You've probably have heard this before. 

What does this mean to you?

To me, it means that painful things (as well as wonderful things) happen in our lives.  All kinds of injuries and losses.  Death, illness, injury, loss of relationships, jobs, etc.  With all this, the thinking we believe about these things and the other aspects of our lives, determines whether or not we suffer.

Our thinking gives rise to meaning in our lives.

A grandmother from Barstow
I'm going to tell you about some lessons I learned from a grandmother from Barstow.  The lady I'm talking about is Byron Katie. She has a process called, "The Work."

The short version of her story is that, she was at one time a successful business woman.  Over the years, her life fell apart, she was angry at everyone and everything. As you might guess, her family life and business suffered.   They put her in a halfway house for overeaters, because that was the only thing her insurance covered.   In the house, she was put in the attic because everyone was afraid of her.  She slept on the floor, feeling unworthy of her bed.

One morning, she awoke and everything was different, yet nothing was.  The world around her was the same, but she had not emotional story about it.  She saw: hand, roach, bed, floor, etc.  She has no story.  She had what some would call an awakening. And she wasn't suffering.

Over the years, she relearned how to live in the world, while, at the same time, others came to her to learn what she learned.  During this time, she developed this process for others to use.

Now, those of you familiar with the personal development and the mind, may notice that these principles are ancient ones.  What seems to be different here, is that Katie has come up with a specific process for pulling them together for our modern world.

I learned from her that every time I've suffer, if I look for the truth, investigate my thinking, I find that I am not telling the truth and that is where I suffer.   In fact, I find that, as she put it, when I argue with reality, I lose, but only 100% of the time.  Can you see how arguing with reality is futile, that it creates suffering?  It's like trying to bail out the Titanic with a teaspoon, pushing against the infinite, like telling God what is write and how the world should be.  As if we are the keepers of the truth.

The process is a search for truth.  And the basics are, "Judge your neighbor, write it down, ask 4 questions, turn it around."

For more information about The Work of Byron Katie, go to www.thework.com.

If you would like more information about how I help people using The Work, or for a free consultation, contact me.

I leave you with this question to ponder:

Who would you be without your thoughts?