Thursday, April 26, 2007

The Work revisited


Remember back to my birthday....my "self-help birthday"? I went to a Byron Katie Workshop and I watched "The Secret"? Turns out "The Secret" is heavy with cool graphics and empty promises but doesn't have much substance. "The Work" on the other hand is amazingly helpful, but I have trouble explaining exactly what it is. Here is a short list of the differences between the two as explained by Byron Katie on her blog.

The Secret: “You can have whatever you want.”
The Work: “You can want whatever you have.”

The Secret: “My will be done. I know what’s best for me.”
The Work: “Thy will be done (=Thy will is done). What’s best for me is what actually happens.” (In A Thousand Names for Joy, Katie says, “God’s will and your will are the same, whether you notice it or not.”)

The Secret: “You can control your thoughts.”
The Work: “You are not the thinker. It’s not possible to suppress your stressful thoughts. But when you question them, they let go of you.”

The Secret: “You can manifest your positive thoughts as reality.”
The Work: “Reality already is the best thing that could be manifested. When you realize this, you’re home free.”

That Katie. She sure is a wise one. The video that I've posted is of Katie doing the work with the statement, "I need more money." It's about 8 minutes long. Worth every second.....

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love Byron Katie who, I discovered because of you.
It's unfortunate that "The Secret" is the representative of the law of attraction that's become so popular. I bought it thinking that Esther Hicks was a part of it, only to find that the Hicks had disassociated themselves from it.
I read the Hicks and I think they explain the law of attraction in a more in-depth way that is very much in alignment with the Work.
Every word doesn't ring true to me, but a good deal of it does.
But I love Byron Katie, and I'm glad to have discovered her via your blog.

lolliloobedoo said...

Check it out, Dawg! I'm reading "Ask and it is Given" right now.

Unknown said...

Right and, like...I wanted to see Lori lyn last night and I DID! (Jealous Lolli?) But we talked about getting together and forming our women's group. We can discuss more about "the work" when we meet.