“No one can give you freedom but you.
This little book will show you how.”
—Byron Katie
This little book will show you how.”
—Byron Katie
excerpt:
Meeting Your Thoughts with
Understanding.
A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It is not
our thoughts, but the attachment to our thoughts,
that causes suffering. Attaching to a thought means
believing that it’s true, without inquiring. A belief is a
thought that we’ve been attaching to, often for years.
Most people think that they are what their thoughts
tell them they are. One day I noticed that I wasn’t
breathing—I was being breathed. Then I also noticed,
to my amazement, that I wasn’t thinking—that I was
actually being thought and that thinking isn’t personal.
Do you wake up in the morning and say to yourself, “I
think I won’t think today”? It’s too late: You’re already
thinking! Thoughts just appear. They come out of nothing
and go back to nothing, like clouds moving across the
empty sky. They come to pass, not to stay. There is no
harm in them until we attach to them as if they were true.
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.
Thoughts are like the breeze or the leaves on the trees
or the raindrops falling. They appear like that, and
through inquiry we can make friends with them. Would
you argue with a raindrop? Raindrops aren’t personal,
and neither are thoughts. Once a painful concept is met
with understanding, the next time it appears you may
find it interesting. What used to be the nightmare is
now just interesting. The next time it appears, you may
find it funny. The next time, you may not even notice it.
This is the power of loving what is.
Understanding.
A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It is not
our thoughts, but the attachment to our thoughts,
that causes suffering. Attaching to a thought means
believing that it’s true, without inquiring. A belief is a
thought that we’ve been attaching to, often for years.
Most people think that they are what their thoughts
tell them they are. One day I noticed that I wasn’t
breathing—I was being breathed. Then I also noticed,
to my amazement, that I wasn’t thinking—that I was
actually being thought and that thinking isn’t personal.
Do you wake up in the morning and say to yourself, “I
think I won’t think today”? It’s too late: You’re already
thinking! Thoughts just appear. They come out of nothing
and go back to nothing, like clouds moving across the
empty sky. They come to pass, not to stay. There is no
harm in them until we attach to them as if they were true.
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.
Thoughts are like the breeze or the leaves on the trees
or the raindrops falling. They appear like that, and
through inquiry we can make friends with them. Would
you argue with a raindrop? Raindrops aren’t personal,
and neither are thoughts. Once a painful concept is met
with understanding, the next time it appears you may
find it interesting. What used to be the nightmare is
now just interesting. The next time it appears, you may
find it funny. The next time, you may not even notice it.
This is the power of loving what is.
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