The Work of Byron Katie with Grace – Page 2 – question your thinking, wake up to a kinder life

November 12, 2020November 12, 2020

Election fears, terror of death and Peace Talk Episode 172

This past couple of weeks has been so exciting.

I’ve gotten to facilitate others (and myself, always) on their beliefs about physical pain, illness, weight or weight loss, aggression, fear and terror of someone dying in the future (who we love), and nail-biting on the political scene in the USA.

Here came the thoughts, hitting people like hail in a great storm.

I loved sitting with each and every person:

I’m not safe
the election must have the “right” outcome
my well-being depends on politicians’ behavior
my body is not safe with this condition (pain, disease, political scene, over-eating)
something terrible will happen
I’m being abandoned

The amazing people I get to do The Work with unique backgrounds, languages, countries, ages, experiences….

….and yet all considering their minds and how powerful the stressful thinking can be.

What do we do with images and fears about what will happen in the future?

This is all it takes. This is step one:

Willing.

Willing to look more closely. Willing to identify what I’m believing. Willing to feel those feelings. Willing to be with the suffering instead of push it away, block it out, try to destroy it, hide from it.

Someone joined Year of Inquiry this week, someone else joined Eating Peace. These programs already started and they asked and said “I really want this”.

They felt a drop of “willing” to step into this work more deliberately, more regularly.

Anyone can do it, if you have a pen and paper or a friend who can ask you four questions.

So let’s look at lack of safety, as so many people felt it was looming.

Is it true that you are not safe and your well-being depends on a certain outcome?

I think of all the moments I thought of this as true.

My father’s cancer and death.

A dear friend’s betrayal and silence.

A partner leaving unexpectedly.

War. Fires. Death.

(I often reacted by eating, eating, eating and then vomiting or starving for days, and focusing on the belief that my well-being depends on eating right. AFTER the other stuff already was looming).

Question one: Is it true our safety exists only if it goes “well” or our success happens only if it goes as we hoped?

No.

What happens when we believe it absolutely has to go THAT way (the way we want)?

We’re freaking out if it doesn’t go our way. We’re terrified if it doesn’t. We’re bitter, angry, resentful, depressed. The whole world appears to be unsafe.

So who are we without this thought of being dependent on something happening (you know what it is) in order to be happy?

Wow. Really?

It’s just an experiment. This doesn’t mean you should not believe it would be better if things went your way.

It’s only a way to use mind, which is so powerful, as a tool of support rather than a fear-monger.

Being “without stressful thought” doesn’t mean being passive.

Without this thought, I feel a sense of trust, of openness. Of absolute freedom and independence from conditions to make me happy.

Which feels like the ultimate empowerment, to be honest.

It feels like freedom. Even joy.

TurnAround: No one and nothing can make me endlessly unhappy, or hurt me, or keep me depressed. Only my depressive thinking, or my anxiety-riddled thinking can bring depression or anxiety (or both). I don’t need it to go my way, in order to be happy. I can be happy just because.

My thinking isn’t safe, I AM safe, life is safe
the election must have whatever outcome it has
my well-being depends on my questioned thinking
my thoughts are not safe with this condition (pain, disease, political scene, over-eating)
something wonderful will happen
I’m being set free

And even my thinking doesn’t need to be the problem.

By questioning the belief that these things shouldn’t happen, you can end your own suffering about the suffering of others. And once you do, you’ll be able to notice that this makes you a kinder human being, someone who is motivated by love rather than outrage or sadness. The end of suffering in the world begins with the end of suffering in you. ~ Byron Katie

Watch inquirers as we walk through stressful beliefs causing fear and terror. Join me on any future First Friday for this work.

Or listen on Peace Talk podcast or download audio-only here.

Devoting time to self-inquiry, even just a little, can bring one moment of insight that could change your life. This process has changed mine, thought by questioned-thought. Not too crazy fast, not too slow, right on time.

Join me and the good Tom Compton in our upcoming six-day winter retreat for the brilliant power of self-inquiry to connect us all more deeply to our one precious life.

Only 19 days until we start. Can’t wait to share the time.

If you’ve noticed anxiety, fear, intolerance, frustration, nerves, worry….this is the place to practice becoming your own willing and loving advisor.

Four questions. Your answers.

Much love,

Grace

November 4, 2020November 4, 2020

What does it mean to move without resistance? The joy of acting in The Work.

There was a time when I became aware, about two years into doing The Work, that sometimes the mind can hold up a belief very solidly in the background of a situation we’re investigating, and not let go.

I didn’t even know I had the belief. That’s the funny part.

I was dating in my forties.

I was also rather shocked to be dating as I had felt so married-for-life in my first marriage of 15 years.

I loved partnership and had mostly been with a partner for the majority of my life since age 16. It seemed easy and natural.

(And before that, I always had one close best friend).

So there I was, meeting men and dating.

There was one man I found incredibly funny and smart, but also quite troubled.

We’d go on a walk or have a meal and talk in depth, and all kinds of weird emotional conflict would appear.

I’d feel nervous, angry, or incredibly disgusted.

Fairly new in my experience of self-inquiry and The Work at that time, I’d write a worksheet on the moment of disruption and get all my thoughts on paper: “he shouldn’t have said that”, “I need him to be different”, “there’s something wrong with him”, “he’s too depressed”, “he’s an addict”.

I would take them through the four questions and find turnarounds and feel amazed with what I learned about myself.

And yet…the conflict persisted.

And so did the on-and-off dating, anxiety, and anger.

When suddenly one day, while sitting quietly in The Work, I heard the voice in my head ask this powerful question:

Why are you trying so, so hard to make this relationship work….when it just plain isn’t?

Why are you trying so hard to like red when you prefer blue?

And the hidden “agenda” appeared before my eyes.

This. Relationship. Must. Work.

Dreams of a future living with this person in bliss, enjoying the support of the money he had accumulated and his good taste, feeling that old natural feeling within me of having one best friend in my life, imagining easy conversations and someone to whom you could say “hey, did you see that?”

Some part of my mind didn’t like noticing this dynamic did NOT really work.

I scared him, he scared me.

Everyone confused and upset. Uneasy.

Ideas about what “success” or “love” looks like.

Is it true it had to work?

Is it true the images I had of “it working” were real? Or was it all imagination? (Um, I would say it was imagination, LOL).

What happened when I believed that relationship MUST work and turn into the relationship I dreamed of?

Well one thing that happened, is I did The Work itself on every tiny thing I did not like, in an effort to land on peace, enforce peace, arrive at peace.

Even my dreams of “peace” were false and guessed at. I said peace didn’t look like the present moment, it looked like a vision I had in the future.

I ignored my preferences, for “peace”. I turned everything around to myself “for peace”. I went places and ate food I didn’t like and said “yes” to invitations “for peace” or “for hope”.

I turned all my stressful thoughts around and then made an effort to keep myself directed narrowly to this goal of making the relationship work: “I shouldn’t have said that”, “I need me to be different”, “there’s something wrong with me”, “I’m too depressed”, “I’m an addict–especially about him”.

But who would I be without the belief “I’m going someplace BETTER in the future (this future relationship working the way I want and imagine)?

Who would I be without the belief “This Must Work”?

On that day I suddenly dropped below my hopes and motives to enforce happiness in the future, my attitude of “fighting” for happiness….

….and I noticed reality.

Reality didn’t look like my plan. Reality didn’t look like celebration and loving connection and beauty and two married people smiling at each other in that moment.

What was the reality?

Not that.

THIS.

And then…the questioning opened up and I became aware of a turnaround: This IS Working.

This is it. This is where this is going.

Right now.

Not in the future somewhere, where heaven awaits.

Heaven could be right here, despite the discord in relating and the difficult thinking and the tortured emotions and apparent confusion.

The sun still shines behind the sky, the world still moves, the breath still flows in and out of this body, the life force still pulses with joy–no matter what I’m ever doing, no matter what is happening, no matter what is being “thought” in any moment.

I could be cleaning dog poop off my shoe, and this is what is, in that moment.

Not the future cleaned up shoe.

Can I notice This. Is. Working.

The relationship may not involve future active connection (turns out it did not) but what a joy to flow with life instead of push against it.

I understood then what Byron Katie and others might be talking about when they spoke of doing The Work with a motive or agenda, how it can block the freedom and peace you have access to right in the middle of any condition, relationship or situation.

Could heaven be possible even with this?

Of course.

Who am I to say “this is not heaven”?

Good news.

It didn’t matter that I had been doing that when doing The Work with a motive of eventually getting to peace. Insight came when it came, at just the right time.

I explored, I stayed, and then I saw, and I broke up with him.

The joy of not knowing what will ever happen, the freedom from being dependent on things going a certain way in order for me to be happy….dissolving.

Who are you without the belief “this is not it”?

Turned Around: This is it. This is life, being lived. This is heaven. This is waking up.

Peace is possible now.

When this realization landed inside me, I knew to break up with this man and that I didn’t have to make myself Not Think of him.

I didn’t know my future and it was totally safe, totally OK. I felt gratitude, clarity, tears, empowerment. Life moved in its own direction.

I couldn’t have gotten there, experiencing that moment as peaceful and exciting, without The Work.

Wow.

“Eventually, through practice, you no longer impose your thinking onto reality, and you can experience everything as it really is, as pure grace.” ~ Byron Katie

If you’ve got beliefs about what is required for peace, for awakening, for love, for eliminating stuckness…you may want to come do The Work on retreat.

Winter retreat is a month away.

Making friends with the worst that can happen: cancer Peace Talk

Some of us have heard these words. About ourselves. Or someone we love dearly.

It’s cancer.

I’ll never forget my own moment, coming from the doctor’s lips, just after stitches were taken out from a biopsy on my leg.

The adrenaline coursed through my body like a geyser shooting through.

Instant fear.

I’m going to die.

I’m going to suffer.

This is terrible, hideous, sad, horrifying.

I knew it, I knew this would happen to me.

Fear, anger, wailing…all happening on the inside, churning around.

Are these thoughts true, though?

What happens when you believe these thoughts?

Agony, terrible visions, memories of my father dying. Visions of loss, emptiness, disappointment, suffering.

But who would I be without the whole big all-inclusive story called “cancer” and what it means when we have it, or when someone else has it?

What if it was not so frightening to die, or have someone we love die?

Can I notice the rush of feelings, and also wonder what I am without the belief “it’s cancer”?

If I didn’t have all the images, expectations, meanings, trauma associated with cancer….

….what would that really be like?

I noticed one minute, I am not thinking, and the next moment with two words, I am.

What made all the difference in the world from one second to the next?

Words. Thoughts. Feelings shooting off.

Without my story, I notice a kind doctor’s face telling me what’s next. I notice my body, strong, solid, alive, pain-free in that moment.

I notice the experiences of life come and go and come and go, just like people, just like all of us. Coming and going, all beautiful.

In Peace Talk Episode 170 this week, I got to have a beautiful conversation with Certified Facilitator Bethany Webb.

One thing we both have in common is hearing those two words “it’s cancer”.

Fortunately, we’ve also got something else in common: four questions and turnarounds.

Listen on audio only HERE.

Much love,

Grace

P.S. Winter (Retreat) is Coming! Join me and Tom Compton to share in six days of The Work online Dec 1-6. Bring your “worst” fears, worries, disappointments. Let’s do The Work. Read more here.

October 14, 2020

By Tuesday, I got off the wheel (retreat starts tomorrow–one session per day online)

Oh I am having fun with all the last-minute shuffling for retreat starting tomorrow.

For those of you contemplating: we meet only 3 hours from 9am-Noon Pacific Time tomorrow on Thursday, on Friday and on Sunday…and afternoon from 2-5 this Saturday (dancing Saturday morning for those who want–all online, yes).

(Those of you needing it can watch the Saturday recording instead of attending live).

Pay-from-the-heart sliding scale to join. You get to pick what works for you financially right now.

If you’ve got curiosity for The Work, are brand new or have lots of experience, you’ll get to identify a situation you find objectionable in your life….and transform it by asking four questions and finding turnarounds.

If you think that’s not possible….this is a good time to experiment and see.

Join us by signing up here.

*******************

Speaking of objectionable.

In the Year of Inquiry group yesterday, we looked at a stressful thought about other people: “they have it better”.

Many of us think those other people have it “better”.

What a fabulous contemplation.

I’ll never forget walking on the sidewalk not so far from my little cottage on foot, staring at the big gorgeous houses lined up along Lake Washington.

My hands were in my pockets in tight fists.

These home-dwellers must have done something right.

Why did THEY get to have big houses, all lit up with fall and Halloween decorations, full of happy people (all of them probably in happy relationships–I was navigating a divorce)?

What did I do wrong?

I love the questions: What’s your proof that they have it better? How do you know?

Those people have:

money to trade for anything wanted
possessions or pretty things owned, acquired, gathered around
body health, appearance, strength, youth
freedom to do whatever you want with your time
not having to “do” something like work at a job, clean the house, take out the garbage
no physical pain, no disease, no problems
winning
status: great job, leadership, importance
being the president or the biggest boss of all time
attaining enlightenment, peace, wisdom

We have the top hits of what “better” looks like.

Wealth, Love, Enlightenment, Health.

Isn’t it funny how we see it in a glimpse, meet someone, notice their surroundings, imagine their experience, envision their joy or power or wealth or success….

….and sometimes that tricky rabbit (mind) says “OMG that’s better than this, than me!”

How do you react when you think it, when you compare?

Sad. Despairing. Sorry.

What I noticed as I sat doing this work with our Year of Inquiry group is a lot of back-tracking in the mind, when believing this thought that Those People have it better.

“If only I had decided age 25 to go to Med School…” or “if only I had never fallen in love with that man!”…or “if only I hadn’t gone to Italy”…”if only I had sent my kid to that other school”….

Lots of “if-only” thinking, wishing we had done something different.

The mind is amazing how it can go backwards in time and offer suggestions on how you might have done it differently.

LOL.

So who would you be without the belief “they have it better”?

Ask this question in just one of the situations you’ve noticed when you thought this.

Standing on that quiet sidewalk so many years ago, who would I be without the thought?

Breathing a deep breath of fresh fall air. Noticing fallen leaves glistening in the street.

Feeling something here, without thought. Being. Alive.

Noticing that truly, truly, observing a wide street with houses means nothing….in a wonderful way.

No better, no worse possible.

Here-ness is all.

Buzzing, humming here-ness. Joy.

No extra step needed, nothing from the environment, no “things” like money, no health, no body, no status, no winning, nothing special required.

Here is here.

Nothing was needed to get to it–except perhaps four questions.

Turning it around: This is better. This is it. There is no better or worse except in thought. Only my mind imagines “better” over there (or “worse” over there, for that matter).

Ahhhhhh…..

Thinking Like A Butterfly

Monday I was told I was good.

I felt relieved.

Tuesday I was ignored.

I felt invisible.

Wednesday I was snapped at.

I began to doubt myself.

On Thursday I was rejected.

Now I was afraid.

On Saturday I was thanked

for being me. My soul relaxed.

On Sunday I was left alone

till the part of me that can’t

be influenced grew tired of

submitting and resisting.

Monday I was told I was good.

By Tuesday I got off the wheel.

We’ll share sacred poetry and inspiring quotes, do our work together, wonder out loud who we are without our thinking.

Want to come along?

Much love,

Grace

October 13, 2020October 13, 2020

Why imagine when we can question stress…and love reality (+join me for retreat THIS Thursday-Sunday)

Autumn 4-day retreat starts in 2 days on 10/15, and it’s all online. Thursday, Friday and Sunday we meet 9am-Noon Pacific Time, while Saturday we meet 2-5pm PT.

(I know the Saturday isn’t great for some of your time zones but it will be recorded and not required to attend if it’s a burden).

People who have no hope are free

Mondays I come on Facebook on Work With Grace page.

This past week, something sent a question asking about how to get rid of their thoughts. We even worked a similar thought in a lovely session in the Year of Inquiry group.

What a great question, what a powerful observation to notice:

I am thinking, and I’m against it.

So sitting with this query, I looked at the belief “I’m against this. It is unacceptable.” (Watch it here).

We’ve had these thoughts about our compulsions, our thinking, our stories.

I have to be against this.

Otherwise….I won’t work hard to push against it, fix it, eliminate it, cut it out, stop it.

Is that true?

Who are we without this story of being against thinking itself?

Woah.

“People who know that there’s no hope are free. The decision’s out of their hands. It has always been that way, but some people have to die bodily to find out. No wonder they smile on their deathbeds. Dying is everything they were looking for in life. Their delusion of being in charge is over. When there’s no choice, there’s no fear. And in that, there is peace. They realize that they’re home and that they’ve never left.” ~ Byron Katie

No hope of not thinking what you’ve thought.

And it’s OK.

If you’re interested in sitting in 4 days of inquiring (3 hour sessions each day) with me on the things you suffer about, sliding scale online autumn zoom retreat is coming soon. Read more here.

Much love,

Grace

September 24, 2020September 24, 2020

Relationships Ending: Hell To Heaven When Questioning “That Person Left Me”

There’s something about gathering in a group to do The Work that can bring out wisdom like nobody’s business.

That saying “like nobody’s business” fits well here–no one person’s unique business, we’re all sharing The Work and looking at the mind and what it’s thinking.

As our new Year of Inquiry group began this week, my sense of gratitude and wonder glowed.

An inquirer brought the thought “he left me” to inquiry.

She looked closely, and so did everyone else.

Around the circle we went after she answered the four questions, sharing the way we could relate to that thought ourselves.

When we hear a concept like “he left me”….

….we notice we understand what it means.

We see pictures of our experiences.

We even see pictures of the person who is doing The Work in our heads. We’re listening.

The thing about doing The Work together in a group is we get to come back to ourselves and our own feelings about the same thought while also taking in others at the very same time.

As people shared what was occurring to them in the moment about being left and leaving in life, different situations sprung up that were so incredibly interesting.

One person was remembering the suffering in a relationship long ago, where she also believed “he left me”.

Someone else pondered about death as an ultimate “leaving”.

Then another shared her awareness of how each day, during any conversation (and especially with one friend) there were micro-moments of “leaving” happening, or suspected leaving.

We see someone’s face, or the way their words trail off, or the way they’re talking too much, or not paying attention at all.

Tiny moments adding up together and the mind creating meaning: they’re leaving me.

They don’t care, they don’t notice, they’re not interested, they’re not the same, they don’t get me, they don’t love me.

Who are we without the story of being left, or needing to Not be Left?

Without the story that it’s possible to be left at all?

This doesn’t mean denial and pretending a person is living with you who no longer is living with you–that would be nuts.

This work is about seeing reality clearly, sharing with others, having no teacher except oneself–and finding paradoxically the connection with the world.

I adore doing The Work with a group.

The wisdom arising is so precious.

No one else’s life is the answer. No one else is the only “teacher” (although they can be a beautiful and loving guide, of course).

Everyone sharing in this journey and through the sharing, a sense of unexpected connection in the mystery of All This.

New ideas about leaving and Not Leaving arriving in the very moment of everyone on a call together.

Without the story of being left….I notice the joy of being on a zoom call with a brilliant group of people all eager to question their thinking and learn and grow.

I notice how fun it is to grow, like a plant. Like a flower blossoming in a field of glorious colorful flowers of all different shapes and sizes (other people).

No special flowers are necessary. Even the bugs are OK.

Turning the thought around:

He did not leave me
I left myself in that situation
My thinking left me
I left him

Could the story of abandonment be a huge shared human fear (story), and these turnarounds also just as true or truer?

Yes.

I left myself when I panicked and thought of myself as too small to succeed in the future, too ignorant, too powerless, too alone.

He did not leave me. He’s in my heart forever. I’ve had thoughts of him regularly, always, and learned so very much about relating, communicating, and unconditional love.

My thinking left me and raced into the future, and worrying about if it would be good or bad. Or into the past and crying with the failure of it all. It didn’t remember I was right here in the moment, being held and supported.

I left him when I wished him dead, hated him, raged about him, believed he’d be better off staying with me than living a life of freedom.

These turnarounds can be tricky, and difficult.

They’re a shift of the very ground we usually stand on that’s so sure of what we need to survive in life well, and successfully.

You can question your thinking all by yourself–in the end it’s the one person you love and care about the most (which is a good thing)–and, what a joy to connect with others in The Work.

In our zoom group together we sat with the living turnaround “I’m staying with myself”.

Practicing staying, noticing staying, aware of staying power–the unconditional power of love and silence that is already staying through everything you’ve ever been through.

Here you are.

Something has stayed, despite all the changes in daily life.

Something remains.

That something is who we are, what we are, how we are connected in essence.

Noticing all is well and so very exciting–in a quiet way.

The joy of a group of inquirers gathering to meet the mind with the remarkable practice of asking “is it true?” and “who are you without that story?”

For those interested in this specific topic, we’re starting Sunday with a six-session group from 9:30am PT-11:30am PT to plunge into the work of a primary love relationship changing in the form of separation, break-up or divorce.

My co-facilitator Nadine is also Certified in The Work of Byron Katie. We’ve both practiced The Work through a divorce and come out more vibrant, grateful and thrilled about our lives, and the future.

Instead of watching The Work or wondering about The Work, when we gather in this format we actually do the work.

It’s not always comfortable, that’s for sure.

But it is the most enlightening, amazing experience to truly question your mindset about love and relationship and what is required for happiness.

Yes, it is work.

It’s why it is called The Work.

The good news is, when we wonder who we are without our stressful stories….it’s not all darkness and pain.

Quite the opposite.

A few more spots open in the course starting on Sunday. We’d love to have you.

We have clear, formulated exercises that help us question fear, loss, sorrow, dread and angst in relationship and clearly identify specific common topics that appear in our minds that hurt.

Read about the course and sign up for Relationship Hell To Heaven HERE.

Much love,

Grace

P.S. If you’re still considering Year of Inquiry there’s no reason not to join. We’re meeting for the first time this year on Saturdays (for those involved in kids and work on weekdays) as well as Tuesday 9am PT and Thurs 5pm PT. A fabulous bunch has assembled. An awesome experiential training for those wanting to work with others as a facilitator. Upcoming monthly topics are: Family of Origin, Hurt and Fear, Money, That One Relationship, Body. You are both student and teacher, and yet you don’t have to do it alone. Read more about YOI here.

September 16, 2020September 16, 2020

Uncertainty is BAD–and there’s too much of it. Are you sure?

As I worked on updating the first webinar Orientation for Year of Inquiry day-before-yesterday, I contemplated the week ahead of greeting folks both new and returning to the program.

I also thought about how courageous people are to say “yes” to enrolling in Year of Inquiry with so much uncertainty in the conditions of the world.

A year is long. It’s soooo long.

We don’t know when we can come out of our homes. Houses are burning down. Hurricanes are building. Protests are in the streets. Kids are supposed to be starting school but are not. A virus is spreading. People have lost their jobs.

Holy Smokes! (Um, that would be literally where I live, from forest fires to the east).

Working away on my computer to get ready for Orientation, I glanced out my little cottage living room window at the smokey skies.

And then a thought that it’s true there’s too much uncertainty, in the future a six-month program or even month-to-month is better for this longer-term intimate group.

I had a dream that night after finishing the webinar slides.

A theme emerged: Not Finding It.

Dream. I’m invited to a potluck party in the mountains that’s part of a fundraising non-profit event, with my youngest sister. We drive far up into the green forest, several hours.

We arrive and join a gathering in the large open clearing of a very big ranch-style rambling house surrounded by forest. It’s a summer setting outdoors with seats, tables full of food offerings, fire pits, a low buzz of conversations.

Lots of families and lots of new people my sister and I have never met before. Hand shaking and people eager to help the cause (don’t ask me what the cause was, this is a dream).

Time passes.

Far off in the corner of my eye, I suddenly am shocked to see a very dear friend who is also a facilitator of The Work come through an open door at the side of the house, moving fast. He’s looking down and never glances over.

He takes only a few steps and grabs the door knob to another garage-looking small one-story building, and disappears into it. Careful to close the door behind him.

Wait, did I just see that? (I thought, in the dream).

Why is he here?

Does he know these people?

And where has my sister gone? I wonder what time it is?

Extremely curious and a little excited, I walk across the lawn and approach the door he had gone through and open it.

Inside is an open carpeted type room with at least twenty people gathered together, blankets and pillows sprawled everywhere, a cozy feeling–all people I’ve seen or met through The Work.

Friends. Facilitators. People who love to question their thinking.

Turns out there’s a retreat happening here and my friend had left the room to get a book to read a passage from it (which he had not found, so was returning empty-handed).

The room was reassembling as he returned, but some glanced up and saw me at the door.

Grace??!! YOU are here?! Whaaat??

They recognized me and were as surprised to see me as I was to see them.

I was invited to stay.

But I had to find my sister first and let her know. I guess she should drive the car we came in back home to the city by herself. I could figure out how to get back later (hmmm, will that be a problem)?

I went back out into the non-profit potluck gathering of friendly people–mostly strangers–to find my sister. Where did she go?

She was nowhere in the crowd.

Maybe I should call? I’ll text her. The buttons on my phone kept not working, or I’d hit the wrong one.

(You know those dreams where you can’t quite make the connection? Or you can’t quite get off the ground when you’re trying to fly? Or you can’t speak loud enough for someone to hear you?)

In any case, it was a cliff-hanger.

I woke up.

I was presented with an invitation to do The Work with remarkable people all of whom love this practice, all so curious and filled with awe about the human mind, and how to change their lives based on questioning their beliefs.

But me not quite able to go “in” without hesitation.

Too much uncertainty, disconnection, wondering where my sister (family) was, needing to make sure she’s OK and can get back home by herself and she knows I myself am changing plans.

Plus. More thoughts.

How did I not know that quiet gathering of all these amazing people was happening? Only a few hours drive from my home?

Have I been missing things? Missing communication?

Not Finding It?

Wow.

The feeling was so strong of confusion, wondering, and total surprise….”accidentally” falling into a welcome gathering I apparently traveled to without knowing I was traveling there….and also wondering how this could be?

Funny how the journey inward into “there” or “home” is uncertain, unexpected, surprising, doubtful, weird, unplanned.

The people who we join with show up unexpectedly and still we may need to decide before going all the way “in”.

So many considerations!

Dreams are quite fascinating.

Images, words, pictures, feelings.

It reminded me so clearly that imagery creates feeling, thoughts produce feelings.

Even if they are not real and we know they aren’t real.

We can KNOW something is a made-up story, and yet the body is reacting to the thought.

Movies, stories, dreams, videos, mental imagery.

We wake up from a dream (sometimes a nightmare) and our heart beats rapidly, our body feels full of tension or sadness or desire.

It’s processing through.

We’re still curious and often sorting through the dream afterwards, making friends with it (or wishing we would), pondering it.

I was deeply drawn to meditate on the vivid images in this dream, and notice the underlying theme of Not Finding It and Uncertainty.

An old familiar.

Is it true “I” don’t find it and the outcome is worrisome?

What are you looking for?

Whether it’s “truth” or “ease” or “abundance” or “connection” or “love” or “rest” or “peace” or “realization” or “enlightenment” or “support”?

Are you sure it’s missing?

Yes, yes, yes. That was weird in-between purgatorial type zone in the dream. I know that place. Not there, or here either. Floating.

Friends over there doing The Work happily together, beloved family connection somewhere in the woods amongst strangers.

Can you be sure something’s missing or dangerously uncertain–this sense of belonging? Or love?

No.

Is it true WE are supposed to be the ones finding something? Finding answers? Finding “home”?

Am I the seeker?

Uncertainty.

I asked myself this question: Is it OK you hang between choices, you don’t know the future, you can’t connect to the person you believe you should connect with (sister), you’re floating in a zone between a potluck fundraiser and a garage?

Is a Year really too long for inquiry?

LOL.

Who would we be without the story of uncertainty?

I wouldn’t need to know about the future.

I notice I already don’t, and never really have. Not the details at least.

Who would “I” be, or who would “it” be, or how would it be to not feel frightened or frustrated with the uncertainty?

Could it be OK, even peaceful, to not panic when I can’t make the contact I think is required?

Turning the thought around to the underlying belief called “Not Finding It” (Uncertainty).

I am finding it. I found it already. It’s here.

Something here is certain.

Only my thoughts don’t “find it”. My thinking loves to seek. My thinking can’t seem to decide, wants to make the “right” decision. Is pulled in many directions.

There is no need to go hunting.

What is here, is good.

Except for this thinking that runs, even in the dreamworld, things are simply unfolding the way they do.

Could it be that reality is friendlier than we *think*?

A little while after finishing the slide preparation, I had a conversation with a person I had not met before for twenty minutes or so, who was interested in Year of Inquiry.

She shared that she loves it is a whole year. The container is built to last awhile.

So I had a turnaround presented right in front of me.

A year is great for uncertainty. Who knows where the world will be in a year, over the course of life unfolding. Maybe we’ll be gathering together in person again. Maybe not.

I notice in this moment the joyful recognition that it’s OK to suddenly stumble upon the support we need.

Here we all are, and here we go, together.

Well, it’s apparently just right for me.

The groups, the connections, the learning.

Thank you for being on this journey with me and sharing the dance of connection and having a unique life that something is navigating, all while feeling the beat of “home”.

Growing that beat of home until it’s shining so brightly, it doesn’t matter if there’s no cell phone service, no Finding It. (Haha).

If you’re ready to serendipitously fall into the support of a group, then you can still jump on board the peace train in whatever form serves you best. It’s here for you.

For us.

One thing I love most of all is with Work of Byron Katie we’re not trying to get what someone else is believing or thinking or teaching is “right”.

We are our own teachers.

We’re the ones being with this mind and welcoming it–the one I’ve been given–to cherish and love unconditionally.

The Work is the only way I’ve ever known how.

Options:

a) Year of Inquiry train. This is Orientation week (ask me about partial scholarships if you don’t have employment–I was surprised at how few asked me about this for the year). A year of supportive connection and step-by-step with self-inquiry. It’s the same investment as one private 1-hour session per month when you pay in full (or 1.5 sessions per month for the monthly payment plan). Hit reply if you’re ready or have Q’s.

b) Relationship Hell to Heaven: for those navigating divorce, separation, break-up and the confusion or suffering we experience. Sundays starting Sept 17-Nov 15th (no session Oct 4th or Oct 18th). With the good Nadine Ferris-France a wonderful facilitator in The Work.

c) Fall retreat with Grace. Oct 15-18, 2020. 9am-Noon Pacific Time/ Noon-3pm Eastern Time/ 6pm-9pm European time. Three hours a day sliding scale enrollment. (Saturday is set for afternoon hours PT 2-5pm but if most people want earlier hours on Saturday then we will switch. All sessions recorded).

Much love,

Grace

P.S. Will send this out to Eating Peace mailing list soon. Can’t wait.

Eating Peace Experience:

October 19, 2020-March 18, 2021

Read about it here.

August 25, 2020August 25, 2020

Do we stop making plans? (+ year of inquiry information)

It’s interesting the way we “make” plans.

I plan to do “x” tomorrow, and “y” next year. I plan on living at “z” in 2025 and visiting “q” in the summer. I plan on washing my clothes on Saturday. I plan on meditating at 7am every day.

Then, there’s what actually happens. Sometimes the plan goes as expected, sometimes not.

Stress can rise up when the plans are made because of stress, because of a need for control, because of fear, because of aggression against What Is. (This is where “diets” or ways-of-eating often came in for me).

It does seem like plans are fun and loving when the reason for them is loving, kind, joyful, exciting, supportive.

So what’s a peaceful, loving, fun plan?

Doesn’t that sound nice, to have a fun and loving plan for just about anything you dream about and say “I’ll make a plan for that!”

Year of Inquiry starts in a month.

It won’t be the way the mind exactly “plans” it.

That’s impossible, honestly.

And yet, in the midst of the now, and this thing called “time” and the imagined future for anything….in this case the Year of Inquiry….I’ve been pondering what will be different this coming year.

One thing that’s going to be different, for example, is Saturdays.

One of the times you can join, which has been asked from people wanting to attend for years, is the weekend.

Why not? I used to find a clear reason why not with kids and family and friends and dancing on Saturdays. But not now. So we’ll gather for those who like that time on Saturdays (8:30am Pacific Time/ 12:30pm Eastern).

I’ve also been sitting with the topics we’ve had for several years in YOI; (we study one of these monthly: for example writing the JYN, body, money, relationships, family-of-origin, turnarounds, fear, etc).

We’ve investigated our stories on the topics, in the same order even, for quite a few years.

Everyone has stories about money, or the body, or certain relationships. Everyone has stories about family of origin: mother, father, sister, brother. Everyone has stories about getting it wrong and getting it right, not being good enough or needing something to be different.

No new thoughts.

But it appears the plan for topics will shift and expand a bit.

I’ve loved noticing over the years the common Top Hit Parade of underlying beliefs about reality, about ourselves, about other people that seem to arise repeatedly in the mind.

So many complicated and complex stories….but are they really that complicated?

Maybe the details change, but the story comes out of a shorter list than I once imagined about what’s going on here in life.

I thought I was abandoned
I almost died
they rejected/criticized me (see #1)
I have to do this by myself (I’m not enough, I’m all alone, I need help, I should work harder, since I’m abandoned)
Something’s missing (money, love, health, freedom, peace)
I’m not safe
I need to wake up/get somewhere else consciously (because then all of the above will be irrelevant, and I’ll be happy)
Now (or in the past in that situation) I am not happy–this isn’t it

It does seem like there are constant stories the mind communicates, or is it one persistent story?

Do some of us have a song we play over and over, and it’s really the same song (even though we thought it was a different song)?

I remember noticing my “Abandonment Story”.

I am abandoned. I’m not enough, not good enough, relaxed enough, self-less enough, peaceful enough, supported enough, free enough.

“I”. Abandoned.

How do we know?

The mind has its proof!

So now, I’ll plan on how Not To Be Abandoned. (haha).

“I” Am Abandoned. I have zillions of pieces of evidence. I rest my case.

But who am I without this story, in my particular and unique threatening or concerning situations I’ve experienced?

I don’t appear to need to make a plan to brace against potential abandonment.

Nice to notice.

What about another common story:

The “This Is Not It” Story.

This person isn’t “it”, my child isn’t “it” (the way I expected), my life isn’t “it”, this job isn’t “it”, this feeling isn’t “it”.

I’m not exactly sure what “it” is, but THIS is certainly NOT it.

LOL.

This list of topics in Year of Inquiry seems to allow a doorway to open into common stressful stories. Songs we’ve been singing, perhaps for our whole lives.

For example, Family of Origin opens up to the story of “they did it to me” or “I am special”.

Money opens up to “I have to access it” or “it’s possible for there not to be enough” or “I need this in order to be happy” (Dependency Story).

The Body topic offers deeply similar story lines: “I Must Survive” story or “Dying is Worse/Better Than Living” or “Living Is Better/Worse Than Dying” stories.

Again with the body, as with money or lovers or conditions there’s the “I-need-this-to be-‘x’-in-order-to-be-happy” story. Thin, healthy, alive, pain-free, intact, youthful.

What I notice is stories can be boiled down.

Boiled, boiled and boiled down, with all the moisture evaporating into the air (all the details becoming unimportant).

I see the stressful story, the concerning story.

As I answer four questions, awareness comes alive of Who I Am Without A Story.

A wonder, a creative process, a joy.

Moods, conditions, experiences, people, bodies, flavors come and go.

What is here without a story about it?

So thrilling.

So with all this said, and an apparent story about a future that begins in a month (LOL)….a group will gather again to share the power of self-inquiry.

At least this appears very likely as the plan.

It’s happened for ten different groups prior to this one. There will be a “last one” someday.

For now, it appears a thrill and spark has caught fire imagining this newest group starting, and people already signing up (especially several repeaters who know they like it and want to stick with it).

And so within, I’m watching ideas appear that had not appeared before about this next year-of-inquiry group.

Noticing the gratitude and and freedom and joy that arises when questioning stressful thinking–or why else would we even do this work?

Noticing “plans” and watching them come alive without stress.

Some shifts to the monthly topics…a study of the “stories” they point to.

The Story of “I” and the need for “Me” to make plans, be on the alert, be in charge, run the show, be safe, be careful, avoid pain, get pleasure, get enlightened.

Without a stressful story, the joy of the upcoming adventure grows.

This practice of self-inquiry using the four questions stuns me in how I have persistently been interested for almost 20 years.

Even when I’ve had the thought “I’m sick of doing The Work!”

Here it comes again, consistent, steady, the clearest and simplest way.

No set answers in stone, no one else’s answers, just mind’s awareness opening and closing, starting and stopping, beginning and ending….kind of like life.

So those wishing to join together with others on the path of self-inquiry and wonderment about What Is….

….For those continuing to be curious about what else is here besides a story about what is here….

….there will be some new additions and changes in the program format to support our inquiry together.

There are loving “plans” underway:

Other facilitators giving their time for extra sessions.
Other guest facilitators visiting our group.
Invitations to dancing online to a set list on Saturdays for those wanting to feel their inquiry in the body.
Partner work, as always, for everyone enrolled who wants to pair with others.
Written exercises to dive deep into our awareness of what we’ve believed.

And always, always the simple awareness for Year of Inquiry to learn to be, share, and love what is.

“I am a lover of what is, not because I am a spiritual person, but because it hurts when I argue with reality.” ~ Byron Katie

Check out the details here.

As a loving offer for those who are part of the family of Grace Note readers who have read all of this–YOU–I offer you a special invitation for Year of Inquiry which is usually only for repeaters or people in Summer Camp or other programs like Eating Peace Experience.

If you use the coupon code VIP when you sign up for full pay Year of Inquiry then a whole $500 will be subtracted from the full fee, and for the entire year the cost will be only $1497 for those who register before September 1st.

Yes, this is lower than I’ve ever offered, but there has been more people participating since the first year I ever offered this, the costs to run YOI are more spread out between a greater number of folks, the flow seems easier since all the tech is set up, the amount of admin time is simpler.

The one thing to consider about Year of Inquiry is that it is created to be a one-year program. We request 60 days to consider and fully participate, and after that please be “in” or “out” for the rest of the year (by November 15th).

There is a monthly payment plan as well, which you’ll see when you visit here.

I also offer anyone reading this the monthly pay private code for repeaters if you choose to register by paying each month for 12 months. The code for the monthly payment discount is TRUE.

If you decide to join us in Year of Inquiry and use these special discount codes, you need to do it before Sept 1st.

We’re preparing, and we can’t wait to connect with you–old and new friends, walking each other home.

Visit the information page here.

Much love,

Grace

https://www.workwithgrace.com/year-of-inquiry/#hero

August 11, 2020August 11, 2020

This has been killing me since January. (Oh, wait…is that true?)

Last January 28th, on my birthday to be exact, my mom and I had breakfast in the local Honey Bear Bakery across the street from my cottage.

That late day in January almost seven months ago, we decided to take a walk in my neighborhood in the bright mid-day winter.

It was a little bit sunny, I remember. Not Raining is a thing at that time of year.

The air was fresh, cool. Soothing.

The night before I had texted my son, now living very close by in the house his father had owned before he died of cancer 18 months earlier.

My son had replied “Sure, breakfast with you and grandma sounds fun! See you there!”

He hadn’t shown up, so we ate without him.

No big deal, my mom and I said to each other. He’s so forgetful. If his head wasn’t attached by the neck to his body, he’d leave it somewhere.

We decided, as we put on our January rain jackets, to walk over to his place, knock on the door and see if he wanted to come walk with us.

We showed up at his basement apartment door.

Apologies, laughter, more apologies. There was a young woman in his apartment. We had heard about her, but not met her yet. She didn’t want to come out to meet us.

(I watched a few thoughts run through about that–she should want to meet us, if they’ve been dating for 3 months now….is it true?)

My son pulled on his tall black Hansen rubber boots to his 6 foot 4 inch tall frame.

Little did I know as we three stepped out into the lush, wet, northwest late morning that our walk would reveal a massively unexpected bit of information.

Like. Insanely unexpected.

Never, ever before imagined or wondered about.

Well, certainly not imagined for me.

During the conversation as we trod down the very center of the wide paved quiet road lined with huge tall evergreens, my mother started prodding my son with questions about his girlfriend.

My mom commented on how shy the young woman seemed. She also asked about the girlfriend’s change of pronouns to them/they/theirs.

“What’s her motivation….I mean, what’s ‘their’ motivation?” asks my mom.

“And are you thinking of changing your own pronouns?” says my mom after some discourse.

I almost want to say “don’t ask him so many personal questions–especially that one mom. Leave him alone, jeez.”

My mom has always been caring, interested, and has no hesitation asking whatever comes to her mind.

It’s been a really, really good thing, to be honest.

Even if incredibly uncomfortable sometimes growing up.

My son paused, stopped walking with tall cattails waving slowly behind him and the creek singing loudly just past the path we had turned on, both hands deep in his pants pockets….

….and said….

….”why yes, yes actually. I AM changing my pronouns. To they/them. No longer he/him. Consider the pronouns changed. I prefer they/them”.

Holy Sh*t.

I felt a rush of adrenaline.

That was the first spotlight of awareness getting revealed to me. The first piece of information that didn’t fit my expected story.

Like in a very dark black theater, I’m in the audience way back in the seats farthest away from the stage, and the show is about to begin.

BAM. You know that turn-on-the-huge-theater-spotlight sound?

All the light suddenly in a bright column on stage.

Blackness surrounding this column.

That one spotlight turns on and we see everything inside only that beam of light.

They/Them pronouns.

What does this mean?

I had not known there was a whole stage, a whole unknown world surrounding and behind the light beam of new information.

An entire world, a whole enormous set.

A set with furniture, color, atmosphere, clues, history, people, genders, anger, passion.

With one spotlight, it’s all still basically in the dark, but the audience now knows the set is there.

We know now.

I knew now.

I had seen none of it.

I hadn’t even been invited into the theater before. It almost seems I had accidentally entered this theater, pulled in by my mother and her curiosity.

A world of gender questioning and challenging in ways different from what I’ve pondered myself. Maybe.

BAM. Another spotlight turns on two weeks later when I have a further discussion with my oldest child, this being who is now they/them, and find out ‘they’ have been taking hormones to increase estrogen and decrease testosterone since October.

I almost gasp inside.

WHAT?!

The mind starts fitting puzzle pieces together from the past year. I think about how weird last Thanksgiving had been, for example. Last November. I felt like something wasn’t being said.

I had wondered on that November journey if it was just my own sentimentality since I had been to our destination many times over the years: Cannon Beach, Oregon.

It’s where I had spent a honeymoon with my children’s father, right after our November wedding in 1990.

I had wanted to talk about their dad and remember him, but something was just….off.

After the second evening together on that trip, just before dozing off to sleep, I had said to my now husband, my two children’s step father (he’s been around since the kids were 8 and 11) “Something’s off, like we aren’t talking about something. It feels weird. I can’t put my finger on it.”

BAM. Three more spotlights turn on a few more weeks later when we have a five hour conversation about gender, society, culture, depression, conditioning, suicide, rage.

Wow.

“I don’t know why, mom, it just seems right. I can’t present as a male right now in my life.”

Me in my head only [Why the hell not? You’re one of the good ones, we need you! Don’t abandon your role as man, oh please, let this not be happening. Why do all the good men leave? (Um, they don’t, let’s not get carried away).]

“No I have not consulted or told anyone at all. It seemed necessary to do this on my own and not get influenced by other people.”

[You didn’t want ME to influence you. I mean nothing to you? Mothers have no power after all. My heart is breaking. You shouldn’t care about whatever your gender is so much. You’re throwing away a great life. Sob. (Um, hello, remember “is it true?” Heh heh.)]

“No I am not interested in surgery”.

[Thank God, maybe there’s hope. Stop! Don’t! How could I have not seen this? What’s wrong with me? Is this because your dad died? Please never, ever want to get expensive surgery that will make you look confusing and weird. (Um, this doesn’t have anything to do with you? Hello?)].

“Sure I do like girls or women, yes, and you could say that makes me a non-binary lesbian, mom.”

[A lesbian with a penis? Stop the insanity! (Remember how much you like challenges to ‘normal’ and the joy of change?)].

“Quit asking me questions, do your own research! I don’t have time for five hour conversations every week.”

[My son has died. He never asked me one thing about this predicament, this concern. What is this agony? Remember how fun and comfortable you find the LGBTQ+ world–even though you don’t identify there? Why so upset?? (You sure are having a hissy fit, interesting!)]

After tossing and turning one night for hours, I knew what to do.

Write it down.

Catch the thoughts–manifest them on paper. Stop them moving so fast by writing them.

Take your own medicine, Grace.

Ask four questions on one thought at a time.

Turn it around.

Funny that I would even let a few days go by without doing The Work.

Thank goodness I facilitate The Work. It is for me, once again.

What’s that, Grace? Who’s it for?

(The court fool in the corner is holding their hand to their ear with a smile. “Who is The Work for, Ms. Bell?)

Me. Mind.

This mind, having it’s thoughts that are very dramatic, catastrophic, wail-inducing.

I do The Work. I find a crack in my story, just by watching the stress and disappointment arise and asking “who would I be without this story?”

For the next weeks, every person’s inquiry I work with, every group where someone brings pain to the surface, I see this “son” saying they aren’t my “son”.

I listen, I plug in my child’s face, I hear those who have come to be clients giving their wisdom; the lovely and thoughtful year of inquiry group, the sincere and passionate eating peace group….everyone in these groups so brilliant in their own way, here to speak their answers.

I write.

One day, I have people in one of the groups write down what they have lost, in an important situation where LOSS is the caption of the story.

I do the exercise, too.

What have I lost, when it comes to this oldest child of mine? What does it mean for me?

LOSS EXERCISE:
I’ve lost my fairy tale ending with a son
I’ve lost my SON, a boy.
And it means that…..
People will be frightened of him, and of me
I did something wrong
He’s reject-able
That beautiful version of him is dead
He is throwing his opportunity away
People will hurt him
Being the good king, being president, being in charge, being leader, being the man, being Jon Snow, being the biggest-boss-there-ever-was….is not possible.

I begin to do The Work.

I am stunned. I see how in the card deck, the King is higher than the Queen. It was always that way. I never questioned it.

Fascinating.

What if that’s not true?

I write several Judge Your Neighbor worksheets for different situations, answering the six questions to identify more of what I’m thinking. I spend time contemplating, wondering about my story.

I’m listening.

My first sentence? The crime, the offense, the thing I hate that’s happened?

“My son is killing my son”.

How bizarre. It’s like “he” should keep being THAT IMAGE.

The handsome, beautiful man I see. The one I adore. The one I delight in listening to, in talking to for hours.

I had no idea I was so set in my mind about what I saw, how I saw it, who else should see it, how it needed to be maintained and seen long-term, and what I expected to see in the future.

Wow.

Left turn.

Pivot, (as they say during pandemics).

Universe showing up for me to learn.

Pandemic thinking, catastrophic thinking, grandiose thinking. A lot of killing going on.

Do I want to fight and crush my own heart into pieces with my disappointment, or broken heart, or diseased visions for the future that could use a little upgrade, or peace?

Or do I want to be open to whatever’s unfolding?

I get to choose.

“Argue with reality, and you lose, but only 100% of the time.” ~ Byron Katie

And so the light continues to turn on, sometimes a strobe light, sometimes way too bright–until my eyes adjust.

Sometimes I wish for a blindfold, or those little delicate sandbags someone placed over my closed eyes once in a spa.

Do I really have to look? Do I have to see how much I dreamed the story to go one certain way, instead of remembering the universe is the one in charge?

Who am I without my nightmare story? Is it even “my” story?

Without this story, I’d be hearing my mother, the grandmother of my changing child, say to me on the phone last night after this child moved in with her; “This is going to be amazing. Their life could be better this way than the way it might have been without this change. This kid is fascinating….it’s going to be amazing, fabulous, wonderful. I am sooooo excited!”

These words from my mother who turned 83 two days ago.

An open mind, an unconditionally loving mind, has nothing to do with age.

Who would I be without my story?

Aware of the incredible support.

Aware of the question arising in me “that’s MY son, “my” child–is that even true?”

Aware of how much I love a future without limits, without definition.

Aware that I can also be thrilled, just like my loving mother who I adore.

I can also be full of wonder, surviving despite all the experiences and stories about pain and suffering, rejection and failure, gender and privilege.

Steady on into questioning my beliefs.

Are they even “my” beliefs?

LOL.

And so….the page-turner continues.

Life is the teacher, the guru.

All of life, everything I meet, every person I encounter.

Without my stories of what should be: son, child, dream, future, health, enlightenment, success, safety, right, money, wrong, even God….

….without “my” stories about any of this….

….something rises inside that’s like a laugh.

A joy.

Nothing serious going on here.

So Year of Inquiry is preparing for a new group of inquirers ready to journey together in The Work for a whole year.

Apparently, doing The Work is of phenomenal benefit for me, personally.

The group is part of my spiritual practice.

I love sharing The Work.

Which makes me extremely happy to know people will be coming on board and helping me stay on the peace train and discover the possibilities for whole new worlds.

The Work, especially with other people, is the one thing I can apparently do with all these wild stories careening around creating fear, agony, stress, anxiety, anger, rage, sadness and heartbreak.

I wouldn’t have the stories go any other way.

(They are rather exciting, no?)

I am so grateful I have four questions I can ask, and turnarounds I can fall into.

Like little mental wake-up slaps when I’m dozing off during a concussion. Er, I mean gentle dawning of the light.

Turned around: My thinking is killing my son, my thinking is killing me, my son is creating and giving birth to someone new.

Human being.

Thinking.

Seeing nightmares.

Human being.

Thinking.

Seeing possibilities, joy, love.

Human being.

Thinking.

Laughing at the thinking.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

Our world-changing citizen groups start September 15th, 2020 and we work together through June 17th, 2021…followed by Summer Camp for The Mind which is always included for Year of Inquiry folks.

Our schedule?

Tuesdays 9am Pacific Time (Noon ET/ 6pm Europe or South Africa), and/or,
Thursdays 5pm Pacific Time (8pm ET/ 9am Japan Friday/ 10am Sydney Friday)
Saturdays 8:30am Pacific Time (11:30am ET/ 4:30pm UK)

Having a weekend day is by popular request for those working and busy all the time Monday-Friday.

I don’t mind.

“Mind”–LOL.

Read more about our group, the schedule, and the program right HERE: www.workwithgrace.com

I can’t wait to see what happens next.

That’s the best kind of way to live a life.

Thanks for joining me on the journey.

Much love,
Grace