Last New Year's, my husband Art and I were fortunate to be able---and wise enough---to go to a seminar by Byron Katie. (and if we had the disposable income right now, you better believe i would be right back there again this year, paying for anyone and everyone who wanted to join the party!) The first day began with a welcome and a worksheet, asking us to write down the name of someone who had "wronged" us, how they had wronged us, and what we wanted to say to them that would most certainly make them understand how wrong they had been to wrong us in the first place! before i even started writing, i was laughing...if this was the first exercise of the 4-day seminar, i was certain the name i wrote down would NOT be the one "wrong" by the end of the seminar! I was right about that...that person wasn't even "wrong" 10 minutes later!
Byron Katie is someone who has "been there," struggling with insecurity, depression, and dwelling on harmful, toxic perceptions of herself, the world and the people in it...she has been paralyzed by guilt and shame and fear...and she learned---and practices regularly---and teaches others how---to turn those life-destroying thoughts around, to give LIFE-GIVING thoughts a throne's seat i her mind and spirit...what we THINK of everything and everyone is our only ONE, TRUE REALITY...and we have a choice about how and what we are going to think...
Byron Katie has free worksheets and videos on her website, she has downloadable sessions with people there, too, they will make you laugh and cry and celebrate life and others! she has videos on YOUTUBE as well...one of her refrains "is it true?" As we close out 2012, i encourage you to check out her story and her philosophy and her practice, and to find your own life-giving answers to the question "is it true?" about the life-destroying thoughts we can think each and everyday without even being aware that is what they are, living unaware of their grave ripple through our lives...below is one of Byron Katie's blogposts...i am so happy to share her with you...i am so grateful she is on the planet sharing LIFE with others...
"Become mindful of how often your conversations focus on the past or future.
Be aware of the verbs you use: was, did, will, are going to, etc. To speak of the past in the present is to reawaken and recreate it fully in the present, if only in our minds, and then we are lost to what is present for us now. To speak of the future is to create and live with a fantasy.
If you want to experience fear, think of the future.
If you want to experience shame and guilt, think of the past.
Just focus on the dishes in front of you.
"Doing the dishes" is a practice of learning to love the action that is in front of you. Your inner voice or intuition guides you all day long to do simple things such as doing the dishes, driving to work, or sweeping the floor. Allow the sanctity of simplicity. Listening to your inner voice and then acting on its suggestions with implicit trust creates a life that is more graceful, effortless, and miraculous.
The miracle of now."
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