Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Stressful Stories….

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

The honest stories of what the day of thanksgiving represents are a combination, truthfully, of gratitude and deep desperate grief. Violence and rest. Conquering and surrendering. War and peace. Beginnings and endings. Duality.

The way of it.

What I notice about the experience of reality is it changes, and appears to include all things: very difficult, very beautiful.

And suffering, that is repeating what is difficult, appears to come out of believing painful thoughts.

Get away from THOSE people, be like THIS, don’t to THAT, don’t listen to your heart, DEFEND, use force to find safety, demand, be right, MAKE yourself be grateful.

Gasp.

Did I just say that?

Did I just imply you can be violent on yourself and your own mind by telling yourself you SHOULD be grateful, especially on Thanksgiving?

Yes, because before I did The Work, I had many beliefs about how people were supposed to act and “think” that look very good from the outside, but are not necessarily kind.

You should be grateful, giving, you should make donations, you should be thoughtful, you should be nice to your relatives, you should get along with everyone. You should eat turkey. (LOL).

What I noticed is, if I really wanted to question my suffering, then EVERYTHING was up for inquiry. Including the TO-DO commandments and any beliefs I had about how people (including me) should act, think, feel, or be.

I was interested in The Work because not only were other people, places, things and events not measuring up to perfection, but most importantly, neither was I.

I’m not too sure the experience of people traveling, leaving home, immigrating, journeying or being invaded has been all that sweet.

I’m pretty sure it’s been exceptionally sour at times, even bitter, and devastating.

But what if we could find peace, anyway? Even in the midst of chaos, war, emotional wounds, worry, fear.

Give me your tired, your poor repetitive stressful thoughts….

….all those stories and beliefs huddled together yearning to breathe free, the wretched discarded waste of believing….all piled up cluttering the senses and teeming over your consciousness. All those pictures, images, experiences in the past, being remembered over and over again.

Send all those stories and ingrained beliefs and unquestioned tales of suffering with no place to ever call home, all tossed around wildly through memories, gossip, fear, getting triggered….

….send all those beliefs to Inquiry! A lamp that can take anyone through a golden door!

I know, I know, it sounds very dramatic and flowery, but I’ve seen people (including yours truly) find deeply unexpected peace by questioning thoughts, rather than trying to get themselves, other people, places, or events to change.

What a relief. What a powerful experience of energizing, creating, inventing something new, or returning to something very ancient and familiar and loving.

So I’m excited that tomorrow on USA Thanksgiving morning I’ll get on the phone with lovely inquirers from 8-9:30 am to dive into The Work. Jump on any time. Bring your thoughts on election results, those other people who are upset about the election results, family disturbances, concerns for the holidays, fears, sadness, what you’re against.

This is for the places we don’t exactly feel thankful.

Which is one of the first things I love about The Work: you get to be babyish, immature, ridiculous, nasty, resentful, rude….all on paper.

Let it out! Don’t hold back!

Simply being honest, writing it down.

You don’t have to speak, share or even say one thing out loud on our call–you can use the time to listen and meditate on your own inquiry experience.

Another thing I love about The Work so much is that you get to answer the questions….YOUR answers. Not one single other person’s answers, not answers you SHOULD answer if you were polite and kind.

You really get to sit and contemplate the truth, for yourself, and wonder what it’s like if you didn’t believe everything you think.

I’ve found it to be exceptionally liberating and life-changing.

To not believe I must fight, assert, push against, clench my fists, or argue in order to be safe, loving, or free….

….this is amazing.

Join me Thursday if you can, I’d love to have you there, no matter what kind of thoughts you’ve ever had. You are welcome. So are your thoughts.

Come early to save your spot: Thanksgiving Thursday Online Inquiry.

“If you believe that anyone’s action is bad, how can you see the good in it? How can you see the good that comes out of it, maybe years later? If you see anyone as bad, how can you understand that we are all created equal? We’re all teachers by the way we live. A blind drunk can teach more about why not to drink than an abstinent man in all his piety. No one has more or less goodness. No one who ever lived is a better or a worse human being than you.” ~ Byron Katie