The urge to do the thing….and avoid inquiry. You’re not alone.

I was so touched by the inquirers doing The Work on money this month, both in the Year of Inquiry group (it’s our topic all of January) and in the collection of people who showed up to participate, listen and contemplate money just yesterday in the 4 week Money and The Work class.

One important part of doing The Work on a big topic, or any really troubling reliably stressful topic in your life is…..

….drum roll please….

….DOING The Work.

In other words, sitting down, writing out the thoughts you’re experiencing in your mind no matter how childish and frightening, and then taking them through the inquiry process.

And it’s weird how hard it is all on your own for some of us, right?

Sitting on my own couch, or lying in bed, or moving about my living room, or going to the store to get groceries, doing laundry, working, being busy with life, picking up kids from school, putting together meals, talking to the son and daughter at college, preparing for the next workshop or retreat….

….there’s a commenter looking on, noticing what you’re doing.

And at the same time, there are voices saying to Get Busy, Keep Moving, You-Have-To-Do-That-Thing.

Do the thing! Do the thing! Do the thing!

Don’t sit down and wonder about a stressful thought. Get over it!

But has this worked?

Maybe for a temporary time. Maybe you get distracted pretty well, in fact…but then here it comes again. That dreaded stressful thought.

Those thoughts, for example, about money. Not enough. Might make a mistake. Can’t get what I need. I want more.

Today I suggest taking a moment to sit down. You can get up again if it’s torturous. But maybe you can also handle it? Maybe it’s OK to really see what it is you’re thinking about a difficult situation?

Start with the Judge Your Neighbor worksheet questions. That’s what everyone did in the money class. We found a situation where we were troubled with money, and focusing on money itself, wrote a worksheet, wrote out those thoughts.

NOW….you’ve got some good work cut out for you. Like someone sewing together some lovely pieces of cloth that don’t yet look so good, all cut out but not built yet, not made into a new suit of clothing, no fine threads, no tiny segments decorated, no real usefulness. Not yet.

But the good news is, you’ve got the Four Questions, and you only need to go through them, slowly, one at a time.

In the new money class I’ve invited everyone to do The Work this week on the thoughts they found. Whether you’re in the group class or not, why not do The Work on one thought every day from your worksheet?

Who knows what kind of new suit you’ll be wearing by the end of the week, with this kind of lazer focused investigating and “working”.

“For some of us, life is controlled by our thoughts about work and money. But if our thinking is clear, how could work or money be a problem? Our thinking is all we need to change. It’s all we CAN change. This is very good news.” ~ Byron Katie in Loving What Is