Yesterday, I got to sit in the presence of Byron Katie and about 800 other people, all gathered together where I live (Seattle) to observe our stressful stories, and question them by taking them through the process known as The Work.
I had an image at one moment of dropping to my knees, prostrating I guess it’s called….
….and bowing to the Great Universe, kissing the ground for giving me the ability to wonder if what I’m thinking, when it’s painful, is actually true?
It almost never is.
Not the absolute 100% solid, never-to-be-doubted truth. I mean, how could what my brain is saying be The Truth?
One person’s mind?
But I sure have acted like it was.
He hurt me, she insulted me, he abandoned me, she criticized me, I better be careful, she shouldn’t worry, he should calm down, she shouldn’t have cut me off, he shouldn’t have been so greedy, they shouldn’t have more than me, I need, I should, I want, they are, what if.
So many stressful concepts chattering away on the inside of my mind over years of my life.
And then this question….
….Is it true?
Can you be sure it’s true, the thing you’re thinking?
Are you certain?
Consider it deeply. Are you sure? How do you know? Where did you learn this “fact”? Is it undeniable? Would EVERYONE agree?
Where’s your proof?
Katie asked the audience yesterday, as I’ve heard her ask before….
….”Who just heard me cough?”
Silence, with some hands going up.
“Where’s your proof?”
The point being, the proof is only in the memory, the image in the mind, the imprint getting lodged in the brain that determines it happened, because we saw it. We heard it. Therefore it’s the truth.
And there’s no proof. None.
So who would you be without holding on to your thought? Who would you be without your belief that what you saw, or heard, (even if it was a cough), was The Truth?
What would it be like to look around at this present moment (you can do it right now) and not have any solid “IT-HAPPENED-FOR-SURE-AND-IT-SUCKED” attitude about what went on in the past that you didn’t like, hated, resisted, regretted?
Wouldn’t you notice how lovely, quiet, stable and kind this moment is, without your full-fledged belief?
I got once again, listening to Katie and the brave people who sat in the chair opposite her on stage and said their stressful thoughts out loud….I got once again that this work isn’t about denial.
In other words, it’s not about pretending something never happened or that I’m a complete nut case to have “made up” something that wasn’t real. It’s not about denying the intense thing I witnessed. It’s not about acting fake-fake like all is well, when it really wasn’t (even if in the end, it was).
This is about noticing the past is OVER.
Right now, I’m sitting in a chair, reliving a memory. The memory is in the mind. It’s not reality. it’s not happening Now. These are images, repeating themselves. Images on replay. Waiting for me to question them.
Right now, it’s very safe. Very quiet. I am supported by the chair, the room, the floor. The world is still revolving. There are kind people nearby. No one is yelling, criticizing, abandoning me, hurting me, or being violent.
Noticing this is who I would be, who I am, without my stressful thought.
“The mind creates the abyss, the heart crosses it.” ~ Nisargadatta
“A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It’s not our thoughts, but our attachment to our thoughts, that causes suffering. Attaching to a thought means believing that it’s true, without inquiring. A belief is a thought that we’ve been attaching to, often for years.” ~ Byron Katie
Who would you be without your thought about yesterday?
Oooooh, it could be very, very exciting. Thrilling. Wondrous. New. Mysterious. A blank page. Loving. Magical.
Just saying.
Much love,
Grace