One week until the next Saturday mini retreat here in Seattle. We have room for maybe 2 more people, that’s it though. What a great thing to do during the holiday weekend, right? Join us!
An afternoon spent in The Work can save you 421 hours of irritation with THAT person who bugs you.
(You know who I’m talking about…even if it’s yourself!)
Just kidding….there would be no way to ever measure how much emotional pain or hours-of-irritation would be saved by doing The Work…
….all I know is, I love having this incredible, ever-expanding tool to use when stress, fear, sadness, annoyance, discomfort or desperation arises.
And, the difficulties life presents seem more interesting now. In fact, some things that life presents actually seem hilarious….where they USED to be very, very over-the-top serious.
Like, for example.
Yesterday, I had an interview on my calendar. Exciting! I love talking about The Work! I’ve done several radio shows before.
Before I went to bed, I plugged in my cell phone, and for the first time ever, put it on Airplane Mode and set the alarm. I’m a very early riser, but I really wanted to be up and ready, maybe meditate a little beforehand. Get centered.
But yes, you read that correctly…I put my phone on Airplane Mode, meaning zero disturbance or interruption.
I also failed to notice that the actual plug fell out of the wall as I plugged in the phone to its charger….so it was not getting recharged overnight, and only had 3 percent red zone power left when I woke up.
I mean, how goofy is that. It’s like I’m one of the three stooges or something.
No alarm, and remember, we’re going on an airplane apparently….so I slept a bit later than I usually do….an HOUR later.
I came to the interview literally just rolled out of bed, with my hair wildly un-brushed and sleepy eyes, and in my pajamas…..
…..and then discovered that this was a video interview.
Now, in the past, this might have made me freak out and apologize frantically and feel some sense of panic or embarrassment.
But I had nothing like that.
“Oh! Well! Since this is a VIDEO interview…how do I look? Like I just woke up? I see! OK…I think I’ll just take 10 minutes and go brush my hair!”
The fabulous interviewer, Brooke (I’ll tell you about her when the interview goes live) was totally fine with waiting.
We had a wonderful conversation. When you watch the interview, you can remember that I was asleep 12 minutes before it. Ha!
I find the whole thing quite hysterical.
Here’s the crazy thing. Other much more critical experiences also have a lighter feel, an element of humor….where my first reaction in the past was the opposite: dread, seriousness, urgency, shame.
Inside, before doing the work, my reaction might look like this:
OMG! She just rejected me! OMG! He just insulted me! OMG! I’m running into HIM! Run! Hide! Duck out of the building! OMG! I have cancer! OMG! She betrayed me! OMG! I have to have surgery! OMG! I got fired! OMG! I’m going to die! OMG! My car made a noise! OMG! My kid didn’t text me!
Now, I’m not saying that I don’t have these kinds of responses….you get to hear about them all the time in Grace Notes, right?
But it’s like they are only a PART of me. They don’t take over. They just don’t get that much juice. They don’t have much weight.
I don’t lose much sleep….obviously! (Airplane Mode?)
I recently heard Katie talking about The Work and what happens after you do it for awhile.
“People say ‘smoking quit me’ or ‘alcohol quit me’. They are dealing with the original cause. They questioned their mind, and the world shifts out of that. Our wants, our needs, our desires…they all shift as the mind shifts…..Eventually a thought will start to arise like ‘he doesn’t care about me’ and then it’s already met with ‘is it true?’ and it’s silent. And then you just notice ‘I don’t know’.” ~ Byron Katie
Oh boy, what fun.
If you think you are a hard nut to crack, by the way….I have similar experience. I’ve questioned, and questioned and looked and re-looked and examined, and repeated the same thoughts over and over.
The same fears, the same worries, the same sweating armpits….
….but little tiny shifts happened. Little openings, laughter, joy, excitement.
Give yourself some slow time, identifying clearly, and then questioning, what you really believe that produces stress.
You may find yourself responding to the world in ways you never thought possible.
Laughing!
“If you don’t realize the source, you stumble in confusion and sorrow. When you realize where you come from, you naturally become tolerant, disinterested, amused, kindhearted as a grandmother, dignified as a king. Immersed in the wonder of the Tao, you can deal with whatever life brings you, and when death comes, you are ready.” ~ Tao Te Ching #16
With Love, Grace
P.S. Last class starting this year: MONEY! Wanting, needing, earning it. Thursdays 8 – 9:30 am 12/5 – 1/23.