The Work: a systematic, but simple process based on Byron Katie’s direct experience on how we create (and how we can end) suffering in us.

1. A day with Byron Katie

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I came to know about Byron Katie and her work in a book I read a few months
ago. I became immediately intrigued about her approach and had to put down
my book and check her website at once. An hour later, I found myself booking
a ticket for her next seminar that took place in Paris early this month.
The Work (as Katie calls it) is a process that gives you your own answers to
those thoughts that cause you suffering. By identifying and questioning these
thoughts, you eventually find peace with yourself and with others. The Work is
a very systematic, but simple process and is based on Katie’s direct
experience on how we create (and how we can end) suffering in us.
A day with Byron Katie

3. www.angelabelotti.com
The only time we suffer – Katie explained - is when we believe a thought that
argues with what is (in reality).
“My partner should listen more.” “My boss should be kinder.” “Others should be
more considerate.” All stress that we feel is caused by arguing with what is.
This doesn’t mean to condone or approve it. It just means that when we stop
arguing or opposing reality, action becomes simple, fluid and fearless.
What is more empowering? Continuously saying “I wish I hadn’t lost my job” or
thinking “I lost my job. What solution can I find right now?”
What is is

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Much of our stress – as Katie continued in her seminar – comes from
mentally living out of our own business. For instance, when I think, “You need
to get a job, I want you to be happy, you should be on time”, I am in your
business. When I think, “I am worried about an earthquake, or floods or even
when I will die”, I am in God’s business.
Being mentally in your business – Katie clarified - keeps me from being
present in my own. Thus, I am separate from myself, wondering why my life
doesn’t work. So, let me work with that – hence, be in my own business –
before trying to solve your problems for you.
Staying in your business

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A thought is harmless unless we believe it – Katie further explained in her
seminar. It is not our thoughts, but the attachment to our thoughts that
causes suffering.
Thoughts just appear. They come out of nothing and go back to nothing, like
clouds moving across the empty sky. They come to pass, not to stay. There is
no harm in them until we attach to them as if they were true.
I don’t let go of my thoughts – Katie said. I meet them with understanding.
Then, they let go of me.
Meeting your thoughts

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Katie’s process (called The Work) is very simple. It takes you through a set of
six questions asking you to write down your judgements about any stressful
situation in your life, past, present or future. Katie encourages you to write
about someone whom you haven’t totally forgiven or still resent about
something.
The Work then takes you to investigate each judgement through four specific
questions to then turn them around. What happens next is that you see who
you are by seeing who you think other people are. In other words, you come to
see that everything outside you is a reflection of your own thinking.
The Work

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You are the projector of all stories – Katie clarified – and the world is the
projected image of your thoughts. If you are trying to change your outside
reality in order to be happy, it won’t work, because you’re approaching the
problem backward. It’s the projector (i.e. your mind) that needs to change
rather than the projected.
The Work is about taking you out of believing your interpretation of reality
(and which belief causes your suffering), to then taking you into questioning
that interpretation of reality. What you’re left with is peace and happiness in
yourself.
The Work

8. www.angelabelotti.com
It was inspiring to listen to someone who brings so much insight about our
thinking and how it affects our happiness and life.
Katie created The Work out of her direct experience of how suffering is
created and ended. And it is really so simple and effective as is her way to
impart that insight and understanding of our thinking process. As she
explains,
“Until you think or believe of something about others, there is suffering. But
it’s never too late to question that belief or thought so as to find inner peace.”
An unforgettable day

9. www.angelabelotti.com
A day with Byron Katie