First quick: If you want to take a Saturday afternoon to do self-inquiry with a small group next weekend in Seattle (one week from today) with guidance, to bring clarity to one troubling situation or person, click here to register or just send me an email grace@workwithgrace.com to reserve a spot. No issue is too big or too small. The half-day retreat is $70.
Speaking of no issue being too big or too small….as often happens with people who come to work with me, I’ve had several wonderful inquirers comment or ask about agoraphobia all in the last month.
What a tremendously powerful and BIG issue.
In case you don’t know what agoraphobia means, it is the experience of great anxiety with wide open spaces, or the environment….the person feeling the fear feels small and helpless in this big place.
Boy, I can relate.
Have you ever stood on the edge of a big cliff, or at the top of a gigantic tall sky scraper, or even seen a photo of the open ocean, or been in the middle of a wheat field in Kansas?
The wonder and magnificence of this place can give pause to anyone, just watching it and getting a sense of how teesy tiny each one person is…and if that’s not enough…a limited life span, too.
Sometime last year, I saw on the cover of the National Geographic a young man pausing for a rest as he ascended a huge rock face in Yosemite National Park in the United States. WITHOUT ROPES.
Just seeing the photo set a little worried flutter in my stomach. I was stunned to find that I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about THAT PHOTO.
I thought I was more “advanced” than that. I thought I would not be someone who could be set off by a photo. I mean, really?
But that photo haunted me for a few days.
Fear is a very amazing energy. If you didn’t know it was fear, or if you didn’t even label it “fear” you can spend some time with this energy, and the thoughts that go with it, and see what it’s about.
What is it about this scenario that is most disturbing? I had to ask myself (ahem…in the middle of the night) with that scene of the free-climber.
Falling wouldn’t be so bad, I thought, it’s just falling—I suppose like flying. But the impact! Death! In such a short time…smashed to the ground! Gone!
“Fear is always the result of an unquestioned past imagined as a future”. ~ Byron Katie
Dying because of falling hundreds or thousands of feel would be terrible, and wrong…can I really know that this is true?
I am a miniscule speck of dust in this vast universe…and that’s not very safe. Is THAT true?
If you’re afraid, find the core belief and ask yourself, “Is it true that I need to be fearful in this situation? What is actually happening right now, physically? Where is my body (hands, arms, feet, legs, head)? What do I see (trees, walls, windows, sky)?” ~Byron Katie
YES YES! I need to be afraid of falling to my death! I need to be afraid of the hugeness of the sky!
Otherwise, I could just accidentally find myself on the edges of cliffs or floating in outer space with narry a care in the world…and wind up squashed like a bug!
I am afraid of destruction, death, annihilation, endings, physical pain.
Who would I be without the thought that I need to avoid those things? Without the thought that those things are bad?
What a strange thing to consider. I always thought it was supposed to be bad to die or get something chopped off or get sick or have something end!
How fascinating just to be open to the possibility of it not being bad.
And also, how wonderful that the experience of this thing we’re calling “fear” comes forth, to be addressed. Like a part of the mind saying “look here! this is interesting!”
“As we get close to realizing our true nature, and even after awakening, we may fear losing control or not existing, or be terrified by the vastness beyond our limited view. Yet on the spiritual journey, fear can point the way toward a deeper realization and freedom — but only if we truly understand it.”~Adyashanti
If you are afraid, maybe rather than being spiritually retarded, you are being called to something amazing.
If you’re worried, then maybe something in you is READY, interested in transformation, understanding, seeing.
Maybe something is going right….and it’s good.
Love, Grace
Learn About All Teleclasses Here
- A Year Of Inquiry For The Addictive Mind: Life Support For The Compulsive Thinker. June 2013 – May 2014, Tuesday teleclasses * 2 in-person retreats * Relief, Peace, Group Work, Change. Click here to read all about it.
- Earning Money: What’s Your Problem? Questioning Your Beliefs About Money, Work and Business. Thursdays, June 13 – August 8, 2013, 5:15 – 6:45 pm Pacific time. No class June 27. 8 weeks $395.Register Here.
- Pain, Sickness and Death: Making Friends With The Worst That Happens In Life. Thursdays, March 7 – April 11, 2013. 5:15-6:45 pm. 6 weeks $295.
- Turning Relationship Hell To Heaven: Working With Painful Hate, Anger, Fury, Despair, Grief, or Disappointment With Someone You Know; Spouse, Mother, Sibling, Father, Daughter, Son, Boss, Neighbor, Friend. Fridays, March 29 – May 17, 2013 8:00 am – 9:30 am Pacific time. 8 weeks $395. Register Here.
- Horrible Food Wonderful Food: Investigating the Love/Hate Relationship with Eating And Food. Tuesdays, June 11 – July 30, 2013 5:15 – 6:45 pm Pacific time. 8 weeks $395. Register Here.
- Our Wonderful Sexuality: A Safe Place For Inquiry on Painful Thoughts About Sexuality. Fridays, July 5 – August 23, 2013 Noon – 1:30 pm Pacific time. 8 weeks $395. Register Here.
In Person workshops:
- Mini Retreat Seattle. Saturday, April 6, 2013, 1:30-5:30 pm. Goldilocks Cottage. $70 includes intensive, handouts, tea and snacks.
- Mini Retreat Seattle. Saturday, May 18, 2013, 1:30-5:30 pm Goldilocks Cottage. $70 includes intensive, handouts, tea and snacks.
- SIGN UP FOR BOTH SATURDAY MINI RETREATS FOR $125 – Click here to register for one or both mini-retreats:
- One-Day Retreat: Question Your Thinking, Change Your Life. Saturday, June 15, 2013, Thunder Bay, Ontario, CANADA. $175 includes workshop, snacks, wonderful catered lunch. Please click HERE learn more and to register.
- Loving Your Body Breitenbush Hot Springs Retreat. June 26-30, 2013. For all the information please click HERE.
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