The questions I typically get go something like:

“Eckhart teaches us to be present; that this moment is all we ever have.  We should stop needing things to be different, because that’s where suffering lies.  Katie advises it’s our thoughts that create our suffering, and once we question those thoughts we can be free from the torture chamber of the mind.  Abraham says our thoughts create reality (not suffering), and that we should manage our thoughts in order to create the future we want.  What’s the deal?”

My response is always that we each find our own truth within.  Pay attention to whatever resonates with you, and go with that.

But what to do when it all resonates, and it’s hard to see how it joins up?

Byron Katie shared a few words at weekend workshop I thought helped clear up potential confusion about material from various popular gurus.

In Katie’s (perhaps not-so-humble) opinion, she said Eckhart Tolle is the “what” and the Work is the “how.”  Meaning, Eckhart embodies what’s possible for us when we step into pure allowing, and that her Work delivers the process for achieving that state.  She went on to say that once you’re free from judgment, the mind is free to create.

Katie elaborated that since we create our own reality, and we create what we believe, having a method for questioning beliefs that don’t serve us is incredibly liberating.

I’m inclined to agree.

In my opinion, Katie’s Work and Eckhart’s material offer us excellent springboards for effortless deliberate creation.  Which is where Abraham and the Secret and many other LOA resources come in.

I’ve personally found incorporating Katie and Eckhart with Abraham (and P’taah and Gregg Braden and Martha Beck and Mike Dooley and other favorites) helps me re-work and re-lease some of the thoughts that had my vibe stuck, allowing a natural alignment with desires and intentions. 

For that reason I incorporate Katie’s Inquiry Process with my work with clients, and recommend Eckhart’s books to those who can get through them.  That’s certainly not where it all ends, though.  At least not for me.

If I were answering the age old hypothetical question: “you’re on a desert island and you can only pick ONE thing to take with you”  – I’m taking Abraham.  (In fact, click the link to check out Abe’s latest work of art on Money.)

What are you taking?  I’d love to hear what your favorite resources are and how they’ve helped you. 

(In fact, it was exactly that kind of sharing that led me to my recent read that I’m loving and definitely writing a future post on: Florence Scovel Shinn’s writings!)

I myself use Katie’s process personally and with clients as a tool for releasing thoughts that keep us stuck in a vibrational pattern that doesn’t serve. (If you’re not familiar with her questions, it’s basically to question your painful thought with 1) is it true? 2) can you know that it’s true? 3) how do you feel when you think that thought? and 4) who would you be if you couldn’t think that thought?)

Katie’s recent post about the Secret is more focused on the movie than the Law of Attraction itself, it seems. But it inspired me to offer my two cents’ worth on how the Work and LOA fit together.

Along with Sedona Method, EFT, ho’oponopono and various other release techniques, I believe The Work has the potential to help us free ourselves from thoughts that generate lower vibrations within us. As we use whatever technique best suits us to release these negative thoughts, we can more easily embrace thoughts (i.e. a new vibration) more in alignment with the good things we’ve been wanting.

I’m wondering if Katie doesn’t do a lot of deliberate creation, because she’s more focused on accepting reality than creating it. As Abraham would say, there is great power in making peace with what is, but that seems to me just the first step. So much more is possible for us when we embrace our creative powers!!

Yes, the habit of not fighting against reality is surely a peaceful one. And THEN … I’m going to usher in a reality that really floats my boat. I mean, I am. I don’t know what anyone else wants to do – but that’s where I’m headed next. And that doesn’t mean I don’t accept reality. It just means I have fun molding it, all the while perfectly accepting (okay, not perfectly – but that’s where Katie’s help comes in) what is present now.

I think Rhonda and Katie make a pretty good combination.

And I’m open (as Katie might say) to other perspectives. Your thoughts?