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Your Inner Awakening: The Work of Byron Katie: Four Questions That Will Transform Your Life
Discover the Four Questions that Will Forever Transform Your Life's Journey
No matter how much money, status, or success they may have, very few people experience true joy and personal freedom. Byron Katie knows this reality too well. In the midst of a "normal and successful" life, she was sinking deeper and deeper into depression and despair until a sudden, profound insight into how the mind works set her on the path to a life filled with love for everything life brings. Eager to help others find this freedom, Katie developed a revolutionary process to make this transformation practical, a simple yet powerful method of inquiry known as The Work.
The Work's four powerful questions and turnaround (which is a way of experiencing the opposite of what you believe) have transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world. In Your Inner Awakening, Byron Katie will teach you how to use The Work for yourself to question and undo any stressful thought that keeps you from experiencing mental clarity. You'll discover that trying to let go of a painful thought never works; instead once you have investigated it, the thought lets go of you. Eventually you may find, as so many others have, that peace and joy flow into every area of your life.
Running time: 7 hours, on 6 CDs.
No matter how much money, status, or success they may have, very few people experience true joy and personal freedom. Byron Katie knows this reality too well. In the midst of a "normal and successful" life, she was sinking deeper and deeper into depression and despair until a sudden, profound insight into how the mind works set her on the path to a life filled with love for everything life brings. Eager to help others find this freedom, Katie developed a revolutionary process to make this transformation practical, a simple yet powerful method of inquiry known as The Work.
The Work's four powerful questions and turnaround (which is a way of experiencing the opposite of what you believe) have transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world. In Your Inner Awakening, Byron Katie will teach you how to use The Work for yourself to question and undo any stressful thought that keeps you from experiencing mental clarity. You'll discover that trying to let go of a painful thought never works; instead once you have investigated it, the thought lets go of you. Eventually you may find, as so many others have, that peace and joy flow into every area of your life.
Running time: 7 hours, on 6 CDs.
6 pages, Audio CD
First published January 1, 2006
26 people are currently reading
2207 people want to read
About the author
Byron Katie
107 books1,149 followersByron Kathleen Mitchell, better known as Byron Katie, is an American speaker, writer, and founder of a method of self-inquiry called The Work of Byron Katie or simply The Work.
Katie became severely depressed in her early thirties. She was a businesswoman and mother who lived in Barstow, a small town in the high desert of southern California. For nearly a decade she spiraled down into paranoia, rage, self-loathing, and constant thoughts of suicide; for the last two years she was often unable to leave her bedroom. Then, one morning in February 1986, while in a halfway house for women with eating disorders, she experienced a life-changing realization. In that moment, she says,
Soon afterward people started seeking her out and asking how they could find the freedom that they saw in her. As reports spread about the transformations they felt they were experiencing through The Work, she was invited to present it publicly elsewhere in California, then throughout the United States, and eventually in Europe and across the world.
The Work has been compared to the Socratic method and to Zen meditation, but Katie is not aligned with any religion or tradition. She describes self-inquiry as an embodiment, in words, of the wordless questioning that had woken up in her on that February morning. She has shared The Work with millions of people at public events, in prisons, hospitals, churches, V. A. treatment centers, corporations, universities, and schools. Participants at her weekend workshops, the nine-day School for The Work, and the twenty-eight-day residential Turnaround House report profound experiences and lasting transformations. “Katie’s events are riveting to watch,” the Times of London reported. Eckhart Tolle calls The Work “a great blessing for our planet.” And Time magazine named Katie a “spiritual innovator for the new millennium.”
Katie is married to the writer and translator Stephen Mitchell, who co-wrote Loving What Is, A Thousand Names for Joy, and A Mind at Home with Itself. I Need Your Love—Is That True? was written with Michael Katz, her literary agent at the time. Her other books are Question Your Thinking, Change The World; Who Would You Be Without Your Story?; Peace in the Present Moment, with Eckhart Tolle, A Friendly Universe, and, for children, Tiger-Tiger, Is It True? and The Four Questions. On her website thework.com, you will find detailed instructions about The Work; video and audio clips; Katie's calendar of events; event registration; free downloads, including the Judge-Your-Neighbor Worksheet; interviews; apps for your iPhone, iPad, or Android; a free newsletter; a free helpline; and the online store. You might also want to visit Katie's Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages, and her live-streaming webcast page, livewithbyronkatie.com.
Katie became severely depressed in her early thirties. She was a businesswoman and mother who lived in Barstow, a small town in the high desert of southern California. For nearly a decade she spiraled down into paranoia, rage, self-loathing, and constant thoughts of suicide; for the last two years she was often unable to leave her bedroom. Then, one morning in February 1986, while in a halfway house for women with eating disorders, she experienced a life-changing realization. In that moment, she says,
I discovered that when I believed my thoughts, I suffered, but that when I didn’t believe them, I didn’t suffer, and that this is true for every human being. Freedom is as simple as that. I found that suffering is optional. I found a joy within me that has never disappeared, not for a single moment.
Soon afterward people started seeking her out and asking how they could find the freedom that they saw in her. As reports spread about the transformations they felt they were experiencing through The Work, she was invited to present it publicly elsewhere in California, then throughout the United States, and eventually in Europe and across the world.
The Work has been compared to the Socratic method and to Zen meditation, but Katie is not aligned with any religion or tradition. She describes self-inquiry as an embodiment, in words, of the wordless questioning that had woken up in her on that February morning. She has shared The Work with millions of people at public events, in prisons, hospitals, churches, V. A. treatment centers, corporations, universities, and schools. Participants at her weekend workshops, the nine-day School for The Work, and the twenty-eight-day residential Turnaround House report profound experiences and lasting transformations. “Katie’s events are riveting to watch,” the Times of London reported. Eckhart Tolle calls The Work “a great blessing for our planet.” And Time magazine named Katie a “spiritual innovator for the new millennium.”
Katie is married to the writer and translator Stephen Mitchell, who co-wrote Loving What Is, A Thousand Names for Joy, and A Mind at Home with Itself. I Need Your Love—Is That True? was written with Michael Katz, her literary agent at the time. Her other books are Question Your Thinking, Change The World; Who Would You Be Without Your Story?; Peace in the Present Moment, with Eckhart Tolle, A Friendly Universe, and, for children, Tiger-Tiger, Is It True? and The Four Questions. On her website thework.com, you will find detailed instructions about The Work; video and audio clips; Katie's calendar of events; event registration; free downloads, including the Judge-Your-Neighbor Worksheet; interviews; apps for your iPhone, iPad, or Android; a free newsletter; a free helpline; and the online store. You might also want to visit Katie's Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages, and her live-streaming webcast page, livewithbyronkatie.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
September 21, 2017
Absolutely not my cup of tea. Where it is of course useful to question your own thoughts about a situation that causes stress or anger or depression, to do so with a much too simplified method where the turnout is always the same (your thoughts are false) is in my opinion missing the mark in many and even harmful in some situations.
I'd rather take myself and my thoughts seriously on the whole, taking it with a pinch of salt here and there of course. When endeavouring to examine my thoughts, i would rather use a much more open-minded and successful method: that of the cognitive behaviour therapy.
One wisdom i took from it was: whenever you find yourself battling against reality, you will lose. It will definitely make me unhappy to focus on things i cannot change.
But then again, if the suffragettes had this attitude do you think women would be able to vote nowadays? I'd like to stick to this old wisdom:
Lord, grand me the serenity to accept the things i cannot change, the courage the change the things i can and the wisdom to tell the difference.
I'd rather take myself and my thoughts seriously on the whole, taking it with a pinch of salt here and there of course. When endeavouring to examine my thoughts, i would rather use a much more open-minded and successful method: that of the cognitive behaviour therapy.
One wisdom i took from it was: whenever you find yourself battling against reality, you will lose. It will definitely make me unhappy to focus on things i cannot change.
But then again, if the suffragettes had this attitude do you think women would be able to vote nowadays? I'd like to stick to this old wisdom:
Lord, grand me the serenity to accept the things i cannot change, the courage the change the things i can and the wisdom to tell the difference.
April 17, 2015
Self-help guru alert! What’s all this Katie Byron stuff about? I have heard several people talking about Katie Byron, so I decided to check it out.
According to Katie, we suffer when we believe our thoughts, and we are freed from our suffering when we question our thoughts. Our untrue thoughts are the source of suffering. Katie has developed a concrete technique for questioning your thoughts. She calls this The Work and refers to it as meditation— I think of it as mind training. Her technique is particularly effective against externalization and is paired nicely with Lojong slogan 12, drive all blames into one. Own your shit! She has people work on a "Judge-Your-Neighbor Worksheet” then go through a cognitive process of questioning these judgements.
Katie’s methods are accessible and should be able to assist people with blame and judgement, especially people who are new to personal growth. It is easy to get started with The Work and it would be useful for people to have access to this tool when they are creating their own suffering. At the same time, I think it would be potentially problematic to rely on this tool too much. There are many logical errors built into the thought processes of The Work, detailed here:
http://mortentolboll.weebly.com/a-cri...
I have a problem with the fact that the entire question cycle is rhetorical. I also have issue with the way The Work eliminates all negativity.
The Work is a solid tool when you are mentally spiraling out of control. When things are really bad, The Work can surely help. As a first step in personal growth (eliminating blame and externalization), The Work is a cheaper than therapy and likely to be effective. But trying to use The Work to achieve enlightenment, as Katie indicates, is likely to be problematic. It is good to question our thoughts— we should all do this regularly. The Work is a great tool, but it should not be the only tool.
According to Katie, we suffer when we believe our thoughts, and we are freed from our suffering when we question our thoughts. Our untrue thoughts are the source of suffering. Katie has developed a concrete technique for questioning your thoughts. She calls this The Work and refers to it as meditation— I think of it as mind training. Her technique is particularly effective against externalization and is paired nicely with Lojong slogan 12, drive all blames into one. Own your shit! She has people work on a "Judge-Your-Neighbor Worksheet” then go through a cognitive process of questioning these judgements.
Katie’s methods are accessible and should be able to assist people with blame and judgement, especially people who are new to personal growth. It is easy to get started with The Work and it would be useful for people to have access to this tool when they are creating their own suffering. At the same time, I think it would be potentially problematic to rely on this tool too much. There are many logical errors built into the thought processes of The Work, detailed here:
http://mortentolboll.weebly.com/a-cri...
I have a problem with the fact that the entire question cycle is rhetorical. I also have issue with the way The Work eliminates all negativity.
The Work is a solid tool when you are mentally spiraling out of control. When things are really bad, The Work can surely help. As a first step in personal growth (eliminating blame and externalization), The Work is a cheaper than therapy and likely to be effective. But trying to use The Work to achieve enlightenment, as Katie indicates, is likely to be problematic. It is good to question our thoughts— we should all do this regularly. The Work is a great tool, but it should not be the only tool.
May 23, 2016
Having worked on the 4 questions worksheet from the recommendation of many of my friends who are coaches, I really enjoyed learning more about the ideas behind it.
Byron Katie created what she calls the "Four questions" as a means of self inquiry to delve deeper into your psyche and your thoughts. As with anything, you need to try it out for yourself to experience the benefits. For me, I've found them incredibly powerful in shifting your focus to what the real truth of your experience is. Especially in moments of conflict, anger, annoyance etc at yourself or those around you.
I loved listening to her live coaching because of this, and hearing again and again, how what we believe the truth is vs actually inquiring deeper - it's different. The great thing about the questions is it focuses on you taking responsibility for things and looking within, instead of what most do - look externally to blame/make excuses etc etc. Helping you to realise how much of your suffering, in practice, is totally self created.
The four questions are simple.
1.) Is that the absolute truth?
2.) Can you know that 100% to be true?
3.) How does that thought make you feel? How do I react when I think that thought?
4.) Who would you be without that thought?
What I will take away from this book is to practice this line of self inquiry as a daily practice. Combined with the learnings from Don Miguel Ruiz & Neil Strauss about wounds, and reactivity I think this will give me some tangible things to work on in each moment of my life.
It's a empowering process of analysis and inquiry. Reminds me of what I learned from S N Goenka about constantly digging deeper into the nature of what is "real" and what isn't.
Can't wait to read more her work!
Byron Katie created what she calls the "Four questions" as a means of self inquiry to delve deeper into your psyche and your thoughts. As with anything, you need to try it out for yourself to experience the benefits. For me, I've found them incredibly powerful in shifting your focus to what the real truth of your experience is. Especially in moments of conflict, anger, annoyance etc at yourself or those around you.
I loved listening to her live coaching because of this, and hearing again and again, how what we believe the truth is vs actually inquiring deeper - it's different. The great thing about the questions is it focuses on you taking responsibility for things and looking within, instead of what most do - look externally to blame/make excuses etc etc. Helping you to realise how much of your suffering, in practice, is totally self created.
The four questions are simple.
1.) Is that the absolute truth?
2.) Can you know that 100% to be true?
3.) How does that thought make you feel? How do I react when I think that thought?
4.) Who would you be without that thought?
What I will take away from this book is to practice this line of self inquiry as a daily practice. Combined with the learnings from Don Miguel Ruiz & Neil Strauss about wounds, and reactivity I think this will give me some tangible things to work on in each moment of my life.
It's a empowering process of analysis and inquiry. Reminds me of what I learned from S N Goenka about constantly digging deeper into the nature of what is "real" and what isn't.
Can't wait to read more her work!
January 23, 2021
I know I am finding all these teachers when I am meant to, however I wonder how my life would have been impacted if I discovered Byron Katie earlier on. None the less, what she has gifted with The Work is so simple, yet can be a gateway to freedom from the confines that our minds create. At least, I am finding that true for myself. I will keep doing The Work as one tool for my personal growth.
March 27, 2015
Byron Katie has such great insight into life. She understands how we project our challenges and frustrations onto other people. As one who often seeks others' approval, I love how she reminds us that we need to get our own approval for ourselves. That is the most important thing. Accept and love ourselves for who we are. Next, love and accept others for who they are without trying to change them. Then, drop the whole "trying to get others to approve of us" bit. It will never work.
and of course...remember to stop and "do the work". Love, Love, Love.
and of course...remember to stop and "do the work". Love, Love, Love.
August 3, 2009
I just love her philosophy. Your own thoughts can create peaceful or stressful feelings in your life. So simple to question the beliefs your mind has and truly become a positive thinker. Great book.
August 14, 2015
it works!
October 27, 2022
The questions she covers in the book and how to use them are very transforming and insightful. Amazing how much clarity can come from 4 simple questions. I didn't care for how closely tied it was to Nihilism. If life is a dream and nothing is real anyway, why learn these questions? I just feel it would have been much easier to digest if that area wasn't so forward, and instead if focused on using the four questions.
September 9, 2019
I enjoyed listening to the audiobook. Yet again, Katie Byron shows the way the mind can connect with the Mind with 4 simple questions. This questioning leads to the discovery of unconditional love. It helps you accept any circumstances that you are in, and love those circumstances for what they are; Love.
October 20, 2021
This was a good follow up after reading her book "Loving What Is"
My takeaways:
- Look who you are alone with and ask yourself if they are good company? This is the problem if you don't know how to be the version of you I absolutely love and want spend time with.
- The problem is that you believe what you think and you hate what you think.
EVERY INTERNAL WAR MUST BE FOUGHT ON PAPER
My takeaways:
- Look who you are alone with and ask yourself if they are good company? This is the problem if you don't know how to be the version of you I absolutely love and want spend time with.
- The problem is that you believe what you think and you hate what you think.
EVERY INTERNAL WAR MUST BE FOUGHT ON PAPER
July 10, 2025
"A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It's not our thoughts, but our attachment to our thoughts, that causes suffering."
I found this book extremely thought provoking, helpful and insightful. A few times, I thought "what? Give me a break, this lady is crazy" lol, but for the most part I really liked the book and the 4 questions REALLY are helpful in application.
I found this book extremely thought provoking, helpful and insightful. A few times, I thought "what? Give me a break, this lady is crazy" lol, but for the most part I really liked the book and the 4 questions REALLY are helpful in application.
August 9, 2022
> Audible < Love Byron Katie's work but this book seemed repetitive and I just couldn't get into it, so I didn't finish it. The four questions are simple to understand but not always easy to remember. Good concepts to learn.
February 24, 2023
Highly recommended by Jen Sincero so I checked it out. By asking the 4 questions you can be an unbothered queen and someone with integrity (not a hypocrite). I felt empowered to just face and accept reality without being dramatic about it. Definitely helped on my journey to zen
August 10, 2023
Tja .. ik hou denk ik toch niet zo van een boek dag beweert dat 't alles oplost. De vragen zijn interessant, maar om nou te zeggen dat je daarmee al je gedachten kunt omkeren en blij en vrij kunt leven... tja...
May 17, 2024
A fair look at the 4 questions of Byron Katie. Explained with live case studies and illustration of her worksheets. A helpful way to learn to reframe thoughts and beliefs. Similar to cognitive behavior therapy.
May 30, 2017
This book started off a one for me. By the time it was finished, I could see the merit in the approach.
February 6, 2020
“The Work” and the four questions that “doing the Work” involves are helpful and potentially life changing. But did I need so many examples and personal stories from the author?
April 2, 2021
I‘m still not quite sure if she is genuine or a fraud ....
June 10, 2021
Aw man this book made me cry. Byron Katie is a beautiful person.
January 28, 2022
I hated it less than I thought I would, weird
May 11, 2022
Life changing !!
July 26, 2022
Kitap etkiledi ama bir kere the worku yapmadim.. hala faydasivar diye dusunuyorum
January 13, 2023
Thank you Byron Katie for writing and narrating this book.
For expanding on ideas taught to me by Patricia Tallman.
For expanding on ideas taught to me by Patricia Tallman.
April 26, 2023
Intrigante! Só colocando em prática.
A realidade é o que é. O modo como a vemos é que faz diferença.
A realidade é o que é. O modo como a vemos é que faz diferença.
March 18, 2024
“Everything we’re seeking we already have.”
Such amazing advice in this book for your mind and peace🙌🏼
Such amazing advice in this book for your mind and peace🙌🏼
October 23, 2024
Everyone should read this book, it really works. A new perspective on what we think, our perceptions of the people we love & our misguided thoughts.
February 12, 2025
Philosophical on the power of how our thoughts Influence our path to healing. Not evidence based but the logic is sound.
February 5, 2017
Better the second time. I read this 8 years ago and felt very confused by it.
June 30, 2014
Start with this one. I've been walking my way around Byron Katie for over a year now because I couldn't wade through all the YouTube videos or make time to pick up "Loving What Is." My coach sent me this one and I've just finished listening and I'm a fan, a believer and a convert to Katie's four questions.
For those ready to rid themselves of negative thinking, fear, and corrosive victim mentality, answering Katie's questions will take you inside yourself which is where all the answers reside.
Highly recommend.
For those ready to rid themselves of negative thinking, fear, and corrosive victim mentality, answering Katie's questions will take you inside yourself which is where all the answers reside.
Highly recommend.
October 6, 2015
To be fair, I didn't finish this book. I found the first couple of chapters so extremely off-putting, that I actually got mad. What is said is so extremely inflated and arrogant. The author claims that suffering ALWAYS (note there are no exceptions) is optional. How narrow is her view of the world to claim something so ridiculous? Of course for her it might have been optional, as her biggest problem was her own awful behaviour to her kids.
I found this truly awful.
I found this truly awful.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews