BK (lenea sa traduc!)

Katie: The Work is a simple, very powerful process. It's a way to identify and question the thoughts that are the cause of all the suffering in the world.

First, you write down the judgments you are thinking about other people, and then you put these judgments, one by one, up against the four questions of The Work.

1. Is it true?
2. Can you absolutely know that it's true?
3. How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?
4. Who would you be without the thought?

Then you do what I call a "turnaround," which is a way to experience the opposite of what you believe. Some of those opposites can wake you up to important truths that lie hidden within you.

Omega: You stress the importance of writing down the inquiry into each thought. Why is it important to put it on paper?

Katie: If you try to do The Work in your head, without putting your thoughts on paper using something like the Judge Your Neighbor Worksheet, the mind will outsmart you. Before you're even aware of it, it will be off and running into another story to prove that it's right.

But though the mind can justify itself faster than the speed of light, it can be stopped through the act of writing. Once the mind is stopped on paper, thoughts remain stable, and inquiry can easily be applied.

Katie: The Work is meditation. I sometimes call it "mental yoga." I invite people to meditate on each of the four questions.

For example, if you are believing "He doesn't care about me," and are meditating on the third question ("How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?"), in that silence you begin to notice the emotions that occurred in that situation.

You feel them rise from within, and mental images show you how you treat others and yourself when you believe that thought. You get to experience the separation that thought creates, and the emotions might include sadness, depression, resentment, or anger. I encourage people to be thorough and accurate when they're answering this question.

Then with the fourth question ("Who would you be without that thought?"), people come to see what it would be like to experience a stressful situation without the thought that is creating the stress in the first place.

It's truly amazing to see what is revealed in that quietness. It can be life-changing. Imagine how it would feel, what kind of person you would be, how you'd be treating other people and yourself, if you could see that person more clearly, with pure love, not believing your negative judgment of him or her.