Dear Katie, I came home from work to find that my apartment had been broken into. I called the police, but they couldn't do anything. I'm afraid I’ll have to move. But what really, really makes me mad is that the thief is using all my stuff. My computer, my TV, my watch. I'm angry and afraid. Every time I try to do The Work, I get distracted by this image of the thief sitting in his house using my computer and reading my emails (I have changed my password)! Help, Katie! Angela --- Dearest Angela, Someone asked me about an incident that happened for me, in the very late ’80s I think, when my house was robbed. I return to our large, tri-level home after a trip, I open the door, and I see that the house has been cleaned out. They’ve taken the TV, my jewelry, my record collection, appliances, stereo, computers, money, everything. All that’s left is some of the furniture and some clothing. As I continue to look, I notice that I don’t feel any sense of loss. This is gone, that is gone, wow! Amazing! Obviously I don’t need any of it. And I feel a very real sense of joy as well. It obviously was time for a real house cleaning. The house looks so uncluttered, so simple. A whole new Zen look. And as if this joy weren’t enough, I find myself imagining the joy these things may be bringing the burglars. Maybe they’ll take the jewelry to their wives or lovers, maybe they’ll sell it at a pawn shop and feed their children, maybe even buy them toys. I am filled with the gratitude of giving. The items were stolen, and until I gave them, I was the thief robbing me of my own most cherished property: the freedom that is my birthright as a loving, caring human being. This goes on for several days. The gratitude comes from realizing that I don’t need any of it. I am fine just the way things are. How do I know I don’t need what was taken? It’s gone. Why is my life better without it? That’s easy. It all belongs to them now, they obviously needed the items more than I did. That’s how the universe works. My life is simpler now. Less is more. I feel such joy for them. These are my thoughts as Paul fills out the police report. If the things are recovered, good. If they’re not, good. It’s not my business to decide. My business is to keep a clear mind and to love, as I watch and witness Paul’s pain and the way of it. None of it can affect my happiness, because I understand that I need only what I have at any given time: never more, and never less. I love that! I have never suffered from a lack of abundance; what has made me suffer are my thoughts about what I have or don’t have. What other suffering is possible? Now, dearest Angela, I invite you to take up a pen and paper and write down each stressful thought that you have about the thief in the situation, one by one, as you experienced them in your most hurt moment, on a Judge-Your-Neighbor-Worksheet. Then question the thoughts and turn them around, with examples for each turnaround, until you have clarity on what you have been gifted with and about what is really going on in your heart. If you get stuck, I invite you to call the Do The Work Helpline, as the thoughts that bring suffering appear. In love, the commodity that can never be lost or stolen, [[Byron Katie]]