This coming weekend Sunday afternoon: Meetup 2-4 pm Goldilocks Cottage. The Work of Byron Katie North Seattle. Join me!
*****
Moving, inspiration film is one of my favorite ways of experiencing the beauty of story.
If you keep looking, you will see the whole story, at just the right time
You get a full blown tale, start to finish. Something is usually resolved (in a good story), people become clear, the hero achieves the goal, the heroine arrives or learns what was necessary.
They find love, acceptance, or peace….they meet death.
I can cry at a great and touching movie.
And the whole time, I know its a story. Heck, I can tear up at a commercial on TV.
(Yes, I’m one of those people, we’ll do The Work on that later).
But I always know its a story.
It’s almost funny how this one part of my psyche will join in the game, as if eager to jump into the drama, “OK….let’s see what THIS story feels like!”
I know darn well the whole time that if I stepped around to the side or back of the screen as the movie played, I would only see a thick piece of reflective material (whatever screens are made out of).
If I turned off the sound while hanging out behind the screen, the story would basically be over.
Not long ago, I was watching one of my favorite movies, Whale Rider.
Even though I’ve seen it several times before….here comes the welling up of tears, the inspiration that happens when the truth is finally realized by one of the main characters, Grandfather.
The veil is lifted….after he stubbornly could not see and could not see and could not see.
This time, as I watched, I thought about me.
Because I was turning this all around knowing in the end, this was about me and my humanity, which is why I was so moved.
I was realizing my own beliefs about being in the dark, in the dark, in the dark….
…..not seeing what was right in front of me.
It’s so inspiring to have the veil lifted, to see the “real” truth, to understand, to discover reality, to get the entire story.
Dang. I didn’t see this. It was there the whole time.
This is what I love the most about The Work and questioning what you really, really, really think is the truth.
You look, and look again, and the evidence parades before you (like the Grandfather in Whale Rider).
You have expectations about what love, truth, enlightenment, awareness is supposed to look like.
But if you feel stress and anxiety about what reality looks like, you can question what you think.
This is NOT it.
Is that true?
WOW! Maybe not!
How do you react when you think you know what’s true, and this is not it?
Stubborn, gruff, depressed, stuck. Searching. Grabbing. Running. Discontented. Mean.
Who would you be without the belief that this isn’t it?
Ha ha. Crying tears of relief, joy and inspiration. Crying from the sheer astonishment, from the beauty that we all get there in the end.
Even old set-in-their-ways grandfathers.
(Even old set-in-their-ways minds).
“You are not the thinking mind; you are aware of the thinking mind. You are the consciousness that is behind the mind and is aware of the thoughts. The minute you stop putting your whole heart and soul into the mind as if it were your savior and protector, you will find yourself behind the mind watching it. That’s how you know about your thoughts: you are in there watching them.” ~ Michael Singer in The Untethered Soul
Just like a movie, you watch your thoughts.
You might get all absorbed and tear up, but it doesn’t mean you don’t wake up from the movie ever, from seeing what’s really true for you.
The story unfolds. Not too slow, not too fast.
Just right, for you.
Much love, Grace