and it's going to go to some beautiful old secretary. That's going to receive this payment and that's going to help her pay for her groceries. So I'm going to pay this bill because it's going to help aunt Betty buy her groceries. That's the game I'm going to play. Downstream, Not upstream. Because when you swim upstream, When you fight it, You're giving it a power that it doesn't really have. Some people are determined to swim upstream and fight things because it makes them feel important. They want things to be difficult because it validates an imaginary sense of self-importance. That's a game. You're free to play that game. But how's it going? All right. Now would be the time for Q&A. If we're going to do Q&A, Lance asks, How's Portugal? You know how Portugal is? Portugal is how I see it. And I see it as extraordinary and beautiful, Which happens to be a reflection of how I see what I am, Which is not separate from life. It's interesting how that works. Like if I'm miserable, Then Portugal is terrible. So forever, It'll be how you see you. It reminds me of a story of a guy moves to town and he goes into the gas station and he asked the guy, I'm thinking about moving here. And I wanted to know how are the people? And the guy said, Well, The people are a lot like the people from wherever you're from. That's what you'll experience. You'll bring that shit with you. Katie says, You're making too much sense for me to have a question. I get that. I understand. So often in these explorations, In these talks, In this space, We might have a bunch of questions beforehand, But as we just kind of rest and unravel the nonsense, It all kind of just sorts itself out. And it's such a beautiful way. That's what life does. Life is kind of like saying, Hey, There isn't really a question. Go play. Amanda asks, I'm a bit stuck when it comes to having a job. I like creativity, Like singing, Painting and stuff, But it's hard to get a job in these industries. What to do? Then I need to take another job. You know, The job thing seems to work really well for some people. I am not that people. I don't play that game. I would rather be homeless than having a job. And I've been homeless before. It's not a big deal. Being a homeless drug addict was kind of a big deal, But getting the drugs out of the way and just being homeless wasn't so bad. But again, So often we have these silly misperceptions, Conceptions about life and reality to where we think having a job is the most secure thing that we can do, Which is also the same thing as like saying, Denying my heart is the most safe thing to do. But yeah, I have bills to pay. But at the same time, Some of you guys are going to buy me lunch tomorrow by pressing the donate button. So I'm going to sit here and do what I love to do. And my bills are going to get paid magically, Which helps me do more of what I love to do. And then you guys say thank you to me for doing what I love to do. That's weird. And then the money that comes my way, I pay other people to help me do what I love to do, Which makes me be able to do more of what I love to do. And the people that I pay, Giving them a job, They get an awesome job of going through all my content all day and pulling out highlights and making video clips. So it's awesome. So there's a lot to be explored. And yeah, That is a great idea. You might want to DM me that I mentioned I'd say that or I do a session about that just as a little reminder, But lots to be explored. See, My friends, We are, We're here coming together and we're bringing our little confusions or adorable misunderstandings. And then our minds are being blown and our hearts exposed in the most beautiful way. And we're saying, Holy shit, How many more holy shits do you think there are? Right? You might have a holy shit moment and think like that's the holy shit moment. The only one. No, There are so many misunderstandings in how we perceive ourselves, Other people and life that creates an effortful life rather than relaxing into the flow and letting life take you for a beautiful ride. Let's do a short guided meditation. And then we will continue on in our day with a spirit of love and play. Ready? Let's go. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yes, I understand you might be imagining a thousand things are happening, But what is really not? What do you think is happening? Now? What do you want to be happening? Now? What do you hope? What is here now? Take this moment and come back to reality. Allow yourself to breathe. Allow yourself to be. You already have the prize. If anything, You just don't see it. Give yourself the chance to see it, But you have to be willing to come home. Breathe. Can we acknowledge a gentle humor? Can it be a little bit funny? A little bit funny? How we take things so seriously? As we get afraid of losing imaginary points? There's no judgment necessary. We can just acknowledge sometimes we're a little bit insane. Welcome to being human. That's okay. So let's take a breath, Forgive ourselves, And continue on in our day with a spirit of more love. Thank you for meditating with me today.

Reviews

Oh yeah!!! You get it and I got it. Thanks so much for this talk and especially appreciated the meditation at the end. Keep doing what you’re doing; you have a gift. Sincerety and humor are yours… may your rewards be bountiful. 🙏👍🌞

Loved 🥰 this talked totally resonates I understand exactly where you are coming from much gratitude 🙏 for sharing the true outlook on what life is truly about and how we have become conditioned in this matrix

Amazing as always.

Great as always. Much to think about and I am looking forward to it 🥰

Excellent! How so true! After all the years of working so hard to achieve what you want, it doesn’t always come to fruition as you envisaged! So yes looking back in hindsight, go do what you love doing, with children, spouse or not & cherish each moment. For once that time has passed it can never be recouped!