Gifts and Resources from Byron Katie’s “The Work” Method of Self Inquiry
by Amanda Winters
I welcome you to also check out my file of
"The Work", which is spiritual teacher Byron Katie's method of self-inquiry, is the most powerful process I have ever used to rid myself of negative thoughts and the emotions.
I have been studying Byron Katie's method of self inquiry called "The Work". Her teachings were completely positively transformative in my relationship with my body, the planet, my family and my ex-boyfriends. I lost a lot of my urge to control my friends and am able to more fully understand that the world I think is outside of me is just a projection of myself. I don't take my self-image as seriously AT ALL anymore, and there is a new lightness about my life.
Three of of my favorite quotes from Byron Katie are: "My favorite part about history is, its over!" and "What other people think of me is none of my business" and "There are three kinds of business: My business, Your business, and God's business, and I only need to be in my own."
My most recommended way to learn from her is the School for the Work, linked below. It is worth every penny for this 9-day course, and they do provide assistance for those who have trouble affording the tuition. As a huge added bonus, as a School for the Work graduate, I am now hooked into a very amazing conscious community for free, as a graduate of the school. I plan to do further studies as well with Katie's Institute for the Work, as well.
I am now able to facilitate the work, and am happy to share more about how The Work can help others. If you are interested, please email me from the contact page of my www.catalystforfun.com website to arrange for us to speak.
* Please note the free helpline for people wanting to do this process, linked below.
An overall explanation about the work can be found at
http://www.thework.com/thework.asp
On Katie's www.thework.com website, you will see my two favorite books of hers : Loving What Is (the best beginners book for people who are just meeting her) and a fantastic, insightful and hilarious book of her quotes, "Question Your Thinking, Change Your Life" There are tons of free resources on the resource page of her site, and great recordings and dvds available in the bookstore section of her site. Her resources cover many common problems we face, like the economic downturn, money, and family relationships, to name a few.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Byron Katie, founder of The Work, has one job: to teach people how to end their own suffering. As she guides people through the powerful process of inquiry called The Work, they find that their stressful beliefs—about life, other people, or themselves— radically shift and their lives are changed forever.
Based on Byron Katie's direct experience of how suffering is created and ended, The Work is an astonishingly simple process, accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds, and requires nothing more than a pen and paper and an open mind.
Through this process, anyone can learn to trace unhappiness to its source and eliminate it there. Katie (as everyone calls her) not only shows us that all the problems in the world originate in our thinking: she gives us the tool to open our minds and set ourselves free.
Katie is the author of three bestselling books:
Loving What Is (with Stephen Mitchell);
I Need Your Love—Is That True? (with Michael Katz); and
A Thousand Names for Joy: (with Stephen Mitchell).
Question Your Thinking, Change the World was published in 2007, and
Who Would You Be Without Your Story?, in 2008.
Tiger-Tiger, Is It True?, Katie’s first book for children, is due to be released November 15th and is now available for preorder.
Byron Katie became severely depressed in her early thirties. For almost a decade she spiraled down into depression, rage, self-loathing, and constant thoughts of suicide; for the last two years she was often unable to leave her bedroom.
Then one morning in February 1986, she experienced a life-changing realization. There are various names for an experience like this. Katie calls it "waking up to reality."
In that instant of no-time, she says,
I discovered that when I believed my thoughts, I suffered, but that when I didn’t believe them, I didn’t suffer, and that this is true for every human being. Freedom is as simple as that. I found that suffering is optional. I found a joy within me that has never disappeared, not for a single moment. That joy is in everyone, always.
She realized that what had been causing her depression was not the world around her, but the beliefs she'd had about the world. Instead of hopelessly trying to change the world to match her thoughts about how it should be, she could question these thoughts and, by meeting reality as it is, experience unimaginable freedom and joy. As a result, a bedridden, suicidal woman was instantly filled with love for everything life brings.
Katie's process of self-inquiry, called The Work, didn't develop from this experience; she says that it woke up with her, as her, that February morning in 1986. The first people who did The Work reported that it had transformed their lives, and she soon began receiving invitations to teach the process publicly.
Since 1986, she has brought The Work to hundreds of thousands of people across the world, at free public events, in prisons, hospitals, churches, corporations, universities, schools, at weekend workshops, and at her amazing nine-day School for The Work.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Do The Work Free Helpline (you can call this number and a volunteer will help you with troubling thoughts over the phone) http://www.instituteforthework.com/community/index.php?module=nd_user_hotline
Directions for the hotline:
Before using the Do The Work Helpline you must read the following information and click the button at the bottom of the page.
About Do The Work Helpline Volunteer Facilitators
- The Do The Work Helpline is staffed by Institute for The Work candidates and Certified Facilitators who give of their time to support you in doing The Work. They are happy to answer your questions about The Work.
- Do The Work Helpline Facilitators are either Certified Facilitators or candidates enrolled in the Facilitator Certification Program who are in the process of completing their final training within the Institute for The Work
- Do The Work Helpline Facilitators are trained and experienced.
- Do The Work Helpline Facilitators are not mental health experts and do not give professional mental health or medical advice.
Calling the Do The Work Helpline
- Do The Work Helpline Facilitators respect your wish to remain anonymous.
- You must call the Do The Work Helpline directly. No collect calls will be accepted.
- You are free to call any one of the listed Facilitators during the hours they are available. Please respect their specified availability and do not call any other time unless you have the Facilitator's direct permission.
- If all Do The Work Helpline Facilitators are busy and your phone call goes to voicemail, please leave a message with your Skype information/phone number. Do The Work Helpline Facilitators will do their best to respond to your call.
- When you call, be prepared with a completed Judge-Your-Neighbor Worksheet and/or a list of stressful concepts that are bothering you, or a question about doing The Work.
- The length of your call depends on a variety of factors. Our intention is to make ourselves available to as many people as possible, and we love supporting you in this way.
- If you are in immediate danger of harming yourself or others, please call 911 or contact a local mental health professional or organization.
*(from Amanda: please note : These directions on how to do The Work's Self Inquiry Method tell you to complete a “judge your neighbor worksheet” before calling the free helpline.
There is another worksheet available that you can complete if it is an overall belief about life that is troubling you, instead of a person….it is called the “One Belief at a Time Worksheet” http://www.thework.com/downloads/onebelief.pdf )
Do The Work Helpline Facilitator's Responsibilities
- It is the Facilitator's responsibility to help you through The Work (four questions and a turnaround), not to give advice or therapy.
- If the Do The Work Helpline Facilitator feels that it is the end of your session together, they may inform you of that and determine to end the session.
Grief Resources:
Here is a video about loss you can view easily from You tube:
http://www.thework.com/video_loss.asp
I have this dvd to loan…..under the bookstore section of her site, www.thework.com you will see my two favorite books of hers for your situation, A thousand names for joy and Question your thinking, change your life (A quote book)
Our Price: $24.95 |
|