What is The Work?
The Work of Byron Katie is Meditation. It is a practice in Stillness.
It is simple, powerful and uses your Mind to access your inner wisdom and discover your true nature.
It is a method of self inquiry (not therapy) to question the root cause of all of your suffering; what you are thinking and believing.
There are 4 questions and a turnaround.
Everyone and anyone can do the work! It requires stillness and an open mind. That’s all. Then you have the four questions to guide you.
This is the invitation.
Four Questions:
Is it true?
Can you absolutely know that it is true?
How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?
Who would you be without the thought?
Turnaround: The turnaround is an opportunity to experience the opposite of what you were thinking and believing and discover if it could be equally (or perhaps even more) true.
When we ask the questions, we do not ask the mind to answer the question literally. Rather, the invitation is to meditate ON the question. By exploring “is it true?” we give space to this question and wait to see what insights are revealed about the particular thought being questioned. For example, it does not mean that the thought is not true… it may be true… it is simply an invitation to be still and consider other possibilities.
There is also no motive or agenda to get rid of the thought, fix or heal something. This is a common misconception, because this would only be the mind trying to control the outcome and make the thought wrong or make something about you wrong! Instead, we explore the question together and discover what answers and insights are revealed from within you! For this reason, it is best to approach The Work like a child might; with curiousity and an open mind.
What The Work is not:
It is not therapy
It is not a “conversation” where we talk about your story
It is not a promise or guarantee to give you what you want, or fulfil the projections of your dreams or desires in an imaginary future
It is not a tool in which your mind/ego approaches with a clear motive/agenda for a desired outcome
It is not coaching
It is not about changing you or needing to change anything about reality
It is not a set of principles or beliefs
It does not suggest or teach anything!
The Work is about how to end suffering.
Unlike many other therapies and tools, with The Work there is no advice given by the Facilitator.
The Work is done for the love of Truth alone.
“Eventually, through practice, you no longer impose your thinking onto reality and you can experience it as it really is. Pure Grace.”