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December 7, 2005

Loving What Is

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When you argue with reality, you lose. But only 100% of the time. In Loving What Is, Byron Katie provides a simple and extremely powerful tool for self discovery.

I have been doing The Work, as she calls it, for a couple of months and I have found it to be very effective.

Whenever I feel discord within me, I know that it is because my mind believes something that my soul knows is not true. It is that belief in something that is not true that creates so much inner turmoil; an inner war.

The Work consists of applying four questions and a turnaround to any discordant thought that comes into the mind. Sometimes the thoughts are not so subtle, like when we judge and complain about a person or a situation. Then there are deeper thoughts, where we judge ourselves.

There is also a judge-your-neighbor worksheet that can be used to draw out a bunch of thoughts to inquire into. You get to be really petty and find the thoughts that are destroying your peace.

The inquiry opens your mind to other views of reality. It enables you to see how the thought affects you and your life experience and it gives you a taste of what it would be like if you could let go of the thought. Finally, the turnaround enables you to find the deeper truth that the thought leads to, giving you guidance about a direction to move in.

The Work is not about letting go of anything, it's purely about increasing awareness. When we see that we really know nothing for certain and the way that our strongly held beliefs effect our lives, those beliefs stop bothering us. When we can taste freedom, bondage leaves us in peace.

Katie says that everything that now happens in her life is like a wonderful gift. Everything that comes to her is exactly what she's chosen. She is continually in a state of ecstatic joy about what life brings her.

You should do The Work.

Q: "They should do the work", is that true?
A: Yes.

Q: Can you be certain that it's true?
A: No, they might all be enlightened for all I know.

Q: How do you react when you think that thought?
A: I loose my power. I think that other people changing will make me happy. I focus less on doing The Work myself. I'm not accepting that there are people not doing The Work.

Q: Who or what would you be without that thought?
A: I would be focussed on doing The Work myself. I would be setting an example. I would be more at peace with how things are.

Turn it around:

1. I should do The Work. That's more true for me.
2. They shouldn't do The Work. Because they're not, until they are. That's more true than the original statement also.

Related Links:
Amazon: Loving What Is
The Work

 

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