(From the Little Book: The Little Book Download)

“The Work of Byron Katie is a way to identify and question the thoughts that
cause all of the suffering in the world. It is a way to find peace with yourself and
with the world. The old, the young, the sick, the well, the educated, the
uneducated—anyone with an open mind can do this Work.

Byron Kathleen Reid became severely depressed while in her thirties. Over a
ten ­year period her depression deepened, and Katie (as she is called) spent
almost two years rarely able to leave her bed, obsessing over suicide. Then one
morning, from the depths of despair, she experienced a life ­changing realization.
Katie saw that when she believed that something should be different than it is
(“My husband should love me more,” “My children should appreciate me”) she
suffered, and that when she didn’t believe these thoughts, she felt peace. She
realized that what had been causing her depression was not the world around
her, but what she believed about the world around her. In a flash of insight,
Katie saw that our attempt to find happiness was backward—instead of
hopelessly trying to change the world to match our thoughts about how it
“should” be, we can question these thoughts and, by meeting reality as it is,
experience unimaginable freedom and joy. Katie developed a simple yet
powerful method of inquiry, called The Work, that made this transformation
practical. As a result, a bed­ridden, suicidal woman became filled with love for
everything life brings.

Katie’s insight into the mind is consistent with leading­edge research in
cognitive psychology, and The Work has been compared to the Socratic dialogue,
Buddhist teachings, and 12­step programs. But Katie developed her method
without any knowledge of religion or psychology. The Work is based purely on
one woman’s direct experience of how suffering is created and ended. It is
astonishingly simple, accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds, and
requires nothing more than a pen and paper and an open mind. Katie saw right
away that giving people her insights or answers was of little value—instead, she
offers a process that can give people their own answers. The first people exposed
to her Work reported that the experience was transformational, and she soon
began receiving invitations to teach the process publicly.”

www.thework.com