WHO WOULD YOU BE WITHOUT YOUR STORY - Workshop with Byron Katie
(www.thework.com)

By Ellen Hughes

Don’t let her soft voice and calm demeanor fool you. Though soft-spoken, her powerful words will literally change the way you think. As one lady said, “It gets right to your ego.” The workshop folder stated: "Four Questions That Can Change Your Life. The Work is a simple yet powerful process of inquiry that teaches you to identify and question the thoughts that cause all the suffering and violence in the world. It's a way to understand what's hurting you and to address it with clarity.” (www.thework.com)

In the folder were three worksheets. One was entitled “Judge-Your-Neighbor”. While we were filling it out, Katie talked about The Work. She introduced The Work in 1986. “I woke up 23 years ago in heaven. I had no sickness, no pain or suffering. I woke up to ‘what is.’ Thoughts are not the problem. It’s when we believe our thoughts; that is when suffering happens.”

She talked a lot about love. “Until I love myself unconditionally, I can’t love anyone else with unconditional thoughts.” She looks at things in a very unique way. For instance:

• “You know what I love about the past, it’s over.”
• “We project pain before it happens.  Until you project it, it doesn’t exist.” 
•  “Forgiveness is seeing what you thought happened didn’t.” 
• “An immature mind is a resentful mind.  A fearful mind.”
• “Love will kill everything that is not like itself.”
• “Suffering is optional.”

She talked about first generational thinking.  An example would be, “My son is in the hospital.  I am paying the doctor bills.”  First generational thinking is what is.  Nothing is projected onto it (i.e. my son is sick, I won’t be able to pay the bills.)  An audience member asked, “What is doing the projecting?”  Katie answered, “The mind is; it is understanding itself.”

Several people volunteered to discuss their worksheet.  One by one she asked them to “step into my parlour”.  It was as if she was inviting a neighbor over instead of helping someone change their perspective on an issue that plagued them.   One man discussed his abusive father.  Katie told him to, “Sit in pain for a long time in the interest of peace.  You know what I love about the past, it’s over.  The pain you are feeling in the moment is over. It’s when we project pain in the future is the only way pain exists.”

A woman discussed how she was afraid to fly because it might crash. Katie said, “It’s not so much the end that you are afraid of.  It’s the thinking all the way down that you don’t want to experience.”  She talked about what if she didn’t think all the way down.  The pain is over immediately.  It’s your thoughts about it that make it linger and make it bad.  One by one, people on stage discussed their issues and one by one, Katie showed them how to change their thinking using The Work. 

One particular conversation on stage I found very interesting went as follows:

Lady    “I don’t want to see her again.“
BK      “Do you see a picture of her in your head?” 
Lady    “Yes.”
BK      “Then you are seeing her.”

Isn’t it amazing how your mind changes when you look at things differently?

I found The Work to be very powerful and I invite you to discover it.  There is an on-line event on July 9 – Freedom From Financial Worry - www.hayhouse.com.  Her soft voice and calm demeanor will not fool you, it will change you.