First Friday Inquiry with Grace is here! We start at 7:45 am Pacific Time. Everyone and anyone is welcome to join, listen, raise your hand to share or “do” The Work. We’ll begin by filling out a Judge Your Neighbor worksheet. Use this as a time to simply do The Work. I’ll walk you through step by step. Beginners and experienced all are welcome. All you need to bring is a pen and paper, dial in with your phone or computer, and get ready to open your mind.
Click the link here to join me for First Friday (everyone joining will be muted, so don’t be shy, you can come and see what it’s like by listening in). No one is required to share out loud.
And…
Sunday at 5 pm Pacific Time the doors close for Year of Inquiry. I am so, so honored and excited for the beautiful group who have joined. While the full program earns a huge number of credits for Certification in The Work (166) through the Institute for The Work, the most important part of this program is doing The Work. Some people will do TeleSessions Only (the flexible version where you are not earning credit) and some will jump in to complete all requirements for training in the Institute as a Certified Facilitator. Two levels of participation.
I get so excited because….wondering if our stressful beliefs are true is a most stunning and beautiful experience to have.
To read about Year of Inquiry and enroll, visit HERE. If you have questions, I’ll probably be answering them all weekend, so don’t hesitate to write grace@workwithgrace.com.
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One thing we’ll be doing in Year of Inquiry Month Three is noticing our common, frequent Top Ten Stressful Hits. Have you ever noticed repetitive objections or complaints can repeat themselves regularly, over and over, in your head?
There’s not enough time. Life is hard. He doesn’t care about me. I’ve been abandoned. I need x in order to be happy. I can’t go on unless…..
The scenes, or situations, or even the people and characters involved can change….
…but here comes the same thought. Again.
Byron Katie refers to these kinds of repetitive thoughts as Underlying Beliefs (and so do other speakers, authors, researchers).
These beliefs maybe formed when you were really young. Or perhaps they began before your time, and they were passed along from generation to generation and you received these beliefs from your mom or dad without even realizing it.
You can still question them. Especially when they’re stressful.
The other day, I was writing for a book project underway. I get to write one chapter in a collection of chapters written by facilitators of The Work who have been inquiring for a long time. The deadline for the chapter was yesterday.
I had the thought just like I’ve had with so many projects and events in life: “I need more time.”
It’s possible this thought will never go away. It’s just a little voice that likes to sing. About “time”.
Time, time, time we love time! More time, more time, more! Not enough time, not enough time, not enough!
I chuckled after I heard the thought “I need more time”. Because almost immediately I had the question “Is it true?”
No.
Because I really have sat many times with this inquiry and felt the spaciousness of what it’s like without believing I need more time. For anything.
Not more time for this book writing project, not for hanging out with a close friend, not for making more money, not for running a race, not for weeding the garden, not for waking up or becoming enlightened, not for being alive.
I notice there’s always this moment, here right now. I can only finish what I finish, do what I do, live this life, be this.
There’s no more time available….that’s reality. There’s no less time either. The amount of time required is in the hands of something else, some other force, not this personal small identity of “me”.
Who would you be without this underlying belief, a human belief passed along for ages from one to the next to the next, that we must hurry, or we’re under pressure, or there’s not enough time?
What if Unfinished…..is OK?
Could the amount we have be enough? Be plenty?
Turning my ancient repetitive belief around: I have enough time. I do not need more time. Only my thinking needs more time.
Could it be the manuscript of this book chapter is “done” for now?
Of course. I tweak, edit, correct, update. Then the deadline comes, and off it goes. Good enough. What else would it be?
What are genuine examples of how you do NOT need more time in your life, for whatever you think you need more time for?
Why do you need more time, anyway?
Ahhhhh, therein lies the interesting question. Because I love this so much, I’m afraid of losing it. Because I dislike this, I need time to fix it. Because people will disapprove, time will fix the disapproval. Because people approve, time will keep it going.
Are any of these conclusions absolutely true?
“Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time–past and future–the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.” ~ Eckhart Tolle
It’s only my thinking that actually needs more time.
And one way I can give my thinking more time….is questioning it’s beliefs, with The Work.
Ahhhhhhh.
P.S. I was on the radio with some local Seattle people. Listen to the show HERE.