Byron Katie has a really interesting idea she repeats, that when
we do The Work with a motive (like, I’ll question my thinking using
The Work, and then I’ll have a happy life) that something happens
that may not allow the mind to really let go.
A super-common question goes something like this:
——
“I’ve heard Katie say to do The Work
for ‘the love of truth’… and sometimes she says ‘for the love of peace’…
…but how do I NOT have a motive when I’m
in a lot of PAIN? Sometimes I KNOW I have a motive.
I just don’t want to suffer anymore, but then I criticize myself for doing
The Work with a motive!
—–
I know this one…intimately. And I’d be willing to bet that EVERYONE who’s
done The Work has had it go through their minds.
So the first thing it to be gentle with yourself…
It’s OK to do The Work WITH a motive, WITHOUT a motive…
or even with HALF a motive.
It reminds me of a New Year’s Cleanse.
Katie was working with someone who said they were “bipolar,” and they were feeling bad about using medications. They thought if they were doing The Work
“properly,” they shouldn’t need medications at all.
And Katie said something like…”So God is everything…except medications?”
So sometimes we do The Work as a “medication,” and sometime with a LOT of motive and sometimes with a little…it’s all OK.
Something brings us to The Work, to deeply looking at ourselves, and if we start
first with a motive, that’s where we start….and then perhaps the edge is taken off
and we can go deeper.
And one last idea for “having a motive.”
Sometimes it can help to step back and come from a place of curiosity.
Almost like you’re a 5-year old picking up something off the sidewalk and
wondering what it is.
It can be like that with thoughts.
Just wonderingly…innocently and curiously and gently looking at the thought and wondering if it’s true.
And 5-year olds are amazingly curious!
Again…be gentle with yourself the best you can and let The Work DO you….
…easy…gently…kindly.
As Katie says, “Just do The Work and notice what happens.”
Love,
Grace