We're Moving!

I am currently in the process of migrating The Prosperity Project from it's current home here on Blogger, to a newer and hopefully better home at shirleytwofeathers.com. Here's a link to the new site: The Prosperity Project

As each project is moved, the links in each of the "Project Overview" posts will be updated, and each of the individual posts will also be updated with a link to it's new home. We worked a lot of projects here, so it will take some time to get them all moved.

On New Years Day, I plan to begin a new project to explore the concept of The Violet Flame I AM Decrees. Our countdown widget says that the New Year is almost here. So, if you happen onto this little place in the world wide web, and have an idea that you'd be interested in exploring the Violet Flame or the I AM decrees, be sure to check in on Jan 1. Bright Blessings!

When You Are Done

"When they attack you

and you notice that you love them with all your heart,

your Work is done."

— Byron Katie

Control Issues

"No one has ever been able to control his thinking, although people may tell the story of how they have. I don’t let go of my thoughts — I meet them with understanding. Then they let go of me.”

~ Byron Katie

Enlightenment

Who cares if you're enlightened forever?

Can you just get it in this moment, now?

~ Byron Katie ~

Katieisms - A Video

A presentation of The Work of Byron Katie through her "Katieisms"

My True Partner

"The voice within is what I'm married to.

All marriage is a metaphor for that marriage.

My lover is the place inside me where an honest yes and no come from.

That's my true partner. It's always there.

And to tell you yes when my integrity says no is to divorce that partner.

~ Byron Katie ~

Why The Turnaround Is Important

Byron Katie explains that the turnaround is important because it shows other possibilities:

Yes. It also shows the mind what is as true or truer than the original thought. People usually find that the turnaround is as true or truer than the stressful thought they began with.

What’s an example? Let’s say the thought is “John should apologize.” Turned around: “I should apologize to John.” And if your mind is closed, you might not be able to see how that turnaround is true: “Me? But he’s the one who hurt me. He owes me the apology.” Or: “I should apologize to John? Well, okay, I really did do this and that to him. But he deserved it!” But if you’re really doing The Work, you’ll be able to see how every turnaround is true: “I should apologize to John. Let me do what I expect him to do. Let me get my own house in order here.” Even more, you’ll find genuine examples of why apologizing to John is a good thing. And if you think it’s difficult for you to apologize, then you begin to understand why it’s so difficult for John to apologize to you.

Your job is to turn it around; to see what you have done, what your part is; and then to apologize and go back to that person and ask how you can make it right. Usually you don’t even have to ask—you know.

One thing about inquiry is that it is the end of gossip. It is the end of passing on negative thoughts about people. It is the end of talking about a world that’s so terrible. Rather than making judgments like that, you begin to live in observations that can be worked with intelligently and changed and shifted.

I have an expression: “I’m in a hurry.” Of course, that’s not true in one sense. I have all the time in the world, because I have seen that there’s no such thing as time, or the world for that matter. But what I mean is that it’s so easy to break through the suffering on this planet, if the mind is open to doing so. I just want to make this work available to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. Everyone has a right to know it exists, and that’s my job. I don’t want anyone to suffer the way I suffered before I found this work.

If you’re in a hurry, too, if you want enlightenment, it’s so simple when you really listen to people. For example, if someone says to me, “Katie, you’re wrong,” I immediately think, “Could she be right? Is it possible she’s right?”

I find it inside rather than attacking outward through my defense. I go inward, not outward, and realize for myself—self-realization—to see what’s true for me. And I can say, “You know, you’re right. I just came to see that I’m wrong.” Or, if I can’t find it, I can say, “I’m not able to find that right now. I really believe I’m right. So, tell me, how am I wrong? I’m open to hearing your reasons. I really want to know.”

I’m standing there with a friend—no one is an enemy—who can give me information and really enlighten me. She can add to what I’ve got. It doesn’t mean I’m going to lose or change what I’m believing. But I’ll have more information, so what I’m believing or not believing will be much more intelligent. Who knows? I could be wrong.

I love to not defend—ever—and to open my mind and receive what can always add to me, not take away from me. So, if someone says, “Katie, you are out of order,” over something I’ve said, if I defend myself or justify myself, then I have just started the war. If people say, “You’re wrong,” and you react with, “How dare you say that?” or, “No, I can prove that I’m right, and here’s why,” or, “No, you are wrong, and I think you’re rude”—and even if you don’t say it out loud, maybe you think it, and even that’s stressful—that’s the moment you’ve started the war.

Defense is the first act of war. I see that clearly.

From an Interview With Byron Katie

Our Only Hope

"You are your only hope, because we're not changing until you do. Our job is to keep coming at you, as hard as we can, with everything that angers, upsets, or repulses you, until you understand. We love you that much, whether we're aware of it or not. The whole world is about you."

— Byron Katie

Answering Question Number 4

Ray Hemachandra asked Byron Katie the following question during an interview :

Do people sometimes struggle to answer the fourth question? Because you’re having the thought—it’s become part of you—so you are essentially imagining yourself as someone else, even if that’s your true self you’re imagining.

This is what she replied:

No. What I invite people to do is to look at their lives just the way they have lived them. Not to change anything, and not to do positive thinking at all. Just look at yourself going to the market yesterday. Look at yourself going to work yesterday. Look at yourself having breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Just look at your life without that thought.

Look at your life without the thought “Something terrible is going to happen” or “No one cares” or “I’m not good enough.” It’s the same life, but without the thought. It’s quite an amazing experience to see the same life with and without the thought. You come to see how crazy a thought can make you when you believe it.

And then you turn it around. For example, the opposite of “Something terrible is going to happen” is “Something wonderful is going to happen.” You can now find genuine examples of possibilities without being crazy—genuine, real possibilities of what can come out of a situation you’re experiencing. Your little child is asleep in the closet, and instead of thinking “Something terrible has happened to him,” you’re thinking “Something wonderful has happened to him.” Then, you start looking for examples and possibilities. It really helps when you’re looking for a little guy.

When you call the police, and they say, “Did you look in the closet?” you can honestly say yes, and let’s look again, but without the panic. With the panic, sometimes you can’t even answer: “I don’t know where I’ve looked.” You’re just panicked, and then you’re blind.

Fear is blind. There are some options in it, but they’re very limited compared to the options available to the fearless mind.

Ouch!

"If you put your hand into a fire, does anyone have to tell you to move it? Do you have to decide? No: When your hand starts to burn, it moves. You don’t have to direct it; the hand moves itself. In the same way, once you understand, through inquiry, that an untrue thought causes suffering, you move away from it."

— Byron Katie

A Closer Look At Questions 3 and 4

Byron Katie explains what she means by, “How do you react when you think that thought?”— Is it a gut reaction? Is it emotional? Is it thought?

It would be like you coming home expecting to see your son running into your arms. You’re very happy walking through the door, and then he’s not there. You look around, and you can’t find him. You look more and, if you’re married, your wife says, “Uh-oh, I haven’t seen him in a while,” and then you both begin to panic.

Notice the emotions that happen, on a scale from 1 to 10. They can go from mild discomfort all the way up to real panic. Nothing’s actually happened, except that you’re believing thoughts like “I need to find him,” “He’s missing,” “He’s in trouble,” or “Something terrible has happened to him.” Whatever your thought is in that situation—“He could be hurt” or “He needs me” or “I need to call 911”—how do you react when you believe that thought?

And then you find him—maybe he fell asleep in the closet and you find him there. How do you treat him if you’ve been believing those thoughts? While one person might simply be relieved, another person might wake him up and start crying and holding him, or someone else might yell at him for causing all that worry. Just imagine the little guy and his fear and what that would mean to someone who was just taking a nap, after all.

So: “How do you react when you believe that thought?” How does it feel in your body when you believe the thought? How do you treat other people and yourself? Is this where addictions kick in? Is this where you begin to overeat or smoke the cigarette you said you’d never smoke again?

That’s all in the third question. It’s meditation. You sit and you watch what happens to your life as a result of that thought. You go back to your childhood and then all the way up to the present. “How do you react—what happens—when you believe the thought?” It’s an amazing question. Your whole life will just appear in front of you in images.

And then the fourth question: “Who would you be without the thought?” The result is calmness. You can watch your life without the thought. Let’s say, for example, the child is asleep in the closet, and you are afraid something has happened to him. Who would you be without the thought “Something terrible has happened to him”? The thought is like a nightmare that has surfaced. Even though you don’t really want to admit it, it’s always present for some of us. It surfaces when you can’t find him after the first five minutes.

So, you watch: “Who am I without the thought ‘Something terrible has happened’?” And then you get to that closet a lot quicker because your mind is clear. It’s not panicked. It’s more intelligent and calm without the thought. It does the same work, but it’s so much more effective. Our children and the world deserve that kind of clarity.

The Miracle

"The miracle of love comes to you in the presence of the uninterpreted moment. If you are mentally somewhere else, you miss real life."

— Byron Katie

Questions About The Questions

In an interview, Katie was asked the following questions:  The first question is “Is it true?” The second question is “Can you absolutely know that it is true?” When you start doing The Work regularly, does the second question eventually fall off, because you fully probe things when you ask the first question?

Here's what she said:

Sometimes the second question doesn’t even apply. And sometimes with the concept you’re questioning, it makes more sense to ask just the second one and not the first one. For me, I wouldn’t miss one of the four. I like to say that the first question is there, and just in case you miss it, there’s another one to back it up.

Some people sincerely answer yes to the first question, but with the second question they have to go deeper and see if they can absolutely know what they’re so convinced of. For example, if the concept is “John shouldn’t have hit me—is that true?” your answer may be a quick yes. Of course it’s true; we all know that violence is bad. But then, when you ask yourself the second question, your answer may be different. You may find that you can’t absolutely know what is best for you or for John or for the world. And if your answer is yes, then just move to the third question: “How do you react when you believe that thought?” And just trust the questions and the inquiry.

People sometimes believe that every answer to the first two questions should be no. That’s not true. This is personal work. It’s meditation, and you come out with the answer that is yours. When you’re not defending and justifying, and you’re being very still, your answers can and do shock you.

From Hemachandra.com

Suffering is Optional

"I discovered that when I believed my thoughts, I suffered, but that when I didn't believe them, I didn't suffer, and that this is true for every human being. Freedom is as simple as that. I found that suffering is optional. I found a joy within me that has never disappeared, not for a single moment. That joy is in everyone, always."

— Byron Katie

Interview With Byron Katie

In the following video, Byron Katie explains The Work and gives an excellent example

You don't get to vote

"You don't get to vote on what is.

Have you noticed?"

~ Byron Katie ~

Why?

Here's what Byron Katie says about why it's best to do the work on paper - particularly when starting out.

Because the mind is tricky. If you don’t write down your stressful thought, the mind will slip and slide around it. The mind is very clever. It will start defending its sacred concepts. It will qualify and justify and soon you won’t be able to give simple answers to the questions. The mind will outsmart you, so that it can keep all of its concepts intact.

But if you identify the stressful thought that you’re believing and put it on paper, there it is, in black and white. It’s stopped. It’s mind on paper. Your fearful mind never has been stopped before. It’s brought into the world and stabilized in the world—on paper. So, by putting mind on paper, you can put the four questions and the turnaround up against it.

When people do The Work, they need to notice when they begin to justify, defend, or go to a story. When you defend or justify, The Work stops working, because in that moment you’re no longer answering the questions. You’re doing what mankind always has done.

So, I invite people just to notice that and come back to The Work, and simply answer the questions. Be still, and take your time with each one of them. Your life depends on it. Your entire joyful life depends on it.

What Is Real?

"The world is nothing but my perception of it.

I see only through myself.

I hear only through the filter of my story."

~ Byron Katie ~

When It's Done - It's Done

When you don’t believe something, you can’t make yourself believe it. There’s nothing you can do to believe it again. You either believe it or you don’t.

Let’s say you’re out walking in the desert and you see a snake on your path, and you’re terrified of snakes. You jump back, and your brow is sweating, and your heart is racing—you’re paralyzed with fear.

Then, maybe the sun shines through the clouds a little differently, and through your fear, you look down again and you think, “Oh, that’s a rope! How could I ever have thought that was a snake?” Your whole body shifts. It begins to relax. You realize that there was never any danger. It was just a misperception, a misunderstanding.

Then other people come along, and scream, “Watch out! It’s a snake!” And you smile. Those people are terrified, suffering, in pain, afraid for their lives, afraid for your life—how can you smile? Well, because you know that there’s no snake. It’s just a rope. But they’re yelling or running, and if you say, “Don’t worry, it’s okay,” they won’t believe you. They have to see it for themselves.

When you question what you believe, you leave behind the world and what the world believes. It puts you in a very interesting position. When people are suffering, you don’t suffer. You know that every stressful thought is untrue, that every snake is a rope. And you understand people’s terror, because you once thought that ropes were snakes, too.

How can I fear what is harmless? I can’t make myself fear that rope again, even if I stand over it for a thousand years. It’s impossible.

That’s what The Work does. It challenges every problem in the world. It invites everyone to discover that every snake is a rope. There’s no exception to that.

But this work is for people who are open to it. It’s not a little thing to lose your identification and who you believe yourself to be, and that’s what this work threatens. It threatens the ego.

~Byron Katie

Thoughts Are

"Thoughts are just what is.

They appear. They're innocent. They're not personal.

They're like the breeze or the leaves on the trees or the raindrops falling.

Thoughts arise like that, and we can make friends with them.

Would you argue with a raindrop?"

~ Byron Katie ~