Tag: money the work of byron katie

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No Thing (Including Money) Will Give You What You Want

Very last day to enroll in Money: I Love This Story the newest version of my teleclass where we get down into the thoughts and beliefs we have about money, the way it comes and goes, and what it symbolizes for us.

Wednesdays 5:15 pm – 6:45 pm Pacific Time. Click Here for more.

The thing is, you CAN love this story about money, work, payments, income, creativity, security, safety, and the mysterious future.

Even with a mind (if yours is like mine) where you tend to get a little freaked out at times.

Yes, I said freaked out.

These are the thoughts that will pop into my head sometimes:

  • I shouldn’t have wasted time in school on subjects that went nowhere
  • I am not confident enough or decisive enough
  • I’ll never be super rich, super leader, or super influential
  • Everyone’s on their own, including me
  • Life is a lot easier with buckets of money

I saw an interview that fascinated me the other morning. A very successful entrepreneur whose company makes millions per year internationally in sales said that at one point after he was already successful….he kinda wished he was just waiting tables again.

He said when he waited tables, he went to work, served people, made excellent money, and then went home and had a life and enjoyed himself because he left all his “work” activity at the restaurant.

I had to chuckle.

All that work to break out of a life where he had “enough” money and into a life where he had “more than enough” money….

….and he wasn’t exactly totally thrilled.

Sometimes, people will think you need to stop the drive for money in order to get back to peace.

And that’s not true, either.

In both situations, there’s an interest, a pull in something different, something more…and it’s probably not money, or a change in work.

Let’s do The Work on my little stressful list and see what can be discovered.

Is it true that life is easier with buckets of money? Is it true that confidence and decisiveness lead to more money (so they lead to more ease)? Did I waste time in school, am I really on my own, is it true that I’ll never be super rich (whatever that is)?

No.

None of these are true.

How do I react when I’m believing one of them, or all of them within five minutes?

Crushed. Like a failure. Or somehow not enough, inadequate, not making it.

Like there’s just not enough clarity, good ideas, creativity, positivity, good thoughts, energy to be someone who can get buckets of money—which I’m not even sure is required for maturity, peace or love in the first place.

It seems futile and sort of bonkers, quite honestly.

So who would I be without the thought that more money is good and I must be more than I am to get more of it?

Ha ha, laughing with the absurdity of wanting a ghost image of “more” that doesn’t even exist.

I would feel free. Excited. Of service. I would keep going….and notice that even when I take a break or do something different for awhile….I wind up carrying on.

I do keep going.

I feel confident.

I turn the thoughts around that money is tied to feeling that there is “enough” of anything: I have enough life, enough energy, enough confidence, enough purpose, enough joy, enough love, enough support, enough ease.

“Nothing outside of you is ever going to give you what you want. No thing gives you what you want….You have nothing to do with your wealth. You have nothing to do with your poverty. Your wealth and your poverty is in your thinking, not your finances. You have money, you tell the story of how you had something to do with it. You don’t have money, you tell the story of how you had something to do with it. It’s all just a story to keep you amused so you can narrate nothing.” ~ Byron Katie

  • I should have spent time in school on subjects that went everywhere
  • I am confident enough or decisive enough
  • I’ll always be super rich, super leader, or super influential
  • Everyone’s together, including me
  • Life is not a lot easier with buckets of money

Once again, I remember that I really don’t have answers, and it’s good. It’s wonderful.

Not knowing and not grabbing and knowing there is enough now, here, is all I can do.

I can skip the need to acquire that thing, called Money, or some other imagined thing that would bring me ease……..and sink into this mysterious joy.

Now.

Much love, Grace

 

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Money – Gathering Money Like A Bee Gathers Honey

Oh so excited to begin the 8-week journey with Money starting Wednesdays 4/16.

Details: 5:15 pm – 6:45 pm Pacific Time. Click Here for more.

There are no guarantees of course for any “cures” about anything in life….like lack of money or painful relationships or ways to prevent traumas from occurring.

But I love that with The Work of Byron Katie one can first identify what it is running in their minds, that they never even thought of questioning before….and then take it into a personal, deep investigation to see if its really true.

Just because you investigate doesn’t always mean you find out it isn’t true for you, ever ever, or that suddenly all is supremely well and you never think about that issue again.

When I had no money left, no money coming in, a negative balance because of debt, and was ready to give up entirely….

….I couldn’t do some kind of mind trick, or The Work, and create a full bank account and freedom from debt in one day.

Affirmations or positive thinking were not the answer, that’s for sure.

This internal work is not about snapping your fingers, magic, instant wealth (unless it is). It is about looking, deeply, carefully, steadily at what is the truth and what is being called for in your life.

What are you being invited to see? What are you being invited to do? What have you believed about money and the flow in and out of resources in your life….maybe since you were a kid?

These are big, wide questions.

When I was panicking and with so very little money in my life at a time of great change, I had to answer these questions if I really wanted to take a good look.

I felt like I was on the Titanic. There was a humongous leak in my thinking, and I was going down fast. My ship prior to that time had looked like there wasn’t really a major problem. I had been in calm, shallow seas.

(Notice the word “shallow”).

I had not been forced to look at how I viewed money, until there was a major crisis in my life.

Not everyone gets the excitement, adventure and powerful possibilities for change that I got. It took a dramatic shock for me to wake up and stop pretending that I didn’t need, want or care about money….or find it all that valuable.

And here’s the funny thing that happened: when I really investigated, when I lost just about everything (all that was necessary to wake me up) I cared in a very deep, abiding, wonderful way.

I started a joyful love affair with money where I trusted it by loving and trusting myself.

And money began to trust me. I became a good caretaker of it.

As I did The Work, with the help of a wonderful facilitator by the way (I couldn’t sit and do that work on my own, my mind raced too quickly with fear) I was able to find a new kind of energy from within.

It didn’t really have to do with money. Money was a manifestation of the loving energy I had found.

I was able to be honest, clear, and kind…..with my own mind, with my own thinking.

If you find that you have distrust, fear, anxiety, worry about the future, discomfort with your past around money….and you’re ready to take a look at some of your stressful thoughts and money….

….consider joining our group on Wednesday this week via phone or skype. There are 3 more spots available.

“The wise who are trained and disciplined Shine out like beacon-lights. They earn money just as a bee gathers honey without harming the flowers, and they let it grow as an ant-hill slowly gains in heights. With wealth wisely gained they use it for the benefit of all.” ~ Digha Nikaya

Life with money is fascinating, mysterious, and sometimes very unsettling.

The good news: your thinking is the unsettled thing, not so much money. It does what it does.

But if you question your own thinking, you may see money differently, feel differently, notice differently.

“If people are living their lives for security and comfort and pleasure, then mind’s every waking moment will be plotting those things. That’s how it stays identified – as a body, as a you. The moment it begins to question itself, the mind becomes so clear that it starts working with itself rather than with the body’s identification.” ~ Byron Katie

Honey Money. Money Honey. You are a fabulous bee.

What a fun, thrilling investigation.

Much love, Grace

 

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The Futile Search For What You Want

I love getting a bird’s eye view of the story of Something Wanted.

There’s the dreamy thing I want. Mmmm. Fabulous. Can’t wait. Reaching for it. Almost got it.

Or maybe it’s far away, very elusive, in the distant future. Frustrated, never getting there. Been trying for years.

People feel this way about finding a mate, success in their career, money, achieving enlightenment.

Not quite having it, or not having it for a very long time….both could generate a little stress.

Or become very aggravating.

But getting that broad, expansive, all-inclusive view from a higher altitude where you can see the whole landscape, can be a great relief.

Doing The Work is a way to get that view.

Is it true that I want it?

Is it true that I don’t have it yet? What do I want it for, anyway? Why do I imagine that I don’t have this thing? What terrible thing will happen if I never get it?

The mind is very interested in these questions.

It is very interested in the potential failure, the absence of this wanted thing, how to prevent lack of achievement, what should be done next, and how to fix this situation, improve it, or make a plan.

The mind has the vision.

Fabulous partner. One Million Dollars. Applause From Audience. Liberation.

People do all kinds of crazy stuff….well, OK…I myself have done all kinds of crazy stuff in order to GET that desired state in the future.

Spent money. Gone on retreats. Hired specialists.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. In fact everything I’ve ever been drawn to has been a beautiful step or experience in whatever needed to come next.

But without that push, that focused, sometimes grabby, demanding energy that really believes it needs that thing…..who would you be?

“What” would you be, without that thought of the Something Wanted?

“It is the nature of all dreams that the characters therein are so busy being–well, dream characters–that the bigger reality of what lies outside the dream state eludes them……ultimately it is ignorance (the belief in things that are untrue) that imprisons us within a trance state, which is induced by taking the conditioned stream of thinking within one’s mind to be true. If we are to awaken from the mind’s hypnotic embrace, we must question all of our beliefs and assumptions down to the very source of our being until that which is true, real, and everlasting reveals itself.” ~ Adyashanti
Stunning to think of who I would be without that thought. Or that one. Without the thoughts that I want, need or am headed towards something where I’ll have More.
Turning the thought around that there is Something Wanted?
There is NOT anything wanted, in any future.
How could that be true, for me….cosmic as it sounds?
Because I notice right now, I am alive, feeling, being. I have no idea what anything is for. I do not know why anything is the way it is. I never will.
Now that is absolutely hilarious.
There is no need for a mate, more money, enlightenment, success. Because right now this here is enough and beyond enough.
“When the mind is perfectly clear, what is is what we want. If you want reality to be different than it is, you might as well try to teach a cat to bark.” ~ Byron Katie 

That means, there is nothing required of you. Can you feel how amazing that is?

“Seek not outside yourself, for all your pain comes simply from a futile search for what you want, insisting where it must be found.” ~ Course In Miracles

If you’re interested in changing your Money Story…a group will begin on Weds 5:15 pm Pacific time to investigate the truth. Your answers only. You get to see who you’d be without your thoughts.

Much love, Grace