The effects of The Work (inquiry) on daily life

Spiritual practices has their effects on us. That’s why we engage in them.

Heart practices opens for love and gratitude for what our human personality likes and doesn’t like. Inquiry helps undo the charge on thoughts and reveal thoughts as questions about the world and not the final word on anything. Breema bodywork allows us to find ourselves as the whole that any unease or discomfort happens within, and that makes the unease and discomfort much easier to relate to and live with. Vortex Healing as a practice, as something I do for myself on a daily basis, helps undo decades and lifetimes of conditioning. Therapeutic tremoring (TRE) helps release tension out of the body, which in turn lessens the charge on thoughts. And so on.

Each of these – at least if we engage with it with sincerity and over time – has a certain effect on our daily life.

When I talk with people, and it may be people who for a while have engaged in different forms of spiritual practice, I tend to notice relatively quickly whether or not they seem to be informed by The Work.

In general, people who have done The Work for a while, and have lived and breathed it, tend to recognize beliefs. They may still be caught in them, and they may still feel true, but they know – from experience – that they are not. They know the stress is created from holding a thought as more true than it is. That no thought is the final word on anything. That there is as much or more validity in the turnarounds as the initial stressful thought.

And through that knowing, there is some space around the thought. We don’t get as caught in it. We are open for finding what’s more true. We may even see the humor in the stressful thought. And all that before even taking it formally to inquiry.

When I talk with people who may have a long spiritual practice but have not immersed themselves in The Work, I often notice that they seem to hold some thoughts as the final or absolute truth without having the same awareness of what’s happening. Of course, there are exceptions. But I have noticed this as a general trend.

The thoughts they hold as true may be anything, and often – if they are spiritual practitioners – they may be thoughts about spirituality or reality.

As usual, this is OK and more than OK. It’s natural and understandable. It’s how life manifests locally and temporarily through and as us. It’s part of the play of life and the divine. It’s how the divine experiences itself, here and for a short while, as separate and finite.

And, of course, this – as everything – is a projection. I am describing myself. I sometimes hold thoughts as the final truth without noticing, and often these are thoughts about spirituality or reality. Including the ones in the previous paragraphs…! Although I am generally aware these are thoughts and questions and not the final word on anything.

……
……
……

Initial notes…..

• TW
  • notice when people haven’t done TW, not been immersed in it, even if have done a lot of other similar practices
  • one of the few practices where it’s often very obvious in (sometimes) even brief conversations
  • notice if the person takes some thoughts as true, valid, more than they are + overlook validity in reversals
  • notice belief, recognize as that, know what it is even if still some identification with it / charge on it
  • know (a) thoughts not absolutely/finally true, (b) create stress when believed (bc out of alignment w reality), (c) validity in all turnarounds, (d) find innocence, love in it all – when have some experience with it, over time, becomes living and breathing in daily life
  • may still be somewhat caught up in, fuel the stories etc. – and also know what’s going on, some lightness, receptivity, humor about it
  • ….

….

As usual, there is nothing wrong with this. It’s natural and understandable. It’s how life manifests locally and temporarily through and as us. It’s part of the play of life and the divine. It’s how the divine experiences itself, here and for a short while, as separate and finite.