Tag: sickness

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It’s not as if you have a choice….and there’s never too much or too little

There’s nothing so difficult as missing a person, or longing for them (especially if they’ve died or are no longer speaking to you).

The mind will think about all the ways it used to be, when it was “good” or “fun” or “loving”.

This absence is NOT loving, we think.

I’ve written about a friend who enacted a great betrayal once, according to me of course. She never spoke to me again.

This can happen with family members, parents, siblings, children, lovers.

They’re gone, and we’re hurt.

It’s fascinating, however, to study why we feel “hurt” and what exactly IS hurt, and why it occurs to us to feel upset and troubled when the body and presence of that person apparently is not in our vicinity.

Are we feeling useless? Unwanted? Betrayed? Rejected? Guilty? All of the above?

Ahhhh….what a good time for inquiry.

Who would we be without our story of their departure filled with the meaning “I am hurt” (because they’re gone)?

I talked about it in the most recent Peace Talk Episode 143, so join me there to question “they hurt me”.

I’ll also be heading to Facebook Live today to ponder with you the experience of questioning this sometimes profoundly painful story called They Left Me and I’m Hurting.

If you’d like to join me on Facebook live, come on over here at 10:15 am Pacific Time today (May 23) or watch the replay later.

Much love,

Grace

June 3rd East West Books on healing eating issues with self-inquiry 1-4 pm. Also June 10th last half-day retreat of the year Living Inquiries Group 2-6 pm (last one of the year).

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Sickness: When there’s no hope, you’re free

Those of you who wanted to join the Masterclass: Ten Barriers To Deepening Your Work today at 8 am Pacific Time, you can sign up HERE. Then I’ll send the replay out only to those who want it. Bring your pen and paper.

And as I’m writing this, I’m thinking “Is this going to be OK for tomorrow?”

Because I have a rather severe cold, fever, pounding ears, sore throat. I can’t remember being this sick in ages.

Crazy!

I should NOT be sick.

This is an amazing thought to question. No matter what kind of illness, it often appears.

I shouldn’t have cancer, I shouldn’t experience this ailment. I shouldn’t feel so lousy. I should be able to go outside, eat dinner, run the masterclass webinar.

Sometimes, we can become absolutely terrified with the belief that we shouldn’t be feeling physically sick. Like a huge screaming NO!

Is it true I shouldn’t be sick right now?

Yes. I hate it. This is terrible. I’m trying to work, here, to keep my schedule! (Shake fist at sky).

What kind of images come to mind?

Staying in bed for days and days. Unable to go on. Sometimes, I confess, when I’ve had this thought I imagine being on my death bed. I think about how this body is declining ultimately, and will fade away and die.

I think about my daughter being sick when she was here for 24 hours this past weekend. She brought it into the house!

The mind tries to figure out how to prevent this from ever happening again in the future. I clench up against the physical pain, stare into space as I lie on the bed. Sleep during the day.

But who would I be without this thought I shouldn’t be sick, when I am?

Relaxing into what is, it seems. Letting it be here, like this. Achy, listening to the rain, noticing how more sleep will be good, watching that incredibly…I seem to be writing this Grace Note and I don’t see why not.

Turning this thought around: I should be sick.

This isn’t a slap, or a way to point out what’s wrong with me, or that I deserved it. Never those things.

But why should I be sick, when I am?

I have a human body, that’s why. This body is a host to other organisms, and it’s doing its thing to get rid of something that landed here, apparently. I don’t mind resting. I like it.

I feel very grateful and appreciative for my general good health. I can’t remember the last time I was this sick, it’s been a very long time (years).

Why else should I be sick, when I am?

I listened to music this afternoon sent to me by a friend last week while I was still traveling. It was a meditation, relaxation thing on youtube, very slow and quiet. I got to contemplate the mind, silence, while lying flat in the bed today.

I felt OK this morning, so this has come on very quickly and intensely, and a client I had scheduled for all afternoon cancelled because HE was sick….so far everything’s rolling along as expected, just with sickness accompanying the ride.

I still facilitated the Thursday evening Year of Inquiry call, and could listen, enjoy the inquiry, love everyone there. My work, like the call, is done from home so it doesn’t really matter if I’m sick or not. Until it does.

I’m not sure why else I should be sick, except when I consider this turnaround….I feel a sense of laughter, what-do-I-know, mystery, and readiness to climb into bed again. No choice. I’m not in charge or running this here. It’s a happening.

Turning it around again: My thinking should not be sick. Especially when it comes to sickness. So true. I can work myself into a tizzy about an ailment, or let go.

Another turnaround I notice is that “I” am not actually sick. Not the part of me that’s always here, the steady consciousness that’s been around from before I even knew about it.

“People who know there’s no hope are free; decisions are 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: they’ve given up the delusion of being in charge. When there’s no choice, there’s no fear. They begin to realize that nothing was ever born but a dream and nothing ever dies but a dream.” ~ Byron Katie

Much love,

Grace

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Sick body or sick thinking?

Oh dear.

I have a sore throat coming on. Swallowing hurts.

Doing The Work on physical illness or pain can be powerful, especially when it’s not necessarily scary (you know it’s very temporary)….

….you just don’t like it.

Some people exclaim when they feel sick “I HATE this!”

You shouldn’t be sick.

Is it true?

(Is this thing on?)

(Like you’re a stand-up comedian wondering why the audience is absolutely stone silent after your question “is it true you shouldn’t be sick”?

Tap the microphone. Is this thing on?)

Of course it’s true! What are you talking about? You think I like this? Who wants to be sick, I mean….is that even a question that can be asked on this topic?

But can you absolutely know you shouldn’t be sick, when you are?

Um. No. Reality shows me, I’m getting a bad sore throat, and seem to have the urge to sleep and lie horizontal.

How do you react when you believe you shouldn’t be sick, or have the condition you have, or feel the physical symptoms you feel?

Not only do I feel physical pain, but I also feel depressed. I see pictures of all the things I won’t be getting done. I press on even though it hurts. I keep my eyes open. I work another few minutes on taxes, or emails. I take extra medicine. I don’t rest.

Some people have visions of themselves dying, or going to hospitals, or suffering horribly when they believe they shouldn’t be sick. They scare themselves.

But who would you really really be without the belief you shouldn’t be sick, when something is here and it’s called “sickness”?

I’d sleep. I’d still feel relaxed and happy, even with a sore throat. (True). I’d feel content. Trusting that oh, this is the way it’s going today. Got it.

Nothing so terrible about having this physical symptom come along. Nothing immoral, nothing I did incorrectly or wrong. All very well indeed, even if I never woke up after I went to sleep with aching ears and throat. (I know that’s a little dramatic, but heck, let’s go all the way with this feared thing).

Slowness has always been in my life. It’s called going to bed at night. Physical pain has come and gone.

Eventually, I’ll be expiring altogether. This body will shut down and tucker out. There might be pain involved. I have no idea when it will occur. Even if I had an illness that wasn’t going away, I can question my thinking.

Thoughts aren’t exactly reliable.

Turning the thought around: I should be sick.

Now….remember. This isn’t a reason to load yourself with guilt or mean words or what you deserve. Why, even with great compassion, are you aware you should be sick, when you are?

Can I find examples for this severe cold?

I just slept for 9 hours without moving. I’ll go to bed this afternoon and rest, and read a book I’ve been meaning to continue for weeks. I’m looking forward to inquiry soon with everyone who comes to Tuesday call in Year of Inquiry (so amazing we can all be in our PJs at home if we want). I feel very slow, and all ideas of moving through tasks feel completely unnecessary and relaxed.

Turning it around again: my thinking shouldn’t be sick.

So true. It gets feverish, sore, unstable, needs to go to sleep, off-balance….especially when it comes to the body and disease. So serious. So intense.

Now, a true sense of being, with nothing required, appears in consciousness. This is it. No need for concern. No need for extras. No need to Get Stuff Done.

I’m reminded of this as the most beautiful part of life. Letting go. I trust I needed the reminder today.

“If you’re experiencing pain or discomfort or confusion around [anything, anyone] just investigate your thinking. Ask four questions, turn it around, have a happy life.” ~ Byron Katie

Yes, even with a disease or physical ailment.

Why not?

I notice, it’s possible to feel the beauty of this moment in a quiet, gentle way. Rain pattering down outside, birds singing, heater whirring, early morning white cherry blossoms through the window.

Thank you, world!

Much love,

Grace

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No mistake….even with physical pain?

Could pain not be a mistake in Reality?
Could pain not be a mistake in Reality?

Sometimes, the Year of Inquiry group is just what I myself need.

Last night, we looked again at the worksheets we wrote on this bodily condition we don’t like (even hate).

Belly too big, fatigue to intense, energy too low, body too skinny, hearing too poor, face too wrinkled, age too old.

I’ve had a thought for days, because of great pain in my hamstring (no idea why it has returned) that there’s something wrong with my body because of the physical pain.

Guess what happens when I believe this thought?

This may sound a bit melodramatic, but it’s what happens.

I picture my own death.

“You only have about 15-25 years left anyway. Maybe now is a good time to say sayonara. Why not….it’s all down hill from here. I’m probably going to have the same back trouble as my mom. Things are not working. This is horrible. I can’t stand it. My body sucks. I will never achieve, succeed, create [fill in the blank] because of the state of this body.”

How amazing to have The Work, and a beautiful group of people who all call in together at the same time to look at these kinds of thoughts.

Is it true, this condition is so awful, and it prevents me from living my life “normally” or from going to the spa and being there naked?

No.

Who would I be without the belief that my body should be different than it is?

Yes, even THAT condition.

I remember having cancer….but yesterday I looked at that damaged hamstring I tore up 3 years ago surely never-to-be-the-same again.

Who would we be without the beliefs in our bodies being “wrong” or “ugly” or unacceptable?

Holy Moly.

Pretty mind-blowing.

Able to find the humor in this, and notice there are no perfect bodies, anywhere….certainly none that remain perfect.

The way of it appears to be decline, damage, decay, a return to silence somehow.

The turnarounds I heard last night almost brought tears to my eyes, they were so moving, so powerful.

Here’s what people in Year of Inquiry found:

  • My thinking is too bloated about all this.
  • My body is beautiful.
  • My energy level is perfect, and allows me to meditate (nothing else is possible)–isn’t meditating what I love?
  • I don’t have to save the world.
  • I AM saving the world, by questioning this very thought about my body.
  • If I can be OK with this imperfection, I might find freedom.
  • This condition is my friend.
  • This condition gives me the opportunity to get out of the business of my body, and hand it over back to God.

To be able to find benefits, and even be willing to be in this body, just this one I have, is not insignificant.

This body I have treated like shit, dismissively, with hatred, with anger, with disgust, with fear.

What if all that’s necessary for absolute freedom is to love this body, now, it whatever condition it is in….unconditionally?

Who knows what kind of power this could bring to the world.

Through this inquiry, I am enlightened to another way to be, to another possibility, another option.

Without “my” thinking my thoughts about what’s wrong with being physical….all is very well indeed. I’ll get to move on eventually, and I’m not in charge. Halleluia.

“Who would you be without the thought that would argue with reality, that would argue with what is? Watch you life, drop your story…look at the difference in your life without that belief. Same life, no tricks, just you not believing that thought. With the thought, stress, busy mind, lost mind, confused mind, suffering. Welcome to reality, the way of it. There is no mistake in the universe. The universe is brilliant. Everything is born on time, and dies on time. When we argue with it, we’re blind to it. Why is it better off that the way it is, is the way of it? What are the advantages? If God is good, why would this happen?” ~ Byron Katie

Hmm. Why should my hamstring hurt so badly today?

It’s giving me a signal to go back to that great body-worker I found. It’s helping me remember I want quiet, relaxation, gentleness and less doing in my life. I’m learning to appreciate aging, and rest. It’s reminding me I could have only this day, and to let go of everything and all plans. I love the state of no “have to” and Doing Nothing. It’s calling me to peace, right here.

Thank you, body. Thank you for your temporary and incredibleness. Thank you for lasting as long as you have so far. Thank you for one more day, and knowing there will be a last day for me at some point, and it will be brilliant.

Much love, Grace

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Everybody poops, and you can question your thoughts about it

Did you know Peace Talk Podcasts come out every Monday? They are short and sweet, always under ten minutes. I’d love your reviews on itunes (and you can listen on stitcher too).

Here’s yesterday’s episode on the Silent Treatment (I was on a roll on that one, it follows along with yesterday’s Grace Note).

Sunday afternoon 8 month deep inquiry group starts November 22nd. Only 3 spots left. We meet 3-6 pm at Goldilocks Cottage.

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Well, this is a first for a Grace Note.

I just said to the voice that tells me instantly what I’m writing about and inquiring into every day…..

…..really? Do I have to talk about that?

But once something appears for at least the third time with a client, I know it’s a powerful experience to question.

Even if embarrassing, shameful, and weird to talk about.

Since it is….even better to actually talk about it.

Pooping.

Now, before you quit reading…..

…..what I’m talking about is something that’s very, very common if you have a body and you eat food.

Everybody poops (or discards waste in some way, even if it’s not the normal route).

When something goes oddly, or differently, or off from the usual course of events, this can really cause health concerns.

And it can also cause a huge amount of stress and anger, anxiety and sadness.

Constipation, diarrhea, not being able to find a bathroom…..

…..if any of this persists, what are the thoughts you have?

I can still remember being a kid and having my first experience with constipation. I have no idea of the exact age. It rarely happened.

Later as a teen, I would sometimes have what I thought of as an odd pain in my gut on the left side. I would then forget all about it, because it would go away, then come back.

(I realized a decade later it was dehydration. I hardly drank any water when I worked downtown at the Science Center Museum where I needed to stand and greet people all day).

I’m so honored at the people who have brought chronic problems with the digestive system to inquiry.

OK, the pooping part of digestion, let’s be honest.

If you’ve ever had this difficult experience, what have your thoughts been?

  • I hate this
  • it hurts
  • I can’t stand it
  • fume
  • this is such a hassle
  • I can’t do things other people can do
  • this is embarrassing, shameful
  • I hate having to wait
  • My schedule revolves around this activity (arrrgghhh)

Are your thoughts about this true?

Are you sure?

When my kids were little, someone gave us the gift of a book called Everybody Poops. My former husband and I thought that was one of the best kids books, besides George and Martha.

We loved it.

(We actually sang it to the tune of R.E.M.’s Everybody Hurts every time we opened the book….)

We could see our kids learning to be with this crazy, fascinating phenomenon of eating and pooping.

How do you react when you believe your experience is frightening, causing you to miss things, “making” you wait, or hurting you?

I’m not talking about denying that it hurts.

If there’s pain, there’s a message and a communication. You consult doctors, healers, specialists, experts. You research and see what you can find out that works better. You learn about what you’re eating, or what else might be going on.

But meanwhile, you can notice the anger and frustration, the experience of reacting with fury.

Who would you be without your beliefs that this pooping thing is wrecking your life?

This can be any physical symptom, really.

This is powerful work, since we have bodies and things go haywire with these bodies at times, for everyone.

(It’s called getting sick).

Who would you be without the belief this shouldn’t be happening to your body?

Wow.

I notice I still don’t long for it to happen—but I feel more accepting. More attentive. More relaxed.

I then notice my mind begins to fall into the turnarounds.

How could this be interesting, to be sitting quietly in the bathroom for 30 minutes, waiting for this digestive process to happen?

Like everything with the body, it brings me to No Control.

To caring for this thing I appear to be inhabiting, called body.

Now that I think about it, I was going to be meditating at this time anyway. I’m staring at the bathroom wall, feeling this room, feeling the body, relaxing, allowing this to be as it is.

Also making a note to self that ignoring the fact that I lost my water bottle the other day, and only drinking out of the fountain after my usual sweaty workout, probably could change.

One of the first clients I ever worked with had very despairing thoughts about pooping keeping him from social situations.

We all love to make poop jokes and cackle about farting.

I can be right in there with the rest of us, but I loved that he brought this to genuine inquiry, without shame.

What he found was that he continued to visit some nutritionists to aid his digestion and make changes to his diet, and meanwhile, he also found very good reasons to have quiet days to himself.

He also had the thought…..maybe I don’t have to lock myself away.

Maybe I can join with others in social occasions, and excuse myself if I notice I need to leave…..without the belief I’m missing something special.

He didn’t have to be all freaked out about disappointing others, or saying what was going on, or making something up that was a lie.

Just a simple “I need to go take care of something, maybe I’ll be back, and maybe not.”

I find over and over, when I turn around these thoughts about the body, I can find them in my thinking….and that’s all I can really change anyway:
  • I hate my thoughts about this
  • my thinking hurts
  • I can’t stand my thinking
  • relax, peace, be
  • my thinking is such a hassle
  • I can do things other people can do
  • this is common, something that occurs in humans
  • I love waiting, being still
  • My schedule revolves around this activity (it’s OK), or my thinking revolves around this activity
“Isn’t that what you really want? A balanced, healthy mind? Has a sick body ever been a problem, or is it your thinking about the body that causes the problem? Investigate. Let your doctor take care of your body as you take care of your thinking. I have a friend who can’t move his body, and he is loving life. Freedom does not require a healthy body. Free your mind.” ~ Byron Katie
Do what you’re drawn to do, research the cause, seek new information, but while you’re doing all this…..
…..hum a little tune “Everybody Poops…..”
Enjoy this beautiful video that shows the mind, and thought, doing what it does in people.
Could inquiry help you walk away as they do?
Yes.
Much Love,

Grace

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Who Would You Be In The Presence of Chaos?

For those of you asking about early-bird payment plan, you are correct there was no option for this on the Year of Inquiry information page. None.

I completely forgot it.

Since this option hasn’t been anywhere in sight (we’ll talk about me as a non-detail person another time) click here, scroll down to the very bottom of the page where the payment plan option are listed, and you’ll see early-bird payment plans added for YOI.

Because I didn’t even have them posted until late last night, these early bird plans are available until Friday.

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Your thoughts of chaos and suffering were not created by you, but you can imagine who you would be without them
Your thoughts of chaos and suffering were not created by you, but you can imagine who you would be without them

I know I’ve been constantly mentioning Year of Inquiry, but there are other very, very powerful events happening around me, too.

The serious illness of a dear friend, a long-awaited journey to the place I was born (I leave Wednesday), reuniting with two important friends with whom I lost touch, and facilitating people on incredibly deep stressful beliefs about love, longings, and death.

Sometimes, when you sit with others who are facing huge change, loss, or who are very frightened, like my friend who is very sick….

….there is nothing to do but be.

Who am I, without the story I’m telling? Without the thoughts I am thinking? Without needing to do anything?

Without the fear being all there is, whether fear of dying, or fear of the terrible pain my friend is going through right now, or fear of the temporariness of this life?

Who would you be?

Who are you, without your stressful beliefs?

I notice as I spend time with my friend today who is so very sick, and feel the sun on my face, and later hear my daughter telling me about her weekend away with two friends.

Here, there is space.

Here in this moment, a red flowered rug, two glowing computer screens, a light over a kitchen sink, a candle flame in a glass jar, an empty water glass, a pair of blue flip-flops, a scrap of ragged white paper on the floor, a young man called a “son” walking through the room with two fat library books in hands, a spider moving slowly around a web in the ceiling corner, and thoughts of my friend.

Here. Sometimes, with a breaking heart.

“This is about realization, not about changing anything. The world is as you perceive it to be. For me, clarity is a word for beauty. It’s what I am. And when I’m clear, I see only beauty. Nothing else is possible. I am mind perceiving my thoughts, and everything unfolds from that, as if it were a new solar system pouring itself out in its delight…..

….So you don’t drop your thoughts of chaos and suffering out there in the apparent world. You can’t drop them, because you didn’t make them in the first place. But when you meet your thoughts with understanding, the world changes. It has to change, because the projector of the entire world is you.” ~ Byron Katie in Loving What Is

Here, I notice even with a breaking heart, and a temporary human life, and my friend’s beautiful eyes who I looked into today as she felt terrible physical pain and enormous courage….

….I love this place, even though it is so heart-breaking sometimes.

That’s who I am without completely believing the stressful thoughts.

And actually, with them, too.

Much love,

Grace

 

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Welcoming Thoughts About Sickness

stressYesterday I felt my glands in my throat aching. I felt a sort of weird weakness in my arms and legs when I moved about, and a deep ache in the back of my head.

The mind kicks in trying to figure out what’s going on.

Did you eat something bad? Are you getting sick? Is it hormones from menopause? Or wow, what if its cancer or something serious?Didn’t I just hear about a friend’s kid with meningitis?

I wonder if….

I hear the mind comment, but don’t really believe any of it or act like any of it is true, I notice. I follow my usual schedule, quietly in my home most of the day.

Clients coming and going, online classes underway. Go out to stand in line at the DMV (Dept of Motor Vehicles in the US). Actually still go to the gym for light bike ride. Pausing and feeling the sensations again of ache, heat, weak.

Who would I be without the belief any of this is terrible?

This is a wonderful question!

Because when I have the idea or belief that being sick or having symptoms like mine is a bad thing….

….pretty soon I’m also thinking thoughts like “not only does my neck and head ache, but I’m in the wrong business (no vacation days) and I have tons of work to do and the house needs cleaning and repairs and I have to go get my car emissions tabs and, and, and….

….life is sooooooo hard.

It’s like the energy of “sick” gives birth to more of itself. Sick, bad, weak, wrong, terrible, dangerous.

But pausing and asking “who would you be without these thoughts?”

Funny.

I would be doing the exact same things, but relaxing through them all. Noticing there’s only one thing to do next, then another thing, not all at once, only doing what is possible right now, then now.

And if taking a motrin and lying down becomes what happens next, then that’s OK too.

It’s the way of it.

What is required, happens. Nothing more, nothing less.

Turning the thought around: these physical sensations are not terrible. My thoughts are terrible about these sensations.

So true! I’m moving, although slower, I’m conscious, and I can see the room, hear the sounds of cars outside, breath deeply, reply to emails, and feel something very still right here.

My thoughts are over-excited and dramatic. They are terrible, especially when they think the worse case scenario, and I buy it.

It’s kinda funny when the “worse” that can happen is a thought.

Who am I really, with physical so-called ailments, without believing my stressful thought?

Still fascinated and loving this world, taking it all in, noticing the abundance everywhere.

And I call the doctor if it becomes clear this is the next necessary step.

“When you have some understanding of your thoughts through inquiry, then you can call 911 consciously, without fear or panic. You’re more able to describe your situation and answer questions clearly. You’ve always known what to do; that doesn’t change.
 
A lover of what is looks forward to everything: life, death, disease, loss, earthquakes, bombs, anything the mind might be tempted to call “bad.” Life will bring us everything we need, to show us what we haven’t undone yet. Nothing outside ourselves can make us suffer.Except for our unquestioned thoughts, every place is paradise.” ~ Byron Katie in Loving What Is

Remarkable to feel what I’d call sensations of sickness, or pain, or weakness….and not think of it as bad.

Ahhhhhh. Freedom right in the middle of odd sensations.

Love, Grace

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Who Would You Be Without Your (Injured, Painful, Fat, Diseased) Body?

Money! We’ll be looking carefully at what it means…and our apparent “problems” or concerns with money: earning it, getting it, keeping it.

8 week teleclass: Wednesdays, March 19 – May 7. 5:15 pm Pacific Time/8:15 pm Eastern time. Waking hours in Australia, Japan, Indonesia. Write if you’re interested grace@workwithgrace.com.

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Physical ailments, a state of physicality that feels less than perfect, whether a head cold or a torn hamstring….or cancer….often carry with them a stressful response. 

The disease seems to arrive, the condition. I now have this condition, it’s inside me, THIS body, mine, the one I inhabit.

I’m the one with “x” happening. 

And then, with that ownership, faster than the speed of light, the mind grabs it and says (when it feels stressful) what it means, that I have this condition.

  • I can’t go to that party, I’ll miss out
  • I’m dying
  • I’ll miss everyone
  • I detest this feeling of pain
  • this is all temporary
  • I’ll never run, play, jump, flip, bike, move, dance again

So sad. So infuriating! Who set this entire world up like this, anyway?! Such suffering!

My mind almost always has a comment about whose fault it is (mine). Then there are the other people whose fault it is (parents, history, pesticides). 

Nothing wrong with looking at patterns, gathering information, making huge changes to see how it affects the current status.

But that underlying sense, that dark cave below, that voice that is disappointed….or terrified….can feel dreadful.

Can’t I just think about something else? 

With inquiry, I love turning to face it and take a good look.

Oh, by the way, remember my leg? (All eyes on me!) Well, I almost forgot about it, and returned to my old dance recently, like I used to before I tore my hamstring last fall. The joy I felt on the dance floor was so sweet, I was ecstatic.

And then a few hours later, hmmm. Some dull aching pain radiating from my injury site.

And then the next day, my back and hamstring hurt so much I couldn’t get out of bed. 

Is it true, that I am condemned to reduced movement, decline, pain, aging, discomfort? Am I missing out?

Yes, yes, oh yes. Cry. Fist shaking at the sky. 

Am I sure that it would be better to be my definition of health, right now? What am I looking for anyway, eternal life? Never feeling any pain, ever, ever?

This is an amazing question, to even open to the idea that it might not be as bad as I think. Or I might not want what I *think* I want.

“We try to accept what is, and I’ve come to see that this is just a beginning. To love what is, is how you know that you’re right with yourself. It’s a state of gratitude that you’re living out of that is entirely stimulating, and motivating, and it always replenishes….When we’re of right mind, there is no loss.” ~ Byron Katie 

How do I react when I believe I’m missing something, losing something?

Angry, calculating, sad, upset, snappish at people, unhappy, grabby, panicked, fast.

Gratitude? Uh, that would be NOT. 

(And don’t get upset with yourself for not being grateful, you’re not supposed to jump to grateful, unless you do…it’s not “better”. Is it true that you should be grateful, when you aren’t?)

Who would I be without the thought that my physical state is wrong, a mistake, bad, off, incomplete, imperfect?

Without the thought that having this body means I have to feel pain, I have to miss out, I’m losing something?

“When you finally awake, you don’t try to make good things happen; they just happen. You understand suddenly that everything that happens to you is good. Think of some people you’re living with whom you want to change. You find them moody, inconsiderate, unreliable, treacherous, or whatever. But when you are different, they’ll be different. That’s an infallible and miraculous cure. The day you are different, they will become different. And you will see them differently, too….All of a sudden, no one has the power to hurt you anymore.” Anthony De Mello

If I looked at this physical state, this sickness, ugliness, injury, pain, as one of those people that I’ve been judging…who would I be without these thoughts? 

Even just a tiny smidgeon of an idea? Not inconsiderate? Not treacherous? Not dangerous?

Turning the stressful thoughts around:

  • I can’t go to that party, but I won’t miss out (it’s a party right here, with myself)
  • I’m living right now
  • I’ll won’t miss everyone, I’ll be connected to everything
  • I accept this feeling of pain, not against it, could I love it even?
  • this is all temporary…halleluia (instead of oh sad)
  • I’ll always run, play, jump, flip, bike, move, dance again…I could have what these things bring, like ecstasy, always
“It’s your last chance in this incarnation, as your body begins to fade – or you are becoming aware of this limited lifespan. It’s your last chance to go beyond identification with form. This is true whether it’s to do with your body, or somebody else’s body.” ~ Eckhart Tolle

 

Who would you be, without your body?

Much love, Grace

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Partial, Crooked, Empty, Dying

One of the wonderful YOI (Year of Inquiry) groups met yesterday and our topic this month is on the body.

Perfect for me, right?

With a torn hamstring, last week’s surgical repair, constipation and nausea from pain medications, my hair feeling flat as a mat and itchy from not taking a shower or bath for 8 days, I would say this body is not in the most tippy top shape you’ve ever seen it.

I object! I have some complaints!

There is nothing like a sincere, thoughtful group to stay patiently with the questions of inquiry known as The Work. I LOVED that we all gathered together to examine the body.

  • this body can’t be counted on
  • I am too _____ (fat, thin, old, young, soft, round, short, tall.)
  • things would be better if my body were healthy, fit, attractive
  • I hate that this body is temporary, declining, will one day die
  • there is something wrong with my body, with me
  • I am this body, this is ME, this is my identity

These are deep, gripping beliefs. At least I’ve found them to be.

After our wonderful group today, I kept considering the turnarounds and the beauty of the work, and more underlying beliefs.

As I lay here flat on my back, not able to even move more than a few inches to the left or right (by the way, check out the end of this email of me and my grabbers) I remembered two of my most haunting images.

One is being buried alive in a coffin about 20 feet below the ground. Ewww. I hate even thinking about it. What a horrible nightmare!

The other is born out of a National Geographic cover last year of free-climbers at Yosemite. I am falling, imagining the fall, seeing the rock cliff wall speed by, heading towards earth like a speeding bullet.

(Sorry to give you this stressful image!)

But what I realized before, and again today, is that these are simply pictures, movies playing in the mind. They are not real.

Isn’t that amazing?

All these terrible things that can happen to the body: accidents, injuries, damaging things, illness, disease, death, change, aging, destruction…

….is it true that it is all terrible? That it is all YOU?

Yes! Everyone knows it’s true! People have a rough time after accidents! I think I’m one of them, right now!

But can you absolutely know that it’s true? Really 100% can you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that all those images and destructive changing morphing things that happen are terrible?

Are you sure that body is YOURS, that it is YOU?

Are you sure you are having a terrible, awful, devastating time?

No. I just ate peanut butter and apples and they were delicious. I’m writing this Grace Note.

Come to think of it, I’m lying in a gorgeous, comfy bed.

In the very moment the other day that I was throwing up, or in the moment that my stomach ached from constipation, I was not actually thinking “this is me” or “this is devastating”.

I was just being that…if that makes any sense. I was following the simple directions. I couldn’t help but follow them.

I notice it is usually AFTER something is over that I get worked up about how terrible it all was, how horrible, and how I almost didn’t make it.

Except I did.

How do I react when I am believing that this body here is my identity, that it is who I am in total, that it is sad that all this is temporary, or that there is something wrong with this body?

I am scared. Horrified. I see images of terrible things happening over and over. My body reacts with adrenaline. I believe the world is a dangerous place, where bad emergencies could happen at any moment.

So who would I be without the thought that this is true? Who would I be without the thought that having this body is a rough deal, that being in a body is dangerous?

Turning my thoughts about this body around, I find the following are truer:

  • this body can’t be counted on to stay perfect, and it CAN be counted on to do what it does, halleluia!
  • I am just right the way I am
  • things would be NOT be better if my body were healthy, fit, attractive
  • I love that this body is temporary, declining, will one day die
  • there is something right with my body, with me
  • I am NOT this body, it is not me, it is not my identity

Who would I be without the thought that aging, deterioration, accidents, injuries, sickness, or death were frightening? Or that they were ME?

Laughing.

Not feeling threatened. Noticing there is no need to be careful, nothing to worry about, a great unknown ahead.

A great unknown right NOW.

“Do not be afraid of what appears to be chaos or dissolution–embrace the full measure of your life at any cost. Bare your heart to the Unknown and never look back. What you are stands content, invisible, and everlasting. All means have been provided for our endless folly to split open into eternal delight.” ~ Adyashanti

(I note the words “split open” and how they do sound just a wee bit scary).

But chuckling here with the mind and it’s nervous interest in bad things, I notice also how I have watched two white lilies in a vase go from tightly closed bud to wide open flower as I’ve been lying here in my bed all these days.

I think they have definitely been split open into eternal delight.

And then they’ll decay and someone will throw them in the compost container.

“If you want to become whole, let yourself be partial. If you want to become straight, let yourself be crooked. If you want to become full, let yourself be empty. If you want to be reborn, let yourself die. If you want to be given everything, give everything up.” ~ Tao Te Ching #22

2013-12-17 10.06.07

This is me, Grace, using Grabbers to fetch my ice pack which I call Little Baby Creature From The Black Lagoon. And practicing crookedness.

Much love,
Grace
P.S. 8 week teleclass on food/eating starts again on January 15, and the Year of Inquiry for the Addictive Mind YOI starts on January 10th. Click below to read more!

 

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Feeling Pain, Having Courage

Recovering from a major physical illness, injury, or condition can sometimes be pretty frightening, or frustrating—if you start believing some of the troubling thoughts you might be thinking.

I’m lying in my bed, that I’ve hardly left for more than five minute intervals to go to the bathroom, for six days now.

I didn’t really know about how some of this process would unfold until actually experiencing it: burning sensations, aching and throbbing, pins and needles, nausea, vomiting, stomach ache, muscle cramps, numbness.

Can’t I just skip over some of this part?

An incredible moment here for The Work, on pain, sickness, treatment.

  • this is taking too long
  • I hate nausea
  • I’m afraid of the pain
  • I just want this whole thing to be over with
  • this is sooo deeply discouraging, I can hardly stand it
  • I need to be strong (tough, relaxed, calm)

Fortunately I have also present this part of the Mind that can question my own thinking, this part that is here observing, even while the other part protests.

Is it true that this nausea and pain are awful?

Yes Yes Yes. I hate feeling sick all day, I hate throwing up, and the pain in my leg burns.

Can I absolutely know that its true that what is happening physically here is terrible?

Yes! Although I can feel that I might not know the absolute truth. It may be good that this is all happening, because that’s the way balance comes back into alignment.

I am not in charge of whatever this thing is that’s called sickness, treatment, or pain.

It feels overwhelming in some ways, but not 100%.

How do I react when I believe that I’m afraid of the treatment, the operation, the recovery, the diagnosis, the nausea, the pain, my future physical condition?

Yikes. I’m discouraged, upset. I see images of still being in bed many days from now. I see myself shriveling into a little ball, never coming back to normal life, dying. I get mad at my husband for going to the store for alternative medication too slowly.

Yes, it’s true. I called from the bedroom “you haven’t left yet?!!”

I get sudden urges for the nausea to stop that feel like an emergency. I need the anti-nausea tablet ASAP. I need to stay awake. I keep drifting off. I wonder how long it takes to develop bed sores.

But who would I be without the thought that this is truly terrible, or that I can’t handle it, or that it will never end?

Very softly, there is something that shifts attention to the present rather than the future, and expands. Dishes are being emptied, I hear clinks and jingles of silverware getting put into its drawer. Music is playing in another room. There is a sound of wind in the pine tree out front.

I feel the pressure and support underneath my back of the bed. My eyes scan the room and look again at yellow roses on the dresser.

A beautiful Norwegian calendar on the wall reads “DESEMBER” and I keep having a little joke with myself “dis-member”. I feel fondness towards the crutches leaning against the closet door, my little helpers.

“Now, sweetheart, close your eyes, and go to the place where you are very, very ill. You feel like vomiting. You’re in terrible nausea. Now see if you can locate the place that doesn’t care. The place that really isn’t bothered by it. It’s there. See if you can locate it—the part of you that is unaffected. The part of you that just watches….. It’s a part–no matter how much pain you’re in–it’s witnessing, watching….. That’s the one that cares nothing for control. So let that one grow. It cares nothing for control.” ~ Byron Katie

Without the thought that this is truly terrible, hell on earth, a disaster, uncomfortable…whatever the situation?

Yes, there is a witness. Seeing this situation with a big heart, encompassing it with compassion and Not Knowing.

I turn the thoughts around that feel so stressful:

  • this is taking just exactly the right amount of time
  • I love nausea
  • I’m not afraid of the pain
  • I do NOT want this whole thing to be over with
  • this is so deeply encouraging, I can definitely stand it
  • I need to be weak (tender, anxious, the way I am)

I consider these turnarounds. I love nausea? Really? That just can’t be true, no way.

But what if my stomach and body are giving me a very important message? What if this really is taking just the right amount of time for my own enlightening process?

What if there is something vital, deep and good about finding that place inside that isn’t upset? That can let go of wishing things to be other than they are? 

“My grandmother who passed away a few years ago used to say to me jokingly, “getting old is not for wimps.” She was well aware of the challenges of an aging body, and while she never complained or felt any pity for herself, she knew firsthand that aging had its challenges as well as its benefits. There was a courage within my grandmother that served her well as she approached the end of her life, and I am happy to say that when she passed, it was willingly and without fear. In a similar way the process of coming into a full and mature awakening requires courage.” ~ Adyashanti

Today, I am willing to feel this physical experience that doesn’t exactly seem pleasant. I am willing to trust the unknown, to trust the life force that is doing all this.

I am willing to let go of needing relief NOW. I look forward to directing my thoughts towards the place that isn’t upset, has no concern, the place of peace.

The place that doesn’t believe every thought the mind thinks.

Much love, Grace