No Money Down

NO MONEY DOWN
Coming to terms with your finances through The Work

Lifestream Center, Roanoke
Saturday, November 8^th, 9:30am to 5pm; $85 - $30 non-refundable deposit.

Money, money, money
Must be funny
In the rich man's world
Money, money, money
Always sunny
In the rich man's world
Aha-ahaaa
All the things I could do
If I had a little money
It's a rich man's world

It’s a rich man’s world. It seems evident, doesn’t it? Everywhere we look, money talks.

Before I was introduced to The Work of Byron Katie, I was also convinced that it was a rich man’s world. Having been immersed in The Work now for several years, I have found again and again that what seems obvious ain’t necessarily so.

So what is The Work? The Work is a simple process of inquiry that enables us to see the truth behind our stressful thoughts. There are four simple questions and then the turnarounds, where we see whether the opposite of what we believed is also true. The four questions are:
1) Is it true?
2) Can you absolutely know that it is true? (if the first answer is either ‘Yes’ or ‘I don’t know’)
3) How do you react when you think that thought? and
4) Who would you be without that thought?

Which is all very well in theory. But The Work isn’t a theory. It is a practice, so what better way to demonstrate it than by giving a real life example. Let’s take a look at the abovementioned thought, It’s a rich man’s world.

Is it true? It appears to be, yes.

Can you absolutely know it is true? No.

How do you react when you think this thought? I feel disempowered. I feel that I have no control over my circumstances. I get upset with rich people and want them to be more benevolent. I spend a lot of energy trying to find ways to get rich, but get distracted when they don’t appear to be working or even simply when I allow myself to get distracted. I fail to notice the abundance around me and in my life. I get caught up in my thoughts and spend a lot of time planning. I feel guilty when I’m not busy. I consequently busy myself with lots of trivial things and lose any focus I may have previously had. I do things for their potential value rather than for their enjoyment, which often leaves me struggling with things I would previously have enjoyed doing, such as writing this article. Everything becomes a ‘project’. I put money before happiness, to the point where I begin to believe that money can buy me happiness. I worry about money and my finances. Life becomes a mission, and I start treating the people around me more like variables in an equation than human beings. I experience a lot of stress when I think money is being wasted, and get angry with whoever I think is wasting it, whether it be myself, my wife or the President. I become more concerned about what rich people are doing with their money than what I am doing with mine, and experience a lot of frustration as a result.

Who would you be without that thought? If I didn’t believe it was a rich man’s world, I would make the world more my own. By this I mean that I would embrace it and fall in love with what it has to offer me. I would be constantly amazed at how giving life is, and how I always have everything I need. I would not be preoccupied with making money, which would open up a lot of mental space to find ways to enjoy what life brings. The consequences of this could be quite unexpected, and I imagine one might be that I become more open to possibilities. This could, ironically, provide some wonderful and enjoyable opportunities for financial reward. I would respect and admire those who have achieved financial success, and would consequently respect and admire their decisions about what they decide to do with their money. I would be at peace with my financial situation and theirs.

Can you find any turnarounds? Yes:
1) It’s a poor person’s world.
a. Poor people make up the bulk of the world’s population. As the majority, it is their world. What they do about this is not something I can control.
b. In this country, as in many developed nations, poor people are given benefits that richer people do not receive, such as Food Stamps and Medicaid.
c. I have known both rich and poor people, and in my experience many poor people lead richer lives than rich people. By this, I mean that they often have deeper friendships, closer families and work less than many rich people.
2) It’s not a rich man’s world.
a. Well, no. How could anyone lay claim—with a straight face—to owning this planet?
b. It is no more a rich man’s world than it is a monkey’s world or a dolphin’s world or a tree’s world. Everything in this world lays a claim to its stake in it, just as this world would not be the same without them.
c. What happens when the rich man dies? Ownership is such an impermanent concept.
3) It’s my world.
a. Like they say, life is what you make it.
b. This is my reality and nobody else’s. I may share the same life as my wife, but my experience is mine alone. This is my world.
c. The world is my oyster. Shall it make a pearl? It is up to me.


Who would have thought that such a simple thought could generate so much wisdom? To see how much that thought affects me (How do I react?) was truly revelatory—at every level of my being it holds some sway. And then to see how liberating it could be to not believe the thought (Who would I be?) showed me the opportunity that awaits me when I can let this thought go. And finally, to learn in the turnarounds that this is my world—that nobody can claim it as theirs any more than I can—was an empowering discovery.

This is the beauty of The Work. You can do it for years, and on any topic, and it only becomes more powerful and beneficial. Money is just one possible topic, but it is a big one for many of us.

Imagine life with no money downs … it is possible.


You can find out more about The Work at www.thework.com, and more about my work at www.lifesupportva.org.

How bad you gonna smell?

Back in the early ‘90s, my flatmate and I came to the realization that the world was really fucked up. It wasn’t just the rampant consumerism destroying the planet that we noticed, but a combination of unsustainable practices being championed by every political and industrial leader in existence. Everywhere people were talking about progress, and we were holed up in our flat talking about the regression we could see coming: regression back to the Middle Ages if we were lucky or, more likely, the Dark Ages.

We used to ask, “How bad you gonna smell when the shit hits the fan?”

I’m no economist, and I’ve never understood how debt can continue to increase without it all eventually collapsing into one big black hole. There’s a story I heard once that illustrates this: a man comes onto an island where the people have no concept of money. He has a big bag of marbles with him, and he shows the people how—instead of bartering—they can just give each other an agreed upon number of marbles for each transaction. He gives each of the people on the island 50 marbles to get started, with the simple proviso that when he returns in a year, they each give him 55 back.

News flash: we’re living on that island, folks! Have you got all your marbles?

It doesn’t really matter, because 700 billion more of them ain’t gonna stop the inevitable from happening. You see, this is the thing: all the current US Administration’s policies have done is catalyse an outcome that was always going to happen. You can’t have everyone spending more than they make without a consequence. And the longer it takes to get there, the bigger that consequence is going to be.

The proposed bailout package is like using a bandage to stop internal bleeding. Listen to what they’re saying: all they want to do is ensure that everyone can still get credit! It’s like that guy coming over with a ship full of marbles and saying, “This should solve your problem. Just remember to give me a ship and a bit back when I return next year.”

The problem is systemic. John Ralston Saul said it well in his definition of Competition in The Doubter’s Companion: “An event in which there are more losers than winners. Otherwise it’s not a competition. A society based on competition is therefore primarily a society of losers.” Our entire economic system is based on the idea of competition. At the end of any competition, there is only one winner. We could well be nearing the end of ours.

So the question is, who wins? Microsoft? Politicians? China? The Illuminati? The real question is, what is the definition of winning when the whole world is losing? It is altogether possible that our existing definitions of power will be meaningless on the other side of the black hole.

My guess was, and remains, that the winner will be the one who can look after himself. It will be the person who can feed and clothe and house himself without owing anyone a cent. It will be the one who doesn’t need any of the institutions which are folding now to keep him afloat.

The winner, I think, will not be an individual. The winner will be community. When a group of people use their individual talents to support one another, there is more power than any bank could ever possess. No bank can ever touch a group of people who have never needed it.

I love the irony: the competition winner is community.

So … how bad you gonna smell when the shit hits the fan?

Notes from a meditation retreat

The paper’s got a mind of its own. Even the paper is mindful. My mind is in the process of waking up to itself. It’s a process slightly more painful than giving birth to an elephant—I imagine—but it’s a process all the same. Mindful? Hardly. Walking up the hill, trying to focus on my feet, and I find myself back home, having imaginary conversations in hypothetical contexts, and then down below I hear the flip-flapping of my sandals, the brushing of my feet against leaf litter, and I remember. This is where I am, not there. And I focus on my feet, and then find myself somewhere around last week, or was it last year? And it is another story, another place that is not here, another time that is not now. And I ask myself, “Where am I?”

I am a drifter. Theoretically, I live in one place and that is my home. But that is just what it looks like. I live in my head—or maybe my head lives me—and my head is seldom in the same place as my body.

Mindfulness? I could use some. I could use a healthy dose of reality. I would love to spend some time alone with this, instead of that and that and that. It could happen. Let’s see. If the paper can do it, so can I.



Breathe in. Breathe out. Life is a breath. It is just one short huff or a long slow wheeze, but it is just a breath. A candle flame flickering ever so briefly and PHOOSH, it is out. But the candle remains, and there is still flame, and nobody misses it because now it is time for cake! So life is the precursor to a party. Well, that’s a relief. All the universe’s mysteries revealed in a flicker, a miraculous instant. It is, after all, just an instant that I need. A single instant of clarity, and everything makes sense. But what of all the other instances? I suppose they cease to exist when that instant arises. Now is, after all, the only thing that exists. Even that is questionable. How would I know? All I know is that I breathe, and it’s not even me that breathes. All I know is that I don’t make any sense. All I know is held in the single flicker of a tiny candle on a great big cake. It is the cake that knows. In its ingredients lies the answer to those questions that haunt the minds of the sophists, the philosophers, the mind wanderers, the dreamers and the mystics. In that cake is a pearl. But be careful not to choke on it, for it is worth more than a meal, less than a life, and whatever that means will be revealed in the breath AFTER the flame is erased. And then common knowledge is all, and all is known, and nothing is left to chance. And nothing has ever changed, all stays the same, and I never knew a time I could trust or a belief I could kick far enough away. And for all this, the ink will still run out and we will throw away the cartridge without realizing its recycling value. And none of this could possibly make sense to a rational mind.

Could it?

What is it you really want?

What is it you really want?

An introduction to The Work of Byron Katie

Lifestream Center
Saturday, August 9^th, 9:30am to 5pm

What is it you really want? Be careful what you ask for.

What people often find when doing The Work of Byron Katie is that what they think they want is not what they really want.

The Work is a simple method of self-inquiry that has opened thousands of people up to the truth of who they really are. Through responding to a limited selection of questions, these people have found that all the answers they have ever sought are waiting within them—often very close to the surface.

In my experience with The Work, I have found consistently that the fundamental cause of stress is an argument with reality. The problem is that reality doesn’t argue back, it just continues to be itself. As Katie says, “If you want reality to be different than what it is, you might as well try to teach a cat to bark.”

What is an argument with reality? There are so many, so I’ll just give you some examples that you might be familiar with:

· I need more money;

· Our troops should be out of Iraq;

· The weather has been too hot lately;

· He needs to tell the truth;

· The President should be impeached;

· I don’t want her to leave me.

These are so common that you’ve probably heard them all before—some out of your own mouth. But each of them is a statement that flies in the face of your experience of what is actually happening. And when what you think you want doesn’t meet reality, you have uncovered the source of confusion. No wonder thoughts like this cause stress!

The Work is a peace movement. World peace cannot be accomplished while the people who inhabit it are at war with their own realities. So world peace starts with you. If you find yourself believing thoughts like the ones above—thoughts that fight with reality—it could be time to ask yourself if you can expect peace to come from our leaders when it hasn’t yet come from yourself.

The Work can help make this possible. It is a simple process that anyone can do, and is as effective as you allow it to be. Through this method of inquiry, you can find what you really want, learn who you really are, and bring peace to your world. Are you ready for this?

As an experienced practitioner of The Work, and incorporating a unified spiritual approach, I would love to introduce you to this transformative process, while inviting you to look as deeply as you can at the real source of suffering.

You can find out more about The Work at www.thework.com, and more about my work at www.lifesupportva.org.

Play day

Spring aromas wash around me with the wind. Blossoms blow by, and a tractor works on high. The cats by my feet wait and play, play and wait, wait, play, and a fly buzzes bright by my ear. The shadow before me reflects the warmth behind me. Green grass shining, greening.

Today I make my affirmations, today I give myself to freedom: until I can say 'I'm perfect', my answer is, 'I'm getting better'; kindness is a kindness I owe to myself; I am here to help.

If this is a dream, I must be dreaming. I like circles.

Butterfly bites off as much as it can chew and flaps off to another bud. Kitty cat smile smells of cherry blossom. Yonder hill awakens in a red flourish, and the bonfire beside me asks for a light. Sorry, don't smoke. Bouncing ball in the distance, distance, distance.

It's a nice day for a walk.

Waiting for Godot

If someone told me, "Katie, wait till they start chemical warfare," I would say, "Good. I can wait. I can do that" – Byron Katie

I have been asked to wait recently, and this quote from Katie came to mind. I can wait. It is something I can do.

What I notice is that when I’m the one saying, “Wait until…” that I’m already there. I’m not waiting, I’m being impatient, pushy, getting way, way ahead of myself. What is happening here now when I’m saying that? How would I know? I’m too busy over there, possibly years ahead, possibly never, living a life I fear. Yet right here, right now there is nothing to fear, there is only support.

It seems the whole world is waiting for something. Once it was AIDS, there was Ebola, SARS, Avian Flu – epidemics are popular things to wait for because they speak of death, finality, the end of waiting. There are many people here waiting for the end of Bush’s reign – they even have timers for sale counting down the seconds to his last day in office. We count down the days to Christmas, to the next football season, to 2012, there’s always something to keep us away from this.

In this moment, I find myself waiting too. Waiting for the next word to come, waiting for Godot.

When I am waiting with expectation, when I want an outcome: that is when I’m no longer here. When I am waiting purely in anticipation of what could come next – waiting for Godot – then I remain here, at peace, aware and open. Anything is possible and everything is welcome.

Yes, I can wait. I can do that.

We Are Family FREE Workshop

We all look to the holiday season as being a time to connect with family and friends. This can be a wonderful opportunity for togetherness, but it can also be a very difficult time.

As Ram Dass once said, if you think you're enlightened try spending some time with your family.

Family members know better than anybody how to push your buttons, and if your family is like most families, they probably will.

The Work of Byron Katie is a button-removal tool. This simple method of inquiry helps us see that, as Byron Katie says, "Forgiveness is realizing that what you thought happened, didn't."

With this kind of understanding, the only buttons left for people to push are ones you will be grateful to discover.

Join Jamie Reynolds for a free We Are Family workshop on The Work of Byron Katie at the Jessie Peterman Library on Wednesday, December 5th, from 7pm to 9pm, and be better prepared for the holidays than ever before.

For more information, contact Jamie.

"It is changing my life already. It's a great way to address your life and find the truth. You will be surprised and emancipated!" - Workshop participant

Thank you.

"An unquestioned mind is the world of suffering." - Byron Katie