Anxiety
Byron Katie’s The Work helps all who use it’s written meditative practises realize that an uncomfortable feeling is not an enemy. It’s actually the first step towards awareness and enlightenment. Anxiety is a state where you’ve accepted and become familiar with stressful thoughts that cause suffering. All you need to do, is make a new home in your mind for welcoming these thoughts so you can question them, and you can reduce feelings of suffering. Anxiety is just a natural reaction to stressful thoughts and anxiety-producing thoughts can be a gift because they give you this challenge: Be still, get honest and inquire.
Anxiety may cause us to reach out for alcohol, the tv remote, or even credit cards so that your focus turns away from the wisdom inside you and instead looks for it elsewhere.
Feelings of anxiety distract you from the cause of stressful thoughts
It is not past, present, or future events that affect you so much, but rather how you interpret those events and the thoughts that imprint within your mind. Your thoughts will guide you and influence how to react to present situations and actions. Byron Katie’s The Work guides us to drown out the noise of thoughts and instead reach out for a paper and a pencil, write the thought down, and investigate.
Anxious thoughts are unavoidable, but your suffering shouldn’t be
At one point or another, we’ve all been familiar with feelings of anxiety at the thought of going on an important date or attending a party with a lot of people. The thoughts we have about this can be different because some may experience excitement as a response and others might think it’s a nightmare. To address the thoughts that lead to suffering in one way or another (and a host of other undesirable consequences), The Work of Byron Katie offers a way out.
It is almost as if we live in a made-up world of stressful stories in our mind and we believe that it is reality, rather than what is actually happening. This is what causes suffering. The Work doesn’t believe that the world is perfect as it is but just believes in it as it is. You will suffer less if you come from this place in your mind and you can experience peace. Everything else, our thoughts and assumptions, are only a story of how we want the world to be, and not accepting it for what it is.
The benefits of Byron Katie’s The Work
- Going through this process every time you experience stressful thoughts will help you to address them in a healthier way
- The Work is about inquiry, a look within, and not a look at external sources which creates a strength within you that cannot be changed
- Experience greater awareness, more clarity, more openness, and new insights
- Peace of mind and a greater connection to your inner wisdom
- You’ll be in a better mindful flow of energy to decide what action to take and in some cases, you might decide not to act at all
Some general tips about doing The Work
- Start with the first step – fill in a Judge-Your-Neighbour worksheet based on your thoughts and feelings in a particular situation
- The Work is a written meditation, and you should be open to practise stillness and mental anchoring in past and present moments
- The Work isn’t a quick-fix and cannot be done for you. This is a personal journey that you have to uncover on your own
- It will help change how you approach life because you choose to inquire into your inner world of thought first.
- You can do it on your own, but it can be done with a partner or a certified facilitator