“The turnaround . . . is about welcoming all your thoughts and experiences with open arms, as it shows you where you are still at war with reality.”
The first war we all fight is in our minds. With ourselves and with reality.
Not a fun thing to realize, but it’s true.
The last step of The Work is taking our original statement and flipping the who and what around so we can get closer to truthful and helpful thoughts. This is what Byron Katie calls the Turnaround.
My favorite Turnarounds involve how people “should” treat us, or how something “should” be. For example, if you were doing The Work on the thought: “my husband should be loving and kind to me,” the Turnarounds would be “I should be loving and kind to me,” and “I should be loving and kind to my husband.” Now, you are 100% in the driver’s seat. You have awakened to empowerment.
Turning It Around
Again, our original thoughts from part 1: “my voice will never heal. It will never get better.”
The Turnaround might go like this: “my voice will heal. It will get better again.” Or, “I will heal. I will get better.” Or, “I look forward to my voice healing and getting better!”
Of course, these are unbelievable thoughts if you’ve been having the opposite. Then again, they are just as true or likely as the original thoughts. The Turnaround helps you rewrite the narrative about your situation so you can start seeing things differently.
Mass Trance-it
In the following video, Byron Katie says we are all (without exception) in a state of what she calls “mass hypnotic trance” lately. This political situation is cray, and we have all decided on some story about it. The problem with our stories right now is the amount of fear they induce. Everyone seems to be scared about something lately, self included!
But, if we can examine our thoughts and begin turning them around, we make room for wisdom, vision, hope and ultimately clear-minded action. We could use more of that right now. A lot more. Feeling terrified will keep us from making effective and empowered changes in the world!
As that relates to our personal lives and voices, if we can use The Work to help us with our political fears, we can use it to change how we perceive ourselves and our circumstances. That will serve humanity more than anything else I know of.
If I’ve learned nothing else, at least I know that peace has to start in my own heart. The war in my mind between my thoughts and my reality has to end first. Or else the world will never change for the better.
I hope these 4 articles help you in some small way. If you are just making Byron Katie’s acquaintance, I hope she helps you find peace. And I hope this simple process brings you many, many #minipiphanies.
