PRAISE FOR BYRON KATIE AND
THE WORK
A spiritual innovator for the new millennium. The charismatic Katie acts as a combination mystical guide, wise-cracking therapist and knowing parent.
Time magazine
Katies laser-like tough love burns away all illusions.
The Times (London)
Byron Katies Work is a great blessing for our planet. It acts like a razor-sharp sword that cuts through illusions and enables you to know for yourself the timeless essence of your being.
Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now
Suppose you could find a simple way to embrace your life with joy, and achieve serenity in the midst of chaos? That is what Katie offers. It is no less than a revolutionary way to live your life. The question is: are we brave enough to accept it?
Erica Jong, author of Fear of Flying
Katies Work is a wonderful, transformative practice for anyone interested in spiritual growth.
Lama Surya Das, author of Awakening the Buddha Within
The Work of Byron Katie is a completely accessible user-friendly form of the ancient way of spiritual inquiry, a simple method that anyone can use to untangle difficulties in work, love and family, and at the same time it opens the deepest spiritual directions.
John Tarrant, author of The Light Inside the Dark
The Work of Byron Katie is a powerful process of discovery, a key that unlocks the heart. Byron Katies insight into what is at the core of happiness and fulfillment is truly enlightening.
Anthony Robbins, author of Awaken the Giant Within
Katies teachings and everyday life are pure wisdom. She shows us the way to inner peace, and she directs us there fearlessly, relentlessly, and with utmost generosity. I have rarely seen anyonespiritual teachers includedembody wisdom as powerfully as Katie in her passionate embrace of each and every moment.
Roshi Bernie Glassman, author of Bearing Witness: A Zen Masters Lessons in Making Peace
ALSO BY BYRON KATIE
A Thousand Names for Joy (with Stephen Mitchell)
I Need Your LoveIs That True?
(with Michael Katz)
Loving What Is (with Stephen Mitchell)
All of the above are available at your local
bookstore, or may be ordered by visiting:
Hay House USA: www.hayhouse.com
Hay House Australia: www.hayhouse.com.au
Hay House UK: www.hayhouse.co.uk
Hay House South Africa: www.hayhouse.co.za
Hay House India: www.hayhouse.co.in
Copyright 2007 by Byron Kathleen Mitchell
Published and distributed in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published and distributed in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published and distributed in the Republic of South Africa by: Hay House SA, (Pty), Ltd. www.hayhouse.co.za Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast: www.raincoast.com Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in
Design: Tricia Breidenthal
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviewswithout prior written permission of the publisher. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.
Some of the passages in this book first appeared in Byron Katies Loving What Is and A Thousand Names for Joy, and are reprinted by permission of Harmony Books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Katie, Byron.
Question your thinking, change the world: quotations from Byron Katie / edited by Stephen Mitchell. -- 1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN-13: 978-1-4019-2093-7
ISBN-13: 978-1-4019-1730-2 (tradepaper) 1.Conduct of life-- Quotations, maxims, etc. 2. Self-acceptance. 3. Reality. I. Mitchell, Stephen, 1943- II. Title.
BJ1581.2. K34 2007
158--dc22
2006029473
ISBN:978-1-4019-1730-2
11 10 09 08 7 6 5 4
1st edition, October 2007
4th edition, February 2008
Printed in the United States of America
To Bob, Dana, Ross, Roxann, and Scott
CONTENTS
The quotations in this book are just reminders. The fact is that you are the wisdom youve been seeking. My experience is that we all have equal wisdom, and there is no one with more wisdom than you.
You can find that wisdom by doing The Work (which I describe below). Its a way to go inside and tap into your wisdom whenever you want. If you think that you have a problem, youre confused. Go inside and know whats true for you: that is the medicine, that is the freedom. Its the freedom I enjoy.
What I love about The Work is that it allows you to go inside and experience your own freedom for yourself, to experience what already exists within you: the wisdom that is unchanging, immovable, ever waiting, ever present. The Work allows you to go there. Its like going home. You dont need a teacher. To ask is to receive, and now you know what to ask. Dont wait for the answer of anyone else, and dont believe a word I say. Give yourself your own wisdom. You create your own suffering, and you can end it. Its as simple as that.
ABOUT THE WORK
The Work is a simple yet powerful process of inquiry that teaches you to identify and question the stressful thoughts that cause all the suffering in the world. It consists of four questions that you apply to a stressful thought. Its a way to understand whats hurting you, a way to end all your stress and suffering. It works for everyone who is open to it, and it has a profound effect on your whole life. It will affect not only your own life, but your partners life and the lives of your children and your childrens children.
A thought is harmless unless we believe it. Its not our thoughts, but the attachment to our thoughts, that causes suffering. Attaching to a thought means believing that its true, without inquiring. A belief is a thought that weve been attaching to, often for years.