The Work - Four Questions and a Turnaround

When people hear the term "The Work" I imagine sweat, blood, and tears are at the top of their thoughts. But thankfully, I'm not into sweat, blood, and tears unless I've been driven to do "The Work" because of unquestioned thoughts.

The Work is the easy part. It's the saving grace part. It's the alleviation of suffering part. So with that said, when you're ready to end your suffering, let's get to The Work and here it is:

Four Questions and a Turnaround

1. Is it true?
2. Can you absolutely know that it's true?
3. How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?
4. Who would you be without that thought?

Then we turn the thought around and find at least three genuine examples of how the turnaround is true or truer than your original thought.

That's it. Easy.

Because I want to keep this blog in digestible pieces, I will be exploring and offering examples as well as my own thoughts up for analysis. I believe if we can witness real live examples of this process, it gives us courage and understanding to engage the process ourselves.

I discovered The Work from Byron Katie's book, Loving What Is. In it, she takes live examples and puts them to the Four Questions and Turnaround. This is the process she calls The Work. I encourage you to put up a copy of the book if you've not done so already! Then read it. Then test it by doing the work yourself. Then read it again. And again. For me, this is how it became almost second nature to question the thoughts I would otherwise hook into that would create my suffering. Until next time, have a reality!