Ask yourself four simple questions to overcome stress — book recommendation
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Byron Katie’s book Loving What Is examines how thoughts create suffering and how investigating that thinking can provide relief. She calls this process inquiry and the overall methodology The Work.
The only time we suffer is when we believe a thought that argues with what is.
Inquiry is not about getting rid of thoughts; it’s about realizing what’s true for you… Once you see the truth, the thought lets go of you, not the other way around.
The Work approach helps us shift in perspective by asking and answering four very simple questions for any stressful thought:
Is this thought true?
Can I be absolutely sure that it’s true without a doubt?
How do I react when I believe this thought?
Who would I be without this thought?
The hardest thing about The Work seems to be sitting down and doing it. Yet even asking yourself the four questions as you read along, you can feel your thinking starting to shift.
When you ask yourself question 1, your mind begins to open. Even to consider that thought may not be true will let a little light into your mind.
There is not much to it. Four questions. And a lot of thinking. Give it a try!
