Whose Business is it anyway?

Several years ago I came across the work of Byron Katie. She has such great insight that I thought I would share it.

“I can find only three kinds of business in the universe: mine, yours, and God's. Reality is God. Anything that's out of my control, your control, and everyone else's control, I call that God's business.

Much of our stress comes from mentally living out of our own business. When I think, "You need to get a job, I want you to be happy", I am in your business. When I'm worried about earthquakes, floods, or war, I am in God's business. I realized that every time in my life that I had felt hurt or lonely, I had been in someone else's business. Being mentally in your business keeps me from being present in my own life. I am separate from myself, wondering why my life doesn't work.

The next time you're feeling stress or discomfort, ask yourself whose business you're in mentally, and you may burst out laughing! That question can bring you back to yourself. And you may come to see that you've never really been present, that you've been mentally living in other people's business all your life. Just to notice that you're in someone else's business can bring you back to your own wonderful self.

And if you practice it for a while, you may come to see that you don't have any business either and that your life runs perfectly well on its own”.

"Loving What Is" - Byron Katie