Thank you for those who managed to get into the room. We had a deep and focused practice. My apologies to those who were not able to connect for today’s session.
I do have an excellent resource for you with details on each “YES” of the Inner Yes Method. You can download it at this link:
I can send you the PDF of the slides we used for today’s session. Contact me via here or the contact sheet on my webpage and I will make that available. I will try to load it on my site tomorrow too.
May you be well and safe. May you continue to prosper from your practice.
NAIL Freedom & Flow is a rich method of self-inquiry to get to yes with yourself so you can say YES to Life, YES to others and get what you truly want in life. Enrich your mindfulness practice with a framework of contemplative practice to generate insight and engage in insight informed implementation.
We need to notice and we need to go beyond noticing to liberate ourselves in order to live authentically.
Being with the contents of awareness is not the only way to be mindful, and working with that material is not at odds with mindfulness.
In fact, in almost all states of consciousness, we must work with the mind at least a little bit to remain mindful. Wise efforts support wise mindfulness. ~Rick Hanson
In our upcoming session, we will explore this idea and framework, and how NAIL Freedom and Flow incorporates all three ways to support integration of strengths. It’s what I call “liberate the good and live your potential” aka “NAIL Freedom & Flow!”
At the end of the session, you will have clarity of how to put this into daily practice.
There are basically three ways to productively relate to your own mind. The first and fundamental way is to simply be with what’s there. Feel the feelings. Experience the experience… But that’s not enough… We also need to engage wise effort as well. To make deliberate efforts to, in the second practice, reduce the negative, release tension in the body, let the feelings flow, challenge,… And there’s a place for the third great way to practice. Now that we’ve released the negative, what do we replace it with? ~Rick Hanson Ph.D
I look forward to practicing and exploring these ideas with you.
The question in question is an idea based on the premise that within every question is a deeper core question. Come and develop you self-inquiry practice in our upcoming session of NAIL Freedom & Flow.
We explored ritual and ceremony, bookending our days in new ways that have a direct impact on the neural connections strengthened in the brain and those that are ‘pruned’. Read more in the ‘fastcompany’ article.
We shared our thoughts on the addition of ‘prolonged grief’ in the DSM, on the topic of letting go.
We also looked at how each way to engage the mind, correlates with how we get our needs met… our responsive and reactive efforts - as we related the enneagram to the systems of safety, avoiding harms and how circumstances around coronavirus impacts our need for safety. The second system activated to meet our needs is the approaching rewards, to meet our needs for satisfaction. Lastly we visited the “attaching to others” system to meet our needs for connection, belonging, acceptance.
I look forward to seeing you at our next practice.
As an appreciator of the art of self-inquiry, I am always on the lookout for how influential people have created their success through self-inquiry. Cy Wakeman’s simple questions have always been an inspiration and now she has finally published them… Today! ¨ This is the invitation:
"What might happen if you stopped believing everything you think?
What if observing your thoughts was followed with a pause, stepping back with questions, and self-reflection?
Employing these simple actions allows you to bypass ego and access the best part of your brain. The simple act of self-reflection is the ultimate drama diffuser and is an effective way to eliminate suffering."
The first of the 3 questions we will be playing with is this:
“What do I know for sure?”
How willing are you to keep challenging what you know ‘for sure’? What would be more useful and truthful to know for sure?
What if, instead of …
“… we could learn to use our minds to create happiness despite life’s ever-changing challenges and events. Life’s Messy, Live Happy by Cy Wakeman is about dramatically changing the level of happiness you feel in your daily life by learning to disconnect happiness from external forces and stop worrying about the future.”
[Book flap]
In this week’s session, we will get a taste of how, with a Taking in the Good practice based on the fact of neuroplasticity i.e. that the brain can alter in structure and function through our experiences and we can actively use our minds to turn everyday experiences into lasting inner strengths.
[Taking in the Good is the original name of the Positive Neuroplasticity Training, of which I am a licensed practitioner].
Thank you for courage and willingness to engage in this liberating self-reflection practice.
Here are the 3 questions that initiate self-reflection and set us free from self-imposed suffering. When we practice in this way, ‘we flip that toggle switch’; we move from acting from our ego-based stories and the reactive emotions they cause to a place where we have more options, opportunities and power.
*What do I know for sure?
This reveals your story and loosens the ego’s grip. It almost always reveals a less harsh reality.
How can I help?
This gets you out of victim mode and into the role of co-creator or compassionate contributor.
What would great look like in this situation? This is liberation. It shows your external circumstances don’t have to drive your decisions and actions. You can live your values out loud and with integrity and live your purpose with intention instead of reaction.”
Excerpt From: Cy Wakeman. “Life’s Messy, Live Happy”.
“Inquiry, or investigation, is one of the seven factors of awakening, a quality that both leads to and expresses awakening. Inquiry can be a crucial factor in our practice, leading to greater aliveness, energy, interest, and wisdom, yet we may still believe that meditation should be about “not thinking.” In practice, we just initially need to not be ruled by thinking—which makes it possible to then use thinking and questioning fruitfully in the process of inquiry.”
Every time you do The Work you are becoming enlightened to who and what you are, the true nature of being. To question what you believe is an amazing gift to give yourself, and you can have it all the days of your life. The answers are always inside you, just waiting to be heard. ~Byron Katie
One of the 5 primary ways NAIL Freedom & Flow supports the practice of deep inquiry is in the category of Transforming Limiting Beliefs.
The Five Ways of Inquiry
Mindfulness
Deep Listening (e.g. deal with repetitive thinking)
Integrating a Teaching e.g. impermanence, 'Getting to Yes with Yourself…"
Radical Questioning
Uncovering & Transforming a Core Limiting Belief
There are also other ways we practice inquiry e.g. using questions to support a vision quest practice.
The following illustration highlights how NAIL Freedom & Flow is reflected in The Work of Byron Katie. I have included a link so you may take it for a spin to deepen your practice.
