I've discovered a quite amazing woman. You may have heard of her: Byron Katie, the American lady behind The Work -- a phenomenal life-changing system used by corporations, universities, schools, churches, prisons and hospitals (and not to mention counsellors, psychologists and therapists). In other words, this ain't your run-of-the-mill, wishywashy, airy-fairy New Age stuff; The Work is real, profound, practical and mind-expanding. Here's how to do it.
To fully understand her philosophy and background, you'll need to pick up a copy of Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life, but Byron Katie herself can sum up The Work in just 12 words: "Judge your neighbour, Write it down. Ask four questions, Turn it around". There's obviously a bit more explaining behind this than I can do justice to in a blog, but the basic idea is that you download a Judge-Your-Neighbour worksheet (here), fill it out, and follow the Four Questions:

Is it true?

Can you absolutely know that it's true?

How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?

Who would you be without the thought?

Then turn it around (the concept you are questioning), and don't forget to find three genuine, specific examples of each turnaround.

Taken verbatim from her book/website, here's the fascinating tale behind how The Work came about:

"Byron Katie became severely depressed in her early thirties. For almost a decade she spiraled down into depression, 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, she experienced a life-changing realisation. There are various names for an experience like this. Katie calls it "waking up to reality." In that instant of no-time, 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. That joy is in everyone, always.

She realised that what had been causing her depression was not the world around her, but the beliefs she'd had about the world. Instead of hopelessly trying to change the world to match her thoughts about how it should be, she could question these thoughts and, by meeting reality as it is, experience unimaginable freedom and joy. As a result, a bedridden, suicidal woman was instantly filled with love for everything life brings.

Katie's process of self-inquiry, called The Work, didn't develop from this experience; she says that it woke up with her, as her, that February morning in 1986. The first people who did The Work reported that it had transformed their lives."

Visit www.TheWork.com