Expedient and Easy

  Let's face it. We ALL look to discovering the expedient and, hopefully(?), easy way to accomplish (fill in the blank). This 'mindset' is true for us in a variety of situations, but it is especially true when it comes to extricating ourselves from a 'bad' situation. This may sound harsh but I think it's true of us all. We want to experience the least amount of pain, agony, disruption, and obstacles to whatever it is that we want to do, experience, and/or accomplish. Not new information.

  The problem with this idyllic state is that it never exists in real life, or at least not for long. While we want the expedient and easy to attain whatever it is we want, this may not be the best approach. What we should be seeking is that we find the safest, quickest, and most efficient and effective resolution. Those two words - efficient and effective - may not always be evident nor painless. But they often are the best learning tools. And if you counter that argument with, 'you only want to get out of (fill in the blank) not necessarily to learn' I suspect you are doomed to repeat the lesson. 

  If 'doomed' sounds ominous, it is if it's how you approach 'issues' and resolving them. If all you do or want to do is to remove yourself from The Situation, then even your method of removal gets lost in a non-learning approach. Expedient and easy may be marked with great relief once it's been accomplished, but they never will provide you your learnings, understandings, discoveries about how you go about living your life unless learning is intentional. Ironically, if your desire is to not repeat these types of situations you find yourself in, then intentionally learning from them has to occur.

  You really do need to appreciate that expedient and easy may occur, it just shouldn't be the basis on which you make your decisions. Likewise, taking a more proactive approach doesn't necessarily mean pain and suffering. Too often we view the 'other' approach as being totally the opposite. Sometimes this is true and I don't advocate seeking pain and suffering but learning isn't always comfortable. Then again... repeating past mistakes and errors doesn't seem to be an expedient or easy way of living.