So, let's go to Los Angeles.
Oh, let's go to Virginia.
And we're going to talk to LA from Virginia.
Hi, LA.
Hi, Katie!
Sorry for the confusion. It's awesome to meet you.
Oh, my goodness!
Mmm--
Awesome to meet you, too.
[both laugh]
So, sweetheart--
I feel like I'm a groupie, or something--
It's just really cool.
Well, you know, you're all that's left of me, so--
I am at least a groupie.
So--
So, let's, mmm--
Please read your email.
OK.
"Katie,
My stress usually comes from worrying about money.
As I do The Work, I'm finding peace a lot quicker,
but I still stress each month,
when I can't pay the rent on time.
I was having painful stomach aches each time,
and one of your facilitators, Celeste,
kindly helped me to see
that physical pain was trying to tell me something.
For a while, I would pray like crazy,
asking God and the universe for help.
When I ask and don't get what I'm asking for,
it's very painful.
But I'm afraid to do just nothing,
and let go of the control that I seem to think I have.
Stressing also makes it seem like I'm actually doing something.
Mmm--
With Celeste's help,
I realized that my thoughts were causing the physical pain.
I thought I had dealt with those thoughts,
and when they kept nagging me, I was pushing them aside.
So now, I'm sitting with my thoughts and listening better.
Anyway, it occurred to me
that when I pray or write down goals,
that I'm in God's business,
or the universe's business.
Am I out of my business by demanding
that my rent gets paid on time?
Am I in the universe's business
by feeling I've done everything in my power
and asking, "What the hell?"
I am now trying "to go with the flow,"
and be at peace,
but I feel a little lost without my old job of praying
and begging for things to go my way.
I guess my main question would be,
'Is there a point to prayer,
and to making goals for what we want in life?'"
There's a big point to prayer.
It's like,
"God--
help me pay the rent."
"Please, God, help me pay the rent."
So, "God should help you pay the rent."
Is it true?
Mmm-- No.
So, I'm just leaving a little--
space here, for you to consider,
to really consider.
I'm considering, "God should help me pay the rent."
Is it true?
It always feels like he should, because I feel like--
OK, now, that's not inquiry.
[LA giggles]
That is discussion.
It's not right or wrong, it's just that--
You know, just notice that thought and go back to the question.
"God should help me pay the rent."
Is it true?
No.
Notice--
how you react when you believe
"God should help you pay the rent"?
Notice what happens when you believe that.
I get very angry.
And--
Mmm--
I question everything, I wonder what I did wrong.
You become guilty.
"Am I being punished?"
Mmm--
"I don't ask for much." [LA giggles]
-Yeah. So we become a beggar. -Very frustrating.
We become guilty.
How do I react when I believe the thought?
I get to see--
how I put it all onto God.
And where God's falling short,
and telling him what to do,
and telling him what's best,
and dictating where his money should go--
or hers, whatever God is to you.
And I'm into God's pocketbook,
and into his bank account,
but that doesn't stop me--
And then--
So, just right here, right now--
right here, right now,
who are you without the thought,
"God should--
pay the rent"?
That's kind of a scary one.
It is, if you put a future on it.
So, just right here, right now,
who would you be without the thought,
"God should pay my rent"?
"God should help me pay my rent"?
Who would you be without being that dictator?
[LA laughs]
I would be somebody who likes God, in that moment.
I would be at peace.
I would--
not be afraid
to look at more opportunities
and try to find ways to pay the rent.
OK. So now--
Now, let's look at
who would you be without the thought,
"God should help me pay the rent."
Just notice that you're sitting,
that there's a roof over your head.
You're not--
You don't look too hot or too cold.
No.
Pretty comfortable.
Are you OK?
Just right now.
That's all we're looking at, just right now.
It's hard to stay in just right now.
Oh, but that's OK. Because this is where--
This is where the gift is.
This is what's given.
People whose rent is paid--
can't have the comfort you're experiencing.
The grace.
They're not aware of the grace you're experiencing right now.
They're so into the future,
and, "How am I going to pay next months rent?"
"Well, I've got it.
Now, how am I gonna pay the next six months rent?"
So we're not here now, noticing--
that everything you want--
If your rent was paid, you have everything you want,
right here, right now.
And then once the rent's paid, then I go onto the next want, so--
But you're right.
Even when I was really stressed,
and I could feel the pit in my stomach,
and I was able to bring myself
back to just where I'm at right now,
instead of envisioning myself
out on the street,
at a homeless shelter,
I'm here,
and the roof is over my head
and I'm very comfortable.
Yes. Yes, you are.
-And I'm talking to Katie. -Yeah.
[LA giggles]
So now,
imagine yourself in a homeless shelter.
I can do that pretty easy.
So, "God shou"--
So, are you sitting?
Imagine yourself sitting in a homeless shelter.
So, other than what you're thinking and believing, are you OK?
Other than what I'm thinking and believing, yes.
So the worst that can happen
is what you're thinking and believing,
with or without your rent paid.
I would love that you have this under all conditions.
I would love that the entire world have this,
beyond all apparent conditions in your head.
It takes sitting and listening in the silence.
And notice how those false images of future would,
just like a tidal wave,
just wipe away
"this peace that does NOT surpass all understanding," as they say.
Mm-hmm.
You understand where it is. You understand how to find it.
"I need God to help me pay my rent."
Turn it around to the self.
What is the opposite of "I need"?
"I don't need God to pay my rent."
"I don't need God to help me pay my rent."
OK. Now, give me an example of why that's true.
Because this is what I was thinking
at the beginning of the month, and today--
I did get my rent paid, finally.
OK, that's one.
Give me another example,
"God should not help me pay my rent. Ever!"
I mean, poor God!
We're all putting these demands on him.
Jeez, rolling around heaven all day is not on--
I mean, in the spirit of the season,
give him a break.
You know, it's--
Give me another example,
"I don't need God"--
I mean,
"I don't need God to help me pay my rent."
Mmm--
I'm not sure, because I'm actually not sure
if he did help me pay my rent.
Very good.
I think you're onto something.
I don't think I get all the credit.
Or any of the credit.
Could be you're really onto something.
You know, it's--
a friendly universe.
I mean, all suffering is in the past.
How friendly is that?
Very. [laughs]
[voices overlap]
And no matter what you're thinking or believing, you're OK.
You have that.
You may not remember it, but it's there.
Just the fact that you could see it,
tells you it's always been there. You're just listening.
You're just realizing.
You're getting still in this grace that people refer to,
the grace of God,
where there are no wants that aren't filled in the moment,
there are no needs that are not filled in the moment,
there are no "shoulds" or "shouldn'ts" that are not found in the moment.
It's all here for you
just to notice.
"I need God to pay my rent."
Can you find another turnaround, "To help me pay my rent"?
"I need to pay my rent"?
"I need me to help me"--
"I need me to help me pay my rent."
So, when you get really still it'll come to you.
And whether your rent gets paid or not,
you've always got a home, even if it's on the street.
When you're home in yourself,
you're so clear,
you have enough sense to get out of the rain when it's raining.
Everything you need to know is there.
Unlike--
the you--
who has their rent paid and is fearful of the future.
'Cause if you don't get this here,
we all get it.
Nice that we can get it while we still--
think we're alive.
[Katie and LA laugh]
And I have another turnaround.
"God should help me pay the rent,"
another turnaround,
"I should help--
me pay God's rent."
And if that doesn't work for you,
"I should help God pay my rent."
And I don't know if those two have any meanings for you--
All of you listening, these turnarounds--
you just find opposites, you sit in them, and you just--
We meditate on them.
We're not looking for solutions to life here.
"How am I gonna pay my rent? Oh, I better do a turnaround."
It's not like that, you know--
It's a gift.
Like the season of giving, it's a gift.
You get silent.
And you witness what comes to you
when you're doing this Work, it's--
it's a gift, it's a gift.
And as long as you believe in time,
or you're experiencing time--
These holidays
at their most wonderful,
you can have that every moment of your life.
And, if you're not experiencing that,
you understand how to get there,
where it's the real deal.
It's simple inquiry
and listening.
And--
I so appreciate,
Virginia,
your ability to get still
and to look
at what's available to you,
out of the fear.
You can leave that fear
long enough to answer these questions.
That's a gift.
Thank you.
Thank you. I appreciate it.
You know, if this were your--
If being homeless were your only way home,
would you take it?
I'm talking about real home.
Yeah.
Well, sometimes, that's our path.
And "I'm willing to be homeless."
"I look forward to being homeless."
And "homeless" to me is when I'm not present in myself.
I'm in a past, future--
We can have thoughts of past and future.
It's different than believing that it's real.
But if I'm believing anything,
--past and future going on in my head now--
I'm not home.
Makes a lot of sense.
So I'm never homeless.
And if I'm homeless, I know how to come home.
And, sweetheart, no one can take--
this gift away from you.
-No one but you. -Exactly.
So, let it be holidays every moment.
Thank you, Virginia.
That's awesome. Thank you, Katie.
You're very welcome.