A supportive path in inquiry

Notice my disturbing emotional responses.

Be attentive to the apparent external cause.

Notice the circumstances: What was said or done? When? Where?

Write it down on a Judge-Your-Neighbor Worksheet (JYNW).

Use a One-Belief-At-a-Time Worksheet to do my inquiry on the statements I wrote on the JYNW.

Slow down.

Get still.

Trust the wisdom I seek is within me.

Be gentle with myself when I can be.

Be patient with myself when I can be.

Be forgiving of myself when I can’t be gentle or patient.

Be kind and loving to precious me as best I can be.

Practice regularly.

An Interesting Challenge

At some point it became an interesting challenge to try this on as a practice.

I heard or read Katie conveying something like:

“I am as I see you to be in the moment I see you that way.”

For example, the instant I see you as ignorant, how am I ignorant in that precise moment?

• I’m ignorant to the disturbing impact on myself this criticism is having.
• I’m ignorant to how much better it feels to see you as innocently learning about life in your way.
• I’m ignorant to the full meaning of the word ignorant.
• I’m ignorant to seeing how this is for me.
• I’m ignorant to the fact that, in the moment I believe a thought, I have no choice to not believe it. Prior to my capacity to redirect it, the belief has its life through my emotional response. The same is likely true for them.
• I’m ignorant of all the beauty and support around me, the amazingness of the body and the miracle of being.

Sharing The Work.

Some thoughts and questions for myself on moving The Work in the world. This may apply to other areas of life.

Katie once gifted those of us in the Certification Program and Certified Facilitators of The Work the structure of the Institute for The Work (ITW) to support and deepen our practice. Now, the responsibility to support and deepen my practice rests on me.

As I discern which way to move forward I ask myself: are the structures I'm creating a means of supporting and deepening my own practice in The Work?

Is my desire to share The Work with others actually my own desire to share the practice more deeply with myself, that I may reach my own hidden holdout suffering identities I project onto the world?

Is my desire to share The Work conflated with other desires such as status, value, income, or identity stability?

On a somewhat different note, as if this magical mystery can be divided: Am I living my experience / understanding that I am a participating recipient in an unfolding movement of inseparable consciousness, or am I initiating movements to validate, protect or promote myself as a separate entity?