You don’t have to know what to do!

Today’s inquiry on “I have to know what to do” was interesting.

When I make a decision and don’t have a clear yes or no,

I often believe this thought.

 

 

I found out that this thought came from my childhood misunderstanding.

I misunderstood all the grown-ups know exactly what they are doing.

When they make a decision, they know for sure this decision is right.

 

 

Today, I found out that is not true.

Nobody knows what will happen in future.

And still we make decisions.

 

 

I don’t have to know what to do when I make decisions.

To know this is such a relief!

My decision making will be much easier from now on.

 

 

Love,

Aki

 

I Need to Make a Decision

A Quote from LOVING WHAT IS by Byron Katie

 

 

When you become a lover of what is, there are no more decisions to make.

In my life, I just wait and watch.

I know that the decision will be made in its own time, so I let go of when, where, and how.

I like to say I’m a woman with no future. When there are no decisions to make, there’s no planned future.

All my decisions are made for me, just as they’re all made for you.

When you mentally tell yourself the story that you have something to do with it,

you’re attaching to an underlying belief.

 

 

For forty three years, I was always buying in to my stories about the future, buying in to my insanity.

After I came back from the halfway house with a new understanding of reality,

I would often return from a long trip to find the house full of dirty laundry,

piles of mail on my desk, the dog dish crusted,

the bathrooms a mess, and the sink piled high with dishes.

The first time this happened, I heard a voice that said, “Do the dishes.”

It was like coming upon the burning bush, and the voice from the bush said, “Do the dishes.”

It didn’t sound very spiritual to me, but I just followed its directions.

I would stand at the sink and just wash the next dish, or sit with the piles of bills and pay the one on top.

Just one at a time.

Nothing else was required.

At the end of the day, everything would be done, and I didn’t need to understand who or what did it.

 

 

When a thought appears such as “Do the dishes” and you don’t do them,

notice how an internal war breaks out.

It sounds like this: “I’ll do them later. I should have done them by now.

My roommate should have done them. It’s not my turn. It’s not fair.

People will think less of me if I don’t do them now.”

The stress and weariness you feel are really mental com¬bat fatigue.

 

 

What I call “doing the dishes” is the practice of loving the task in front of you.

Your inner voice guides you all day long to do simple things such as brush your teeth,

drive to work, call your friend, or do the dishes.

Even though it’s just another story, it’s a very short story,

and when you follow the direction of the voice, that story ends.

We are really alive when we live as simply as that open, waiting, trusting, and loving to do

what appears in front of us now.

What we need to do unfolds before us, always doing the dishes,

paying the bills, picking up the children’s socks, brushing our teeth.

We never receive more than we can handle, and there is always just one thing to do.

Whether you have ten dollars or ten million dollars, life never gets more difficult than that.

 

 

For more information about The Work, visit TheWork.com

You might want to read the Introduction of The Work of Byron Katie by Stephen Mitchell.