Product Description

“Byron Katie is one of the truly great and inspiring teachers of our time. I encourage everyone to immerse themselves in this phenomenal book.” –Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

In her first two books, Loving What Is and I Need Your Love–Is That True? Byron Katie showed how suffering can be ended by questioning the stressful thoughts that create it. Now, in A Thousand Names for Joy, she encourages us to discover the freedom that lives on the other side of inquiry.

Stephen Mitchell–the renowned translator of the Tao Te Ching–selected provocative excerpts from that ancient text as a stimulus for Katie to talk about the most essential issues that face us all: life and death, good and evil, love, work, and fulfillment. With her stories of total ease in all circumstances, Katie does more than describe the awakened mind; she lets you see it, feel it, in action.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4986 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-01
• Released on: 2008-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

From Publishers Weekly
This unusual collaboration brings together the Way (the Tao) and the Work, Katie's form of self-inquiry and path to joy. Katie is the author of Loving What Is, and Mitchell, the noted translator of the Tao, is her husband. In each chapter of this new book, Mitchell has presented Katie with a passage from the Tao and noted down her exposition on the theme. (This oral format can result in choppy, repetitive text.) Katie's own "awakening" came in 1986, after 10 years of depression. One morning she felt a sense of freedom from her overwhelming distress, a feeling she calls "a falling-away of the self." This freedom, she claims, is available to anyone who practices the Work, which consists of asking oneself four questions intended to turn around fixed ideas and dismantle painful, knotted thoughts about the past. Four dialogues Katie has conducted with seekers illustrate the Work in action. Her belief that reality is good and can only be grasped if we live in the present moment resonates with many traditional spiritual teachings, and in this genuine and fresh spiritual manifesto, Katie's engaging personality springs from the page. (Feb. 6)
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Review
“Byron Katie is one of the truly great and inspiring teachers of our time. She has been enormously helpful to me personally. I love this very wise woman, and I encourage everyone to immerse themselves in this phenomenal book.”
—Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

“A Thousand Names for Joy is a vivid and powerful portrait of the awakened mind. I am captivated by Katie’s clear mind and loving heart, which offer the world a simple process to find joy. Who knew? Katie did, and what a blessing she offers to us all.”
—Iyanla Vanzant, founder, Inner Visions Institute

“Katie’s teachings and everyday life are pure wisdom. A Thousand Names for Joy shows us the way to inner peace, and she directs us there fearlessly, relentlessly, and with utmost generosity. I have rarely seen anyone—spiritual teachers included—embody wisdom as powerfully as Katie in her passionate embrace of each and every moment.”
—Roshi Bernie Glassman

“Byron Katie’s Work . . . acts like a razor-sharp sword that cuts through illusion and enables you to know for yourself the timeless essence of your being.”
—Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now


From the Hardcover edition.

About the Author
BYRON KATIE has introduced her simple yet powerful method of self-inquiry to millions of people throughout the world. Her website is www.TheWork.com.

STEPHEN MITCHELL’s website is www.StephenMitchellBooks.com.

Customer Reviews

BEAUTIFUL!
I absolutely loved this book! It empowers me to but things in perspective and find the joy in the moment. I have read the book numerous times in the last 9 month's it's one of those books I'll reread the rest of this human experience. I also purchased the CD set of Byron Katie reading the book....it doesn't seem like she is reading...just sharing. Her gentleness and love is heart felt. My husband and I listened to it on our way back home in the car, 12 hours. It was joyfull! In it she shares her experiences as a Lover of What Is and what that looks life as a human organism, a wife, a mother, a teacher, you know all the labels we put on ourselves and others. Anyway...ENJOY YOUR LIFE!

Down to earth mindfulness
I enjoyed this book and got a lot out of it because it ties in the mindfulness aspect of The Work with the theosophy of the Tao Te Jing such that the Tao helps clarify why The Work is truly helpful. I recommend this to anyone interested in looking at their thoughts and feelings with greater honesty and responsibility.

Name your joy
I love this book. A great recommendation from the folks at [...] where I watched all the video clips and felt the direct power and grace of The Work she is doing with everyone. Loving What Is, the title of her first book, says it all, but A Thousand Names For Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are arrived first in the mail. Joy is joy, and the laughter came freely in every short chapter of this, Katie's meditation inspired by her husband Stephen Mitchell's translation of the Tao Te Ching. About half way through, Loving What Is arrived and I read that perfect introduction to The Work, Katie's reality check and guide to self-inquiry, before continuing with A Thousand Names For Joy. There may not be easy laughs on every page for you, but there is amazing grace there. I have, of course, ordered Katie's other books and preordered her next one. I find her to be the most quotable of writer-teachers, thus the title of her most recent book, Question Your Thinking, Change the World: Quotations from Byron Katie. And here, from A Thousand Names For Joy, is the passage that prompted me to write this review:

"Beyond what the mind can see is kinder than what it sees--that's the privilege of an open mind. Kindness resonates with the way things are. Kindness is sipping a cup of tea without the thought that I'm even sipping it. It's like being my own plant, feeling myself being watered, beyond any thought that that's what I even need. It's the sound of rain against the window, the gift of the sound of rain in my ears, the gift of life, which I did nothing to deserve. Kindness prepares what I am to eat in the next season. It even leaves a rainbow. It's infinite. It's the hair that protects my head in the sun, the ground that supports the floor. There's nothing that isn't kind. A death accomplishes what ordinary life could never do, letting you experience what is beyond identification: the bodiless self, mind infinitely free.

"When you realize where you come from, no imagination can move you to believe that you are separate. Everything is seen for what it is, and you understand that no one is in danger of losing anything but his identification. And in that forever good news, in the face of everything that appears to be real, only kindness remains. It's nothing that can be taught. It's an experience; it's self-delight. When I give to you without motive, I am delighted. I act with kindness because I like myself when I do that. That kindness can only be to myself. It doesn't include anyone else, not even the apparent receiver. I am both giver and receiver, and that's all that matters.

"The whole world belongs to me, because I live in the last story, the last dream: woman sitting in chair with cup of tea. I look out the window, and whatever I see is my world. There's nothing beyond that, not one thought. This world is enough for me. Anything I ever need to do or be is in this unlimited space. It's enough to accomplish my purpose, and my purpose is to sit here now and sip my tea. I can imagine a world outside what I can see, and as it happens I prefer this one. It is always more beautiful here, wherever I am, than any story of a future or a past. The here and now is where I can make a difference. It's what I live out of. Nothing more is required."