There are beautiful, sweet, precious, peak moments all throughout our lives. Along with the apparent ugly, sour, ordinary, bottomless-pit moments. And then many in between.
We humans generally like the beautiful ones and shun the ugly ones.
What this “work” of being alive seems to bring is a wider, bigger, more expansive understanding or acceptance of the beauty of it all.
Byron Katie said “Happy New Moment!” to all the people gathered together at The Cleanse.
Can you imagine living your life with the general energy and attitude of absolute-loving-happiness towards each new moment?
I mean really….happy new moment. Now. And now. As you read, do your laundry, go for a jog, take a shower, feed the cat, talk to a friend on the phone.
The moments of this day that don’t seem quite as fun…we have a tool that we can use for broadening our understanding of these moments.
It is, of course, The Work. Identifying your stressful thoughts and beliefs, and asking yourself if they are really true.
Simple perhaps, but tricky. There are so many thoughts!
So if your moment is full of the memory of your mean mother, your neglectful father, your judgmental sister, your over-extended boss, your abusive partner, your lying brother, your cheating boyfriend, your cancer diagnosis, or your annoying clients….you can use this new moment to write out your thoughts and start to question them.
Even if there are so many uncomfortable moments you can remember, just pick the worst one that you can think of right now, and narrow in on that situation only, then write down what you didn’t like about it!
In that terrible, difficult situation…I wanted “x”, I needed “y”. Write down what should or shouldn’t have been said, or done, or thought.
Only then, with the mind on paper, can we really see what to look at most easily.
One of the most profoundly powerful reminders I have received from Katie and all the people who have done the Work with her these past several days, is to sit with the possibility, in this world of duality, that what happened to you, what you didn’t like, had advantages.
What could actually be good about that person saying what they said? Why could it be a good thing that you got that disease? How is it of benefit that that person left, or arrived, when they did? What is an advantage of that thing happening to you? Or NOT happening to you?
This is an incredible thing to discover. It is not an attempt to get you to think positive or deny your very painful experience you had in the past…it is not being all pollyanna on it.
This is admitting…and continuing to see actual advantages for you where before you may have seen it as ALL BAD and EVIL.
Nothing is all bad and evil. At least that’s what I’ve noticed. And the more I find examples of turnarounds for why it is a GOOD THING that it went exactly the way it went….the freer I feel. The more joyful, the more excited, the less fearful.
Less fear is good. I know it, because it feels better.
Not fearing feels natural, simple, peaceful. Not fearing opens up a future you just feel excited about for no reason…you want to clap your hands!
Doing The Work: writing down a painful, stressful thought, and then taking it to the four questions, is very straightforward, very simple. No need to complicate this.
“If you want to learn how to govern, avoid being clever or rich. The simplest pattern is the clearest. Content with an ordinary life, you can show all people the way back to their own true nature.”~Tao Te Ching
Byron Katie suggested to us all yesterday to sit in inquiry 20 minutes a day. Take only one thought and be with it, in silence. Look at it from every angle.
Slowing down and simplifying is the easiest way, the fastest way.
“War ends when you don’t have someone to fight with”. ~ Byron Katie at The Mental Cleanse.
This includes you.
Much love, Grace