I believe that the famous quote by Malcolm Frazer (former Prime Minister of Australia) “life was not meant to be easy” has become a ‘mindset’ for many Australians.
There seems to be an acceptance that life is a struggle and that this is the way it has always been.
The young Malcolm was quoting from his memory of a line in George Bernard Shaw’s book
Methuselah but did not state the whole line of
'Life's not meant to be easy, but take courage child for it can be delightful.'
Unfortunately the media pounced on it and the quote stands today as one of Malcolm Frazer’s most famous sayings.
I think, also unfortunate for the Australian public, because the meaning of that line is portrayed that life is not meant to be easy, never was easy, never will be easy. Over time (just a few decades) I get the impression that many people believe this. They struggle in their daily lives. There is never enough money, time, happiness, whatever, and they are constantly struggling in some way. I also don’t like ‘no pain, no gain’. That means that if I want to progress, I MUST create some pain or else I won’t make any gains. Well I think that is just crazy.
What if life WAS meant to be easy and the media beat up and Malcolm, got it all wrong. What would life and our community, be like if we just gave up the struggle and began to enjoy our lives? Can we progress personally and financially without making life hard for ourselves? I think we can. It’s all in the mindset, your perception or what you THINK. What you ‘think’ affects your bodily functions (stress) and your psychological well being (happiness). If you were to adopt the mindset and belief that ‘life was meant to be easy’, perhaps the daily struggling would cease to exist. Daily tasks and chores would be just that, a task to do, not a personal struggle. It’s all about the journey, not the destination. I don’t know who first made that statement but it seems true to me.
If you are not enjoying the journey of this life, just stop, re-evaluate, adjust and move forward in a more positive and loving mindset. Love and appreciate yourself; make life easy, make your achievements easy. Don’t stress out, just do the work and enjoy the process. There is work to be done and efforts to be made and you will gain a lot of excitement from achieving your goals. You won’t get anywhere sitting on you bum doing nothing and expecting money to just appear in you bank account, but you can do the work in a positive mindset without the struggling. If you are struggling a lot, you are probably doing the wrong work for your personality or life interests.
It’s all about how you feel and think about the situation. If you think ‘life was not meant to be easy’, you will probably prove yourself right by some self-fulfilling prophecy, or something. Some people love to be right, no matter what the personal cost. If you learn how to adopt the positive approach (it’s a skill), I am guessing that you can just as easily prove yourself right, that ‘life is meant to be easy’. The effort expanded will be the same but the outcome will be different. The choice is yours, and only yours, because only you, think your thoughts.
I believed in these ideas so strongly that I started a business called The Movement For Improvement. The idea is that you can move your mindset to make improvements to your life. I invite you to start ‘a movement’ in you life towards making improvements, using the ideas stated above. The topic provides a good starting point for you to explore your thinking process. Do you often relate through the negative or positive mindset category. Have some fun with it and see what you think. You might surprise yourself.
very kind regards from Jane
You can contact me for more info at movement4improvement at bigpond.com.au and have a look at www.libertyleague.com/janeseward
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