Yesterday a fabulous group gathered during a very rainy April-shower afternoon to expose their inner painful beliefs about one situation or person….and get to “work” on it by asking themselves the most amazing questions:
- is it true?
- can I absolutely know that this belief is true, this thought that I’m repeating to myself?
- how do I react when I think this thought, what happens in that moment?
- who would I be without the thought? if I couldn’t even think it?
- what if I believed the opposite instead—could that also be as true?
These questions are simple, yet sometimes not so easy to grasp. To some, they seem like a mental mind-game when first looking at it. Or, if you’re like I was, you might think “Huh? what does that question mean?
Pausing for a moment to answer to the best of your ability, allowing the question to sink in with respect to that stressful concept you repeat over and over in your mind, can offer the most freeing, fabulous experience in the most unexpected way.
The light-bulb A-HA moment we’ve all had one time or another!!
One absolutely powerful experience of doing The Work in a small group of inquirers is that when your own mind is going off on a tangent in answering the questions…or you’re not sure you get how to answer the question…someone else’s answer zings in like a lazer beam and you can so relate.
Yesterday people came with stressful thoughts about the following relationships in their lives: their husband or wife, their lover, their son, their daughter, money, their mother, their boss, their sister.
Even if the people gathered had issues in several areas, they focused on only one.
One never knows….when you do The Work on your mother, you may find that all the issues you have with your boss disappear. When you do The Work on money, all the issues with dating, or sexuality, may change.
Who knows what doing The Work on that one relationship can lead to…it might change your entire life, as you shift your perception from feeling upset to feeling peaceful and accepting.
At the end of the workshop, I read the famous Rumi poem that so many of you dear readers already know.
I read this poem because these thoughts are our guests. They come in to visit. They dwell in our minds for a reason, even if they have been painful. They are here to be acknowledged.
Well, I have found, if they are not acknowledged then they start to get louder. Ignoring them doesn’t work. For me, doing The Work does.
Thank you all, you inquiring minds out there in the world, for questioning your beliefs.
The exciting world of inviting it all in, even if it’s a little frightening, may be changing not only your life….but your neighbor’s life, your family’s life….anyone you can think of.
Yes, even THAT person (the one you prefer not to think of). They are welcome too, just like all the difficult and troubling thoughts.
This being human is a guest house Every morning a new arrival A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet the at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond. ~RumiLove, Grace
P.S. We’ll do the mini-retreat again on May 18th. This is doing The Work starting from scratch. Beginners and experienced all welcome. We start with step one and move right through the whole process. From darkness to lightbulb moment.