Butterfly on a Wheel

I've always found this title very evocative - the idea of using massive force to do something that requires minuscule effort.

As I watch myself and others live our lives, the phrase comes back to me more and more insistently. We're using so much effort to do so little! In a converse of the 20/80 rule, 80% of our efforts bring in 20% of the desired end. Why would someone use a clenched fist to hold a tea cup?Or cling to the newspaper as if it were a lifeline?

Time and time again, if I stop whatever I'm doing, and simply ask myself,' Can I do this with less effort?', I find that indeed I can; not just that, but the quality of the action changes radically, becoming easier, smoother, lighter and altogether more pleasurable.

It seems that somewhere deep within us we have internalised the idea that life should not be pleasurable in this simple and satisfying way, that it is actually intended to be a struggle. So when we are able to access this quality, we don't really see it as something we can learn to bring more and more into our lives. We see it as an aberration - an enjoyable, even desirable one, but an aberration nevertheless. By definition, an aberration is something that's not normal - we can't take it for granted.

Which is why, when we experience the lightness and ease in the release of a long held muscle, we tend to tell ourselves,' Oh, that's lovely, but of course it's not going to last. That's not now I really am,' and straightaway go back to the comforting familiarity of tightness.