The four questions

At the center of The Work are four questions. They are not a formula to get right. They are an invitation to look — slowly, honestly — at a single stressful thought, and to find what is true beneath it.

Take one thought that is causing you suffering, and hold it in mind as you ask each question. Let the answers rise on their own. There are no wrong ones.

01   Is it true?

A yes or a no. You are not arguing the case — only noticing your honest answer. If it is no, you move gently to the third question. If it is yes, you go on.

02   Can you absolutely know that it's true?

Can you really know it's true? The answer is only one syllable — yes or no. This question is not trying to change your mind. It only opens a little space between you and the thought.

03   How do you react — what happens — when you believe that thought?

Notice what the thought does. How you feel, how you treat others, how you treat yourself, the pictures that play, the way the body holds it. Here you begin to see, plainly, the cost of believing it.

04   Who would you be without the thought?

Picture yourself in the same situation, just for a moment, unable to think the thought at all. Who are you then? This is not asking you to drop it or deny it — only to glimpse who you already are beneath it.

After the four questions, you turn the thought around. You find its opposite — and any other ways it could be reversed: to the other person, to yourself, to the complete opposite. My partner doesn't listen to me becomes I don't listen to my partner, I don't listen to myself, my partner does listen to me.

Then, for each turnaround, you look for genuine examples of where it is as true, or truer, than the original thought. Not to be right, and not to feel better — only to see more.

The questions belong to you; their value is in your own answers. If you'd like someone to ask them while you simply look, read about what a session is like or send me a note. The Work was developed by Byron Katie and is always free at thework.com.