I’ve Noticed that Rushing Doesn’t Work for Me
Time is my most precious commodity.
The more my business grows, the more tempted I am to rush my process when doing The Work of Byron Katie.
This doesn’t work for me.
What Works for Me Is Slow and Steady
Rushing my work tends to make me do it from my intellect alone. This is never satisfying. What makes The Work satisfying for me is to give myself time to let my answers arise naturally.
This is a process I can’t rush. It takes a moment to let a question settle into my awareness. And it takes longer for an answer that is true for me to emerge.
This is the process of The Work. It is a meditation. And if I rush along, I find that it keeps my experience superficial. That’s why I like to slow it down even when there’s little time.
Ten Minutes of Slow Inquiry Is Actually a Huge Space
Try it out sometime.
Give yourself ten minutes to answer just one or two questions of The Work. Don’t plan on working through a whole concept at once. Just do one part of it. As much as fits comfortably in 10 minutes. Maybe it’s just question 1. Or question 1 or 2. Or even questions 1, 2, and 3 of The Work.
Ten minutes is a lot of time when you’re just answering one or two questions. You may be surprised how much you can find.
Then pick up the next day and continue where you left off, just giving yourself ten minutes again. Maybe you just answer question 4 of The Work the second day. And on the third day you find one turnaround and three examples.
It may not seem like much, but it is huge. When I give myself the luxury of going slowly, even when I don’t have a lot of time, everything opens up for me. Who cares if it takes a week or two to question one thought. I’m doing my work.
Let Me Know Your Experience
If you try this exercise, let me know how it goes for you.
And if you want to work slowly in an online group, I invite you to join us for Inquiry Circle, or Steady Pace Inquiry, or Self-Paced Inquiry.
Have a great week,
Todd
“If you answer the questions superficially with the thinking mind, the process will leave you feeling disconnected. Try asking the question and going deeper. You may have to ask the question a few times to stay focused, but as you practice this, an answer will slowly arise. When the answer comes from inside you, the realizations and shifts follow naturally.” — Byron Katie, A Thousand Names for Joy.
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