Yesterday in the telegroup working on Money, we were meeting for the 7th time out of 8.
One person said he was feeling discouraged about his lack of action, movement, change around money. Another wave of paying bills and feeling….poor, anxious, worried.
Someone else noticed a huge shift happening not long after the course started, and the change still underway. Money showing up in unexpected places. Thrilled with discovering what thoughts had been in place, feeling them dissolve.
Another participant saw how frightened she was of certain aspects of money like counting it, tracking it, handling it, managing it, saving it….and she signed herself up for a beginners bookkeeping class.
There is no way to ever tell what will happen around the next corner.
All we can see is that right now, we are believing difficult, agonizing, nervous thoughts…..or we are able to see through our thinking to a place beyond fear.
Everyone has that place.
“We either believe what we think or we question it: there’s no other choice. Questioning our thoughts is the kinder way.” ~ Byron Katie
It might feel like a waft of fresh air, holding someone’s hand and feeling connected, or suddenly seeing a huge expansive view appear as you crest the top of a mountain.
Just a small glimpse of hope and a little smile, or a big massive recognition that you’ve been worried when all along it was actually nothing to worry about.
The inquirer who felt like things weren’t changed brought this thought to the surface, for us to question:
I need them to help me stay focused.
Everyone in the class could find a situation, a moment where they believed this thought (or something very close) especially with money or work involved.
I need those teachers, I need that book, I need the information, I need God, I need my friends, I need my family, I need my environment, I need my workplace, I need my boss, I need my partner…..to help me stay focused!!!
This thought often comes alive when focus is “lost”.
Wow, I have lost focus. If I had more of it, if I stayed on track, kept my eyes on the prize….I would Get There Faster.
Getting there faster is better. I know what the final goal is supposed to look like. This is dire. I need to change. This WILL be an emergency soon.
Fear.
Often, when I have felt like this, I have no respect for fun. No time for pleasure, laughter, or stopping for lunch. I’ve paid people money to help me stay on focus (not that there’s anything wrong with that)!
But who would I be without the thought that I need their help, or that I need to stay focused?
It’s a radical idea…..and oh so liberating.
What? I don’t need to stay focused?
Could the way it has gone, so far, be just right? Could it be what has been necessary, so far, for my own growth?
Byron Katie suggests that the way things have gone, to this point right now in your life, is the BEST way possible.
Because every other way is an imagined way. Unreal.
THIS is what I need the world to bring me for my greatest awareness, joy, surrender…..love.
What if “focus”…or whatever you believe is missing…dwells within you, even now?
If you are losing your home and possessions, or something catastrophic has happened, this does not mean Oh Joy that was Brilliant.
That would be ridiculous! (Although what if it was brilliant?)
But even an inkling of the idea that this happened…..and you are OK, you have the ability to go on, to be reborn, to blossom, to grow, to have a very profound shift because you are going through this….
…opening to this, even just a wee teensy tiny bit, could change your life.
Turning the thought around in every way:
I need me to help myself focus, I don’t need them to help me with that, I need to help THEM focus, and, they need to help me stay out-of-focus.
Who knows? I can see when dropping focus, doing the unexpected, and letting things run their course is actually more fun. And more the way of reality.
Roundabout, focused, blurred….whatever is happening, could all be well? Could I feel some peace in the middle of it?
Well, yeah. Probably. OK. Yes.
“Nothing comes ahead of its time, and nothing ever happened that didn’t need to happen.” ~ Byron Katie
With love,
Grace