Byron Katie

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A woman distraught that her identity has been stolen questions the thought ‘The thief is unkind to me.’ Byron Katie guides her through inquiry to see how this thought affects many aspects of her well-being. When considering a turnaround to her original thought, the woman notices how unraveled she becomes when there is any stress in her life. ‘No,’ she exclaims, ‘I was not panicked by the thief—I was panicked by my thinking.’ ’When we really contemplate the judgments we make, we can see how they cost us our wisdom and our peace.’ Excerpt from a benefit event at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. For more information, visit thework.com.

Identity Theft and Kindness—The Work of Byron Katie

’There’s a plastic garbage dump twice the size of Texas floating in the Pacific. How in the world am I supposed to love that? Is your mental image of the garbage dump the same as the garbage dump?’ Byron Katie asks. ‘Which is causing your stress: the reality or the image?’ When you’re able to understand how stress is created, to clean up your inner environment, you can act more effectively to clean up your outer environment. copyright2015 Byron Katie International, Inc. All rights reserved. For more information, visit thework.com.

Inner and Outer Pollution—The Work of Byron Katie

A mother asks Byron Katie about dealing with her son’s obsessive-compulsive disorder. ’If my son is obsessive-compulsive, and he takes showers again and again,’ Katie says, ‘I might say, Honey, notice how hard you are on yourself. I understand that, because in my own way I judge myself too, and I’m working on it. But tell me, did you enjoy the shower?’ The best way to love your children is to understand your own mind. copyright2015 Byron Katie International, Inc. All rights reserved. For more information, visit thework.com.

Parenting an Obsessive Child—The Work of Byron Katie

Out of nowhere, like a breeze in a marketplace crowded with advice, comes Byron Katie and &ldquo;The Work.&rdquo; In the midst of a normal life, Katie became increasingly depressed, and over a ten-year period sank further into rage, despair, and thoughts of suicide. Then one morning, she woke up in a state of absolute joy, filled with the realization of how her own suffering had ended. The freedom of that realization has never left her, and now in Loving What Is you can discover the same freedom through The Work. The Work is simply four questions that, when applied to a specific problem, enable you to see what is troubling you in an entirely different light. As Katie says, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the problem that causes our suffering; it&rsquo;s our thinking about the problem.&rdquo; Contrary to popular belief, trying to let go of a painful thought never works; instead, once we have done The Work, the thought lets go of us. At that point, we can truly love what is, just as it is. Loving What Is will show you step-by-step, through clear and vivid examples, exactly how to use this revolutionary process for yourself. You&rsquo;ll see people do The Work with Katie on a broad range of human problems, from a wife ready to leave her husband because he wants more sex, to a Manhattan worker paralyzed by fear of terrorism, to a woman suffering over a death in her family. Many people have discovered The Work&rsquo;s power to solve problems; in addition, they say that through The Work they experience a sense of lasting peace and find the clarity and energy to act, even in situations that had previously seemed impossible. If you continue to do The Work, you may discover, as many people have, that the questioning flows into every aspect of your life, effortlessly undoing the stressful thoughts that keep you from experiencing peace. Loving What Is offers everything you need to learn and live this remarkable process, and to find happiness as what Katie calls &ldquo;a lover of reality.&rdquo;

Loving What Is by Byron Katie, Stephen Mitchell, read by Byron Katie, Stephen Mitchell, Various

Read by Byron Katie, Stephen Mitchell, and Pete Simonelli

Internationally acclaimed bestselling author Byron Katie’s most anticipated work since Loving What Is.

In A Mind at Home with Itself, Byron Katie illuminates one of the most profound ancient Buddhist texts, The Diamond Sutra (newly translated by distinguished scholar Stephen Mitchell) to reveal the nature of the mind and to liberate us from painful thoughts, using her revolutionary system of self-inquiry called “The Work.” Byron Katie doesn’t merely describe the awakened mind; she empowers us to see it and feel it, in action. At once startlingly fresh and powerfully enlightening, A Mind at Home with Itself offers us a transformative new perspective on life and death and is certain to become a classic. 

In the midst of a normal American life, Byron Katie became increasingly depressed and over a ten-year period sank further into despair and suicidal thoughts. Then one morning in 1986 she woke up in a state of absolute joy, filled with the realization of how her own suffering had ended. The freedom of that realization has never left her. Its direct result, The Work, has helped millions of people all over the world to question their stressful thoughts and set themselves free from suffering.

A MIND AT HOME WITH ITSELF by Byron Katie

Byron Katie was severely depressed in her early thirties. For almost a decade, she spiraled down into rage and self-loathing, battling constant thoughts of suicide. Then one morning in February 1986, she experienced a life-changing realization: "I discovered that when I believed my thoughts, I suffered, but that when I didn't believe them, I didn't suffer. Freedom is as simple as that. I found that suffering is optional." Together we discussed The Work, the philosophy and process of self-inquiry that Byron Katie has brought to millions of people across the world.We also spoke about her new book, "A Mind at Home with Itself," written with her husband Stephen Mitchell.  I found her to be a remarkable person to be around, and our conversation as enjoyable and revelatory as any I can remember in recent memory. Please enjoy.

Byron Katie on Living Without Suffering

Byron katie

By Popular Demand: A Mind At Home with Itself with Bryon Katie

In 1986, at the bottom of a ten-year spiral into depression, rage, and self-loathing, Byron Katie woke up one morning to a state of constant joy that has never left her. She realized that when she believed her stressful thoughts, she suffered, but that when she questioned them, she didn't suffer, and that this is true for every human being. Her simple yet powerful process of inquiry is called The Work. The Work consists of four questions and the turnarounds, which are a way of experiencing the opposite of what you believe. When you question a thought, you see around it to the choices beyond suffering.

Katie has been bringing The Work to millions of people for more than thirty years. Her public events, weekend workshops, five-day intensives, nine-day School for The Work, and 28-day residential Turnaround House have brought freedom to people all over the world.  Byron Katie's books include the bestselling Loving What Is, I Need Your Love—Is That True?, A Thousand Names for Joy, and A Mind at Home with Itself. www.thework.com

A Mind at Home with Itself with Byron Katie

In this episode, Alanis talks with Byron Katie about Self Inquiry. Below are some books by Byron Katie: Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life I Need Your Love - Is That True?: How to Stop Seeking Love, Approval, and Appreciation and Start Finding Them Instead A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are Who Would You Be Without Your Story? Dialogues with Byron Katie A Mind at Home with Itself: How Asking Four Questions Can Free Your Mind, Open Your Heart, and Turn Your World Around Additional resources: Free worksheet mentioned in the podcast by Byron Katie.

Episode 15: Conversation with Byron Katie

Read by Juliet Jones

An examination of the Scientific Revolution that shows how the mechanistic world view of modern science has sanctioned the exploitation of nature, unrestrained commercial expansion, and a new socioeconomic order that subordinates women.

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THE DEATH OF NATURE by Carolyn Merchant

Read by Tegen Cohen

As a successful Harvard and Berkeley-educated writer, entrepreneur, and devoted mother, Jenara Nerenberg was shocked to discover that her “symptoms”--only ever labeled as anxiety-- were considered autistic and ADHD. Being a journalist, she dove into the research and uncovered neurodiversity—a framework that moves away from pathologizing “abnormal” versus “normal” brains and instead recognizes the vast diversity of our mental makeups. 

  
When it comes to women, sensory processing differences are often overlooked, masked, or mistaken for something else entirely. Between a flawed system that focuses on diagnosing younger, male populations, and the fact that girls are conditioned from a young age to blend in and conform to gender expectations, women often don’t learn about their neurological differences until they are adults, if at all. As a result, potentially millions live with undiagnosed or misdiagnosed neurodivergences, and the misidentification leads to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and shame. Meanwhile, we all miss out on the gifts their neurodivergent minds have to offer.

Divergent Mind is a long-overdue, much-needed answer for women who have a deep sense that they are “different.” Sharing real stories from women with high sensitivity, ADHD, autism, misophonia, dyslexia, SPD and more, Nerenberg explores how these brain variances present differently in women and dispels widely-held misconceptions (for example, it’s not that autistic people lack sensitivity and empathy, they have an overwhelming excess of it).

Nerenberg also offers us a path forward, describing practical changes in how we communicate, how we design our surroundings, and how we can better support divergent minds. When we allow our wide variety of brain makeups to flourish, we create a better tomorrow for us all.

DIVERGENT MIND by Jenara Nerenberg

Performed by Fajer Al-Kaisi

Yunus Turabi, a bus driver in Tehran, leads an unremarkable life. A solitary man since the unexpected deaths of his father and mother years ago, he is decidedly apolitical—even during the driver’s strike and its bloody end. But everyone has their breaking point, and Yunus has reached his.

Handcuffed and blindfolded, he is taken to the infamous Evin prison for political dissidents. Inside this stark, strangely ordered world, his fate becomes entwined with Hajj Saeed, his personal interrogator. The two develop a disturbing yet interdependent relationship, with each playing his assigned role in a high stakes psychological game of cat and mouse, where Yunus endures a mind-bending cycle of solitary confinement and interrogation. In their startlingly intimate exchanges, Yunus’s life begins to unfold—from his childhood memories growing up in a freer Iran to his heartbreaking betrayal of his only friend. As Yunus struggles to hold on to his sanity and evade Saeed’s increasingly undeniable accusations, he must eventually make an impossible choice: continue fighting or submit to the system of lies upholding Iran’s power.

Gripping, startling, and masterfully told, Then the Fish Swallowed Him is a haunting story of life under despotism.

THEN THE FISH SWALLOWED HIM by Amir Ahmadi Arian

Read by Sara Sheckells

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas has spent a lifetime observing the natural world, chronicling the customs of pre-contact hunter-gatherers and the secret lives of deer and dogs. In this book, the capstone of her long career, Thomas, now eighty-eight, turns her keen eye to her own life. The result is an account of growing old that is at once funny and charming and intimate and profound, both a memoir and a life-affirming map all of us may follow to embrace our later years with grace and dignity.

A charmingly intimate account and a broad look at the social and historical traditions related to aging, Growing Old explores a wide range of issues connected with growing older, from stereotypes of the elderly as burdensome to the methods of burial humans have used throughout history to how to deal with a concerned neighbor who assumes you’re buying cat food to eat for dinner.

Written with the wit of Nora Ephron’s I Feel Bad About My Neck and the lyrical beauty and serene wisdom of When Breath Becomes Air, Growing Old is an expansive and deeply personal paean to the beauty and the brevity of life that offers understanding for everyone, regardless of age.

GROWING OLD by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Read by Jason Arnold

Throughout his illustrious career, J. Douglas Holladay has taught generations of executives as well as students in his popular MBA course at Georgetown how to use a holistic approach to defining and reaching success in life and business.

Success does not come with an instruction manual. Too often “successful” people end up feeling empty, isolated, and depressed because they have lost focus on what is most important in their lives. Rethinking Success can help anyone, no matter their field, maintain the practices and values that keep them in tune with their most cherished beliefs throughout their careers. Drawn from the insights of his network of famous friends as well as his experiences as an investment banker, White House advisor, diplomat, longtime business professor, and non-profit consultant, the advice in Rethinking Success is centered around eight essential questions we must ask ourselves regularly to stay focused, connected, and joyful throughout our working lives.

Filled with essential wisdom, Rethinking Success is a powerful guide that allows us to do well while staying in tune with the values and beliefs that are most important to us.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

RETHINKING SUCCESS by J. Douglas Holladay

Harper Audio proudly traces its roots back to 1952, when Dylan Thomas first recorded for our Caedmon label. For more than five decades, HarperAudio/Caedmon has been synonymous not only with distinguished poets reading their works, but also with equally distinguished authors and readers performing classic and contemporary texts.

A MIND AT HOME WITH ITSELF by Byron Katie

HarperAudio US