Byron Kathleen Mitchell (b.1942,) better known as Byron Katie, is an American speaker and author who teaches a method of self-inquiry known as “The Work of Byron Katie” or simply as “The Work”. She is married to the writer and translator Stephen Mitchell.
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There is no thought or situation that you can’t put up against inquiry. Every thought, every person, every apparent problem is here for the sake of your freedom.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Rent, Freedom, Thought
Stories are the untested, uninvestigated theories that tell us what all these things mean. We don’t even realize that they’re just theories.
—Byron Katie
I love not rushing the process. Mind doesn’t shift until it does, and when it does shift, it’s right on time, not one second too late or too soon. People are like seeds waiting to sprout. We can’t be pushed ahead of our own understanding.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Mind, Love, Time, People, Right
One day I noticed that I wasn’t breathing—I was being breathed.
—Byron Katie
You can’t drop concepts. You can only shine a little flashlight on them as you do inquiry, an you see that what you thought was true wasn’t. And when the truth is seen, there’s nothing you can do to make the lie true for you again.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Truth, Light, Thought
We never make a decision. When the time is right, the decision makes itself.
—Byron Katie
You’re never given more pain than you can handle. You never, ever get more than you can take.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Give, Pain
It makes sense that no one else can cause you pain. That’s your job.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Rich, Cause, Pain, Wisdom
Who would you be without the thought “I need more money to be safe?” You might be a lot easier to be with. You might even begin to notice the laws of generosity, the laws of letting money go out fearlessly and come back fearlessly. You don’t ever need more money than you have.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Thought, Money, Fear
Thought the mind can justify itself faster than the speed of light, it can be stopped through the act of writing.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Act, Light, Mind, Thought
We don’t attach to people or to things; we attach to uninvestigated concepts that we believe to be true in the moment.
—Byron Katie
Topics: People, Believe
We’ve been looking outside us for our own peace. We’ve been looking in the wrong direction.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Peace
A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It’s not our thoughts, but our attachment to our thoughts, that causes suffering. Attaching to a thought means believing that it’s true, without inquiring. A belief is a thought that we’ve been attaching to, often for years.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Suffering, Believe, Belief, Thoughts, Attachment, Cause, Thought
What I call “doing the dishes” is the practice of loving the task in front of you. Your inner voice guides you all day long to do simple things such as brush your teeth, drive to work, call your friend, or do the dishes. Even though it’s just another story, it’s a very short story, and when you follow the direction of the voice, the story ends. We are really alive when we live as simply as that—open, waiting, trusting, and loving to do what appears in front of us now…What we need to do unfolds before us, always—doing the dishes, paying the bills, picking up the children’s socks, brushing our teeth. We never receive more than we can handle, and there is always just one thing to do. Whether you have ten dollars or ten million dollars, life never gets more difficult than that.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Aging, Trust, Children, Friend, Live, Practice, Yin, Now, Doing, Life, Work, Act, Follow
After you’ve been doing inquiry for a while, if you have the thought “She doesn’t love me,” you just get the immediate turnaround with a smile: “Oh, I’m not loving myself in this moment”.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Thought, Doing, Smile, Love
If I had a prayer, it would be this: “God, spare me from the desire for love, approval, or appreciation. Amen”.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Desire, Love, Appreciation, God, Prayer
The Work is merely four questions; it’s not even a thing. It has no motive, no strings. It’s nothing without your answers. These four questions will join any program you’ve got ad enhance it. Any religion you have—they’ll enhance it. If you have no religion, they will bring you joy. And they’ll burn up anything that isn’t true for you. They’ll burn through to the reality that has always been waiting.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Questions, Religion, Joy, Will, Work
I use the word inquiry as synonymous with The Work…Inquiry is a way to end confusion and to experience internal peace, even in a world of apparent chaos. Above all else, inquiry is about realizing that all the answers we ever need are always available inside us.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Work, Rent, Peace, World, Experience
When a thought appears such as “Do the dishes” and you don’t do them, notice how an internal war breaks out… The stress and weariness you feel are really mental combat fatigue.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Thought, Stress, War, Feel
Lack of understanding is always painful.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Pain
God, as I use the word, is another name for what is. I always know God’s intention: It’s exactly what is in every moment.
—Byron Katie
Topics: God, Now, Act
As long as you think that the cause of your problem is “out there”—as long as you think that anyone or anything is responsible for your suffering—the situation is hopeless. It means that you are forever in the role of victim, that you’re suffering in paradise.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Suffering, Cause, Think
We’re all looking for love, in our confusion, until we find our way back to the realization that love is what we already are.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Love
I came to see that the world is always as it should be, whether I opposed it or not. And I came to embrace reality with all my heart. I love the world, without any conditions.
—Byron Katie
Topics: World, Love, Heart
Spare yourself from seeking love, approval, or appreciation—from anyone. And watch what happens in reality, just for fun.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Appreciation, Love
When I am perfectly clear, what is, is what I want.
—Byron Katie
There is no mistake in nature.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Nature, Mistake
Your nature is truth, and when you oppose it, you don’t feel like yourself. Stress never feels as natural as peace does.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Truth, Nature, Peace, Stress, Feel
That’s what I love about integrity. Each time we go inside, that’s where it is.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Love, Time, Integrity
It’s important to realize that inquiry is about noticing, not about dropping the thought… Inquiry is not about getting rid of thoughts; it’s about realizing what’s true for you, through awareness and unconditional self-love. Once you see the truth, the thought lets go of you, not the other way around.
—Byron Katie
Topics: Truth, Love, Thought, War, Awareness, Thoughts
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