(NOTE: This weblog creates, for us all, a chance to meet at the intersection of Life and the New Spirituality. It is written by the author of Conversations with God, the worldwide best-selling series of books. The “New Spirituality” is defined by the author as “a new way to experience and express our natural impulse toward the Divine without making others wrong for the way in which they are doing it.”)
Okay, I admit it. I’m in love.
I met the woman for the first time Saturday night, so it’s only been a couple of days –but I don’t need any more time than that. I’m in love with Katie.
I spent a couple of hours in the company of Katie this past weekend, all in one sitting Saturday evening. At one point she gently and joyfully grabbed my face with her soft hands and squeezed it as her eyes twinkling and her lips formed words of love.
I’m in love with her back. She brought other men into her parlor that same evening, calling them “Sweetheart” and “Darling” right in front of me…but I don’t care, I don’t mind. I’m in love anyway.
She gave those men love and attention right there before my eyes. i don’t care, I tell you. I don’t care. I love her to pieces.
Katie gave love and attention to women, too — also right in front of me — but that only served to make me love her more. Because this is a very special woman, and one encounter with her is all it takes to fall head over heels for her.
She asks a lot of questions, though. That’s the one really intriguing thing about her. She asks questions — usually the same four questions — of everyone. Here are the questions she asks — usually after you’ve told her about some feeling you have:
1. Is it true?
2. Do you absolutely know it to be true?
3. How do you feel, how does your life feel, when you hold that thought?
4. How would your life feel if you let go of that thought?
Forgive me. I’m paraphrasing here. But that’s the gist of the questions she asks. And when she finishes asking them, the person who is doing the responding almost inevitably feels better. Much better. Lots better.
That’s only one of many reasons why I have fallen in love with Katie. Another is that she always tells the truth. A third is that she always lives her truth. That is, she doesn’t say one thing and do another. A fourth reason I have fallen in love with her is that she never gets upset. She’s always happy. Always.
At least she was always on Saturday night. And lots of things were going wrong on Saturday night, but she never flinched, never uttered even an under-the-breath complaint, never let a single look of impatience cross her face.
This lady, this woman, is a master. Byron Katie is a master. Tomorrow I will tell you why.