Byron Katie on The Work
Byron Katie discusses self-inquiry – are our thoughts and feelings true, or just a program that we keep running, to our own detriment?
Severely depressed in her 30s Katie realized that when she believed that something should be different than it was (“My husband should love me more,” “My children should appreciate me”) she suffered, and that when she didn’t believe these thoughts, she felt peace. She realized that what had been causing her depression was not the world around her, but the beliefs she had about the world around her.
She saw that her attempt to find happiness was backward — instead of hopelessly trying to change the world to match her thoughts about how it should be, she questioned the thoughts. By meeting reality as it was, she experienced freedom and joy. Katie developed a simple yet powerful method of inquiry, called The Work, to helped make this transformation practical.