Have you wanted to set aside time to learn The Work, really delve in and drill down and get to the heart of some of your repetitive, uncomfortable thinking?
I read Loving What Is, then sat with it on my bedside table for about two years before returning to it. My story about this is on my website. One of my sisters went to The School and talking with her was incredible, after she returned. And I had thought she wouldn’t be the “type” to go to such an event.
For me, it took going to the whole 9 day school with Byron Katie in the room to really do The Work.
For hundreds of other people that I have worked with, who are obviously a bit faster than me and catch on more quickly, they actually DO the Work just by hearing about it.
They notice they have stress. They notice they are thinking things that are disturbing, or downright horrifying. They notice they want to drink or overeat or watch TV, or feel badly about themselves or their career, their health, or their general attitude.
They encounter the idea that maybe, just maybe, what they are THINKING is what is bothering them. Not the actual situation. But their relationship to the situation.
They start following the steps known as The Work. They get curious. Freedom follows. Lightbulbs flashing on all over the place. Or quiet awareness. Things becoming more simple, slower. JOY!
Then…there is someone like me. Doubtful and pessimistic that questioning my beliefs would do anything useful. All it takes is a pen and paper and answering four questions? BALDERDASH.
HUMBUG.
Well. If you are this type of person that seems to be an expert at pessimism, I can relate. You are not alone.
And you might find it incredible to set aside one day, with a small group, to identify your thinking, the stressful bits only, and take them through inquiry.
All the way through. All the way to the Turnarounds. Considering the opposites of what you thought. Turning your replayed thoughts upside down and inside out.
Not kind of thinking “hmm, is that true?” while driving your car to get groceries. Not thinking a thought like “I hate him” and then turning it around immediately, without doing the other steps, into “I love him” and not investigating further what is really bothering you.
This is not doing The Work “in your head” without any pen and paper.
Set aside one day, December 1st, to enter into the DARK ABYSMAL WINTER season (let’s not forget about the pessmism) to identify your stressful thinking, and do The Work in this most amazing simple (yet not so simple) way of thinking.
Even if you are not in Seattle and able to attend our one-day workshop into this freedom, I say, open your calendar and set aside a couple of hours to do The Work. Find a facilitator, make an appointment, trade with someone, call the Help Line (the schedule is onwww.thework.com).
As Byron Katie says…“I did the Work, because I was in a hurry”.
If you have a penchant for pessimism like I do, you may think “I have no time…I have no money…I can’t really do it…it’s stupid, boring, another mental exercise, I need more than questions to change my life, it’s too far away”.
You may notice, those are stressful THOUGHTS. They can be questioned. They may flow in abundance for you.
Doing The Work in a group can slow the whole process of thinking down, keep you on track, keep you steady. You may find future practice partners for doing The Work. This is an exercise in being conscious, staying conscious.
The winter one-day intensive is coming soon, here in Seattle. There is only room for 14 people! The fee is $125 for the day, we meet 10 am – 6 pm in a little cozy cabin known as Goldilocks Cottage. My darling husband Jon and I live here, and he will be participating and supporting us all right alongside for our day together. And he rocks at doing The Work.
If finances hold you back, please write to me and ask for assistance. This may be the way I make my living, but I have also questioned the thought “I need money” and found, incredibly, that it is not true.
What I DO find to be true is that I love, with all my heart and soul, each and every person who comes to inquire with me, and I honor each and every dollar that shows up as the flow of giving and receiving that happens constantly among us all. (Hint: do the Work on Money if you don’t love it yet).
I can’t wait for a day of inquiry on December 1st. My hands are clapping! Come join us!
Total beginners are welcome, people super familiar with the Work are welcome…every level will work. We all have the same thoughts, ready to be questioned.
Devote your day to inquiry, no matter where you are, and get “there” in a hurry.
“Inside this new love, die. Your way begins on the other side. Become the sky. Take an axe to the prison wall. Escape. Walk out like someone suddenly born into color. Do it now.”~Rumi
Register right now by clicking here and entering the fee of $125.
Love, Grace
P.S. This intensive day I call Turning Relationship Hell To Heaven. The relationship I am referring to is….THAT UGLY, UNCOMFORTABLE ONE. It could be a partner, your mother, your sister, your job, money, your body. If you have multiple ones, don’t worry. Just start with one, we’ll help you begin to investigate just that one. Who knows what can happen from there.
Turning Relationship Hell To Heaven In-Person Intensive Seattle 12/1 10 am – 6 pm.