About Inquiry

The process of Inquiry has been around since ancient times. Essentially, it involves questioning what we have come to believe is true.  It is a form of meditation, a form of asking questions that lead back to stillness and opening to love.  While the process is simple, realizing that what we have believed actually isn’t true can be radical and life changing.

The thoughts and concepts we believe run our lives and typically we aren’t even aware of it.  Throughout our lives we have believed what others have told us without question.  And then our mind attaches meaning to everything in hopes of making sense of it all, and we don’t question that either.  Our experiences throughout life also provide opportunities for the mind to create stories and beliefs about life and other people.

By slowing down, we can hear the thoughts that are running through our minds and discover the beliefs that are creating the stress in our lives.  Typically these thoughts are judgments about other people, ourselves and the world and how things should be different than they are.

Once we identify and capture these thoughts, we can take them to Inquiry and discover for ourselves what is actually true. Inquiry, with an open mind and a desire to know the truth, directs the listening from a place of curiosity.  It is a form of meditation that leads us back to stillness and opens us to what Love really is.

Inquiry isn’t about trying to get rid of a belief or about going into denial or trying to change our minds, rationalize our way out, replace it with some spiritual concept or shame us into trying to believe something different.

Through Inquiry and an open mind we can come out of denial and come to see our problems from an entirely different perspective. We can live in more internal peace and ultimately like ourselves and others better. Inquiry allows us to put mind in its rightful place as a servant and tool rather than the director. It results in an open mind which allows our hearts to open and to receive what we were previously not able to see. We can then live in reality without the war. An open mind is a state of Grace.

It is important to remember that our internal answers to the questions are where our freedom lies. When we get quiet and listen, the truth that comes from a place beyond what the mind can answer can be heard.  We just need to get still enough to allow the heart to speak and to honor what it is being said.

 My job as a facilitator of Inquiry is to support you in identifying the beliefs and concepts that are getting in the way of your living life with more clarity, peace and creativity. I hold the safe place from which the questions arise out of curiosity and support you in discovering your own answers. I listen deeply to your answers and support you in hearing what you might miss, what the mind would prefer you not hear and see.

Are you willing to “lose the moon”?
If you really want to be free, you have to be prepared to lose your world, your whole world.

 “The world doesn’t exist and we just come to see that clearly. It’s all an illusion. It never did exist. There is no way it can exist – it’s all the reflection of a concept attached to inside. There is No One and Nothing. It’s literal. Are you ready to live without a world? Is that what you really want? Are you willing to lose the moon?”  Byron Katie

The Work of Byron Katie ~ A Profound Process of Inquiry

In 1999 I discovered an Inquiry process called The Work of Byron Katie. The Work is one of the most simple, yet profound processes of Inquiry that I have discovered. It involves four simple questions and a turnaround. It is the tool that I use as the foundation for the Inquiry I do with clients, in my workshops and retreats. For more information about The Work of Byron Katie click here.

Having a little fun with The Work
Click here for a fun set of images taken at Ghost Ranch.

Inquiry ~ Sitting in the Questions

Another form of Inquiry involves “simply sitting in a question” that has no immediate answer. It involves noticing a question that has come to you from that place of curiosity. It might even be more of a statement of realization that needs time to unfold. This type of Inquiry has a silent, open, curious quality to it that allows the heart to answer when the time is right for me to hear. The answer may not come immediately. It may come in a few hours, days or years and always on time.

“Have patience and love the questions. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. Rather, live the questions and perhaps someday you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”
Rainier Marie Rilke

The questions I am sitting with at this time:

• This is as good as it gets.
• It’s not personal!  It’s just not personal!
• Am I willing to know the Truth no matter what it costs me?
• What would happen if I just STOPPED?
• Can I be with you and not want anything from you?
• Can I sit with you in the midst of discomfort, yours or mine, without wanting to change anything?

Stay tuned – the questions change as I change.