The need for 'right effort'

In the December 2017 issue of Meditatio (p 4) Fr Laurence Freeman (WCCM) points out that while contemplation is a gift of grace, that doesn't mean we get to wait for it while sitting on the couch eating bon-bons and watching crap TV:

In Christian wisdom, contemplation is felt to be gift or grace, not the result of will power, scholarship, imagination or spiritual technology. Yet, because contemplation involves an ever fuller participation in reality, not an observer’s distance, it does ask for ‘right effort’. We need to do something in order to learn what it is to be. Then being shows itself as pure action and we return to the mundane world of work with new motivation and insight.

The way I look at this is that we don't "earn" this gift by our actions, rather, our efforts are meant to remove the impediments to receiving it.

Update, 1/10. Here's what Craig Bullock said about this in today's email from the Assisi Institute (emphasis mine):

I never grow tired of saying that God always makes the first move, which is to say that God is always trying to touch our minds, our hearts, and our lives. Often, we are incapable of sensing this divine touch because we are locked within our habitual thoughts, moods, and behaviors. ... If we want to make contact with God's touch, we must make the effort. We must move outside of our habitual mode of living by extending ourselves toward the Divine. ... Yes, it takes a loving effort. The fruit of this effort is real peace, real joy, real wisdom, real strength, and real love. 

Update, 1/15. From The Spiritual Direction of Saint Claude de la Colombière (emphasis mine):

How I fear for my salvation when I see how inconstant I am! I am now gay, now sad: today I am friendly with everyone, tomorrow I am like a hedgehog that no one can touch without being pricked. This is a sign that nature still reigns within us, that our passions are still unmodified and that we have very little virtue. A man who leans on God is immovable and cannot be overthrown. Whatever happens that is annoying, he is pleased because he has no other will than that of God. O happy peaceful state! But we must fight to obtain it.

Update, 2/10. And from Ecknath Easwaran:

Body consciousness is the obstacle to divine awareness, and every day we must ask ourselves what is likely to decrease our identification with the body. ... Overeating, for example, intensifies body consciousness. Every time we are tempted to eat something because of an advertisement or an old samskara, we should ask ourselves if the body needs it or if it will merely stimulate the palate. ... Other aids for lessening physical consciousness are giving up harmful habits such as smoking, drinking, the use of drugs, and overindulgence of any kind. The Gita does not ask you to do this for puritanical reasons; it says that if you want to rise above physical consciousness, these are the things you have to throw away.