ByronKatie.com

Thankyou so much Byron for confirming what I already know inside.

While many things seem to be reducing in my life and my dreams and desires seemed to be causing me too much pain, the secret just pepetuated this. Revisiting what you say has stopped me 'wanting' and 'desiring' something that is not here in this moment.

The secret to me is about using a law to attract something that is not here in the now moment, its wanting something in the future and I realise this does not work. From reading your books I recognise what I need in my life is here, if it was not what I need it would not be here. When I need something else it will be here no amount of visioning, dreaming and creating will make this any different. Its so freeing to realise, what I need, is here, NOW.

In many ways it was the fear of letting go of my dreams that kept me in struggle and to realise if I fear losing my dreams I have already lost them really brought it home to me.

So thankyou!

Nitza:

TW is the way i find out how my own answers are always what set me free of my suffering. Before the work i would listened to everyone and didnt find freedom after TW i still listen but with a different ear my ear...I was lost without the cofidence to trust my own discoveries. TW has helped me to trust my inate intelligence wich is timeless and always available...TS though me that is possible to have it all ...the work tought me that all i want is already in front of me waiting to be discover. It is reality solid and always available to be discover as what i want...reality dont run away..is there and is perfect and i love that it waits for me to understand ..if it was less than that it would not help me because it takes my mind some time to catch up and understand that is all i was looking for ..reality is just perfect...

So nice to see Carolyn's comment here.

Just want to say that I've found Carolyn's book, Joy No Matter What, very useful alongside The Work - helping me to open up to what I am feeling and allowing space for it, which in turn I have them been able to look at and use The Work on.

I would recommend it to anyone that is interested in bringing more love and acceptance into their life.

And thanks Carolyn - we've never met, but I do have some friends that have worked one-on-one with you.

With love,

Jon

Dear Byron Katie: I love your teachings in The Work and share it w/many of my clients. I have been a licensed psycho-therapist and student of Buddhism and meditation for 30 years. My book, JOY, No Matter What, is going into its second printing later this year. It parallels some of what you teach in Loving What Is and A Thousand Names for Joy. I would be honored if you would be willing to endorse my book for its second edition. I would love to send you a copy if you would email me your address.
Thank you for your consideration, and most of all for your teachings.
Sincerely, Carolyn Hobbs

Wow, my wife had a great point: the circle of life = GOD.
How about this… the work could be deciphering what you attract (the secret) and dealing with it (the work) and moving forward.

Hi everyone I have an interesting question regarding the old saying "everything happens for a reason".

What about Karma?

I was fortunate enough to participate in an early session of The Work and it was the clearest weekend of my life.
My question is how do you compare fate to reality if you are a positive individual?
If you are a positive being wouldn’t you not rewire the "the work"?
I truly felt I was lifted up during my weekend in the sand, but how do you make sense when tragedy strikes?

This is a fascinating dialogue. Thanks. Yesterday I watched Oprah's show 'The Secret behind the Secret', and was both 'attracted' and 'repelled', and the net effect was zero!

Perhaps at the ego level, the biggest payoff is from a method or secret that puts you in charge and control! So long as you believe that, it feels like all your problems have ended because you can always attract what you want. And even if you fail once, all you need to so is learn the right way, and you will succeed. This is very reassuring to the ego. Seductive even!

In one sense I welcome the secret because the only place to go from here is to reality. As Katie says, life is kind, and lovingly guides you to the truth, again and again. Someone who comes upon the secret, is bound to come upon the limitations of the secret. And when that happens, perhaps a trapdoor opens and the love of reality underneath and behind everything is seen. For when such a powerful tool as the secret, which puts you in control of your fate, fails as it must, what is the recourse except reality? No more traps for you anymore. You fall straight into the lap of reality. And there you live and love.

I love and do the work. I am an artist and have exciting thoughts and dreams and love to translate them into physical form.
The movie "The Secret" talks about visualization and gratitude both.
Sometimes when I create, it begins with a visualization...
I see it as possible and then I create it as I have visualized or not. These visualizations do not always come out as I expect them to be and I share them, break them up to create something different or whatever may be. I find joy in both visualizing my dreams and loving what is.

the secret is, that the work doesn`t realy exist, the secret is, that there is nobody who does the work, the secred is, that all that is , is behind thinking and there is nothing. I Love this nothingness, the birthplace from all that seems to be. With great respect and Love to all of you,,and dont forget ..letting fall all ideas into nothingness. Pardon my english

hi all. I attended katie's workshop in dublin. it was wonderful. she is lovely. Can i ask the family to comment on the secret with esther hicks work in it. as i didnt see the first version.

all my love to all here
zahid

the alchemists have a saying:

'according to your system of belief, you are right'

joy!

Dearest Katie and World Family...

Asking is Good... Questioning is Good...

Does Spirit Need Anything?
Does the Universe Need Anything?
Does GOD Need Anything?
Things come and go...
Are we not Eternal?

Peace to All...
Pale Eagle

If I gave you a recipe to bake a cake and it only baked a cake 1 out of ten times, wouldn't you question my recipe?

I think for something to work it must be universal and apply to everything, not just somethings, sometime, maybe.

Like gravity, and like a precise recipe for baking a cake it's consistent across the board and works reliably all the time.

The problem with TS is that it doesn't work more often than when it does.

When it does "work" and you supposedly get what you want, "the secret" is the hero, when it doesn't work it's your fault, you're not doing it right.

That's like saying the 1 time out of 10 my cake recipe bakes you a cake the recipe works! but the other 9 times it didn't bake a cake you did it wrong...

Why does the "recipe" for TS not get any scrutiny for not working? only the baker does when it doesn't work?

I don't know any baker that would take any odds better than 10 out of 10.

Thank you for bringing such nice posts. Your blog is always fascinating to read.

Thank you Florence, it is so beautiful what you wrote.
Tnx.

Eitanism: Clinging to "The Work" is just like clinging to any other thought – loss of freedom.

As I read all these entries, I am struck by the sense of ownership of ways of thinking. My experience says that we all have the way, the work, the secret within ourselves.

I feel a sense of pride and ego here. Why are we wasting time trying to say which one is better, easier, more pure, more affective, more Godly?? Perhaps each of our ways is a beautiful blend of many approaches.

I know that each day I am open to learning and seeing new perspectives I am blessed with growth. There is no one way. there are many ways. each way personal. It is up to each of us to find our own ways. I work with people each day to find the knowledge within themselves.

When we are able to see and recognize each other as creative, resourceful and whole, we will build a world that is respectful of each of our paths. As we grow in love and acceptance of ourselves and each other, we are able to build relationships that are built on equality.

Relationships that are built on equality are relationships that last. They support growth, creativity, passion... the list goes on.

My favorite definition of humility is this, I am no greater or less than my fellow. As we each share our experiences, we are able to see new ways of thinking, processing, experienceing. These ideas get in the soup with the rest of our thoghts and form our understanding of the peiece of knowledge.

This beautiful unique blend called me, is what I strive to love each day. Each day I am able to see me as a beautiful, child of God, I am able to step into relations with others. The interflow between me and the world is what what created for me. We are meant to interact and be affected and shaped by the world around us. We are naturally evolving each moment. That is the beauty.

There is no right way, there is just the way each of us is present to. I hold the space for each of our ways. I pray that we realize we journey together, ever realizing we are not alone.

Namaste, Florence

I belief that I Am an individuation of God, the creator, and am therefore the creator of the experiences of my life. I was born into the collective consciousness of mankind and was carefully taught the ideas, thoughts, religious beliefs, and fears that pervade the third dimension experience here on Earth. Until I realize that I can create different experiences by changing my thoughts about my thoughts and experiences, my life will continue on in its predictable course of victim consciousness and judgements of others. How then can I change things?

The “SECRET” introduces the Universal Law of Attraction and explains its use. It also, without mentioning their names specifically, introduces the Universal Laws of Allowing and Deliberate Creation. I would like to point out that “The Work,” successfully encompasses the use of these three Universal Laws and it’s success is based on their successful application.

The Law of Attraction:” Birds of a feather fly together.” The Work attracts people who will benefit in some degree or another by doing the work. It attracts loving people who stand ready to share their successes in doing the work with others who will embrace and benefit from “The Work,” for themselves. “When the student is ready the teacher will appear.” This magic happens on a level that is unconscious to most of us. People coming to the work, are attracted by the truth that rings clear to them. This Universal Law of Attraction is also the basis upon which all nature functions.

The Law of Allowing: When one does the work the success of their living the turn around is because they “Allow” this change in their life. Were this not a Law that can be understood and consciously and emotionally applied it would not have the power to affect the changes that happen when doing the work. When we want to change we begin by making a simple conscious effort to Allow that change or turn around to take place in our lives. If one does not allow the change or turn around to take place then it is only a thought that has no power to change. When we consciously allow the change to take place in our live, we also allow or program our creation auto-pilot, over time, to create events and thoughts that support and cement that change. This is a continuing activity of this marvelous and powerful Law of Allowing.

The Law of Deliberate Creation: Thoughts create the experiences of our lives. When uninvestigated our thoughts may create stressful feelings and events that make our lives unhappy. When we investigate a thought in the work we learn that stressful thoughts can be turned around and it gives us a process to change our life experiences for the better. When we learn to Love What Is, we embrace all of the events of our life, both what we judge as good and what we judge as bad or evil, and receive all things with gratitude and thanksgiving. Loving what is does not exclude the truth that we can change by choice and desire or by preference, as Katie puts it. Usually we create by auto-pilot from the collective consciousness of mankind and make ourselves out to be victims of fate or whatever. When we understand and accept responsibility for our own creations, we can then, choose what we want to Deliberately Create through our own thought processes. Is this not doing the work for ourselves? Is this not recognizing and living the turn around by choice? Is this not the process to realize we miscreated something we do not now want and then deliberately recreate some thing we do want and then allowing our God self to manifest that change in our life?
Whether the “Secret,” comes from ancient manuscripts or not, and whether it is presented in a way that looks entangled with economic gain or not, has no bearing on the laws that are introduced by this movie and book. How we use these laws of Attraction, Allowance and Deliberate Creation in our own life is our own choice. If a proponent of “The Work,” understood these laws and their application to “The Work,” there would be no opposition to the “Secret.” because the same laws are in effect in both processes, just differently applied. How one applies or uses them will determine the successful changes within ones own life, the changes that have been chosen to be made. My thought is this, if you “do the work,” first, you will then make better choices of what to create or change in your own life. Through inquiry, the true desires of ones heart can be sought after and found. To know ones heart may be the greatest peace one can gain. Regardless, loving what is, embraces both processes because they are based on the same true laws. They are not mutually exclusive. Success in either process one may choose is determined by ones desire for thought inquiry, the honesty of ones judgments, the quality of ones investigation, and the successful application of these Universal Laws. This to me is a pleasant and peaceful thought.

Ron Giles

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

I don't see any reason you can't do both.

2) 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.”)

If my will and god's will are the same then i don't see any reason that believing thta i know what's best for me is a problem.

3) 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.”

I don't get how I'm not the thinker. Even to do The Work I need to conciously be able to question my own thoughts, that seems to be the same force required to visualize what I want for the law of attraction.

4) 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.”

I don't see any reasonon why trying to manifest what you want and mixing in accepting it should be a problem.

Why must it be all or nothing, one or the other? Who said life is a compeitition? I find it much easier to just use as many great tools as I can. The Work, The Secret, all good. The four questions will hold me whenever i'm expecting too much.

namaste

Of course the Secret is a huge success. It is offering the idea that somehow there is a formula out there, the secret potion, that will fill people's holes..you know the ones, we spend all day trying to fill up with things, lovers, therapies, even the work, even sickness, anything but feel the hole...and the hole is not even real, just a tracing of a moment when we were not met. So its all a great game of 'pass the parcel', I know that game well, I spent 48years playing it with myself, wrap this problem up carefully, pass it on, miss it, get it back, identifies who I am, and then i woke up, jumped out of the loop, and saw that i am the loop, and i am the observer, and the coffee still tastes good. I am residing in a body, in a planet, in a country, in a living room, and I hear a bird singing in the trees and feel the sun on a leg, and its time to pee. be here now.. thats the secret. big love

Dear Jan Harrison,

I see your point. I don't know anything about the Secret or whatever the issue is that calls for identifying who is or who isn't blessed. The point I take from the Work that I love is that peace is good. Division helps us toward that goal? Is that true? Taking up sides will make the world a better place? Is that true? My story is that someone's ego is getting in the way of peace.

I have read all of byron katie's books as well as The Secret and I would have to say the main difference between the two teachings is that The Work is about how you don't know anything and The Secret is about deluding yourself into believing that you can know things.

Buddhism and byron katie says that all thoughts--be them negative or positive--are born from fear. So 'the secret' is also born of fear. And this is where things get confusing and complicated because in Buddhism the first noble truth is that life is suffering and the 8 fold path is all about how to avoid suffering.

The Work, The Secret and Buddhism are all basically about how to avoid suffering. The Work says you can avoid suffering by not believing your thoughts. The Secret says you can avoid suffering by only thinking positive thoughts. Buddhism says you can avoid suffering by following the 8-fold path, which largely comes down to not believing your thoughts AND applying right effort toward right thinking... ie thinking good thoughts. So Buddhism is kind of like a mixture of The Work and The Secret, plus some other stuff depending on how far into it you go.

"Think -> Feel" -Byron Katie
"What you think about and ponder upon will be the inclination of your mind" -Buddha
"Thoughts are the forerunner of all things" -Buddha.

Anyone whose knows the secret knows that it totally says what both byron katie and the buddha said. This means that either some of, or ALL of, the secret is inline with buddhism and the work. But at least some of it is. That's your proof. So consider this before dismissing it.

Now let's forget about the work and the secret and buddhism for a minute. The "have" is not as good as the "want". I want more money, but will i be happier when I have it? probably not. Everything i've ever gotten i was only happy about for a short time and then i forgot about it because i wanted something else.

Byron Katie is awsome, no doubt about it, because she has said many times to even questoin what she has to say "Byron Katie knows everything, is it true?" "The Work will transform my life, can i absolutely know that?" No we can. All we know is that we don't know.

The secret *feels* good because when we're doing it we're thinking positive thoughts which in turn makes us feel very good. There's nothing wrong with this, optomism is well researched and proven to have a healthy impact on your life. It's tricky because it's all 'feel good' stuff and that's largely just 'pleasure' which any wise person knows isn't the main great thing in life. It's a carrot dangling by a string.

In summary: If you want to feel good and not mind deluding yourself to feel good (can i absolutely know that that's a bad thing?), then The Secret is for you. If you want to be in line with reality and feel all the things that there are to feel in this world then The Work is for you. If you want to try both then they're both available to you.

~namaste

Note for Susan B and anyone else interested...
thanks for your patronising comment suggesting that I just "don't get it". I have experienced many occasions where I experienced bliss after enquiry but to paraphrase Tony Robbins - you can live in bliss 24/7 no problem but if that's all you do then eventually people are going to take your furniture away. At it's best, mere bliss is all that the Work gave me. The Work is not for everybody, as Byron K will tell you.

The Story behind Certification --

The way I see it is that there are far too many people doing their own version of The Work out there. Like anything that's successful, there are many copycat versions of The Work. I won't name any names, but you know who you are.

My story is that KT is creating this certification program to make sure that there is an "authorized" version of The Work out there. That way if I want to do The Work with an authorized person, I can. And again, I may choose not to.

KT isn't saying don't use non-certified facilitators. She's simply saying these are the people who have been certifified.

That's it.

Now I ask: "is it true?"

I would like to thank you for promoting The Work. I have been doing this for a 15 years now. When I read your books earlier this year It gave me lots of additional ways to help people transform. In my humble perspective it is not the work verses the secret. Both are completely valid and are not in conflict at all. Neither approach will work for many people because both assume you are at a certain spot to start. Katie had done a lot of struggling to get to a point where she was willing to accept reality. If the work was eerything we could teach all the children and every one would be in bliss. It is a path to this state of mind and it takes time and I know the works is a wonderful give to help many further along the path. Thanks you all for being brave in our attempts.

Peter Stedman
Toronto

What I love about all of this is I am reminded that The Work is simply Four Questions and a Turn Around. That's It.

Good to know for me. I have to keep things simple. Really simple. LOVE U ALL!

I love Jane's comment about certification - yet again it brings home to me that everything is a reflection/projection.

Not that it doesn't mean that it is or isn't 'true' - Byron Katie may well have sold out - but is that my business? No.

Hell, I can even find some reasons why it might be better if she has! :-)

It is my (painful) business if I think that's true and I believe it should be otherwise. And where do I sell out?

Although even just plaiyng with this has me question this whole concept of 'selling out' - how can that be possible?

And thanks for raising this Jane - more and more I am struck by one particular Katie-ism:

"Everything happens for me, not to me"

The Secret, certification, money, the ants, my left leg's pulled hamstring - there are no exceptions.

With love, Jon x

Dear Katie,

I recently replied to Jane S. Jones' post and hope to share with you some honest thoughts. I have bought all of your books, some both in hardback and the CD versions. I love the work. And I love you as well.

There are some questions that I have (truly meant in love). Is this the Work of Byron Katie or the work of God through Byron Katie? Is Byron Katie the center? What is all this about? Is there non-duality in this? Are all these "ownership" things and labeling of some facilitators as better than others your idea or the idea of some around you? This is non-duality? I have to admit I have had Katie on a pedestal. I apologize to you for that.

I still love you, Katie, and offer to always be honest with you if you want to hear it. And, yes, I can see the turnarounds for myself. And I still want to be honest with you about what this all seems like from outside your "organization".

Truly sincere,

Ron Faulkner

Dear Katie,

If I understand your teaching right you say that the outside world is reflection of the inner world and we see the world through our beliefs and thoughts.
If we question our thoughts and the thoughts let go of us so the outside world would reflect it back to us.

So The Secret is teaching the same thing - thought creates reality.

Love,
Tomer

Jane asks the question whether those of us not "certified" can share the work with others. I for one have shared it many times, sometimes in a formal setting with the inquiry sheets, more often applying the questions in general conversations with others. I'm not certified (and don't intend to spend the time nor money to get certified). I just apply The Work as the situations come up, both with myself and with others.

Scott

I am an ordained minister and throughout my life I have had prophetic dreams that would later manifest, and my late Grandmother did also. An example, my late father in law, just days before he was killed in a house fire, ~ his death was revealed to me through a dream. I did not manifest this; nor did, he, I know. I have foreseen many things regarding people that lived down the street or were neighbors of friends, and they have occured as revealed. I have been told by higher beings to have total acceptance in all things. That is Faith. Faith is more than believing that a deity exists; it is letting go of attachments to outcomes, and believing; trusting and accepting all that comes, knowing it is for a purpose. That is not what The Secret falsely lures one into erroneously believing. Live in faith and trust that whatever you are experiencing today was planned long before, I assure you.

Question: Whose business is The Secret?
Whose business are the people evangelizing about it? Whose business are the many thousands currently buying into it?

Question: Katie's ideas about reality are "better" than Rhonda Byrnes. Is this true? How does feel to hold onto this story?

Question: What does LOVING WHAT IS include? Does it include loving the fact that THE SECRET is getting more press and selling more books than THE WORK right now? Does it include loving that Oprah is courting Rhonday Byrnes right now, rather than Byron Katie? Does it include the fact that after reading THE SECRET people are trying to figure out how to CHANGE reality rather than merely ACCEPT reality?

Question: When we argue with a point of view being expressed by some people but not us, who are we really arguing with? Are we arguing against them? Against ourselves? Or are we arguing with what is?

Question: Is there any situation in which the teachings of THE SECRET are true or appropriate or both? Are there any situations in which the teachings of THE WORK are untrue or inappropriate or both?

Question: Is there a meta-perspective from which the principles of THE SECRET and those of THE WORK are both useful. If THE WORK is thesis, and THE SECRET is anti-thesis, what could the SYNTHESIS look like?

Dear The work community

In my experience the secret is attemting to explain a theory, a story, a tool. Just as Einstein made the story of relativity, wich has been used in various ways, the story of The Secret story can also be used in various ways.
In my experince, as I have actively been trying the secret out, it has worked (I asked for a new sofa, washingmashine, shoes etc. and it came in a very convenient way without having to go shopping) it can never make me more happy or content than beingness itself, but it works for me and I think its fun, try it for yourself, maybe starting with a cup of cofee...;)
The homepage of The Secret is by the way www.thesecret.tv

Lots of Love from Maneka in Sweden to all of you

Along with Jane S. Jones I have concerns over the direction the "organization" seems to be taking. I have seen so much fussing and fighting break out in other "paths" of helping. As the copyrighting, certifying and otherwise "owning" started in other "paths" that I have experienced in the past so did the divisions, fighting, and bitterness. When I found that Katie did not present herself as a guru of anything I was so hopeful. I did not see her as someone who needed to own anything. Oh well, I can be at peace because it is not my business anyway.

Is there a Secret to the Work? I am completely at sea because of the inception of Facilitators. It is unnerving...like there has become a Secret to sharing the Work with others. It feels devastating...Is It True? Not absolutely, but I am doing the Work with people every week and now since I am not a certified facilitator, what am I doing? Before the sudden appearance of Certified Facilitators, I knew that Katie was different. Now I feel like Katie, you have sold out to other people who want to profit from your Work. Is that true? I am inquiring.

I think it's a colaboration. The secret says like atracts like. So toughts with a negative emotion or negative toughts atract other negative toughts. When you do the works, negative toughts can let go. And positive toughts (toughts that create a positive feeling) can be in your experience. Like attracts like so the happy feeling can result into happier toughts and so you create a happier reality. So in my opinion you can do the work and feel "happier" or notice you're feeling unhappy and learn to feel happy about your reality right away.

As A Course in Miracles says: You can have the "Song", which is God's Will, and which brings with it all the "echoes" which are the song's manifestations within the dream.

Or you can go after whatever echo you believe will bring you release from the particular desire you are experiencing.

What we want is release from the experience of believing we don't have.

I think The Secret, and the whole "You create your own reality" movement is a rung in the ladder to understanding that our minds are not in the world -- the world is in our mind.

Arguing over its validity is like arguing over whether first grade is more valid than kindergarten. It's all leading in the same direction.

Everyone:
When I originally sent this letter to Katie several weeks ago, I felt clear about it, having done lots of inquiry around my thoughts about the movie. Then, right after I hit the send button, I read back over it. I realized I had not yet turned the letter around, especially the statement:
"I don’t understand how someone who has The Work can take this movie seriously."
I turned it around and the humility rushed over me like a tsunami. Of course! I was the one taking the movie seriously! The most valuable thing I have learned from Katie is that nothing serious is ever going on. All the charge I had around this issue completely fell away.

What I most noticed in my work was that I had been labeling as “wrong” people who used EITHER The Work or The Secret as a tool to get something or change something or move toward something. I realized how often I do that by falling into the illusion of time and space. It is so much more difficult for me to answer the questions when I do The Work with the motive to change something. When I am clear, I work with my thinking strictly from a place of curiosity.

Note for Mr. T:
I was on a massage table the other day noticing my thoughts. An “I want” came up. I asked myself: Is it true? “Yes, yes, yes” was my first answer; I was thoroughly convinced. Then, it occurred to me to add: Just in this moment -- right here, right now -- Is it true?

The effect of this question was that I immediately dropped into my body. I noticed the support of the table beneath me. The warm hands gliding across my back. The smells of the oils: lavender and sandalwood. The soft guitar music coming from the CD player. Total bliss. I noticed how my wanting had taken me away from the present moment, from truly experiencing my massage.

Had I answered: “not yet” or “not until I do” to my question, that would not be enough for me. I’m not going to let my mind get away with that. I want to go deeper. I want to know the truth. I wait, and the answer arises. “I want…” is it true? Final answer: “No, I prefer to be in bliss now.”

If you have not experienced this I can see why you would say The Work doesn’t work and label it a “semantical parlor game.” The Work only works for those who truly answer the questions.

I am grateful for this forum and the gifts it is bringing me.
Susan

Katie
Your comments were all very confusing and complex to me. Can you sum it up in a nutshell? I miss seeing you in Salt Lake City, and I am sorry that I can't afford your new conferences.
You are wonderful and I will continue to listen to the tapes that I have of you!

Don't you just love how 'The Secert' has got us all discussing whether we have the power to create our own realities.

If you are at peace with yourself then does it matter? What story are we telling about 'The Secert'?
Personally I think and feel it is great and has come at the right time.

We are all at drifferent levels of Spiritual growth and for a large amount of the population this movie has brought hope and the realisation that they have the power to step out of suffering.

One day they might be open enough to discover Katie's work. But until they do I am grateful that Spirit is using all avenues to bring us home to our trueselves.
It is all perfect just as it is right now. What a great story.

I see the law of attraction working in my life. I attracted The Work! I was struggling with past issues that were haunting me and draining my energy. I realized that I wanted to find a way to release these thoughts/feelings (after two years it was time...). The next day I was listening to a conference call with Jack Canfield and he mentioned The Work and Byron Katie. I found the website and began a journey to be free - I learned that I did not have to get rid of the thoughts - inquiry would cause them to let go of me! Such blessing!

I wondered at first how The Secret and The Work could co-exist. I personally find love, hope and peace in both. My conclusion (so far) is that for me, the secret is the sails on my boat which move me forward. If I don't have sails up - focus on what I want - I go nowhere. The Work is what cuts loose the anchors so my ship can move forward. When I am attached (anchored) to thoughts that hold me back and drain my energy, I do not move forward no matter how many sails I put up. Both are needed. Certainly a person can turn "focus on what you want" into "I should have" and cause needless pain and stress. But it does not have to be that way. Desires do not have to become resentment and anger. Just as fire can warm us or destroy us.

I laugh when I think about the marketing of The Secret! If they had called it "The Obvious" our society would have ignored it. Do the work on the thought: "people should not have to be marketed (tricked) into realizing that they should focus on what they want instead of what they don't want". But, it is true that they minds of many people are closed. What is a "secret"? It is something unknown. So you see, The Work is also a secret. Both The Work and the law of attraction are becoming known... and will not be secret, but who will use these tools? This is what will matter.

The real secret is in learning how to not argue about the secret or the work. Learning how to be instead of make arbitrary differences between 'this' and 'that' as though the two could ever be separate and different in reality.

The real question to ask yourself is, what to do right now? What do you want right now? And even if you think you know what you want right now, think again until thinking drops away, and whatever is before you is exactly what you wanted all along.

Love.

I love the work's profundity. I also sense it is big enough to include the Law of Attraction. Part of what is for me is that I have preferences. When hooked on drugs I preferred sobriety. This leads to divine discontent, a useful piece of what is, perhaps not fully acknowledged in the work Not all desire is escape from what is; some may be my destiny calling. The work need not exclude seeing value in the Law of Attraction.

I think the Secret and the Work aren't in contrast. Thank to the Work you start healing your mind and then, thank to the Secret you start attract weel being, peace and whatever you really want. It is beautiful loving what there is but I personally want to have more and to be more, I want to expand, and that's what, in my opinion the secret is telling: you attract what you're feeling. In my opinion first there is the Work (to heal you) and then the Secret, that helps you to continue to attract what your real You wants and wants more!
Laura

Whether or not there actually is a difference between The Secret and the The Work, I know that it's a good thing that Katie has contrasted the two. If tomorrow I unexpectedly find myself learning the Secret that would be good, and if I find myself ignorant of the Secret for the rest of my life that would also be good.

One of the most refreshing aspects of The Work, and specifically of "A Thousand Names for Joy", is that they don't try to teach you how to "obtain" some"thing".

Except Peace. Bliss. Joy( and don't forget the diference between happiness and joy). Thank you again, Stephen and Katie, for putting all of this into words for me.

All my love to all of you, always.

Marie

One of my turnarounds is:

"There is a universal knowing."

That's what I love about TW...I tap into the "universal knowing" that is within me and I return to reality, to love, to peace, to God.

It was very interesting to follow the controversy here and to see how people have made of such a nice tool as The Work is something really religious that is in competition with other tools.

To me it is very simple: What works works. Let people debate about the rest.

Indeed I think even with this nice method there is a flaw. To find that nothing has to be changed is restful for the individual but it would be death to change. So, why not use change and be non-attached either?

Meanwhile I have changed my method of approach. I use three steps:

At first I use EFT on a wish, thought or feeling. Why doing mind work when things can be solved on an energetic body level?

With the stuff remaining I do the Sedona method because I think it is an excellent method to use the energy that is behind ones thoughts to change what can be changed and simultaneously get free from attachment to the outcome.

What then still is remaining I do The Work with it.

This step-by-step method gives me the opportunity to change things and also gives me the awareness of being unattached by what is going on.

The Secret and The Work complete one another. One is about being positive and asking for it, and the other is handing us the tool - the 'how' to do it.
both are generous gifts, given to the masses. I thank you for that. Talya

The secret is - there is no secret! It is a movie encouraging living in the moment, in appreciation, which creates appreciation. Thoughts in kind, follow in mind. Philosphies are here to help us shift our own realities beyond shame, blame, guilt into forgiveness and love. Each offers something for some, not for others. Openness is allowing all truths for all people. Fear only contracts us. I am grateful for all who step into healing venues to guide us in our own light. We have to remember it is our "light" to own.

The work and the secret.

Dear seekers,

The eternal secret is my consciousness that wants to make sense of what it is to be at life.

If you want to change your reality, it is possible only after you know it. The work helps to receive it faster and clearer.

After accepting you reality and you want to feel success at every level of life the secret gives you the belief everyone has this ability.

What all this teachers do not explain is that you need a deeper motivation, and that this motivation is from suffering, the most of these teachers went through a mental suffering and in the process the EGO died. In this process there was a new understanding, and transformed in to a system for others to comprehend.

If we would not have the communication systems of today I would not know about all this great insides, even so that all this wisdom is inside the bible there is very little translation of today's needs.
If you have the time to read this and learn about yourself, you are one of the lucky ones.

Most of humanity is in survival mode, and being one a spiritual path is blessing but also a suffering of going to the next level. Technology and science are part of overall self understanding of what it means to be human.

Your thinking is your reality, change it and your live will change, have negative emotions and the result be destruction. Have positive feelings and you will be a builder and healer.

On a larger scale, the teachings will continue to advance and bring new systems to the marked. At the end of the day it is you and only you that is the reality and you have to decide what is working for you.

I like Caroline because she keeps it simple and clear, but to implement it takes work. And in the name of humanity I thank her for bringing this to the world.

Al Baur

dear readers,

it is wonderful to see such truthfull searching,but the secret as presented is actually a danger rather then a blessing.

the danger lies not in the knife but in the hand that uses the knife.

each word spoken,each image created,each word , each thought is judgemental.

it will take from it that what will strenghten its own believe system.

truth is not of mind,mind that is coloured by earth life experience,and will seek of itself for itself wether it is desire fear or any other emotion.

there have been warnings about meditation,but often taken to lightly,do not pick up what is found on the way for it weigh,s you down and not reach the sky.muchlike drugs can create a altered state will still judge by a colored mind.the secret is like giving a car to someone who does not yet have his licence to drive.

john B

I am happy to have my "secret" feelings regarding The Secret somehow validated by this spirited debate. I liked some of the concepts, about abundance and positivity, unlimited possibility, and the philosophical quotes were great...but I was soooo turned off by the images of the chick manifesting the gold neclace, and that guy pretending he was driving a sports car, gag! I love what Katie says about sitting, standing, or lying down, it's the story we tell ourselves about it. What makes sitting any better if it's in a souped-up sports car? What makes standing any better if we have a gold necklace dangling around our neck? These material items may provide pleasure, but they are not rewards for a blessed spiritual life. Where we had the extremists who renounced lifely pleasure, here we have the other extreme, who feel that physical and material wealth is not only caused by knowing a "secret" but the result as well. Strange. I like the Middle Way. If you pull the string too tight, it will break. If it is too loose, it will play off key. The Secret was way off key for me. And now, it is no secret. Sitting, standing, or lying down, I am enough, with or without the evidence to prove it to others. That is my business, and God's business. For those who like and promote The Secret, that is their business.

I don´t know if the problem is my English, but I just get lost in words. In retoric. Some people don´t seem to make up their minds, they just twist words and make themselves sound smart but their point, what they really mean, it is not clear. At least not to me.

I haven´t seen the Secret but I´ve read about Law of Attraction. And it is nothing new under the sun. By the way, we can say exactly the same about the Work. From Epictetus and even older than that. And, without going that far, we could mention the Option Method, the one founded by Bruce di Marsico.

All of them are helping the people to rise their conciousness, and also they are into marketing and selling.

How can I know that is true? Well, I can not. Certainly I don´t know nothing. It just seem that way to me. And, by the way, I don´t believe that´s bad at all. It is a lot better than making wars.

But my point is that maybe, just maybe, we should laught a bit at the Work and not take it that seriously. It really start to sound like we are the Iluminated, the Ones who Know and the 4 questions are written on stone.

How in the world can you say that rape is not a bad thing (or at least "Bad?" "How can you know that is true?"), say nothing about Irak and other problems and, on the other hand, be so critical with The Secret?

Are we loving what it is or just what we are?

Besos y abrazos para todos

Niolus