A Thousand Names for Joy Quotes

“I love what I think, and I'm never tempted to believe it.”
― Byron Katie, A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

“The reason I love rules and plans and religions is that people feel safe in them for a while. And, personally, I don't have any rules. I don't need them. There's a sense of order that goes on all the time as things move and change, and I am that harmony, and so are you. Not knowing is the only way to understand... Meanings, rules, the whole world of right and wrong, are secondary at best. I understand how some people think they need to live by rules...It's very frightening for them to watch the world unfolding in apparent chaos and not realize that the chaos itself is God in his infinite intelligence.”
― Byron Katie, A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

“When I am perfectly clear, what is is what I want.”
― Byron Katie, A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

“Sadness is always a sign that you’re believing a stressful thought that isn’t true for you. It’s a constriction, and it feels bad. Conventional wisdom says differently, but the truth is that sadness isn’t rational, it isn’t a natural response, and it can’t ever help you. It just indicates the loss of reality, the loss of the awareness of love. Sadness is the war with what is. It’s a tantrum. You can experience it only when you’re arguing with God. When the mind is clear, there isn’t any sadness. There can’t be.”
― Byron Katie, A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

“I don’t know what’s best for me or you or the world. I don’t try to impose my will on you or on anyone else. I don’t want to change you or improve you or convert you or help you or heal you. I just welcome things as they come and go. That’s true love. The best way of leading people is to let them find their own way.”
― Byron Katie, A Thousand Names For Joy: How To Live In Harmony With The Way Things Are

“I often say that if I had a prayer, it would be this: God, spare me from the desire for love, approval, or appreciation. Amen. I”
― Byron Katie, A Thousand Names For Joy: How To Live In Harmony With The Way Things Are

“Everyone is doing his job. No one is more valuable than another. The things in the world that we think are so terrible are actually great teachers. There’s no mistake, and there’s nothing lacking. We’re always going to get what we need, not what we think we need. Then we come to see that what we need is not only what we have, it’s what we want. Then we come to want only what is. That way we always succeed, whatever happens.”
― Byron Katie, A Thousand Names For Joy: How To Live In Harmony With The Way Things Are

“God’s will and your will are the same, whether you notice it or not. There’s no mistake in the universe. It’s not possible to have the concept “mistake” unless you’re comparing what is with what isn’t. Without the story in your mind, it’s all perfect. No mistake.”
― Byron Katie, A Thousand Names For Joy: How To Live In Harmony With The Way Things Are

“No one will ever understand you. Realizing this is freedom. No one will ever understand you—not once, not ever. Even at our most understanding, we can only understand our story of who you are. There’s no understanding here except your own.”
― Byron Katie, A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

“Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity. There’s a natural balance in things. If you go too far to one extreme, life kindly brings you back toward the center. What goes up must come down, and what comes down must go up. Up and down are different aspects of the same thing. So are inside and outside. Most people think that the world is outside them. They live life backward, running after security and approval, as if by making enough money or getting enough praise they could be happy once and for all. But nothing outside us can give us what we’re really looking for. I do my work and don’t even need to step back from it, because it never belonged to me in the first place. Nothing belongs to me. Everything comes and goes. Serenity is an open door.”
― Byron Katie, A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

“Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. You don’t have to like it—it’s just easier if you do.”
― Byron Katie, A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

“Whenever you mentally oppose what is, you’re going to experience sadness and apparent separation. There’s no sadness without a story. What is is. You are it.”
― Byron Katie, A Thousand Names For Joy: How To Live In Harmony With The Way Things Are

“I discovered that when I believed my thoughts, I suffered, but that when I didn’t believe them, I didn’t suffer, and that this is true for every human being. Freedom is as simple as that. I found that suffering is optional. I found a joy within me that has never disappeared, not for a single moment. That joy is in everyone, always.”
― Byron Katie, A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

“Love the world as your self; then you can care for all things.”
― Byron Katie, A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

“He is just like everyone else, except that he no longer believes that in this moment things should be different than they are. Therefore in all circumstances he remains at ease in the world, is efficient without the slightest effort, keeps his lightness of heart whatever happens, and, without intending to, acts with kindness toward himself and everyone else. He is who you are once you meet your mind with understanding.”
― Byron Katie, A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

“1. Is it true? 2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true? 3. How do you react when you believe that thought? 4. Who would you be without the thought?”
― Byron Katie, A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

“Whenever I lose something, I've been spared. Every loss has to be a gain, unless the loss is being judged by a confused mind. I come to see what fills that space in my life because she isn't there. And because she lives in my heart, the kindness in my world cannot decrease, because something else enters the space that I held her in. Just when you think that life is so good that it can't get any better, it has to. That's a law.”
― Byron Katie, A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

“distinguish differences, and through these differences and the textures, I see everything I need to see in order to find my clothes. I feel my way to the bathroom, find the toothpaste and toothbrush, and squeeze the tube. Ooh! I’ve squeezed a huge gob of toothpaste onto the bristles, which brings a smile to my face: it seems that my teeth needed some extra help this morning. Then I step into the shower. It’s tricky to understand the differences in bathroom fixtures, where the hot water is, which direction to turn the lever, how”
― Byron Katie, A Thousand Names For Joy: How To Live In Harmony With The Way Things Are

“last,”
― Byron Katie, A Thousand Names For Joy: How To Live In Harmony With The Way Things Are