Your Inner Awakening: The Work of Byron Katie: Four Questions That Will Transform Your Life by Byron Katie

Your Inner Awakening: The Work of Byron Katie: Four Questions That Will Transform Your Life Reviews

• 
  Jeske

  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.
• 
  culley

  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.
  
  
• 
  Keshav Bhatt

  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!
• 
  Katie Caporale

  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.
• 
  Laurie

  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.
• 
  Pam

  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.
• 
  Nadin Soliman

  it works!
• 
  Austin Schrock

  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.
• 
  Joseph Knecht

  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.
  
• 
  Mark Manderson

  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
• 
  DianeC

  > 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.
• 
  Tamara

  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...
• 
  Mike

  This book started off a one for me. By the time it was finished, I could see the merit in the approach.
• 
  Ute Weiß

  I‘m still not quite sure if she is genuine or a fraud ....
• 
  Dorota

  Aw man this book made me cry. Byron Katie is a beautiful person.
• 
  Nikolay Theosom

  I hated it less than I thought I would, weird
• 
  Lore Sánchez

  Life changing !!
• 
  Zeynep Nas

  Kitap etkiledi ama bir kere the worku yapmadim.. hala faydasivar diye dusunuyorum
• 
  Jennifer Baratta

  Thank you Byron Katie for writing and narrating this book.
  For expanding on ideas taught to me by Patricia Tallman.
• 
  Patucha

  Intrigante! Só colocando em prática.
  A realidade é o que é. O modo como a vemos é que faz diferença.
• 
  Claire Coleman

  “Everything we’re seeking we already have.”
  
  Such amazing advice in this book for your mind and peace🙌🏼
• 
  Suzanne Gibbs

  Better the second time. I read this 8 years ago and felt very confused by it.
• 
  Arminda Lindsay

  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.
• 
  jencurlygurl

  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.
• 
  Theresa

  Miraculous
• 
  Brian Tibbetts

  interesting..
• 
  Wendy Hollister

  a good guide for living a full and peaceful life. Great life skills.