Words of Wisdom from Loving What Is by Byron Katie
Life really is simple once we stop believing everything we think. This is one of the best books I’ve read on reframing our thoughts, or better still, not believing them! Everyone should read this book, and do ‘The Work’. Here’s what resonated most for me…
1. It’s your job to love yourself, not anyone else’s
“It’s not your job to like me – it’s mine”
2. Life has a plan
“Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment,
neither too soon nor too late. You don’t have to like it… it’s just easier if you do.”
3. Don’t be a victim
“As long as you think that the cause of your problem is “out there”—as long as you think that anyone or
anything is responsible for your suffering—the situation is hopeless. It means that you are forever in the role of victim, that you’re suffering in paradise.”
4. Don’t believe your thoughts
“A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It’s not our thoughts, but our 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.”
5. You have everything you need, right here and now
“All I have is all I need and all I need is all I have in this moment.”
6. Your thoughts aren’t reality
“Don’t believe every thing you think.”
7. Don’t blame others – take responsibility for your beliefs
“Placing the blame or judgment on someone else leaves you powerless to change your experience;
taking responsibility for your beliefs and judgments gives you the power to change them.”
8. Demonstrate love, always
“When they attack you and you notice that you love them with all your heart, your Work is done.”
9. Everything that happens needs to happen
“Nothing comes ahead of its time, and nothing ever happened that didn’t need to happen.”
10. Be present
“The miracle of love comes to you in the presence of the uninterpreted moment. If you are mentally
somewhere else, you miss real life.”
11. Peace starts with you
“Peace doesn’t require two people; it requires only one. It has to be you. The problem begins and ends there.”
“Don’t be careful. You could hurt yourself.”
12. No one can hurt you without your permission
“Hurt feelings or discomfort of any kind cannot be caused by another person.
No one outside me can hurt me. That’s not a possibility. It’s only when I believe a stressful thought that I get hurt. And I’m the one who’s hurting me by believing what I think. This is very good news, because it means that I don’t have to get someone else to stop hurting me. I’m the one who can stop hurting me. It’s within my power.”
13. Life is actually quite simple
“Life is so simple: We walk; we sit; we lie horizontal. That’s about it. Everything else is a story about what’s
going on while we’re doing it.”
14. We don’t need to look for love. We’re it.
“We’re all looking for love, in our confusion, until we find our way back to the realization that love is what
we already are.”
15. You always have what you need – nothing is missing from your life
“You’re just suffering from the belief that there’s something missing from your life. In reality, you always
have what you need.”
