Stress Relief with the Work of Byron Katie

Looking to remove the stress from your day-to-day experience? It's all about your thoughts. No, this isn't another positive thinking schtick. You don't need to paper over your negative thoughts.

Instead, give them a little attention. Notice them. Invite them in for a cup of tea. Give them some of the love and understanding they've been yearning for.

How to do this? The Work of Byron Katie, which consists of four questions and a turnaround. Are you ready to turn your world upside down? Try The Work and find out that the opposite of every stressful thought is as true or truer.

The end result of this is freedom-freedom from any stressful thought that ever occurs to you. People who do The Work on their thoughts eventually realize that it's never the situation that needs to change. It's only the misguided thinking of the confused person misinterpreting the situation. When we're stressed, we're confused.

The four questions of The Work are simple, elegant, and effective. The first question is, "Is it true?" So you take a stressful thought like "My boss is an idiot," and apply the questions. Is it true?

Well, yes! And you have all of the evidence to prove it, don't you?

The second question is, "Can you absolutely know that it's true?" At this point you might feel yourself becoming more flexible. You might find a no. You might still remain firmly convinced that your boss is an idiot.

The third question asks, "How do you react when you believe that thought?" So you take a moment to go in and discover how the thought affects you. You realize that your body gets tense, you shut down to input from your boss and others, you spend more time gossiping, you don't fully and fairly consider your boss's ideas, you have trouble concentrating-all effects of holding onto this belief.

And then the fourth question: "Who would you be without that thought?" Imagine-you are unable to think that your boss is an idiot. You might actually be kind to your boss from a genuine place, not putting on an act. You might notice the good qualities in your boss. You might have more genuine respect for yourself and everyone around you.

It doesn't mean that you are blind to what your boss or anyone else does. It just means that you cease for a moment to put a judgmental and stressful label on it. In that moment you begin to realize...I could live my whole life like this, awareness intact but without stressful judgment. That leaves you so clear to do something brilliant and fresh in any situation.

The turnaround invites you to consider all the angles of the opposites. My boss is an idiot. What about, "My boss is not an idiot?" Can you find three genuine ways in which your boss is not an idiot? Well, yes. Through this process we come to realize that we are all idiots and not idiots. It's not personal.

Another turnaround would be, "I am an idiot." What's so threatening about that? Can you go in and find three ways you have been an idiot at work? Well, yes-gossiping about my boss, for one.

The best way to see how life-changing The Work can be is by seeing it in action. Go to www.thework.com and scroll down to The Work in Action, or search "The Work of Byron Katie" on YouTube.

Ready to do The Work? Get started with the Judge Your Neighbor worksheet. This is where you let loose with your stressful thoughts, with no need to be positive or spiritual. You simply get to be you in all honesty. The One-Belief-at-a-Time worksheet will guide you through the process of The Work.