Tag: retreats the work of byron katie

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Seattle Spring Retreat May 15-19….No Caravan of Despair

Bring your despair to inquiry.

Spring Retreat is almost upon us.

It’s coming soon, only 15 days away.

Two cancellations in the past month (both of them weddings)!

Two rooms still available if you want to stay in the beautiful retreat house.

This is a time for those of us who, well…hate retreats. Seriously.

I’m not joking around.

Part of me is that person who hates retreats.

It was the me full of despair.

The one who would leave and ditch anyone (including myself) because….who cares?

The one who loved departure. The one who loved saying “I’m outta here”. The one who loved to leave.

The one who didn’t want any pep talks or dealing with difficult people. 

This spring retreat may be small.

And when I consider this, I get sort of fascinated after inquiring that it should be any different than it is.

What could possibly happen? What will this be like? How marvelous!

These days, the sense of zest or excitement is practically immediate with whatever appears to be happening.

I have the thought “there’s room for 16” and then the thought “but 10 is going to be perfect”.

There’s something so connected, shared, perfectly wonderful about a small group for 4 days. I tend to tap into everyone’s energy with such a depth of curiosity and joy. I learn so much. We’re like a team of people bringing peace to one small part of the world.

Regular people, joining with one another, under the guidance of inquiry using The Work of Byron Katie.

No expectations. Bringing our pain, our despair, our shame, our worries.

It’s not exactly easy.

Deep inhale, deep exhale.

For someone who tended to isolate, and still I can go for days without contact quite happily….

….something about the gentleness of retreat and the dawning of awareness in us all is thrilling.

Who would we be without our beliefs about THAT TERRIBLE THING THAT HAPPENED?!

I’d be in retreat, questioning my perspective. Finding grace at the center of it all.

Finding that only my own answers really matter.

Finding myself without despair. The part of me with the Don’t Know mind.

Our retreat is honesty. It is a moment in time of sharing and questioning. It is gathering a sense of empowerment about seeing what we believe without a guru or a teacher.

“Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, yet again, come, come.” ~ Jelaluddin Rumi

If you have a painful experience, a stressful belief, an anxious orientation, a desperate idea about life that doesn’t feel so good….

….then welcome.

You’ll fit right in.

And the surprise is: ours is a caravan of no despair. You are welcome, with all your worrying, agonizing, hand-wringing, fear and anger.

You are welcome with it all.

Let’s do question what our minds are saying is true.

Let’s do The Work.

Let’s do The Work.

Much love,

Grace

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Do The Work With Others And Be Amazed By Kitchen Drawers

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Doing The Work with others brings deep and powerful support and connection

Only 4 spots left for Being With Byron Katie, an unusual event where we’ll be watching Katie on screen via internet as she teaches a retreat in Switzerland July 11-14.

Because this event is via internet, the cost is only $165 for all four days. These last spots available are for commuters only (a mattress may be free for you if you want to sleep in our big private rented lodge). We’ll have a ball together (24 people total), share potluck lunch, and have one hour of silent sitting meditation each day at 2:30 pm.

A fantastic group of people interested in questioning stressful thinking. What could be more wonderful?

Perhaps Breitenbush Retreat June 24-29!

This is a deep intensive dive into your inner world of stressful thinking, where you will get to do The Work with me and the incredible group who always assembles for 4.5 days. We gather to declare peace through this powerful self-inquiry.

Breitenbush Hotsprings is a gorgeous conference center located in old growth forest in Oregon. This retreat also has 20 people registered (capacity is 28) so call soon to make your reservation 503-854-3320.

The Breitenbush Retreat offers mental health counselors 26 CEUs.

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Speaking of gatherings and retreats, it seems like a summer full of contemplative activities, doing this powerful work, is spread before me.

In only two weeks, all the people in Year of Inquiry who can come, plus some Year of Inquiry alumni, will be arriving in Seattle and coming to my cottage to do The Work for three days.

My hands are clapping!

I love that it doesn’t matter where you are for this work.

You can be deeply concerned, very frightened about a particular issue or situation or person….

….or concerned about something that seems petty and small, and unimportant in the big scheme of things.

Long ago, a dear friend and inquirer and I had made plans to exchange facilitation in The Work.

She had facilitated me through a worksheet I wrote on my impending divorce.

I felt sick to my stomach, almost every day.

I was terrified I would never find a job, my money was draining out of my bank account faster than the sinking Titanic, I was a bundle of pain and agony.

I felt a little lighter after she facilitated me. Like chipping away at a big block of granite, my beliefs about being supported in life getting broken into pieces one hammer-strike at a time.

Then we switched roles.

Now I would facilitate her.

Her stressful belief was on her kitchen drawer.

It wouldn’t open properly, after the recent remodel.

“It should open easily.”

Seriously?? 

As I asked her the four questions, I noticed with amazement the joy of doing this work on something so apparently insignificant.

I could feel the frustration having a thought like this, that sometimes made me want to bang something around, throw my hands up in frustration, lose my temper in a fury, slam a door, or a drawer, break something.

Who would you be without the belief that this drawer, or anything, should open more easily than it is opening?

What if everything, even a drawer, is exactly in place, doing what it does, without a need to argue with it, or against it?

As my friend answered the questions, it washed through me….

….what if my estranged husband shouldn’t open, either?

What if all was going along in the best way possible?

What if I didn’t get involved in being opposed to or in favor of thislife?

Turning the thought around….

….this dear friend found the opposite: “my mind should open easily”.

WOW!

I chuckled softly.

I could find this, too.

Later, after the phone call was over and we had hung up, I sat silently.

A sense of peace, quiet, and emptiness beyond all words, beyond all thinking, beyond needing to do something or fix anything, wrapped around me.

Everything was going to be OK.

It already was.

Thank you for inquiry, on a drawer in a kitchen that wasn’t even mine.

Sometimes inquiry works in the oddest ways.

“There is no peace in the world until you find peace within yourself in this moment. Live these turnarounds, if you want to be free. That’s what Jesus did, what the Buddha did. That’s what all the famous great ones did, and all the unknown great ones who are just living it in their homes and communities, happily and in peace.” ~ Byron Katie

Do The Work on whatever you see around you that brings you stress. Begin with one situation at a time. Nothing more is required.

You can do this.
Come gather with a group on retreat, if you want support in getting there.
 
Much love,
Grace
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Road Trip! But I’ll Still Be With You!

The magnificent Serenity Retreat is solidifying. Some incredible people are attending. Please visit my newly updated page to read about what’s being offered for this very high-end intensive in November 2014.

The fee is $12,997 but you’ll be quite astonished at what this includes and who you’ll get to rub elbows with. Take a look.

We’ll dive into inquiry and swim….coming out the other side with a new look at our own leadership of our lives, and what’s next.

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Today, I’m on my way to Ca-li-for-ni-ay! Road trip!

I will be in silent retreat with a small group very soon. But believe it or not, I plan on writing Grace Notes this time every night.

Because they are like my own meditative inquiry process, and I love sharing with you.

Here’s a few pics from the recent Breitenbush retreat.

I hope you’ll join me for a class soon (see the colored list below after my signature) or the Meetup The Work of Byron Katie North Seattle on July 26th from 2-4 pm at the Lake Forest Park Library (google meetup.com and RSVP).

   

Much love,
Grace
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Breitenbush Retreat and Mini Retreat Deadlines Soon

Two deadlines looming.

That sounds like the beginning of a poem.

The poetry of living with a dramatic, expressive mind using dramatic, expressive language. And noticing time limits approaching.

Deadline #1: Next week, Wednesday April 30th is the last day to register for Breitenbush Hotsprings Retreat and get the Early Bird super low fee for a four-day retreat ($395). June 25-29th.

To register for this luscious time for body, mind, spirit….you must call Breitenbush. You have to actually phone them, the old fashioned way 503-854-3320. 

Deadline #2: May 3rd the last mini retreat for several months. We meet in Seattle at Goldilocks Cottage, limited to ten participants.

Here’s the wonderful thing about both of these retreats:

Contact live and in-person with your inner world, through showing up, making connection, being there, putting your stake in the ground.

One is four hours.

One is four days.

Which one would you like to attend?

And really, have you noticed how dramatic and expressive the voices inside tend to be? Because the word DEADLINE is kind of intense.

I love learning about the origin of words and phrases. “Deadline” was first coined during the Civil War in the US, inside prisons. If a prisoner crossed a certain boundary line past the stockade, the guards were instructed to shoot.

Cross the line (probably headed in the direction of the prison wall) and you were going to be…..well, dead.

Back to earth….and present reality….I have questioned this “deadline” when it comes to retreats, and even the description of it as “looming” and found neither one to be true.

But I have found that making friends with my own thoughts, patterns, conditioning, and all that I have absorbed and assumed to be true…..

…..a matter of life or death of happiness.

Navigating life while also believing in terrible danger, loss, chaos, horror, fear, devastation, and tragedy is very hard.

It feels like death warmed over, as my grandma used to say.

If your own mind aims at you like a guard, every time you approach an invisible line, telling you to step back or you’ll be dead, you might feel very much like you’re trapped in hell.

The way to begin, if you really feel depressed, concerned, anxious, fearful and lost….is to write down everything that you feel upset about.

What’s dangerous? What’s horrifying?

You may have a long list. That’s OK. You may have a short one. That’s OK too.

I hate that we have to die, I hate that my marriage ended, I hate that this world is confusing, I hate that my child suffered, I hate that I lost my previous better life, I hate the absence of money, I hate my own mind, I hate that there are starving banished people, I hate how some people treat others. 

The world is a confusing (or terrible) place.

Now pick just one concept, to begin the process.

It’s hard for the mind to stop and pick just ONE objection.

But that’s where The Work of Byron Katie begins. Self-inquiry has started here in many other forms of inquiry as well, for centuries of human spiritual and existential investigation. Looking at ONE concept or principle at a time.

When I gather together with others, we have a landing place. The runway. We all get on the airplane together. The group energy and intent sets a tone to stay, look together, not to go off on tangents or avoid difficult feelings.

During your inquiry, or afterwards, you may take off.

“The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.” ~ Pema Chodron

Gathering with others, we build together, even if we don’t know the outcome. We’re on retreat for the purpose of looking at our thoughts, our beliefs, our perceptions of the world.

Nothing has been more life-changing for me that asking if it is true when I believe something troubling.

I might have done this all by myself on a desert island, but despite my occasional plans to go live in a monastery, my life has turned out to be active and of this world.

Retreats happen in the middle of it all. My best investigation has been done in the presence of other investigators.

“Let’s remember why we’re here at retreat: for this amazing opportunity to really look into the core of our own existence, the core of life itself that is so easy to overlook. It’s so easy not to pay attention to it, because it’s not noisy and it’s not clamoring for attention like all the other aspects of the human mind……So we come here to give our attention, our affection, our time. Our most highly prized commodity is our time. Anything or anyone you give your time to shows immediately what is most important.” Adyashanti 

Is it time to join with others for four hours, or four days, to really look into the core of your existence? To break through all the chatter, anger, war, discord and angst keeping you feeling trapped?

If YES, then come, come, wherever you are.

Much love, Grace