Finding the Anchor Within – A Lesson from The School for The Work
August 10, 2018
"If you think we should be there for you, you be there for you." – Byron Katie
I absolutely love these words and this perspective. I remember one story from The School for The Work with Byron Katie, a year ago in Germany.
There were more than 300 participants from all over the world. Among them were 5 Russian-speaking participants. Since they didn’t speak English, they mostly worked together and did the exercises only with each other.
On the last day of the School, Katie gave us assignments to practice over the following month. One of the Russian-speaking women decided to be brave: she wanted to do these exercises in English with other participants, both to deepen her practice and to improve her English.
But when she approached people and asked them to work with her, she received “no” from everyone. This deeply saddened her.
She asked for the microphone and shared her experience with Katie and the whole audience—crying as she spoke.
Katie responded:
“If you received ‘no’ from everyone, then who is left? You! You are the one who needs to sit with yourself and do the exercises with yourself.”
Katie continued:
“If I really want to do something, for me there is no such thing as ‘no.’ Who or what could stop me? I would go back to all 300 people—one by one, twice, three times, even four times—until someone said yes.”
Then Katie shared an idea from Veronika (another participant) about how to work in a foreign language in a way that would be meaningful and helpful for both people. This inspired everyone in the room, including the woman herself.
She calmed down, found her anchor within, and returned to herself. From that grounded place, she approached others again. But this time, it was different—now participants were the ones coming to her and asking to be her partner for the exercises. Suddenly, she was the one choosing who she wanted to work with.
It was such a tender and moving story…
✨ If this story touched something in you and you feel it’s time to come back home to yourself too, I’d be happy to hold space for you in this process. You can write to me any time, or if it feels right, book a session directly here: 💛☀️✨
