I'll tell you that for me, one when someone used to say something that was true, one way I knew it was true was that I immediately felt defensive. I blocked it off, and I went to war with them in my mind and suffered all that goes with it. And they were only saying what was true.
Interpretation
Defensiveness can reveal underlying truths we resist acknowledging.
This quote highlights how our initial defensive reactions to truths can indicate deeper truths about ourselves that we may not want to face. Byron Katie emphasizes that when confronted with honest statements, instead of accepting them, we often react with resistance and mental conflict, which leads to internal suffering, reminding us to reflect on our reactions as opportunities for personal growth.
In practice
In a self-help workshop, quoting Byron Katie to illustrate the importance of accepting truths about ourselves.
When you stay present with your children, that’s where abundance is. And when you stay out of their business, that’s where everything you deserve in life is. When you’re in presence, there’s no story, and you are abundance. And you come to trust that space so often that you just eventually hang out as that, because there is nothing that can move you out of it, not even a perceived child or a perceived anything.
It is easy to be swept away by some overwhelming feeling, so it's helpful to remember that any stressful feeling is like a compassionate alarm clock that says, "You're caught in the dream."
We don't attach to people or to things; we attach to uninvestigated concepts that we believe to be true in the moment.
An unquestioned mind is the world of suffering.
Hurt feelings or discomfort of any kind cannot be cause by another person. No one outside me can hurt me. That’s not a possibility. It’s only when I believe a stressful thought that I get hurt. And I’m the one who’s hurting me by believing what I think. This is very good news, because it means that I don’t have to get someone else to stop hurting me. I’m the one who can stop hurting me. It’s within my power.
I am a lover of what is, not because I'm a spiritual person, but because it hurts when I argue with reality.
The greater intellect one has, the more originality one finds in men. Ordinary persons find no difference between men.
understanding the true nature of instinctive decision making requires us to be forgiving of those people trapped in circumstances where good judgment is imperiled.
Sometimes it seems especially difficult to submit to "great tribulation" when we look around and see others seemingly much less obedient who triumph even as we weep. But time is measured only unto man, says Alma (see Alma 40:8), and God has a very good memory.
There’s a difference between being alone and being lonely. Writers know that. I have never met a writer who does not crave to be alone. We have to be alone to do what we do.
Pay attention to the vital few and ignore the trivial many.
If a man would reap praise, you must sow the seeds, gentle words and useful deeds.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.