Preface to the 2nd edition
Introduction _Steven Mitchell
About this book

1.
Some basic principles
2.
The path to complete freedom
3.
Entering into a conversation
4.
Exploring Couples and Family Life
My husband cheated on me
I want to be recognized by my family
She ignores me
My husband betrayed me
They are reckless
My father was a terrible person
5.
Dig deeper
6.
Exploring Work and Money
My subordinates are so incompetent
My uncle gave me some crappy stock information.
I'm angry at the tyranny of large corporations.
7.
Exploring Self-Criticism
8.
Exploring with Children
Those kids don't want to play with me
9.
Exploring Underlying Beliefs
My wife should make me happy
I'm having a hard time making decisions.
10.
Explore an idea or situation
11.
Exploring the Body and Addiction
My daughter is addicted
12.
Become familiar with the worst-case scenario
My father beat me
I'm afraid of death
Bombs are falling
I'm upset about my nephew's death
Terrorism in New York City
13.
Questions and Answers
14.
Explore on your own

Appendix: Cases I Explored on My Own

This book is a revised and expanded edition of the original book, first published in 2002, revised and expanded 20 years later.
The content has been updated overall, some articles such as 'On Forgiveness' have been added, five dialogues have been removed, and six new ones have been added.

An international bestseller translated into 32 languages!
Time magazine selected him as a spiritual leader of the new era.

Byron Katie's Revolutionary Recipe for Happiness!

What we all really want, in the end, is happiness.
Each person's wishes may be countless and different, but what they ultimately want to achieve through those wishes is happiness.
Isn't that right? Whether we're conscious of it or not, you, I, we all want to live happily.
The problem is always this.
How can we be happy? This book, "The Four Questions," offers simple, clear, and revolutionary answers to this question.


Byron Katie, Awakening to Peace and Joy in the Midst of Despair

In Barstow, a small town in the Southern California desert, Byron Katie, a mother of three and a real estate agent, was living an ordinary life when her divorce led to her increasingly depressed and filled with anger and frustration.
Eventually, she became so overcome with the urge to kill herself that she ended up checking herself into a nursing home in 1986.
One morning, about two weeks later, while she was sleeping alone in the attic of the nursing home, she suddenly woke up in a state of absolute joy (what people call enlightenment).


“All the anger and thoughts that had been tormenting me, my whole world, ‘the whole world,’ was gone.
At the same time, laughter welled up from deep within and overflowed.
I couldn't make out anything.
It was as if something else had awakened.
'It' opened its eyes.
'It' was looking through Katie's eyes.
And I was filled with joy! I was drunk with joy.
There was nothing separate from it, nothing it could not accept.
“Everything was just that.” (p. 16)

The bible of stress relief!
If you don't believe your thoughts, there is no stress.

The truth Katie discovered then was simple.

The cause of all stress and suffering is believing in ‘thoughts’.


If you believe in your thoughts, you will be stressed and in pain, and if you don't believe in your thoughts, you will be peaceful and happy.
If you know the exact cause of your unhappiness, the path to escape from it and become happy opens.
According to Byron Katie, freedom, peace, and happiness are our natural state.
Therefore, if we are freed from the thoughts that make us unhappy, we can return to that original state.
The most common form of such thinking that makes us unhappy is the idea that reality should be different than it is now.


For example, thoughts like “People should be kinder,” “Children should behave,” “Neighbors shouldn’t be noisy at night,” “Mart cashiers should be faster,” “My husband (wife) should agree with me,” “I should be thinner, prettier, more successful” are thoughts that the current reality should be different from the current one, and when we believe these thoughts, we invariably experience stress and pain.


In Katie's case, she was constantly stressed out because her children would leave their socks on the living room floor.
I nagged and scolded her countless times about putting her socks in the laundry basket, but little changed.
Because of this, she was often angry and depressed, but after waking up, she realized that it was not the socks on the floor themselves that were causing her stress, but rather the belief that “kids should put their socks in the laundry basket.”
Then, they were able to happily pick up socks, and later, their children started picking up socks without them having to be told.


This may be a trivial example, but the principle applies equally in all cases.
Conflicts between couples or lovers, discord between parents and children, problems in human relationships, psychological problems such as anger, anxiety, depression, and obsessions, suffering related to illness, and even not only individual crimes but also horrific collective crimes such as genocide and wars between nations, if you look into the cause, you will find that there is always a belief in some idea.
Because we believe in certain thoughts, certain reactions and actions occur.
Anyone can notice this causal relationship by simply observing their own reactions in everyday life.

The reason why people suffering from various problems in this book all feel an unimaginable sense of liberation and find peace while talking with Katie is because of this principle.
Since beliefs about thoughts are the cause of problems, freedom from thoughts will liberate you from all problems and suffering.


A revolutionary way to free yourself from the shackles of your thoughts!
Four Questions and a Turnaround

As Eckhart Tolle described the human condition as being "imprisoned in our own thoughts," we are trapped in an invisible prison called our thoughts.
Beliefs and obsessions about thoughts have become so ingrained that they are very difficult to break.
So even if you want to be free from thoughts, you can't.
So how can we be free from our thoughts and live freely and peacefully?

As she awakened to true reality, Katie discovered a powerful and effective way to free herself from the shackles of all thoughts.
It is 'The Work', which consists of four questions and a reversal.


For example, let's say you're feeling stressed because of your husband's attitude, but you discover that the cause is the thought, "He ignores me."
Ask and answer the four questions below one by one about this idea.
Then we do a reverse swap.

Is that true?
Can you be sure that this is true?
How do you react when you believe that thought?
Who would you be without that thought?

And then we do a 'reverse'.


By asking yourself these four questions, you will realize that it is not your husband himself that is causing your stress, but rather your thoughts about him.


And if you do a 'reverse', you get the opposite sentences, "My husband doesn't ignore me, I ignore my husband, I ignore myself," and you see how close these sentences are to the truth.
If you do 'thinking work' with an open mind, you can experience an unexpected change, such as suddenly loving your husband, whom you previously hated.
When you free yourself from the attachment to thoughts, you will have such an experience.

This is just one example, and since all suffering is ultimately a matter of thought, Katie's 'thought work' applies in the same way to all our problems, to all the problems in the world.
This is why 'thinking work' is a panacea that works in any situation.
Moreover, 'thinking work' allows us to see the beauty of the present reality that we had not been able to see before.
And it is said that when you are completely free from thoughts, you can live a life of complete peace and happiness, and unconditional love.


“Byron Katie’s ‘Four Questions’ is a great blessing to our planet.”
_Eckhart Tolle

This book provides detailed guidance on how to easily and clearly solve all kinds of problems we encounter in life using four questions. It also includes 19 case studies of people struggling with various problems - a wife suffering from her husband's affair, a young man who wants to be recognized by his family, a boss struggling with a subordinate problem, a man who suffered a big loss from investing in stocks, a person who is having a hard time making decisions, a person suffering from the death of a family member, a person who is afraid of death, a woman suffering from memories of a terrible father, etc. - using the four questions and reversal to solve their problems and find true peace and happiness while talking with Byron Katie.


Byron Katie is currently one of the world's most influential spiritual leaders, and Time magazine has hailed her as a spiritual leader for the new age. She has been featured in numerous media outlets, including the LA Times Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, Pacific Sun, and Body & Soul. Oprah Winfrey also invited her to her Soul series, introducing her to a global audience.