Let me first start by saying that I have no idea who Byron Katie is as of now. I just keep seeing her name pop up on my Twitter page under the Zen proverb tweets though. At first, I really didn't think much about it. I knew in time though that I would eventually have to check out who this woman actually was. I just knew that one day I would...

I had hesitated mostly because I had felt a sense of uncertainty (for whatever the case was.) So, I had decided to just wait. However, something has promtped me to make this post about her, so I will. I will post this up as sort of an introduction for those who do not know about her. This really is an interesting lady I might start off by saying though...

Byron Kathleen Mitchell, better known as Byron Katie (born December 6, 1942[1]), is an American speaker and author who teaches a method of self-inquiry known as "The Work of Byron Katie" or simply as "The Work". She is married to the writer and translator Stephen Mitchell.

"In February 1986[2] while in a halfway house for women with eating disorders Byron Katie experienced a life-changing realization: "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." People immediately began seeking her out and asking how they could find the peace that radiated from her.[3] Katie calls her method of self-inquiry "The Work." She has taught it to millions of people all over the world, at free public events, in prisons, hospitals, churches, corporations, shelters for survivors of domestic violence, universities and schools, at weekend intensives, and at her nine-day School for The Work. The Work is a way of identifying and questioning the stressful thoughts that allegedly cause all the suffering in the world. It consists of four questions and the turnaround, which allows you to experience the opposite of what you believe. The four questions asked of a stressful thought are: 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?, and 4) Who would you be without that thought?"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_Katie