Right Effort carries with it good energy. But what does that mean, exactly? Bhikkhu Bodhi writes, “Energy, the mental factor behind Right Effort, can appear in either wholesome or unwholesome forms… The exertion involved in Right Effort is a wholesome form of energy, but it is something more specific, namely, the energy in wholesome states of consciousness directed to liberation from suffering.”

In other words, it’s liberation energy.

In the Eightfold Path, Right Effort happens when our energies not only help US become better, but help THE WORLD become better. Otherwise, we are just working toward our own self-righteousness. For Buddhists, the kind of wholesome energy that truly liberates is the kind that brings an end to suffering. Otherwise, we’ll just remain stuck in the cycle of birth and death. This holds deep truth regardless of your spiritual tradition, though, because true merit is never self-focused. Righteousness or justice happens in community. We can only experience it and practice it alongside others.

I find this clarity helpful in figuring out what it means to truly practice Right Effort. It’s not just about going for it, or giving it your all. It’s not as simple as finding a few practices that make you feel like you have your life more together. A way of life focused on Right Effort brings liberation. Specifically, it brings liberation of suffering, both in our own lives and in a way that expands to others.

For those of us in the Christian tradition, we enter into the season of Lent next week. It’s customary to give something up as a spiritual discipline for six weeks. Many people choose food for some reason, but the heart of the practice can actually be described as liberation, too. What imprisons you? Can you practice letting go of it for six weeks and see what happens? Where do you feel trapped in suffering? In what areas do you feel cut off from abundant life? What blockades might be keeping you from experiencing that abundant life?

So, this week, consider where you feel stuck. Ask yourself which corner of your life feels most lifeless. And then consider what it might look like to bring good energy, liberation energy, to bear on it.

If you practice Lent, how can you choose a Lenten discipline that incorporates the liberation energy of right effort?

This post belongs to my series on walking the Eightfold Path. You can read all my posts on Right Effort here.