Two years ago I was sending off my first Grace Notes, Live From The Cleanse with Byron Katie in Los Angeles.
I remember sitting in the internet cafe at the hotel, computer screens glowing in a circle…very quiet all around, murmurs of people coming and going in the dark muted lobby…the smell of Starbucks, the glow of red, green and white holiday lights.
….and then I’m back inside the huge conference room, absorbing the profound work happening up on stage, Katie sitting in one large comfortable chair, a courageous human sitting in the other, answering the four questions of The Work.
Thoughts being questioned, ideas being reviewed, perhaps dropped, beliefs being un-believed, examined.
I remember the first time, with all this slowing down and looking at thoughts, that I examined what “believing” something meant.
When someone says “I believe…..”
What are they saying? What am I saying?
In the dictionary, the word believe is defined as this: to be convinced by, to give credence to, to regard as true, to credit, trust, put confidence in, to imagine, suspect, suppose, assume, presume, conclude, deduce, understand.
Nowhere does believing mean that it actually IS 100% true.
This is a relief when you’re believing something stressful and upsetting, when you’re believing a situation is not so good.
I loved when once a teacher said believing something is when you repeat it over and over to yourself, you find proof again and again…so you conclude it must be the way it is.
Here’s the really funny thing. I have discovered that some things only have to happen, well, ONCE….and I’ve believed them to be true, at least acted like it was for days, weeks, months and years beyond the original incident.
Other things have repeated themselves hundreds of times, and yet…I am not sure of it’s absolute truth, I’m acting like it’s NOT true.
Hmmmm….a little fishy.
Could my perspective be one that shifts, changes, perhaps isn’t entirely accurate, maybe doesn’t have all the variables or parts?
Stephen Hawking, the famous physicist, says “even though I cannot move, and have to speak through a computer…in my mind, I am free. Free to explore the great questions of the universe.”
Stephen is completely paralyzed in almost every way, except that his eyes blink and his heart beats, and he does not feel trapped.
Simply being able to ASK is freedom!?
WOW.
How exciting to be able to ask if something is true! To explore!
(And sometimes….alarming, I know).
Those first two questions known as The Work:
1) Is it true?
2) Can I absolutely know it is true?
So powerful, without any of the other steps.
When I look at where I am not believing I am free in my mind…where I think something or someone or some incident is holding me back from freedom, is creating a prison for me, is bringing sadness, fear, regret, unhappiness….
…how truly amazing to ask “Is it true? REALLY? Are you absolutely sure? Are you seeing the whole entire picture?”
And I love that you only need to do this with stressful thoughts.
“Ask YOU if it’s true…Don’t ask if the thought matches what you’ve been told or have learned. Don’t consider the way life is supposed to look….Don’t consult the part of you that knows what the answer SHOULD be. The question is, does the thought match what you know inside? Does that thought resonate with your deepest sense of reality?” ~ Byron Katie
Is it true that here in this life, I am paralyzed, trapped, stuck, missing out, frozen, I have to live it out this way, there’s rules I can’t ignore, laws of the universe and physics…..and it’s a BAD thing? It’s hard? It’s a shame? It’s sad? 100%?
How inspiring that Stephen Hawking can answer “no”.
Is it true that I can’t have the same inspired feelings I would have if I were LIVE, in the flesh, at the Cleanse?
No.
I can have joy, love, peace, tears, questions…all right here, in this great and wonderful mind, without my body going anywhere.
How inspiring that we get to try on our own answers.
With much love,
Grace