Tag: seeking

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Does life feel like one big NO COMFORT Zone sometimes?

Did someone say there was a Comfort Zone somewhere?
Did someone say there was a Comfort Zone somewhere? I don’t see it.

Opening Day to Summer Camp for The Mind is a unique online mini-retreat for three hours from 5:00 – 8:00 pm Pacific Time and it costs nothing. Anyone and everyone are welcome. Tell your friends and family if they’re interested in doing The Work of Byron Katie.

If you want to come to the online Opening Day mini-retreat, head to the Summer Camp page and scroll down. You can’t miss it–the link is already right there. Click it at 5 pm on July 5th and join. No registration required.

You can listen-only, or participate live (audio only) via your computer or your phone.

Now here’s something kind of funny….the very same day, in the morning, it just happens to be First Tuesday of The Month Meetup Call, for 75 minutes. This monthly call is also open to everyone and anyone who wants to question their stressful thinking.

So you could start your day with inquiry, and end your day with more inquiry. And see what happens in between!

Life’s a sandwich!

And it’s a pretty good sandwich if the bread is The Work.

If you’ve been wanting a Walk-Through of The Work of Byron Katie from start to finish, and you don’t want to leave your home to do it, either one of these would be great. I recommend using headphones, but you can do speaker phone, too.

We’ll start at the very, very, very beginning at the first step of The Work—locating and clearly identifying a stressful experience, interaction, conversation or situation in your life.

Then, we’ll apply the four questions. You can listen, or raise your hand and participate.

If you love it and want to continue in inquiry until August 19th you can sign up after the mini-retreat Opening Day of Summer Camp For The Mind July 5th. You’ll sign up by donating what works for you.

Yep, I really mean it. No set fee.

Why do I do it this way?

Well, I remember myself and the way I thought about trying new or public or group things, or new venues for things I already did regularly.

It wasn’t so easy to actually take the plunge and try it.

As in, I had to build up a lot of nerve, energy, interest and motivation to go for it.

(I’m still like this sometimes–I’ve been thinking about going to a regular yoga class for almost two years).

It’s funny to like trying new things, and also NOT LIKE IT ONE BIT.

Can’t we just stick with the usual? Not any big major changes?

Can’t I makes changes slllllooooowwwwwwlllllyyyyy? So there’s no surprises?

There’s this term called Comfort Zone.

I know you’ve heard it.

Yada yada, so boring if I hear that term One More Time about comfort zone and getting out of it I’m going to stab my hand with a pencil.

Heh heh. Not that I get THAT excited about coaching terminology.

But for me….my whole LIFE was out of the Comfort Zone.

Where is the comfort zone, I thought? I’m looking for it on a daily basis!

Is it over there? No. Is it over here? No.

Comfort Zone Comfort Zone, where are you hiding? (Picture a dog owner looking for the dog in the neighborhood, and the dog’s name is Comfort Zone. That’s what it was like on the inside, yelling and wandering the streets).

No wonder I didn’t want to try anything new! It seemed there was no such thing as a comfort zone in my area, and let’s get clear….new stuff DEFINITELY wasn’t it, so new stuff was OUT.

For me, the reason I usually tried something new was because I was so incredibly uncomfortable with what I currently was living, I couldn’t take the pain anymore, the suffering.

The Work is a way to dig into this state of mind. LACK of Comfort Zone.

So welcome to anyone who is unhappy, feels screwed up, feels miserable with work, relationships, parents, family, circumstances, money, body, eating, addiction, anger, criticism, sadness, annoyance, disappointment.

When I began to do The Work, that’s where I started. No Comfort Zone in sight. It’s why I went to The School for The Work.

And I found….with practice….

….maybe the Comfort Zone was here all along, I just couldn’t see it because I was wearing some really, really dark glasses.

“You can take the four questions and find yourself. The questions are the path back to your self. They don’t care what the story is. They just wait for you to answer them.” ~ Byron Katie in 1000 Names for Joy

It’s OK if you don’t find anything with The Work. It’s almost better if you have zero expectations. Let life unfold the way it does, without you managing it or trying to stay safer or trying to get somewhere different (like the aforementioned CZ, I’ll try not to think about it).

I don’t always feel comfortable. In fact, sometimes I’m quite uncomfortable.

But thank goodness for the quiet solitude, the slowing down, the stillness, the simplicity….of The Work.

If you’d like a daily meditation for seven weeks during the summer (or a free mini-retreat on Tuesday July 5th from 5-8 pm in the evening Pacific Time) then head over to this page and scroll down a wee bit to find the link to the Opening Day of Summer CampOnline Mini Retreat. Anyone can join, no registration or opt-in required.

I would truly love to work with you.

Much love,

Grace

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When Will I Ever Get There?

The other day, I was listening to (yet another) audio teaching about growing my business, running webinars, marketing and creating a production  plan and hiring a team….

….and I had the thought “this is ridiculous”. 

Not the actual teaching and audio, which was superb (and for which I am grateful) but this is ridiculous that I’m constantly and compulsively thinking I need to learn something.

I need to get something. I need to catch a drift here. Things will be better…soon.

Meanwhile….

….I need to GROW my business. I need to GROW my bank account. I need to GROW my inner peace. I need to GROW my personal health and fitness. I need to GROW my awareness. I need to GROW my relationship with my partner, kids, family. I need to GROW my love and joy.

Oh man.

There it is, an energy of something being off over the horizon.

Including Spiritual Awakening, which isn’t here.

Yet.

Chasing the carrot! The ever-dangling carrot just out of reach of the horse’s mouth.

Yummy carrot if I only stretch, push a little harder, race, strain and go a little faster!!

But who the heck would I be without that “almost there” thought permeating everything?

I mean, really….the mind thinks “almost there, not quite there yet” about everything.

Money, health, wealth, love, success, happiness, awakening.

Who would I be without the thought that any of these things are ALMOST there (but not quite)?

Wait. What?

Huh?

Without the belief that this isn’t it?

Dang. (Slow whistle). Woah.

I notice, it’s all here.

It’s right here, all complete, all brilliant.

No searching required.

Here’s a computer, and a bookshelf, and a standing lamp, air in this room, a bathrobe hanging on a hook, an arm, a hand, kitchen noise happening, footsteps on the porch, a silver ring on a finger, a pen.

Absolutely fantastically glorious!!

“I got myself into a right pickle. I became exhausted with the whole thing. With the spiritual concepts, the teachers, the awakening stories, trying to get there. I had been trying, trying, trying soooo hard to get there. I was brought to my knees. I was exhausted from trying. Fed up with spirituality. Nauseated with the whole thing. I didn’t want to hear the word ‘consciousness’ or ‘awakening’ ever again. That’s how BAD it got….It had ALL become second hand. And I looked at a chair in my childhood bedroom and thought ‘oh’. Life is right here. All these things I’ve made into destinations. But they are here. It’s a chair! It’s a chair!” ~ Jeff Foster

Turning the thought around:

It is all here already. There is no ‘almost there’.

No just-around-the-corner. It’s here!

Money, health, wealth, love, success, happiness, awakening.

RIGHT HERE!!!!!

Can you feel it?

“You can neither look for the truth, nor find the truth, nor lose the truth; for all the time you are the truth.” ~ Adyashanti

Much love, Grace

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I Am SURE I Need More Information

Yesterday on Sunday evening, I realized I had an interview queued up on my laptop since early morning, ready to push play and watch….but had never gotten around to it the whole day.

I also had my local library website open in a browser on the same laptop, waiting for me to order a book (or two) from that author who was recommended to me.

Oh, and I had an mp3 of a teleconference call ready to download, led by someone I’ve never ever heard of but the title sounded interesting about mindfulness and enlightenment or something….

….and finally, a public webinar by one of my favorite business author and teacher guys David Allen, waiting for my credit card if I want to join his class next month.

Heh heh, and that was not exactly an atypical day….

….and I never actually opened, got to, listened to, or purchased any of them.

There are hundreds and hundreds of spiritual teachers, coaches, counselors, practitioners, authors, lecturers, and scientists who have something interesting to teach or say.

Not only something interesting, but often something quite profound and beautiful to offer.

It would be impossible for any one of us to study them all. Ever.

Yet our mind will tell us that even if we can’t get to them all, read every great book, see every interesting teacher….we should make contact with AS MANY AS POSSIBLE.

Surely we can get to as many of them as we can and study what they say?

Surely we can work with new practitioners, read a new book, keep hunting and getting closer to that “goal” of….

….oh yeah, good question….what is The Goal?!

Funny how when I stop and look at myself and this particular gathering-and-studying behavior, I recognize a familiar energy, one that is stressful.

There is a little edge of push-push running around like a nervous chicken, seeking the most perfect answer, a great teacher, a solution.

Maybe the goal is that I want to stop suffering, feel happy, gain knowledge, succeed, thrive, win, enjoy, perform, bliss-out, do good.

Maybe…just maybe…there’s someone out there who can wave their wand over your head and “make” you feel better! A light bulb would go off! WOW that would be AWESOME.

The thing is, we listen and learn and gather and we DO feel better, excited, more aware. At least I do.

I love the wisdom available, just sitting down at my laptop. It’s quite stunning, really.

But it’s also of great value to me to stop hunting. Wait. Be. Watch. Listen to the silence, not someone else’s voice.

Watch that moment when I am chasing after a goal that is somewhere in the future, whether an hour from now after I watch my spiritual-teacher video, or five months from now when I’m totally over my current unpleasant condition.

That moment when I am believing “I need more”.

  • I need to read that new book
  • I need to read those old spiritual classics that I missed
  • I need to buy a ticket and go hear “x” person on their lecture tour
  • I need to order those files of “so-and-so” talking about enlightenment
  • I need to recommend to other people this new author
  • I need to stop suffering and feel blissful instead. All the time.
  • I know what enlightenment is like, and this here is NOT IT
  • I need to sign up for that program

I don’t know about you, but how I react when I have these kinds of thoughts, if I really look and examine and investigate this state of mind, is I am insatiable.

One big needy ball of energy. Walking around like I’m looking for something, very subtly and very appropriately (it doesn’t look like drug addiction or other heavier addictions).

But I am spending money on books, programs, recordings as if my life (mind) depended on it.

Sigh.

I remember when I had no money left six years ago.

One day I was doing The Work and questioning the thought “I need more money”.

I had turned the thought around just to look at it, the way we do in The Work: “I do not need more money.”

I suddenly realized one advantage of not having money.

I didn’t have it to spend on books, retreats, lectures, programs, practitioners, modalities, spiritual “information”.

I had to sit in a chair, with my own mind, instead.

I had to develop a relationship with myself that worked. A foundation of openness to this self, whatever it was.

Who would you be without that thought that you need to find the right teacher, practitioner, or program?

Who would you be without the thought that there is an answer out there that you must find, or an enlightened state that is different from who you are right now?

Who would you be without the thought that there is a magical piece of information that will crack the code of life for you personally?

“The key is to be quiet. It’s not that your mind has to be quiet. You be quiet. You, the one inside watching the neurotic mind, just relax.” ~ Michael Singer

Today, something in me feels such joy at not needing anything MORE than what I already have learned, come into contact with, practiced, or become aware of….so far.

What if you were not missing a thing? What if you did not need one bit of extra additional information?

What if you could trust that you are moving through All This and you left everything alone, just allowed it to be what it is?

“The Tao is called the Great Mother: empty yet inexhaustible, it gives birth to infinite worlds. It is always present within you. You can use it any way you want.”~ Tao Te Ching #6

Much Love, Grace

  • Earning Money: What’s Your Problem? Questioning Your Beliefs About Money, Work and Business. Thursdays, July 11 – August 29, 2013, 5:15 – 6:45 pm Pacific time. 8 weeks $395. Register Here. 
  • Our Wonderful Sexuality: A Safe Place For Inquiry on Painful Thoughts About Sexuality. Fridays, July 12 – August 30, 2013 Noon – 1:30 pm Pacific time. 8 weeks $395. Register Here. 
  • Mini Retreats Seattle. Saturdays, 8/10, 10/12, 11/30, 2013, 1:30-5:30 pm. Goldilocks Cottage. $70 includes intensive, handouts, tea and snacks, $55 repeater rate.  Click here to register for mini-retreats:
  • Loving Your Body Breitenbush Hot Springs Retreat. June 26-30, 2013. For all the information please click HERE.

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