Courage to Change the Things We Can

Most of the work I do is based on fear. The work I do with myself, with my coaching clients and with my larger-group training clients.       Without fear, everything flows so well. If something doesn't work, something else is tried. Energy prevails. Problems are solved quickly and in a spirit of fun. Problems become fake opponents. They pretend to oppose you, and when you engage them, they end up dancing with you, then embracing you. You thought you had to kill them, because you thought they were trying to kill you.       They love you! They want you to get stronger and add powers. Like in a computer game when your character goes to a higher level and in doing so adds powers.       So when I attended Byron Katie's 9-day school I was amazed by the power of it. I had long been an admirer of Katie's CDs and books. My friend Steve Hardison had recently been to her 9-day school and came back so enthused that I was taken aback. Steve had seen it all, and was not easily impressed. He said it would be the best thing I could ever do for myself.       I remember watching Katie handle the harshest questions, attacks and criticisms in the course. She handled then with love and kindness and an amazing intelligence. And I began to whisper the word "fearless" as I teared up in my eyes watching her. "Fearless."       When I got home after the 9-day school I was so happy I decided to call my next book "Fearless." I had already made a CD called "Fearless" long before the school, and it was everybody's favorite of all the books and CDs. (You can download it by clicking on "audio" at the top of this page.)       Then after writing a lot of it, I thought about calling it "Better Than Heaven." I was basing that on this quote from Katie, "There is something better than heaven. It is the eternal, meaningless, infinitely creative mind. It can't stop for time or space or even joy. It is so brilliant that it will shake what's left of you to the depths of all-consuming wonder."       Life was better than heaven after the school. Everything looked different. Felt different. New joy and music and color in everything. Katie kept asking us, "Who would you be without your story?"       Nothing! No one! Is the ego's panicked reply.       I had tried to express this, but she was better. I had written The Story of You prior to going to the school. People are better than they think they are. There is all that beauty, energy, love and creativity inside them just waiting to dance. And then there is their story. The story gets in the way. But only every time.       One thing that happened in the Byron Katie school was that all my money worries disappeared and have not returned.       Americans are tortured by their thoughts around money. And that's a tragic elevation of money. It's putting money on a pedestal higher than your own religion or spirituality, to keep using the term "blessed" only in reference to money. And to be humbled and in awe of life only when it comes to money.       Why not have money be just like anything else? Instead of giving it religious standing. If you want to have some eggs, you'll just go make some eggs; and if you want to have some money, why not just go make some?       It's not something you have to be awestricken over. You don't have to put in an immediate call to the almighty when it flows in. Do you do that when water flows in? Or a breeze?       It's just cause-and-effect money we are talking about here. Serve and you shall receive. It's not something that ought to inspire tears streaming from your eyes in humble adoration. It is no different than anything else you want to make.       The blessing happens when you are born. The blessings continue when you wake up in the morning. That's when you're blessed. It's not, "I'm not blessed yet. I made my sales calls but I'm not blessed yet."       One morning at Byron Katie's school she was getting ready to teach the day's lesson, adjusting her microphone, and she sneezed. When someone in the audience said, "God bless you," she said, "You're too late."       Katie has freed many people from their "money issues" and helped them to fully enjoy watching the ebb and flow of wealth without worrying about any of it. As Katie has said, "Money is a wonderful metaphor. It flows from here to there, through all countries, through phone systems and wires. It shows us how to be, mentally: how to flow, how not to have any barriers, how to take all forms. It shows us how easy it is to come in and leave all the time. It's a great guru. If you did what money does, you would be completely in love with what is." (From Work and Money by Byron Katie: www.theWork.com.)       When I began integrating the writings of Ken Wilber and the work of Byron Katie into my own life and the lives of my clients is when I began to see some new choices. I began to see that fear was not necessary. It did not have to be "part of the package."       So rather than feeling the fear and doing it anyway -- how about feeling the fear and looking for the thought that causes it?       It's the thought that is the source of the problem. In fact it's not even the thought, it's whether I believe that thought.       It's time to send in the bomb squad, or else that thought ("I'm not safe") will rise up in other situations throughout your whole life. Let's defuse. Not overwhelm. Let's not fight fire with fire, let's fight fire with water.       The great Chinese sage Lao-Tzu said, "There is nothing softer and weaker than water. And yet there is nothing better for engaging hard and strong things."       Katie's nine day School for the Work cost a few thousand to attend, but it was worth every penny because of her brilliantly transformative guidance. And the most amazing thing about Katie is that you can get everything from her for free if you want to. Her two websites, www.theWork.com and www.ByronKatie.com allow you to download audios, videos, interviews, worksheets, articles and more of her "treasure" than you'd have time to take in in a single day. She gives it all away up front. The result? Do the math: over 300 people paid around $3,000 each for the school we attended. That's wealth creation at its best. And the people were there because of how much of Katie they had already experienced.       People think if you give it away you can't charge for it. Absolutely not true. The opposite is true

Comments

[Aspirina]

I was greatly enaeorcgud by your daughter Katie's interview with Kathy over at Teaching Good Things. What a blessing to work from home, to articulate and encourage others interested in similar work, and to live as the Lord wills; your Katie is a wonderful example of what my husband and I hope for our almost 9-year-old little girl. And speaking of our little girl, she has recently discovered author Marguerite Henry and would LOVE to be the winner of your Book Giveaway Drawing! Thanks for offering it.

[Longchamp 2012]

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[Bleed]

Just got my D300 back from Nikon. the focus issues are gone! But I still hope to have the D700 by the end of the month I can't wait after seenig these jaw dropping pics beautfiul!Oh and my house is a disaster too ..in fact I should be cleaning right now!