The Year of Living Lightly (aka Lessons from a Slacker)
The show is called Weeds–Showtime’s hit series currently playing on small screens near you. The plot revolves around the exploits of a suburbanite mother of two teen boys who, when her husband unexpectedly dies, takes up selling marijuana to pays the household bills. The fun of the show lies in the zany cast of characters that evolve around homemaker turned pot dealer Nancy Botwin as she makes one conflicted decision after another desperately trying to keep their lives from spiraling completely out of control.
What does this have to do with living lightly, you might rightly ask? Never mind Nancy. Poor Nancy lives anything but lightly—she permanently hovers on the edge of breakdown. Let me introduce you to Andy.
Andy is the younger brother of Nancy’s dead husband who somehow finds his way into Nancy’s household. Andy could easily be characterized as a slacker—a seemingly ambitionless, perpetually unemployed lay-about who spends his days getting stoned and dispensing questionable advice about life and ladies to Nancy’s boys. But every once in a while slacker Andy spouts something that is truly insightful.
In one episode Andy was bluntly asked what he actually did with himself everyday, and his answer was this: “I get up in the morning, I see what comes up, and I roll with it.”
Of all the things Andy has said throughout the five seasons I’ve been watching, it is this singular comment that has stayed with me.
When you think about it, it’s an extraordinary way to live! The willingness to enter into each day in a state of openness to that which arises and simply rolling with it.
Now I can almost hear you thinking, ‘Yes, but…’
Okay, let’s take a minute. Yes, Andy’s lifestyle might not work for you (and in some ways he is a mighty mess), however there is a reason his utterance resonated so strongly with me: there is a palpable sense of ease and lightness in Andy’s approach to living.
And it just could be that a lack of lightness is your single biggest problem right now.
We are entering a time seismic shifts and crumbling foundations, and all the necessary questioning and probing into assumptions we’ve long held about the way things are penetrates to the very core of how we live. It can be heavy stuff.
So the question I hold out to you is: How can you bring more ease and lightness into your life this year?
For some key tips, let’s return to Andy’s lesson.
Tip 1. Attune to where the energy is.
All around you things are happening. Life moves fast and your energy is being used in multiple directions. This happens to Andy too. And what he does every day is look around at all the possibilities and notices where the energy is. That’s it, just observe it. This requires present moment awareness and a high degree of non-judgment. It is right here and now, and it is fully open to what is unfolding.
Tip 2. Position yourself.
Each morning Andy wakes up and attunes to the winds that are swirling. Unlike a leaf in the wind being blown helplessly about however, Andy makes decisions to position himself in relation to those energies—he “rolls with” those things that are attractive to him, those energies he wants to participate in.
We all do this, every time we make a decision to move, to get involved. The secret for living lightly is to move with conscious intent into position relational to that energy while recognizing that your doing so is a declaration of who you ARE and who you want to BE in that moment and in each subsequent moment, regardless of what arises.
It is about both where you move to and who you want to BE in that movement.
Tip 3. Let go of control.
This a hard one! When we plan our days, our schedules, our goals, our lives, it is very easy to resist anything that appears to take us in a different direction. The fact is, every moment is full of new possibility. Andy’s gift—which to some looks like slacker-ville—is his willingness to relinquish control to forces and energies beyond himself once he has moved himself into position—he allows and provides space for unseen possibilities to emerge.
When Andy does lose himself (like the time he learned that Nancy got pregnant by the drug kingpin and mayor of Tijuana) it is precisely those situations where he actively resists what is happening. He rails against the possibility that arises when it doesn’t match his pre-conceived idea of what should be happening.
Our ability to trust that what is emerging is what needs to emerge is a huge leap of faith, but our award for doing so is a dramatic increase in our energy levels. We’re no longer drained by our resistance. In this year of living lightly, within the swirl of a world still reeling in chaos and uncertainty, learn to take frequent deep breaths and let it go. After all, what do you really have control over?
Lesson from a Slacker.
Andy has taught us much, but if I could add one thing to the recipe for lighter living this year it would be this: use your creative power of intention to bring about situations that reflect the life you wish to live.
Turmoil makes for great entertainment, and with Andy you never know what escapade-like opportunity he’ll embark on. Often ludicrous, sometimes dangerous, frequently infantile, occasionally heart-wrenching—he seems to live at the mercy of events.
I suspect his rollercoaster of a life may not be what you want for yourself.
The challenge is that so much of what we create in our lives comes from our unconscious mind acting out. The process I laid out remedies this. The action of attunement will bring more into your conscious awareness. Intention is an act of creation—intend for the energies to flow in directions that are sustaining and life giving for you. BE who you want to be in relation to what emerges, and let go of the results.
The benefits…
…an increase in energy, sense of flow, surprises and delights, adventures, possibilities, inspiration, ideas, connections.
You have the capacity to live lightly this year.
To get started, take a minute, sit comfortably in your chair, and draw your attention into the space you are in. Take a moment, relax, and tune in…to your breath, your body, the room, other people, the things you are busy with, the energies around you.
- What’s emerging? What is being asked of you? What are you attracted to?
- How do you want to BE in relation to what is emerging? What is the highest vision of yourself that you wish to hold as you move forward?
- Where are you not letting go? What are you resisting and trying to control?
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I like Andy too!
You actually make it seem so easy along with your presentation however I in finding this topic to be actually one thing that I believe I might never understand. It kind of feels too complex and extremely extensive for me. I’m looking forward in your subsequent publish, I’ll attempt to get the cling of it!