Feeling Disconnected From Inner Work? Why It’s Okay—And How to Start Again Without Overwhelm

Todd: [00:00:00] If you enjoy these podcasts, um, you may find that there’s something about the work that is attractive to you. For me, I found this the first time I read Byron Katie’s book, loving What is, there’s something that resonated with me, and listening to the work is a great way to get an introduction to this practice.

But my hope is that you will go. Further with that and begin to practice this. And for that, the main thing that I offer is a course called the Work 1 0 1. Uh, and this course is all about the practice of the work, actually doing the work. And as you get into it, you’ll find that it’s like a whole nother dimension, like listening is like.

Two dimensional or something, and then doing the work becomes like three dimensional or four dimensional, multidimensional, so. [00:01:00] I wanted to mention this to you in case you’re interested in going a little further with the work, and just check out the work as meditation.com and go to the work 1 0 1. This is the starting course.

It’s built for anyone with zero experience with the work to begin to practice this work, but it’s also supportive of those who have done a lot of the work and are very familiar with it. In either case, we’re gonna go into the details. Of how to do the work, and we’re going to do a lot of work, uh, together, and you’ll have my support there.

I’m also very excited that I, uh, have been updating this course since this is probably the 20th time, 21st time that I’ve offered the course, and each time, each iteration, it gets, um, it just keeps improving and keeps growing. And the latest of that is I’m going to be now, um, having a weekly call, um, for.

For reviewing the week and answering questions and going into [00:02:00] details that are not part of the actual, uh, curriculum. So if you’re interested in joining, I’m excited about jumping in and I think you may also find it a, an interesting doorway into doing more of this work.

Client: So this is just a quick question, but I’ve noticed that I have not been doing the work at all lately for quite a bit of time, and I think the reason is is that I don’t. Have anything quote big enough to do it on 

Todd: Welcome to Wiggle Room, a podcast where we start with stress and look for ways to turn it around.

And in this episode you’ll find that we actually don’t even start with stress and we have kind of an interesting situation where. Um, a participant wasn’t even sure what to do the work on wasn’t feeling like there was [00:03:00] much to do the work on and um, was looking for something significant. So we actually did the work on, I have to do the work on something significant.

I’m Todd Smith and on the program today, uh, we will dive right into that recording from the open session about I have to do the work on something significant was. It turned out to be a very interesting piece of inquiry, and I’ll also be reading from my newsletter article called The Difference Between, I Love the Work and I Need the Work.

So let’s dive into the work of Byron Katie together in case you’re not familiar with this, uh, practice. It’s a very simple, powerful way to question the thoughts that you have. Most of the time, we just think our thoughts and we’re influenced by our thoughts, but we don’t actually question them. And this is a very.

A simple way of doing that and it can be re really revealing and very [00:04:00] interesting. So let’s get into the open session. This is an unedited recording. As always, these open sessions are something I do weekly and uh, I like to, I. Present them in an unedited, unedited way so that you can experience, uh, exactly what it’s like to play with something, to wrestle with it, to see where it goes, um, without it being a polished work of art.

So let’s get into the recording.

Client: So this is just a quick question, but I’ve noticed that I have not been doing the work at all lately for. Quite a bit of time, and I think the reason is is that I don’t have anything quote big enough to do it on, and I know you addressed this before, but I’m. Now I’ve forgotten what you’ve written and I, I’m, I just find myself stuck, especially when we’re sitting on the call [00:05:00] here and I’m like, I should do the work, like, have an opportunity to do the work, and then I’m like, I don’t know what to do the work on.

Like, it has to be significant enough. 

Yeah. 

Client: And, and I feel like I’m missing opportunities to, to just go deeper in my life, and yet I’m, I feel stuck with it too. 

Todd: Yeah. Well, you know, like, like I have written and spoken about that a bit, but, well, basically it. Points back to, we all have to discover this like through our own, um, experience.

And so, um, if you want, I’m almost tempted to do the work on that thought, if you’d like to ignore that. 

Client: Okay. Yeah, I would love that actually. So 

Todd: you have to do the work on something significant. Is that true?

Client: Um, no, it it, no, it’s not true. It just seems what’s like, what’s the point otherwise. 

Todd: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. [00:06:00] So 

Client: like it’s a waste of time or something like nothing’s gonna come of it. It’s insignificant. It doesn’t matter. 

Todd: Right, right. Exactly. These are the kinds of underlying beliefs here. It’s, it’s gonna be a waste of time.

It’s insignificant. Um, you know, why bother? So, so how do you react when you think that, um, you, you have to do the work on something significant?

Client: I don’t do the work. 

Todd: Exactly. Yeah. 

Client: I mean, that’s the truth. I, I’m really not doing the work because of that. And that’s not to say things don’t come up that I could do the work on, but I think I’ve gotten to the point where, yeah, I’m not doing it for that reason. That’s what happens. Yeah. 

Todd: Because what happens in life starts to get a little good, like starts to be even just normal and, and so there’s no drama.

What am I gonna do the [00:07:00] work on? Have to only do the work on. Big things and then when there’s no big things showing up, I don’t do the work. Yeah, 

Client: I noticed like when you sent out the email about, um, I forgot what it was on, um, I. But it, it had to do with us doing the work on being right. It gave me an like when in conversation with people that you disagree with on issues, like, um, and it wasn’t even doing the work.

It was just questioning like, um, by questioning, do I need to be right right now? Or something like that. It just completely opened up space to connect with someone on a totally different level. Do you know what I’m. And it in that moment I was like, oh, I, that’s not something I would’ve done the work on.

And yet it, that article, I’ve literally read it five times because I know it can help me connect in with people in a totally different way. 

Todd: Right. 

Client: So [00:08:00] I know there’s possibility here, but I’m just not sure what it is. So 

Todd: then part of the reaction, we’re looking at how do I react when I believe I have to do the work on something significant.

I compare, see how the image comes in from the past? You see that co that, that article. And then you can compare the, the insight you got out of that. Or you may com you may see other images of, of, um, past work where you had some, some insight and then. It’s gotta be like that, right? 

Client: Yeah, definitely. There’s a comparison piece.

Like I’ve done two things with you that were huge things in my life, so I just, it seems silly to bring in something small. Yeah, yeah. Like what’s, you know, what’s gonna come of this? 

Todd: Exactly. So keep going. How else do you react when you think I have to do the work on something significant and there’s nothing significant coming up for you?

How do you. 

Client: Um,[00:09:00] 

um,

well, it makes me feel like shy on here. Like I don’t wanna bring up something that’s gonna waste everyone’s time that, that sort of comes up for me For sure. 

Todd: Exactly. So do you feel the pressure right of that like, I have to do the work on something significant and I don’t have something significant and people are waiting?

Yeah, totally.

Client: And at the same time, there’s an underlying, there’s a missed opportunity right in this moment. Like, you’re available to do something and I’m missing an opportunity. You know, to do some work on myself. 

Todd: So how do you treat yourself then when you see that as a missed opportunity? 

Client: Yeah, like, oh, [00:10:00] I should have come prepared.

I should have thought of a problem. Um, um,

yeah.

There’s like a low level anxiety about it that it should be a certain way, and I’m not showing up that way. Yeah. Yep. 

Todd: So who would you be right here on this call without the fact that you have to do the work on something significant? Like when I was asking does anybody wanna do the work, who would you be in that moment without the thought that you have to do the work on something significant?

Client: Um,[00:11:00] 

more peaceful. Sorry, my dogs are barking, so I’m just moving. Um. Uh, yeah, definitely be more at peace, more relaxed,

probably more open to receive whatever I can get out of this moment because I would be less in my mind. 

Yeah. 

Client: Um, I would find opportunities to do the work a lot more places maybe that I’m just not seeing right now, because I think it has to be a certain way. 

Todd: Yeah. Yeah. Who would you be if you never had the thought?

Client: And I know every time I actually do the, I’m sorry. Go ahead. 

Todd: Go ahead, 

Client: go ahead. 

Todd: I was just, I 

Client: said e every time I actually do [00:12:00] the work I. It impacts my life pretty significantly. So I’m missing opportunities because I think it has to be, uh, on something big. 

Todd: Yeah. So if you never had the thought that you have to do the work, like you just never had the thought that you have to do the work on something significant, what would be your relationship with the work?

Client: It would be more available to me.

Todd: So one thought can get in the way. We’re just seeing it. This is the effect of the thought. I have to do the work on something significant. Otherwise it’s a waste of time. Like that gets in the way of even sitting down and starting or even be, you know, considering beginning. So. As we always see in this work, a thought is powerful.

One thought can make [00:13:00] all the difference in the experience of doing the work. So how would you turn the thought around? I have to do the work on something significant. 

Client: I don’t have to do the work on something significant. 

Todd: Okay. How could that be just as true? Any evidence to support that 

Client: I, that’s where I’m struggling, Todd, like.

I guess, um, I keep going back to the other thought, which is that it’ll be a waste of time. Like, 

Todd: so that’s sort of the short version of this is like it. So how would, what would be the, the opposite? It won’t be a waste of time. I mean, that is the opposite it, so it will be a waste of time. How could it not be a waste of time to sit here as we’re doing the work on something [00:14:00] totally minor, not something you were thinking, oh, I’ve gotta do the work on this.

Client: Well, I mean, I can feel how it’s not a waste of time. Just when you said, let’s do the work on this, there was like. Immediate relief in me, like, oh, yes, I get to do the work. And then as soon as we start talking about it, there’s also the feeling of space, which is like this thought gave me a sense of contraction, closure, shutting down, and just, and just questioning it automatically.

There is space around me that we didn’t have. Um, 10 minutes ago. 

Todd: Yeah. That’s the beauty like, 

Client: it’s like the space feels like possibility, you know? 

Todd: Yeah, exactly. So that’s the beauty of meditation, you know, this is a meditation [00:15:00] and it’s just, it’s just something enjoyable. Sit in these questions, there’s something enjoyable about it.

It’s like if you’re going to, if you, it’s like taking a bath, you know, sometimes it’s just enjoyable to take a bath. Do I have to be like super dirty to get, you know, to, to take a bath? Is it a waste of time to take a bath if I’m, if it’s not, if I’m not super dirty, like it’s the same thing like. 

Client: It is the same thing.

It, I can feel it now that we’re doing it. It’s like we live with all these, we tied down by all these ropes. That’s what it feels like. All these ideas that we have in our head. And then this is like just taking off one more rope. 

Todd: That’s. 

Client: That’s what it feels like right now. Like I can see the simplest thing, if you just question your thought about it, you start to, you just gain some freedom from your thinking mind, [00:16:00] which is holding us down in so many ways.

Like I can just feel that sense of freedom right now. Yeah. Just by taking off one rope. 

Todd: One rope, that’s all. We’re just looking at one rope. That’s all I’m ever looking at in the work. One rope at a time and. Just one rope, no matter how insignificant. One thread, maybe it’s just a thread, it’s not even a rope could break it so easily ’cause it’s just a tiny thread.

But that thing is, it’s impacting me. That little thread is holding me back. And so doing the work on that insignificant little restriction is giving me a little bit more freedom and I feel it.

Client: It’s like, I feel it because you, when you think of when I think a thought, I just think a thought. I think it’s true. And it’s not even that, oh, now I’m gonna do the work. That’s not where the freedom comes from. It’s just a freedom from the thought in it’s in and of itself. [00:17:00] 

Todd: Yeah. 

Client: Like 

Todd: any thought, 

Client: you don’t ever know anything you, you really don’t know 

Todd: exactly.

Have you’ve done the work on things that seem like. Absolutely nothing. And um, I’ve had that same experience. It’s like I feel better now. I feel even less, I feel even more free. And I wasn’t feeling bad before. 

Client: Yeah, definitely. 

Todd: So you never know what the effect of a thought is. Like this one. Pretty minor, but it’s got a little bit of a weight to it.

I have to do the work on something significant. Who are you without that thought? We’re open, we’re free.

So, and I wouldn’t 

Client: have thought that without just doing the work right now. 

Todd: Yeah. And that’s why I invited you to do the work, not just give me, give you an explanation about it. Because this is an [00:18:00] experiential thing. You have to, you have to experience it. 

Yeah. 

Todd: Can’t I? I can tell. I can talk, but it doesn’t help.

I mean, it can help a little, but it’s like you have to find it. And that’s what the work is about. It’s about going in and finding whatever you can find. So let’s keep going. Is there any other example? I don’t have to do the work on something significant. It’s not a waste of time to do the work on something insignificant.

Anything else that supports that idea? Um, what 

Client: was the original statement? Do 

Todd: so the turnaround is I don’t have to do the work on something significant. Right. And we’ve been finding some examples, but I’m just asking in case there are any more that come to mind.

Client: Um, this came to mind. I want to do I. [00:19:00] I wanna do the work on seemingly insignificant things in my life. Mm-hmm. Just because, just right now how powerful it feels to me over the silliest thing. Yeah. I, it just feels so different right now. 

Yeah. 

Client: Is it makes me wanna like, catch every little thing. Yeah. Every little thought that I’m not even seeing, that’s somehow holding me down.

Todd: That’s it. That’s it. And it’s not that I have to catch everyone because it’s, there’s too many to catch. But anyone will do. Like anyone will do. 

Client: Yeah. 

Todd: And there’s so much freedom in that I sit down and do the work five days a week and. Half the time, I don’t know what I’m gonna work on, or half the time, I’m just working on an old worksheet that I’ve been working on for a while, and it’s kind of almost, almost become like, I, I, I think I’ve seen [00:20:00] everything I’m gonna see on that worksheet, but I keep going just because, eh, okay, let’s try this one.

And just sitting in that every time, it just, it opens my heart. I, I relax, I feel so, I feel some new. Opening in that. So that’s not insignificant. That’s how I like to start my day. That feeling of openness inside.

Client: I think the possibility can be missed so easily because we know, we all know the questions and we can so quickly sort of run through our head in them and think we’ve done them. And yet every time we do this, it’s like the experience is so different from just the quick thinking through. Yeah. Um, it’s just so different.

That’s it. It just confirms what you’re saying, but you have to have the experience of it. [00:21:00] 

Todd: Yeah.

The work as an experience.

That’s it. And experience is worth something.

So who cares what I use as a method for that opening, if it’s something small or something big anyone will do. And then when I, when I have that in my mind and it’s something that I’m, I really. I feel like I own that when I sit to do the work, I really can grab anything. It’s like some sound I just heard in the other room.

Something that I just got on my computer, something from 30 years ago, something outside my window, whatever, whatever. Or I’ll sit and sometimes just scan my last 24 hours. Is there anything that was annoying or [00:22:00] stressful or, and it doesn’t have to be big. It just doesn’t have to be big. Oh yeah. All right.

Those wind windshield wipers stopped working. Okay, great. So let me, let me identify the stressful thought and see what I find most In my experience, it’s almost always an opening experience. Where do you see it?

Client: It’s like I feel like I just need to make a commitment to do it. ’cause even though I’m having experience right here, I can feel the thought creeping back up on me. You know, it’s like I just have to make a commitment every day to sit down and choose something like that. That sounds really helpful. Yeah.

Todd: It is 

Client: and keep having the experience over and over again 

Todd: as an old, old tradition in any kind of meditative practice [00:23:00] that you just show up and do your meditation or show up and do your yoga show up and it’s like you just show up without worrying about where you’re going to get what, what’s the end result of it.

Um, and. If the attention is on the process and just the routine of it, then you stop paying attention to where it’s going. ’cause it’s just enjoyable. It has, its kind of feeds on itself. It has this, I look forward to doing the work and I have a busy life, so I could easily cut this, but this is still the first thing I do in my day, and it does something like today I was like.

I had to organize a few things and I was even a few minutes late getting started, but I still had like 20 minutes or something. I did a full piece of work in that time. It wasn’t amazing, but it set the tone for my [00:24:00] day and, and then when emergencies do happen, it’s there for you. The habit’s already there.

Like, when my mom died, I was doing the work every day anyway, and so I just immediately started doing the work on her and on her death and, and it was there. So it’s like, it can be such a support to have a practice. I was just saying to this, the, the celebration, uh, call for the work one oh one a few minutes ago.

Like I. I often say I’d like I, I will be doing the work when I’m in my nineties. I don’t have to, I’m not thinking I’m gonna do the work really hard right now and then get over that and then just enjoy the rest of my life at the, you know, after I’ve done my work. Like, I don’t think that way anymore. I just think I love doing the work.

Why would I. Like saying, I’m gonna do all my exercise in the [00:25:00] first part of my life and then like, not exercise for the rest of my life. No, I, I like exercising, so I’m gonna keep exercising until the day I die. And I’m probably gonna do the same with the work. It’s, it brings joy. So it depends how you see it.

And there’s underlying beliefs in here which you can play with and question. But you know, I need to get somewhere, I need to, I need to. Get free. I need to get enlightened. I need all these can be questioned and, and it doesn’t mean that I’m not moving towards freedom and enlightenment. It just means I’m less interested in that as a goal and more interested in the process of meditation, which brings me joy.

I do the work now because I like to do the work, not because I need to get somewhere and that that makes all the difference. 

Client: Well, I think that’s gonna be my first piece of [00:26:00] work, um, when I get off for tomorrow is, is really diving into that because I do think there, we live in that culture of like we do for a result.

You know? And, and I can see I was putting this in that same sort of category now. Now that we’ve done this, I think, yeah, it has to, there has to be some sort of purpose behind it, and I do think there is a result, but that, that mentality kept me from, from doing it, um, because it wasn’t gonna be big enough or whatever.

Instead of just enter and, and see, see what comes up. Okay. 

Todd: Be shown. You know, just show up and I wonder what I’ll learn today. I wonder what I’ll see today. I wonder what I’ll question today. Who knows? And that’s the way I come to these open sessions. I don’t know what what is gonna come, and I don’t prepare for them.

I just, I trust that anything, whatever comes. [00:27:00] W we’ve got four questions and we can just go through them and see what happens. Sometimes it’s like, oh, you know, and sometimes it’s like, okay, and sometimes it’s just, you know, like a little, you just never know. But it’s, it always feels like we’re just dipping in a little bit.

Something just dips in to a more quiet place and a more peaceful place. And for me, that’s. That’s it. There’s nothing more

that’s worth it. It’s not wasting time. 

Client: Yeah. Yeah. Super helpful. 

Todd: Cool. Thanks for your question and for your work both.

All right. So what do we have? We got another four or five minutes. Um, [00:28:00] anything else we wanna go over? We, any other question about that or anything else you wanna add or share?

Client: I just have a question about the way you do your work on a daily basis. I’m guessing you’re not filling out a judge your neighbor worksheet all the time. Like if it’s just a, just a very singular, stressful thought not related to somebody else, you’re just taking it and asking the four questions or, 

Todd: yeah, I, I let the situation show me.

So sometimes it’s really clear that it’s a judge. Your neighbor worksheet. I would say probably. 80% of the time, I, I use the judge your neighbor worksheet to identify the thoughts to question. But um, there are many times where it’s just a random thought. So I use the one belief at a time worksheet for that and just question it.

It doesn’t matter what it’s about. It can [00:29:00] be about anything. And there are kind of two ways that I do the work on a regular basis. One is. I’ll take a, I’ll write a worksheet one day and then I’ll just keep working that work, like another statement each day from that worksheet. So I’ve written on that judge your neighbor worksheet, maybe 10 or 15.

Statements that are all stressful thoughts I could question. And then each day after that I’ll go through and question one of them and question another and question another question. Another, I might not question all of them, but I’ll question a fair number. Uh, and, and that’s kind of easy because one day I write a worksheet and then for the next week or two I can just keep picking off of.

The statements from that worksheet, I don’t have to come up with a new situation to work. Um, so that’s, that’s makes it even easier to show up and do the next one. But the other way that I do the work is I’ll sit down [00:30:00] and say, what’s on my mind today, right now? What’s going on right now or in the last day or something?

Where do I wanna do the work? And, and then it might not be a judge, your neighbor worksheet, I might just. Identify one thought and, um, and use the one belief at a time worksheet like that. So these two compliment each other and, and I like both. Um, I tend to do probably a little more of writing the worksheet and working slowly through it over a week or two.

Um, but I also really appreciate the, the daily maintenance on whatever’s coming up that day. Um, and, and just doing the work on it. Maybe as a one-liner, um, rather than as a full worksheet. Um, but you can play with it. 

Client: But Todd, when you do the work, when you do the worksheet, that’s always related to somebody else, correct?

Yeah. 

Todd: I use the, I use the judge your neighbor worksheet to judge other people or other [00:31:00] things. It doesn’t have to be a person, but something outside of myself that’s that whole mirror principle. I look outside of myself. Judge them. And then I learn a lot about myself when I do the work about it. But there are sometimes where I just have a self-judgment, I’ll just work that as a one belief at a time.

Or sometimes I’ll have a, just a belief that it’s not really a judgment about someone, it’s just a belief. Um, like I have to do the work on something significant that’s a belief. So we just take that as a one-liner and do the four questions and turnarounds like that. So those are the, yeah, I used, I use both the judge, your neighbor worksheet and the freedom to question any one liner and, and then I just see where I’m, where I’m led that day.

We’ll sit down and find out. Yeah.

Cool. 

Client: That’s super helpful. I hear your process, so we can try that too. 

Todd: Yeah. The nice thing about that judge, your neighbor worksheet [00:32:00] writing one and then just working it for like another week or so, is that you don’t have to come up with any more stressful thoughts to question for a week. You’re like off the hook.

You can just, oh, what’s the next one? Where’s, oh, there’s number three. He should listen to me. Okay. And then I worked that one today and you can, even when the stress is starting to go away, I can still go back and do the work. And I’ll find new things and yeah, you’ve probably experienced that. I can’t remember, did you take the work 1 0 1, um, with me?

No. Okay. Yeah, we do that in the work 1 0 1, where, we’ll, we’ll write one worksheet and then, then take like two weeks to work through it. So it gives you this slowed down version of, of how you can do it. It’s not the only way to do it, but it’s a way to, to do the work and. 

Client: It’s helpful because you always, I, for me, like I have a situation with someone and then it goes pretty quickly.

I think it’s resolved, but I think there’s probably lingering judgements all [00:33:00] in there that I’ve just sort of let go, but I, they’re, they’re still within me. Yeah. So that, that’s helpful how you explain that. 

Todd: Yeah. Like the charge can go pretty quickly. Just questioning one thought can sometimes release the charge.

Um, but, but then there’s. If I keep going and questioning all the other statements that I wrote, there may be all kinds of subtle, subtle, um, things that I notice and things that I, that I, even though the charge is gone, uh, those things are holding me back and there’s, they’re the same things that could get me into it again.

So when I start working through them, it’s like preventive medicine. I start, I start. Um, dismantling the whole structure that got me into trouble in the first place. And so that a lot of freedom can come from that. It’s not flashy work. It doesn’t be, it doesn’t look like, oh my God, you’re all, you’re cured.

You know? It’s not like that. It’s, it’s like, oh, there’s something there. Oh, there’s a little something there, and there’s. [00:34:00] There’s always something if I, if I go into it. Yeah. Anyway, thank you for a great topic and for, for everything. Really appreciate it. 

Client: Thank you.

Todd: If you would like to participate in open sessions like we just heard now, then you’re welcome to do so. These happen every week and you’ll find the all the details on the work as meditation.com under the the Heading Open sessions.

Next, I’m going to read one of my newsletter articles, and this one is called The Difference Between. I love the work and I need the work.

A stressful thought for a bee might be, I have to get the whole orchard done, and I’ve got a picture on this particular [00:35:00] article of, of a bee, um, going from one blossom to the other, how to make anything stressful. When I first read Byron Katie’s book, loving What is, I found the work to be fascinating. I could hardly put the book down.

I wanted to do it, and after many years of doing the work now consistently, I still find it fascinating. I’m still not bored of it, and I really love this practice. But here’s how to make it suck. Just go ahead and tell yourself that you need to get rid of all your stressful thoughts. Um, you need to keep doing the work until your mind is completely peaceful and stays that way permanently.

Tell yourself that you need to do, uh, need to work through all of your issues, and that the work is the only way to be happy. Suddenly what happens, the work becomes bondage. [00:36:00] So under the influence of these kinds of binding ideas, these stressful ideas, um, you start to toil, enslave doing your work, you start to whip yourself and push yourself to get your work done.

The work itself, which I find to be a very enjoyable process, becomes like an added stress in your life, and you may even resent it. And you may resent that you’re still so far from peace. This is totally ironic. Doing the work in this way gives the exact opposite experience of what, uh, you may be looking for.

Instead of peace, you start getting misery and you soon may be tempted to give up or drop the work off completely. And, um, if you’re, uh. But if you’re, uh, diehard, then you don’t give up. You just slave on in the service to your hope. So that’s just as bad. So who would you be without these [00:37:00] long-term hopes when you’re doing the work?

Who would you be doing the work without the story of some final redemption? Uh, who would you be doing the work without the idea of permanent peace? Without the I have to, without the, I need to, for me, once I. Get a little distance on those thoughts. Once I start to let go of those thoughts a bit, and really that’s come from questioning them, then what happens is the work starts to be seen differently instead of like something that I have to do to save myself and get out of all of this stress and suffering.

The work starts to be seen as really just pure exploration, and that idea of exploration for me is. Fun. Like I actually enjoy this process. I love catching myself, I love bus busting my own myths. I look, I love looking at things from new [00:38:00] angles, and who cares if I don’t see every angle? Like seeing one angle that’s new to me is enough, and that’s exciting and that’s interesting and that keeps me going in the work.

So this is a very different way of experiencing the work. Then like I have to get to some end goal. This makes the process of doing the work actually, um, very enjoyable. So without a goal, I’m free. I don’t have to do the work. There’s no time pressure to get it all done before I die. There’s no slavery, there’s no desperation.

Suddenly the sun comes out again. The birds start singing, and I’m just buzzing along happily from flower to flower. Enjoying every bit of nectar that I can find. This leaves me grateful, even with all my imperfection. For me, this is way more peaceful than yearning for the impossible, [00:39:00] yearning for some end goal of Nirvana, which, um, may or may I may or may not ever reach.

So let’s close with a quote from Byron Katie, the founder of the work of Byron Katie. And this comes from her book, question Your Thinking, change the World. And this is kind of a book of quotes, which, um, is quite useful, quite interesting, and I find a lot of interesting quotes in there. So she writes, the belief I have to Work has never been true.

It’s the lie you hold onto. So that you can keep yourself from the joy of the gift that you give. No one has to work. No one has ever had to.