▲ Katie Byron thinks that “I am whatever I believe myself to be.” Provided by thework.com

A few years ago, Secret, written by Rhonda Byrne, became a worldwide best-selling self-help book. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle has sold over two million copies worldwide. The success of these best-selling books shows that people all around the world desperately wish to escape from the stressful reality. However, although Korea has the highest suicide rate among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, few Koreans have heard about Katie Byron, a famous speaker and the author of LovingWhat Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life.  

“The Work,” a program by Byron Katie is famous around the world. TIME Magazine introduced her as a spiritual innovator for the new millennium. The program is especially renowned in the United States (U.S.), Europe and Israel, and is less known in Asia. However, there are certified facilitators in many countries and its popularity  is gradually spreading. In Korea, Lim Sujung (42, Seoul) is a facilitator of “The Work” program by Katie Byron and hopes to give others the experience to enhance their stressful life. 

Lim participated in “The Work” program in Los Angeles as a client in October, 2008. Two years later she again participated in the work program in Los Angeles. but this time as a staff member. In the same year she volunteered at the turnaround house—Byron Katie’s 28-day program for “The Work”—in Ojai, California. She has recently translated the book Who Would You Be WithoutYour Story? written by Byron Katie. 

Lim said, “We call it 'the story.' Your life is made by the story that you tell, which also means there can be misunderstandings or falsehoods in it. ‘The Work’ gives you the opportunity to think about your life in an objective perspective and find the reason why personalized thoughts may not be true.” Thus, “The Work” is a way of identifying and questioning the thoughts that cause all our anger, fear and depression. It is done by asking the four following questions: Is it true? Can I absolutely know that it is true? How do you react when it happens? Who would you be without that thought? The client performs the turnaround, in which a client considers ways in which the opposite of their beliefs might be just as true. 

Even though “The Work” is a self-directed activity—exposing the lies of the mind—it is hard to practice it alone for a beginner. It is the job of the facilitator to guide them. Lim said, “We were taught to never impose the facilitator’s opinions or values on the clients. We do not try to replace painful thoughts with better ones like therapists. ‘The Work’ lets the painful thoughts naturally dissolve, which should be done by the client alone.” However, in Korea, not many people know how the process works. Facilitators teach the theory of “The Work” and help clients focus on “The Work.” So it could be done in deeper and more efficiently with a facilitator.    

Lim told how she established the U Center, an on and offline counseling center where people undertake “The Work.” She was a prominent English instructor who had a complicated past. When she was young, her mother died in a car accident and she had a very strict father. As the eldest, she grew up as a "yes girl"—accepting everything her father and stepmother wanted her to do and be. However, after going to Canada in her mid-20s she experienced a freedom that she had never felt before. All of a sudden, when she came back to Korea she began to have strongly defiant attitude toward her parents.

Her ordinary life was over, and the defiancegrew into depression that she could not talk infront of people. She met many therapists but didnot see any outcomes. However, by the merestchance she learned about Byron Katie. Lookingback upon that time she said, “The moment I saw the video clip of Byron Katie I knew this wasit! It felt like she was beckoning to me saying‘come’.” With no hesitation she flew to the U.S. to participate in “The Work,” through which Byron Katie teaches the self-inquiry method.  

After taking “The Work” in the U.S., she saw a change in her life. The outside had not changed, but her reactions were different. From her parents, she felt love, which she had thought of as oppression in the past. She said, “I was finally enlightened. I started to understand everything. It was only I who changed, but because of my change it inspired my family and all my surroundings as well.”

She then quit her job as a private instructor and studied more on “The Work” of Byron Katie. She established the U Center in Korea to spread and teach “The Work” to the people suffering from depression. The U Center offers many programs, including emotion control program, relieving anxiety program and conflict dissolution program.    

Lim said that there are many young generations who want to relieve stress from “The Work” nowadays. Many students get stressed because they do not look after themselves. She said, “There are only three kinds of businesses – my business, your business and God’s business. However, so many Korean students think that it is selfis to focus only on my business. So they put their minds into their surroundings and in the end, there is not any love or concentration left for them. That is when it hits a tipping point and they get depressed.”  

Having experienced the miracle of “The Work” she understands the hardships and stress other people go under. She is not a psychiatrist but a facilitator. Participate in “The Work” with LimSujung and while you question your stressful thoughts, you might be able to reach a point where the mind freezes up and you no longer suffer. It could wake you up from the nightmare and give you peace of mind.

 

   
▲ Lim hopes that others will experience the peace of mind just like she did.Photographed by Kim Na Young
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