mindfulness
with the Inquiry Process
The Work of Byron Katie
Painful thoughts and memories can follow us through life,
stirring up emotions that we use our energy to manage,
to control, or to suppress.
Inquiry is a simple meditative process which offers a way out of that loop.
Byron Katie encourages us to consider our painful thoughts as children who are trying to tell us their story. If we turn away from them, or try to silence them, they follow us, waiting to be heard and cared for.
Inquiry is a way of sitting with our thoughts, caring for them,
hearing them, and through this - they let us go.
Inquiry is a radically simple process for bringing peace to ourselves,
which ripples out to all our relationships.
It's radically simple - the answers you get when you’re new to Inquiry can be just as profound as when you’ve been doing it for years.
With some practice, you can do Inquiry anytime, anywhere.
Inquiry is a practical,
living meditation that’s easy to implement in daily life.
If you are seeking an open mind and a clear heart,
Inquiry can help you get there.
Who would you be without your story?
I want to help you live your most deeply felt life...
but what if your life is a bit of a trainwreck right now?
What if your most deeply felt self is a hot mess?
And all those emotions you've been trying to keep a grip on?
You can feel your grip slipping...
It's okay.
Inquiry can meet you right there in the middle of that hot mess
and start to cool things down.
The truth is that the unshakable geography of your soul is peace and love.
I am amazed, again and again,
how quickly I find my way back to that peaceful place inside
when I do Inquiry.
And it's simple.
We put the thoughts on paper,
in a setting where you won't be overwhelmed,
and then engage with them mindfully in the Inquiry Process.
It's simple, and I'm there to journey with you.
I ask you 4 questions.
We look at the thought from 3 different angles.
Simple, and profoundly effective.
If you are a seeker of truth, open to what is really happening inside you,
you're going to find peace.
You can book a session for yourself,
with a family member, or with your partner,
on my online booking calendar.
I use the Zoom app to for video calls for those who do not live in the Comox Valley.
Most of the time you're a gentle soul,
able to hold your family and friends in
love and compassion.
And then, sometimes...
kaboom!
Triggered, you find yourself in
fury and anger,
grief and loss and sadness,
or fear and anxiety.
You find yourself thinking things you'd never want to have to admit to,
or maybe saying things you regret later.
Your day is derailed,
maybe your week,
or maybe it's a lifelong pattern
you're fighting against.
You'd get rid of those thoughts
if you could, but they seem to
stick to you like cement.
Inquiry is a tool to help you find your way back to love and peace.
Those harshly critical thoughts,
those judgments that just seem to pop up out of nowhere, and never
seem to shut up?
That's not who you really are.
Byron Katie,
creator of the Inquiry Process,
describes our thoughts as small children
who desperately want to be heard
and understood.
Then, when they have been
listened to without judgment or fear,
their job is done,
and they let you go.
We can try forever to stop our
judgmental thoughts, but as long
as we are human, they will keep coming.
That's the job of the ego mind,
and it takes its job seriously!
We don't need to feel ashamed
of our critical thoughts, or try to rationalize them away.
They are our inner children, who, when listened to with love and compassion, finally let us go.
We want to tell our story.
What happened. What's happening.
What they did or didn't do.
But that story is part of the problem.
The story isn't real.
It isn't the only truth.
The story is a distraction
So I'm going to say, wait.
Don't tell me your story.
Take a breath.
Close your eyes.
Let's pause together, and go on an
internal journey, looking for truth.
The real cause of this pain,
this strife, this suffering.
Let's question those thoughts,
that story, and see what we find.
It's a return to love,
and a path to freedom.
From that expansive place of love,
our true nature shines,
and we can look on the other with
love again, and peace.