“Thoughts are a good thing until they're not. And when they're not, a
feeling will let us know, and we become stressed out or frustrated. And when
that happens, that's where I invite people to question what they are
believing, because until they do, every time that thought enters or a
thought like it, stress is going to re-occur." - Byron Katie

Are you tired of feeling stressed by thoughts about family, friends, work, and life in general? Most importantly: Do you really want peace?



Why keep trying to limp comfortably when you can simply take the rock out of your shoe?
Why worry about redecorating your cell in the dungeon when there's a way to walk out the door instead?
The thoughts that cause you pain only hurt because they haven't been understood yet.

Those who allow The Work to serve them have found that stress becomes a thing to laugh at, relationships dramatically improve, and peace becomes a fundamental, ongoing option.

Whether you have specific issues that trouble you, or you simply want a deeper understanding of how to live a life of peace, inquiry can help you find the answers you seek.

In fact, you already have the answers, all you need is the questions, and you will find a direct path to understanding and peace within your own mind. Pain and stress happen, but suffering is optional.
If you are genuinely ready to find peace, inquiry is for you.

By thoroughly and honestly questioning the validity of our most painful unexamined beliefs about life, The Work provides deep and practical insight into how the mind leads us into and out of suffering. Each client discovers the specific details of how our unquestioned assumptions affect our lives, and how investigating these thoughts can finally set us free from stress. YOUR answers are what will serve you, and this inquiry will lead you directly to those answers. The Work is not a religion or a positive-thinking course. It doesn't take positions for or against, or say you should or shouldn't do anything. It has no political, religious, or philosophical teachings. it is just a simple way to find what's true for you and live in harmony with reality.

It is only four questions and a "turnaround."

Yet it is effective enough to have become known as "Open-Mind Surgery", "The Great Undoing", and
"The End of Suffering."
Once applied to the stressful thoughts in your life, this type of guided self-inquiry leaves you only in what is beautiful.

All you need to be able to experience it is a pen, paper, and a sincere desire to find what's true.

Here's how it works:

To begin, isolate any simple stressful concept in your life like, "___(name)__ should/shouldn't ____(action)___."

Do you really want to know the truth?
If so, Investigate your statement using the four questions and turnaround below.
The Work is a meditation. It's about awareness; it's not about trying to change your mind. Let the mind ask the questions, then contemplate. Take your time, go inside, and wait for the deeper answers to surface, and write them down so you'll remember them.

The Four Questions
1. Is it true?
2. Can you absolutely know that it's true?
3. How do you react when you believe that thought?
4. Who would you be without the thought?

Next, turn your statement around.
(The turnarounds are an opportunity to deeply consider the opposite of what you believe to be true.)
You may find several turnarounds.

For example, "Paul should understand me" turns around to:

* Paul shouldn't understand me. (Isn't that sometimes reality, that he doesn't?)
* I should understand me. (It's my job, not his.)
* I should understand Paul. (Can I understand that he doesn't understand me?)

Let yourself fully experience the turnarounds.
For each one, ask yourself, "Is that as true or truer than the original statement?"
If so, try to find three genuine examples of how the turnaround is as true or truer in your life.

Take your time, go deep, really explore the possibilities you haven't considered.

This is not about shaming and blaming yourself or feeling guilty.
It's about discovering alternatives that can bring you peace.

The Work of Byron Katie is dedicated to the end of fear, and therefore to peace on earth.
Welcome to the Work if you think it would serve you.

More information is available in Byron Katie's "Little Book" (available as a free download here) and it is fully explained with many examples in her book “Loving What Is”.

Why Work With a Facilitator?

The Work does not require a second person to serve as a facilitator, you can do it on your own.

However, people who are new to inquiry may find themselves getting off-topic while answering the questions, or they may feel confused and not know how to proceed with certain lines of inquiry. Even people with experience in The Work may sometimes feel stuck or find it difficult to stay on track when they come up against a highly stressful or complex issue. Furthermore, when applied regularly for a while, The Work often completely transforms a person's view of the world and it's apparent problems.

That's where working with a facilitator can be of great help. Having an experienced partner to Work with helps keep you honest with yourself, on track in your self-investigation, and can help you find options you might have been closed to otherwise. Just as important, meeting with a facilitator on a regular basis for a while can help you establish inquiry as an internal, self-sustaining process that can profoundly change how you understand the difficult aspects of your life. Also, a facilitator can work together with couples, families, and friends learn to undo the causes of strife in their relationships.

If you would like personal guidance in this process, Facilitator Jay Easton will help you learn how to apply self-inquiry in a simple, gentle, ongoing way. As a graduate of Byron Katie's School for The Work and an experienced facilitator, his joy is to help you find true and lasting peace for yourself. He offers 70-minute individual sessions at our office in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, and also by phone. In-person "partners" sessions are also available for couples, families, roommates, co-workers, friends, etc. who seek better mutual understanding.

Click here to learn more about our Facilitation Services and scheduling an appointment.