A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are | Byron Katie, Stephen Mitchell | peaceful and insightful reading

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A Thousand Names f...

	A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are Byron Katie, Stephen Mitchell Three Rivers Press, 2008 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 68 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

?Byron Katie is one of the truly great and inspiring teachers of our time. I encourage everyone to immerse themselves in this phenomenal book.? ?Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

In her first two books, Loving What Is and I Need Your Love?Is That True? Byron Katie showed how suffering can be ended by questioning the stressful thoughts that create it. Now, in A Thousand Names for Joy, she encourages us to discover the freedom that lives on the other side of inquiry.

Stephen Mitchell?the renowned translator of the Tao Te Ching?selected provocative excerpts from that ancient text as a stimulus for Katie to talk about the most essential issues that face us all: life and death, good and evil, love, work, and fulfillment. With her stories of total ease in all circumstances, Katie does more than describe the awakened mind; she lets you see it, feel it, in action.

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Your Joy is Unthinkable

Byron Katie has discovered the secret to happiness, she lives it and offers it to all in this wonderfully honest writing. Long ago I felt that The Work she offers would absolutely transform the entire field of psychology. I still feel this will happen. And, finally, she has clearly stated the final realization of the work, "no thought (thinking) is absolutely true." Not one or any. No thinking needs to be possessed or identified with, especially thinking that produces suffering and separation. Of course, it may take one's practice to investigate the reality of this claim and that is as should be.

I love her stories in this book and often found myself chuckling with her. Katie is such an innocently fearless and wise Being. Often, people believe that enlightened beings do not have to face the same life challenges as they do. In this book Katie clearly demonstrates that her understanding has survived more challenges than most people have ever dreamed of meeting. Reality gets real with Katie, no past, no future, just this, who knows what it is, who knows what's coming, wow here it is.
As Katie notes, it is only by arguing with life that we feel unhappiness and to argue, we must indentify with and believe some form of thinking. Her secret is to be aware of our thinking, how it makes us feel and then do the work to reclaim our true nature...fearless, desireless, loving of this, right here, right now, just as it is. Katie's realization of joy and happiness is truly a gift to all of us.

Sundance Burke, Author Free Spirit: A Guide to Enlightened Being

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peaceful and insightful reading

I enjoy reading the short responses to the Tao te Ching written by Katie. It gives insight to her experience of life and keeps it simple and direct allowing you to roam around in your own mind and see how life flows for you.

Name your joy

I love this book. A great recommendation from the folks at [...] where I watched all the video clips and felt the direct power and grace of The Work she is doing with everyone. Loving What Is, the title of her first book, says it all, but A Thousand Names For Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are arrived first in the mail. Joy is joy, and the laughter came freely in every short chapter of this, Katie's meditation inspired by her husband Stephen Mitchell's translation of the Tao Te Ching. About half way through, Loving What Is arrived and I read that perfect introduction to The Work, Katie's reality check and guide to self-inquiry, before continuing with A Thousand Names For Joy. There may not be easy laughs on every page for you, but there is amazing grace there. I have, of course, ordered Katie's other books and preordered her next one. I find her to be the most quotable of writer-teachers, thus the title of her most recent book, Question Your Thinking, Change the World: Quotations from Byron Katie. And here, from A Thousand Names For Joy, is the passage that prompted me to write this review:

"Beyond what the mind can see is kinder than what it sees--that's the privilege of an open mind. Kindness resonates with the way things are. Kindness is sipping a cup of tea without the thought that I'm even sipping it. It's like being my own plant, feeling myself being watered, beyond any thought that that's what I even need. It's the sound of rain against the window, the gift of the sound of rain in my ears, the gift of life, which I did nothing to deserve. Kindness prepares what I am to eat in the next season. It even leaves a rainbow. It's infinite. It's the hair that protects my head in the sun, the ground that supports the floor. There's nothing that isn't kind. A death accomplishes what ordinary life could never do, letting you experience what is beyond identification: the bodiless self, mind infinitely free.

"When you realize where you come from, no imagination can move you to believe that you are separate. Everything is seen for what it is, and you understand that no one is in danger of losing anything but his identification. And in that forever good news, in the face of everything that appears to be real, only kindness remains. It's nothing that can be taught. It's an experience; it's self-delight. When I give to you without motive, I am delighted. I act with kindness because I like myself when I do that. That kindness can only be to myself. It doesn't include anyone else, not even the apparent receiver. I am both giver and receiver, and that's all that matters.

"The whole world belongs to me, because I live in the last story, the last dream: woman sitting in chair with cup of tea. I look out the window, and whatever I see is my world. There's nothing beyond that, not one thought. This world is enough for me. Anything I ever need to do or be is in this unlimited space. It's enough to accomplish my purpose, and my purpose is to sit here now and sip my tea. I can imagine a world outside what I can see, and as it happens I prefer this one. It is always more beautiful here, wherever I am, than any story of a future or a past. The here and now is where I can make a difference. It's what I live out of. Nothing more is required."

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Down to earth mindfulness

I enjoyed this book and got a lot out of it because it ties in the mindfulness aspect of The Work with the theosophy of the Tao Te Jing such that the Tao helps clarify why The Work is truly helpful. I recommend this to anyone interested in looking at their thoughts and feelings with greater honesty and responsibility.

BEAUTIFUL!

I absolutely loved this book! It empowers me to but things in perspective and find the joy in the moment. I have read the book numerous times in the last 9 month's it's one of those books I'll reread the rest of this human experience. I also purchased the CD set of Byron Katie reading the book....it doesn't seem like she is reading...just sharing. Her gentleness and love is heart felt. My husband and I listened to it on our way back home in the car, 12 hours. It was joyfull! In it she shares her experiences as a Lover of What Is and what that looks life as a human organism, a wife, a mother, a teacher, you know all the labels we put on ourselves and others. Anyway...ENJOY YOUR LIFE!

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