Inquiry: I need

I need.

1. True?
   Yes, I can find where it feels true.
2. Sure?
   No. It’s a feeling. A thought. An opinion.
3. What happens when I believe that thought?
   • I feel I need….. something, whatever it is. And sometimes, it is just that. A feeling of need, which is then interpreted as a need for something in particular.
   • I have images of needing it. I tell myself I need it.
   • I see, feel and act as if I need it.
   • I have images of how good it will if I get it/keep it. I elaborate on this images. I make those images appear real to me.
   • I have images of how terrible it will be if I lose it/don’t get it. I make those images elaborate, vivid and real for me.
   • I feel needy. I become dependent on life, the world or another person. I become dependent on life cooperating to get me what I want.
   • I go into a victim role. If it doesn’t go my way, I become a victim of life, the world or another person. Even if it does go my way, I imagine it doesn’t, and I become a victim in my own mind.
   • I do things I otherwise wouldn’t to get what I need. I am willing to go against my heart, intuition and what feels right in the situation. I am willing to go out of integrity to get it. I am willing to be (slightly) dishonest, work the system.
   • I start manipulating others. I will present myself from the side that I imagine is most likely to get me what I want. I filter what I say and do. I try to manipulate how they see me and the situation so they will help me get what I want.
   • I try to manipulate myself to be the person who is more likely to get what I need. I try to be another person, to think, chose and act differently.
   • I get caught up in fear. I scare myself through my own images of what I may lose if I don’t get it, and what may happen instead. I act from that fear. The fear clouds my judgment.
   • It is uncomfortable. It feels wrong. I get tense. There is a sense of being on the wrong track.
   • It comes between me and my connection with myself, others, life, truth and God. There is a sense of separation.
   • What do I get from holding onto that belief? I get tense, uncomfortable. I try to manipulate myself, others, life or God. It comes between me and myself, others, life, truth and God.
   • What am I afraid would happen if I didn’t hold onto that belief? I am afraid I wouldn’t be aware of what I need, wouldn’t try to get it, and wouldn’t get it.
4. Who would I be without it?
   • Open. Receptive. Excited about what’s right here.
   • Acting on impulses without needing a particular outcome, even aiming for goals without needing it to happen that way. Curious about how it unfolds. Interested in the opportunities in either situation, whether a particular goal is reached or not.
   • Recognizing that what I seek is already here, so when I (also) aim for it in the world, I am not dependent on a particular result.
   • Act more from clarity, curiosity, excitement.
5. Turnarounds.
   • I don’t need.
     • Yes, that is true. Whenever I look at something I feel I “need”, I find that I don’t really need it. I don’t need health. I don’t even need life. There are no absolute needs. They are just preferences.
     • I may “need” things in a relative sense. I need health to do certain things. I need food and water to survive. But I don’t need what health allows me to do. And I don’t need to survive. When I follow the chain back, I find that the “need” is just a preference.
   • I have what I need.
     • Yes. Right now, that is clearly true. I have food, water, protection from the elements, a place to live and sleep, family, friends. It is all good.
     • When I look at what I seek, I can find that here too. I seek something, and clarify what the basic need is within it, and I can find it here now. I seek love, and I experience love in abundance right here now. I seek connection, and experience connection with myself, life and God right here now, in abundance. I seek approval, and find a warm open-hearted approval of what is here right here now. I seek fulfillment, and I find abundant fulfillment here now. Whenever I notice a need, I can ask myself if it is not already here.