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Who Would You Be Without Your Story?: Dialogues with Byron Katie
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Product Description
This book is a collection of 15 dialogues that occurred throughout the United States and Europe with Byron Katie. Some of the people who worked with Katie have painful illnesses, others are lovelorn or in messy divorces. Some are simply irritated with a co-worker or worried about money. What they all have in common is a willingness to question, with Katie’s help, the painful thoughts that are the true cause of their suffering. In every case we see how Katie’s acute mind and fierce kindness helps each person dismantle for themselves what is felt to be unshakable reality.
Although these dialogues make fascinating reading—some are both hilarious and deeply moving at once—they are intended primarily as teaching tools. Each took place in front of an audience, and Katie never lost connection with that audience, repeatedly reminding each person in the room to follow the dialogues inwardly, asking themselves the questions the participant must ask. The dialogue between Katie and these volunteers is an external enactment of precisely the kind of dialogue each person can have with their own thoughts. The results, even in the seemingly most dire situation, can be unimagined freedom and joy.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #28393 in Books
- Published on: 2008-10-15
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 336 pages
Features
- ISBN13: 9781401921798
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Since 1986, Byron Katie has introduced The Work directly to millions of people throughout the world at free public events; in prisons, hospitals, churches, corporations, universities, and schools; at weekend intensives; and at her nine-day School for The Work. She is the author of the best-selling books Question Your Thinking, Change the World; Loving What Is; I Need Your Love—Is That True?; and A Thousand Names for Joy.
Customer Reviews
Going deeper....
This book is a series of dialogues taken from workshops and seminars, so you get a good flavor of what it would be like to attend one. The dialogues, like The Work, aren't spectator sports. Reading her technique without trying it gets zero results, and reading these dialogues without 'playing along' may also yield very little results. However, if you dive in as an active audience member, these dialogues take you deeper than you may have gone doing The Work on your own.
I first discovered _Loving What Is_ a few years ago when I was going through a tough time, and couldn't get my brain out of the hamsterwheel of 'why did this happen?' 'what did I do wrong?' and most of all 'why can't I get over this?'. In less than an hour of doing The Work, my entire perspective changed. It was almost miraculous. Needless to say, I've been a believer ever since.
This isn't to say I agree with everything Katie says. And I do find her calling everyone 'sweetheart' a bit wearing. She says in one book (and again in this) something to the effect that if her kids ever tell her they won't miss her when she dies she'll celebrate because they'll be 'free.' That's a little harsh, to me. I don't aim to go that far! But that doesn't mean that I can't go a long way on the journey with good results.
The Work isn't easy, and it takes a certain amount of patience and mental flexibility to do it right. In a sense it's a relief to read these dialogues because you realize you're not the only one who reaches these walls in your thinking; and you get to see how Katie helps them break through, which you can then apply yourself.
If you're new to Byron Katie's works, there is a tiny appendix and the Judge Your Neighbor form in the book, but I don't think that's quite enough--doing the 'turn it around' statements is tricky for beginners and the appendix doesn't focus on those. You can learn by careful study of the dialogues, but you may find her website or her earlier books to be more helpful. If you've got her other books, don't pass this one over as quickly as you might. It served as a needed reinforcement for me, and in her parts of the conversations there are plenty of wonderful insights--mine is already heavily underlined.
Byron Katie is amazing!
Greetings,
I found this book very useful as a supplement to her online blog. I think I would have been confused by the book had I not already been familiar with her work. There is no substitute for watching her in action. Her kind, empathic approach does not come across in the written script of her work. What is useful about the book is it gives me a way to deeply reflect on some of the ways she handles struggles and resistance from her clients. I'm a business coach, so I find this book a useful way to dissect her work, her theory, and the way she works with clients. I think her four questions are brilliant and I use them with my clients.
Doing the Work of Solving Who You Are
Who Would You Be Without Your Story? (2008) is a collection of 15 dialogues with Byron Katie. In each of the dialogues, which includes such topics as "My Mother Made Me a Victim", "My Father Abused Me", and "Cancer Ruined My Life", Katie showcases her Work technique which consists of writing down your judgment, asking 4 critical questions, and turning it around. Suffice it to say, Katie has come up with a method that seems to get to the core of the problem and answers the perennial question of Who Would You Be Without Your Story?.
