When the thoughts are met with understanding…
“When I first discovered The Work, I wanted to get as close as I possibly could
to understanding the thoughts that the mind was ceaselessly producing.
This is the only way to control the uncontrollable mind.
I got very still with these thoughts.
I met them as a mother would meet her confused child.
The child is having a nightmare, but the mother sees that the child is really safe;
he’s just caught in a frightening dream.
So I listened intimately to every thought and loved it as I would love my own child.
I wrote down everything the child said about the nightmare, and then I questioned it.
I asked the validity of every thought written down, thought by beloved thought.
When the thoughts are met with understanding, through inquiry,
the child is able to see what the mother sees: that it’s just a dream.
And when you wake up, you see that there’s no dream, and not even a dreamer. ”
– Byron Katie
For more information about The Work, visit TheWork.com
You might want to read the Introduction of The Work of Byron Katie by Stephen Mitchell.