Oh my, what fun to just begin this week the group program that runs all the way through next summer.
Year of Inquiry has officially kicked off (you can still join).
One of the things I like about it so much, is people bring their stressful situations, and as they begin to do The Work (answering the four questions) I feel the same thoughts unravel inside my own psyche.
I can relate to anyone and everyone who comes to do The Work.
In fact, it goes better when I do, as the apparent “facilitator” I almost always find a situation where I had the same thought as the inquirer.
Our beginning thoughts in our group meetings this past week were three brilliant and common situations:
1) that person is soooo negative (do you know anyone who you think of as deeply negative)?
2) I won’t ever feel like something’s come true that I really desire (have you wanted something desperately, but while it’s true for others, it isn’t for you)?
3) a whole lot rides on a decision I am making, and my decision could make it worse (have you ever felt you could make the wrong decision)?
All three of these scenarios in human life, I can find where I’ve had the same thought and felt the suffering of it.
The memory or picture pops into my mind while the inquirer shares.
In fact, all of us listening get to find where we’ve had the same thought, even though it’s about a person WE know, and an entirely different situation.
Our own.
So as I listened, I could picture a long-forgotten co-worker who I thought of at the time as supremely negative. By the end of the inquiry, I felt such compassion for her and remembered how much I learned from her at the time, and from the conflict I had inside about her.
I then recognized the thought about something not coming true that I wish for: finishing a book I started long ago and even wrote a proposal for, all of which haven’t developed further. I could sit with the idea I need that to happen…is it true?
And oh my, the one about decisions. I used to agonize dreadfully about decisions. I remember putting my children in a school, taking them out and putting them in another, taking them out and homeschooling, and putting them back into the first one. Yikes. I was terrified of making the wrong decision.
Funny how we can have something specifically about our own life up for investigation, while also closely listening and being with someone else who is speaking out loud, answering the questions, dropping into inquiry.
I love it.
My own inquiry on my own is beautiful, but honestly, never the same as with a group.
This sense of connection directly with others has a spark and energy to it that’s adventurous, unexpected.
Who would we be, without our stories?
This week, I got to speak with Helena Montelius about her life in The Work since the year 2000; almost two decades with the four questions. I have the same experience of gratitude, openness and relief just hearing her story.
To listen to the Peace Talk podcast with Helena, click here.
To watch on youtube, join us here:
Much love, Grace