The Deep Evaluation

"The deep evaluation is really an evaluation of what you are giving your life to and what you are assigning in life to be your chief influences, for every relationship represents an influence. This power of influence is very significant, but most people are not aware of it or its consequences."

Directives

"Begin then with simple things. Review everything that you own. Everything that you own, even insignificant things, have a value to you of some kind and in a subtle way represent an influence." ... "Begin, then, to clear out your life, to simplify."

"It’s important to review your fundamental circumstances. Are you living in the right place? yes or no. Are you with the right people? yes or no. Is your form of work appropriate for you now at this time? yes or no. Are your hobbies or other activities appropriate and identify them each? yes or no. Write down your responses. If there are things to reconsider then ask yourself, 'Is there something I need to do about this now?' yes or no."

"Think for a moment in terms of everything being a relationship." ... "The next thing to consider is that each of these relationships represents an influence. Each influences you, and you influence them."

"Take everything you are doing in life, and you ask yourself, 'Fundamentally, is this what I really need to be doing?' Every relationship, 'Is this relationship helping me? Is it important for me now?' Everything! And you will have a deeper sense of it coming from Knowledge, way deep inside of you. Perhaps it will be a feeling. Perhaps it will be an image. Perhaps the answer will come a week from now. You have to keep asking and listening."

A process

"As you can see, there are many questions, and these are not all of them. That is why this deep evaluation takes time. It is not something you do in an hour as a process or an exercise. It is not something you spend a weekend thinking about. Instead, it is something you must give yourself to as one of the main priorities of your life, particularly at this time."

"The deep evaluation is a process of discernment and release. You are discerning what is really important and releasing that which is not important. You are changing your relationship with things, with people, with places and with engagements. In so doing, you are changing, on a subtle but increasingly powerful level, your relationship with your mind and your body. Here you are gaining strength and learning to become inner-directed rather than merely being outer-directed."

See also

Discernment

[Fundamentals]]

Practices

Questions to consider

Further Study

• The Great Waves of Change, Chapter 5: The Deep Evaluation