What is it worth?

I was thinking today about the idea of what something is worth and it reminded me of something Byron Katie said. She said: "What you believe is your religion and your entire devotion is dedicated to believing that, and there is no room for God in it. That is your God. What you believe is your God."

We've all heard the saying 'Let go, let God'. The thoughts we need to question, the ones that brought us pain, suffering, angst and misery are the ones we have become devoted to. And they are the ones we have to let go of. So why do we find it so hard to let go? Perhaps because somewhere in there scrambled up in all the suffering were a few good moments. We want the good moments back and when we can't get them the tantrum starts, the argument with what is. In attaching to what we want something to be, we lose sight of the reality of what was and what is. We forget what clarity, acceptance and ease feel like. We become so devoted to the thought of how it could or should be that we lose all sight of how it actually is.

But we have a choice. We don't have to believe our thoughts. We can just question what we believe and in doing that they let go of us. Yes there is a cost involved. And we look at cost with a lot of concepts. Everything we do has a cost. A time cost, an emotional cost, a choice cost. One definition of cost is: " value measured by what must be given or done or undergone to obtain something". We tend to view cost as a loss of some kind or as a trial or suffering that we must undergo to get to the other side. But if we question our thoughts and our devotion to the cause to which we think we are so attached then the cost rapidly switches to a positive value.

The cost is simply the little bit of time and effort required in questioning a thought that when prised loose from the grip of misplaced devotion shines back at us with the simple uncomplicated truth of how it is. It's our choice whether to let go or whether to grip even harder. To me it's a no brainer. Let go and you get the whole 'let God' magic and the excitement of new possibilities. Grip harder and you right back on the same old merrygoround that you you went on before.

So what to choose - an old loop tape constantly repeating or open-ended freedom? I'll take the freedom every time along with another Katieism which is: "Reality is always kinder than the story we tell about it."