NDHA Member Conversations are conversations by, for, and with fellow NDHA members to explore a range of topics that concern and interest us as nondual healers in the wider world. This is an opportunity to gather in friendship and healership and to come together as a community through inquiry and the sharing of wisdom, knowledge, and experience.

We live in a world of doing overlaid by a culture that values fixing, managing and controlling. And there are situations whose trajectory seems unknowable and unswayable. Death is an obvious example but there are others, including personal relationships, with seemingly intractable chasms where healing is clearly called for and there’s nothing that we can actually “do”.

For our second NDHA Member Conversation we asked:

As a nondual healer, what’s to be done when there’s nothing to do?

While our conversations are always held in confidentiality, at the end of each conversation we ask “what of your experience and learning here today would you like to share with the greater community?” And below you can read today’s treasures.

What treasures from today’s conversation would you like to share with our greater community?

F: I can practice flexing the muscle of giving — the impulse to be pulled out of presence by giving half away. I can flex that muscle, so when I’m present and things arise, as they naturally should, and then all of a sudden I’m somewhere else, I can try to narrow that point where I can flex that muscle to not jump out of myself, out of my presence.

A: I can be more present with fullness, not doing, in the face of my urgency. And to kind of paraphrase The MAGI, or the Nondual Process For Conflict Resolution, “The world will respond and signal”. I really feel there’s a spaciousness, maybe a third thing. Then actions come from a different place. My action.

D: There does seem to be a third thing that is this being and doing. It’s like when being and doing, it’s not being, it’s not doing, it’s a third thing. It’s a third state that, to me, I’m just realizing, that it feels like we’re kind of talking about. That’s not necessarily either one, it’s something else that’s active, that’s engaged, that’s receptive. It’s relaxed, It’s something that I’m appreciating.

M: My takeaway is a reminder to listen more before acting. And how difficult it is for me because when I hear something, I immediately have the tendency to act, not so much doing things, but with words. So, that’s what I take with me – the reminder to listen more. Take more time to listen. And be kind if it doesn’t work out.

S: I think for me, the takeaway is how much work it actually is to not act. And that it requires, to even recognize and realize, it requires a lot of consciousness and presence just to recognize that this is an opportunity, that something is an opportunity to not act when I’ve always acted or reacted in a certain way. So, first is the waking up in the moment, and then using that moment to consider that maybe really nothing is required of me in observable action in the world. It’s all about whatever actions I take inside.

J: I’m smiling, because, yeah, that was kind of my takeaway. I wrote in my notes, “doing nothing takes a lot of work”. And I feel like it opens up a possibility for a very dynamic and alive relationship with whatever it is I’m doing nothing about.

###

NDHA Member Conversations will be every third Wednesday of the month on Zoom. These monthly gatherings are open to NDHA members as well as guests interested in becoming members. For details and registration see our calendar or subscribe to our newsletter.