In the spiritual life, we tend to apply more effort than someone sitting on the toilet after winning a cheese eating contest. Yes, effort is important – but so is letting go. You need to do your practice, you need to show up, but then you just need to let it happen. Spirituality is not an assembly line that has to crank out so many widgets in an hour. It’s much more like brewing tea. You boil the water and pour it in the cup, but then you just have to let the rest happen in its own time.