Removing Obstacles to Allow Results
If actions speak louder than words, then it would follow that the type of actions we take make a difference. I’ve been exploring what motivates my actions lately. In the past, I’ve primarily acted from a driven, achievement-oriented perspective. But over the past year, I’ve been opening myself up to allowing, receiving, and creating space instead of creating outcomes.
How do we create space? Isn’t that like creating nothing? Creating a void? I find it to be an act of clearing, removing, making room for the unknown to enter. Like removing rocks from a stream, when we remove obstacles in our lives, we can allow results to flow.
Minding the Gap
This requires the intentional removal of obstacles in order to allow movement to happen. It is an entirely different way of acting, and at times, it feels like the opposite of action. It is the difference between acting on opportunity (that arose because of space) and making things happen (through force). We must mind the gap, if you will, and notice the opportunities others might not.
I have been studying the Bhagavad Gita and its interpretation by Roy Eugene Davis in his book, The Eternal Way. His interpretation of verse 32 in Chapter 4, “The Yoga of Knowledgeable Renunciation of Action,” states,
“According to need, result-producing or result-allowing actions can be performed. Ordinary actions can cause effects or produce results; actions which remove obstacles to expression allow results. A devotee needs to know when and how to act for best results.”
When I read this a few weeks ago, I inhaled sharply. The second type listed was the kind of action I had been after all last year: allowing. When we remove obstacles, we make space for the Muse to appear. Inspiration requires curiosity and space for us to experience it.
How Removing Obstacles Helps in Business
This is not only a great approach to creative actions, but also to strategic, professional actions. Why? Because there are daily obstacles to overcome in business. When we focus on removing obstacles, we make room for productive ideas and work to flow.
If we are stuck in a grind that doesn’t allow room for awareness, listening, and noticing opportunities, we may miss out on deals and strategies that could have saved time, energy and money. The old adage of needing to make time to work on your business, not just in your business applies here.
We must step back and see things with a bird’s eye view. In doing so, we intentionally remove obstacles that could prevent us from seeing the big picture. Then we can make decisions about larger, seemingly elusive opportunities that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise.
Ideas for Clearing
If you’re reading this and saying, “Yes! I definitely need to remove obstacles in my life!,” yet you are unsure where to start, here are a few practical areas where you can begin:
Physical clearing: Choose a small area of your home or office to clear; make it your goal to remove anything that hinders your expression in that space. If it helps, choose a percentage (like 50%) or a number (like 10 things). This can help cut through any emotional response you may have to removing items.
Emotional clearing: Meditate or sit in silence for 5-10 minutes. Focus on your breathing. Notice what feelings arise in the silence. If an emotion arises that feels like it is blocking you from moving forward (like fear, anxiety, or sadness), thank it for showing up. Choose an action to help you move through it and remove it as an obstacle (physical activity, talking with a friend, stating an affirmation aloud, etc.). Note that this practice is ongoing and with repetition will get easier.
Calendar clearing: Block off 30 minutes to review your calendar. What activities no longer serve your goals? Cancel or outsource them. What calendar clutter can you remove to allow your truest expression space to be? Focus only on removing obstacles in your calendar, not adding anything. Time serves us best when it is allowed to flow.
Which area above feels most cluttered to you now or is overrun with obstacles? It may be helpful to note that removing obstacles in one area will likely create a ripple effect. Notice how you feel compelled to remove more obstacles in other areas once you feel the positive effects.
Clearing the Channel of You
This concept of removing obstacles is rooted in the belief that there is a higher or greater power than us that is moving all things, a driving life force that is working through us. We are simply channels. Keeping our channel clear is essential for living our dharma, our purposeful path or duty, in this life.
Imagine you are supposed to be supporting a friend while she’s giving a talk to an audience, but you keep getting up on stage and talking over her? That is often what we do when we put ourselves, our egos, before the Muse, or Source. We become our own obstacle. And we are sometimes the hardest obstacle to overcome.
People casually say, “Get over yourself.” In this case, getting over the obstacle that is your small “s” self, or ego-driven self, is required action in order to clear the channel. Then you are free to live the higher purpose of your big “S” Self.
Getting to this point of obstacle-free living, however, is easier said than done. It is an ongoing practice. The fun part is that there are shortcuts to remove ego obstacles that we can take to speed up the return to our Self. Some that work for me are:
Going for a walk in nature (your neighborhood works!)
Putting on music that inspires a mood reset and moving to it
Taking a cold shower or cold plunge (or other adversity habit)
Admiring something much bigger than you (the starry night sky, a mountain range, a museum)
These all remind us how small we are (little “s” self) in the big scheme of things and help us refocus on what really matters (big “S” Self). This life is beautiful, AND it is easy to get caught up in the minutiae of our own tiny obstacles and believe they are everything. Taking a simple action from the list above can help us reset and feel stronger and clearer about our mission here.
Making Space with Intention
Early on in my study of philosophy in college, I remember a debate in which a fellow student shared the idiom that “nature abhors a vacuum.” This concept was new to me at the time, and I didn’t fully understand it. It originates from Aristotle’s observation that no true vacuums exist in nature, and as a result, there is a law of nature that fills any gap that is made with something else, typically something similar in order to maintain equilibrium.
Because of this principle, it is important to be intentional as you remove obstacles. For what are you opening space? If you are not clear on why you are removing obstacles, the new spaces you create will simply be filled with similar things to what you had in that place before.
If, however, you are intentional about what you want in the newly created space – inspiration, a new habit, time with loved ones, focused deep work, etc. – you will be upleveling your life with each removed obstacle. Or rather, you will be allowing Divine Love (or whatever higher power or Source you believe in) to fill the new spaces with growth.
Who Will Benefit?
A final thought to consider is how the removal of obstacles in your life will affect others around you. Who might step into the open spaces? Who (other than you) might benefit from the obstacles’ absence? Your children? Your clients? Work colleagues? Significant other? Friends?
As I have selectively removed obstacles in my life, I have noticed subtle, positive changes in the behavior of those around me. There is a greater sense of freedom, movement and flow to my interactions with others. I feel more free to be myself and act in alignment with my purpose, and this empowers others to do the same. Our connections deepen. Conversation becomes more meaningful. Work is more targeted and effective.
One of the biggest benefits I have seen, however, is in my own sense of peace. What once disturbed me has no footing any longer because the obstacle it held onto is gone. My body does not hold so much stress. My mind feels freer and more creative. My soul is peaceful.
And when I begin to feel out of sorts or like something is blocking me, now I know that I do not need to fight anyone or anything to get things back in order, least of all myself. I simply need to remove an obstacle to allow Life to move through me. One action can lead to a cascade of exponentially better results beyond our wildest dreams.
Which obstacles have you removed in your life over the past year that have allowed better results?
What immediate obstacle do you want to remove today?
What would you like to make more space for in your life?
