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Staying Out of Your Own Way: How We Create Pain and Fear for Ourselves
“Being mentally in your business keeps me from being present in my own. I am separate from myself, wondering why my life doesn’t work.” — Byron Katie
I was reading Byron Katie’s book Loving What Is, and smack dab right there in the beginning she’s talking about one of the biggest ways that people create suffering for themselves. I want to talk about it and expand on it here.
She says, “Much of our stress comes from mentally living out of our own business. When I think, ‘You need to get a job, I want you to be happy, you should be on time, you need to take better care of yourself,’ I am in your business. When I’m worried about earthquakes, floods, war, or even when I will die, I am in God’s business. If I am mentally in your business or in God’s business, the effect is separation.”
When we bring awareness to our mental landscape, many of us find that we spend so much time in other peoples’ business. Not only do we spend time in other peoples’ business, but we also try to project what we think is best for them or the world onto them. Like how the hell could we possibly know what is best for the world?
