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Healer Byron Katie

byronkatie.jpgThe work of Byron Katie is brilliant! She has been tagged by the 11th Hour Action network as an expert on their list of gurus. Her mission is to end human (mental) suffering. Byron has posted a number of talks to her site called The Work which “is a simple yet powerful process of inquiry that teaches you to identify and question thoughts that cause all the suffering in the world. It’s a way to understand what’s hurting you, and to address your problems with clarity” The Work begins with a four step worksheet:

  1. The first step asks one to let the judge or inner critic take over. Now, I’ve been trained in suspending judgement, so making critical remarks of others in writing was a challenge for me at this time in my life.
  2. After this first step of spilling the dirt, the second step in her process is to turn these questions around with these four questions: Is it true? Can you absolutely know that it’s true? How do you react, what happens, when you think that thought? Who would you be without the thought?
  3. Step three in this process is to change the statements around to be the opposite of your original thoughts. This step can become what Byron refers to as the prescription for happiness. To better explain the turnaround here is the example, “Jill doesn’t understand me” can be turned around to “Jill does understand me.” Another turnaround is “I don’t understand Jill” A third is “I don’t understand myself.” Another sample is:“I need him to be kind to me” turns around to:– I don’t need him to be kind to me.- I need me to be kind to him. (Can I live it?)- I need me to be kind to myself.
  4. The final step involves turning the final answer in the worksheet around to become “I am willing …” and “I look forward to …” because it has now become something I can learn more about myself from. This is an exercise to see that uncomfortable feelings are just reminders that we’ve attached to things that are not true for us. It means working on seeing the perceived enemy as friend. As Katie says “Friendship is an internal experience. You may never see him again, you may even divorce him, but as you think about him are you feeling stress or peace”

Essentially her mission is to teach people how to end their own suffering. Benefits described in the work are:

  • Alleviation of depression: Finding resolution, and even happiness, in situations that were once debilitating.
  • Decreased stress: Learning how to live with less anxiety or fear.
  • Improved relationships: Experiencing deeper connection and intimacy with your partner, your parents, your children, your friends, and yourself.
  • Reduced anger: Understanding what makes you angry and resentful, and become less reactive, less often, with less intensity.
  • Increased mental clarity: Living and working more intelligently and effectively, with integrity.
  • More energy: Experiencing a new sense of ongoing vigor and well-being.
  • More peace: Discovering how to become “a lover of what is.”

These techniques prove very helpful when discussing important sustainability topics that may require one to see all sides of an issue. Image Source

Written by Lucille Chi

Lucy Chi loves good green design, ethical fashion, environmental art and education, renewables, holistic healing and more. She has been dedicating her energies toward finding and drawing attention to all the ways in which products, companies, and industries are moving toward creating a more sustainable world on the global scale, as well as the way individuals are moving toward living sustainably, and healing at the personal level.

Sustainability studies: PresidioMBA.org &
B.S. Cornell University, College of Human Ecology, Dept. of Textiles and Fiber Science.

Contact: lucillechi (at) gmail.com

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