Byron Katie guides people on how to get in touch with their true nature by uncovering the layers of their psyche. She causes people who do “The Work” to fall in love with reality by getting honest with themselves. One of the most potent ways she teaches for us to view what is truly going on within our judgments and suffering is by doing turnarounds. Click here to read what we think Byron Katie’s best teachings are.
What Is The Work?
The work is a four-step question process Katie teaches more deeply within her books. She typically guides people to perform thought inquiry through writing as it’s easier to investigate thoughts on paper.
She says this is because “it is the mind’s job to be right” and when investigating thoughts within the head it can justify itself immediately. Sometimes even without us noticing.
On her judge your neighbor worksheet, which you can find here, you will write down your judgment and then put it to work. The Work is four questions that will reveal the underlying truth within your being.
To reap the most benefit out of the work. It is important to be completely authentic with yourself and take time in order for your inner wisdom to come through. Here are the questions of The Work:
- Is it true?
- Can I absolutely know this is true?
- How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?
- Who would you be without that thought?
After applying the work it’s time to work with turnarounds in order to get even more into the roots of what’s going on inside you.
What Are Turnarounds?
Turnarounds are potent perspective shifts that can bring you right into the heart of the thoughts or judgments that cause suffering. They are the inquiry of the truth behind the exact opposite of a thought.
This is because disappointments are always created from you, not the other person. To understand this more you need to understand that your external environment is a reflection of you.
Here is an example of a turnaround Katie gives in her book, Loving What Is, of her judgment towards her husband.
Judgement: "Paul shouldn't have lied to me" Turnarounds: Paul should have lied to me. I lied to Paul. I lied to me.
Through these turnarounds, the next step is to investigate if the turnarounds are more true than the original judgment. You can turn the statements around to the opposite, to yourself, and to the other yet not all judgments will have three turnarounds.
It is okay to leave these that don’t make sense. You are challenged to find 3 reasons why it is more true for each turnaround you can form.
The turnarounds guide us back to the place our reality is created, in us! It is easy to think that a judgment you perceive within another person is strictly about them. Although similar to the quote “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Your judgments are within you.
Continue Getting To Your Core
Similar to the work we have guided journal prompts to help heal each one of the seven chakras. You can start here at the first chakra, the root chakra journal prompts, located at the base of the spine and related to our survival instincts and basic needs.
