Slow and Steady Wins the Race but Fast and Furious Saves the Day

I’m a Big Lover of Slow-Cook Inquiry

For me, slow is fast. I love to go deep and to marinate in each question and turnaround of The Work. I typically take a couple of weeks to work through a Judge-Your-Neighbor Worksheet questioning every statement that I wrote.

And the reason for this is that when I slow down, I often see much more than I do when I’m zooming through my work.

The Work is meditation, and meditation requires slowing down.

But That’s Not Absolutely True Either

I was reminded of this the other day by someone in my online Inquiry Circle group. She got triggered at work strongly enough that she needed to do The Work on the situation right away. But she didn’t have time to do a slow, meditative approach.

Instead, she wrote down her stressful thoughts quickly and worked them quickly. And she was able to get back to work without the emotional baggage in a very short time.

I Remember Doing This Some Years Ago

It’s been a while for me because I’ve mainly been practicing the slow approach.

I remember I was meeting with a client who had stressed me the day before. I knew I was not feeling very open minded towards her and I needed to do The Work before we met.

But I only had five minutes. I wrote a rapid Judge-Your-Neighbor Worksheet in about three minutes and then simply turned around each statement that I wrote in the remaining two minutes. There was no time even for the four questions, or turnaround examples. But as I turned everything around, I found where I was off, and I found several powerful living turnarounds I could try out during our session.

This Was An Emergency Approach

But because my mind is used to doing The Work, and am comfortable with the process, I felt my story shifting immediately. My heart opened towards my client in a matter of a few minutes, and I felt connected to her throughout our session together.

In fact, that was a turning point in my relationship with that client. She quickly became one of my favorite people to work with.

I experienced the power of inquiry—even when doing what I called “the fastest worksheet in the world.” And I never did go back to working that worksheet thoroughly. It was done.

This Does Not Diminish the Value of Slow-Cook Inquiry

In fact, the effectiveness of my fast approach may have come from my generally more meditative practice of The Work. But I love seeing the value of both ways here.

The moment I think there is only one way to do it, I’ve limited myself. It only takes a second to see things differently. So why not intersperse some fast worksheets along with all the slow, meditative ones?

Have a great week,
Todd

“Again and again, I have seen The Work quickly and radically transform the way people think about their problems. And as the thinking changes, the problems disappear.” Loving What Is