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

"A Thousand Names for Joy" is my favorite of Byron Katie's books. This may be due to my own peculiar predilections -- I am more drawn to prose than to dialogue, and I have long been a fan of Stephen Mitchell's inspired translation of the Tao Te Ching.Katie's commentary beautifully captures the spirit of Lao Tsu's great work. I suggest that you keep a copy of the Tao te Ching handy as a reference. Passages that seem unclear to you may become clearer when you follow along with the Tao.Some reviewers have called "A Thousand Names for Joy" controversial. I hear that -- it's heady stuff. But I believe "A Thousand Names" deserves a relatively sympathetic read. Don't be fooled by the glossy cover -- "A Thousand Names" deals with a very challenging topic. A little less than 2,000 years ago, the philosopher Epictetus said "we are not troubled by things, but by the view we take of things." Humanity has been struggling with this insightful, helpful, and controversial idea ever since. Katie's philosophy is right in line with Epictetus, and with modern cognitive approaches to therapy and self-help, including CBT, ACT, and REBT. No matter what the disaster, Katie will not agree that it is "horrible" and "awful." She believes that "horrible" and "awful" are words we use to trouble ourselves.Katie states repeatedly in "A Thousand Names" that "everything is God, and God is good." In her zeal to joyously accept all things, some may legitimately wonder if she has left geuine concern for real human suffering behind. This is an important consideration! However, recent studies have shown that the happiest people are indeed the most compassionate people -- and that the rest of us also tend to do more for others when we are in a very good mood. Happiness and compassion are highly interrelated qualities, it turns out. Happy people tend to look for opportunities to help and be in solidarity with others during difficult times. People who are highly distressed by the sight of others' suffering tend to avoid suffering people.Difficult situations -- like pots in a campfire -- can only be grasped by the coolest handle. Katie is a naturally gifted counselor who does not force a particular belief system upon us. Rather, she helps us find beliefs that will help us grasp the difficult situations in our lives in powerful and loving ways.Reading "A Thousand Names" always puts me in a good mood, because Katie beautifully models an approach to life that is full of humor, compassion, and self-acceptance. Byron Katie proposes "the Work" as a method to help the rest of us taste this freedom. "A Thousand Names for Joy" helps us reflect more deeply on some of the turn-arounds we encounter while doing the Work. I recommend "A Thousand Names for Joy" highly for readers whose spiritual lives call you toward devotional reading and contemplation.J Jennifer Matthewsauthor of "Radically Condensed Instructions for Being Just as You Are."

My gratitude for Byron Katie (whose incredibly skillful tool for investigation called “The Work” has been one of the great gifts of my life) increased when reading this book. Her husband, renowned translator of spirit classics, read to her, a line at a time, his version of the Tao Te Ching, and typed her spontaneous responses to create this book. Mitchell was surprised by her insights, since she had never heard of the Tao but had come to similar wisdom from her own experience, which she expresses in her simple, straightforward way.In response to the phrase on keeping your mind always at one with the Tao, she discusses the goodness of God. “I have a word for God: reality. I call reality ‘God’ because it rules. It is what it is . . it’s completely dependable. You don’t get a vote in what it does. You can trust it completely. You can know that reality is good just as it is, because when you argue with it, you experience anxiety and frustration. . . ‘Things should be different than they are’, ‘He should,’ ‘She shouldn’t.’ All such variations on this theme cause stress - suffering. The sane alternative is to ask, ‘What can I do from here?’ When you are at one with reality, what you have is what you want.”In response to “The world is sacred, it can’t be improved,” Katie advises activists: “Give the facts, tell your experience honestly, and love without condition.” She notes that righteous anger will only meet with denial and resistance. Her response to “The gentlest thing in the world overcomes the hardest thing in the world” is that an open mind cannot be overpowered by a closed mind.If you are familiar with Katie and have read her other books, you probably know her story of awakening at age 43, after years of suicidal depression. In this book she details her experience and how she came to inquire into all her thinking and question all her beliefs.One Tao section is: “When they think that they know the answers, people are difficult to guide. When they know that they don’t know, people can find their own way.” Katie’s work helps people to see that their belief’s opposites could be at least as true and that small changes of perception make major life changes. She notes that a closed mind is a closed heart, but by listening and waiting for an opening, even the slightest crack can allow the person’s mind to see that maybe it wasn’t so sure. And then there is no going back.

I've read many, many books on personal transformation, enlightenment, non-duality the whole gamut. I'm a psychotherapist and a psychic healer, and a harsh critic of the explosion of spiritual books that we are besieged with. I'm not a doting fan of Byron Katie either.Books are a very personal taste and depends very much on where you are at, and what you relate at any speific point on your own unique life journey.Other reviews have written how this book lays it's foundations in the Tao Te Ching,so won't say much about that except to day that it does so in a very accessible, practicable and engaging style, offering immediate insight.In short ... this book, in my opinion serves as as a spiritual bible, that many could relate to. It creates a simple shift of perspective to see beyond our own unnecessary struggle, reminding us of our true nature as infinite beings. it's a powerfully deep yet very acessible guide lovingly delivered in bite size portions.For those reviews that rant on about Byron Katie regurgitating the work of other great authors and gurus... well everything inspirational is never a stand alone piece of work, it's all inspired in one way or another or recycled through greater consciousness. Does it really matter?If it creates a positive life change and you relate to the material, energy of the book and delivery style... then that's what's important. Drop the ego and enjoy the journey this book takes you on 😀.

This book i found disturbing especially the part about her white dog crawling across the floor on its useless aged back legs with blood dripping from its mouth , that is not ok. If an animal is suffering you do not just observe it for any period of time . Also suggesting the possibility that it could be good for a mother to loose a child to death instead of observing it as a tragedy. Clearly this author has no real concept of the real reality of love . The book was like insanity in text . I will not even pass this to the charity shop, its for the bin .

The Tao Te Ching is such a wonderful text and Stephen Mitchell's translation stands alone without the need for commentary. I had come across Byron Katie previously and not been too interested as I felt her previous works were geared more towards psychology/wellness rather than non-duality/mysticism.Coming across this in a local bookstore was a welcome surprise. Her inspired responses to verses of the Tao Te Ching make up this book and they are non-traditional, bold and uncompromising. She talks about everyday experiences she has been through together with more extreme ones such as being confronted with a man with a gun. Sure not everything is 100% consistent, but I'm more than happy to forgive this given the directness of her expression. In many ways this book reminds me of Jeff Foster's "Life without a centre""The reasons 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 harmony that goes on all the time as things move and change, and I am that harmony, and so are you"The only reason I've knocked a star off is that upon looking at her website she charges quite a large amount of money for her courses. While there is nothing wrong with this in itself, it doesn't sit completely well with me.If you are drawn to this then definitely go for it. If you have already read Byron Katie but are not familiar with eastern thought, I suspect this may be a more challenging read. I would encourage you to pick up this book and dive into it - it's well worth the effort and could change your life.

Byron Katie's journey took her from the very depths of suicidal depression to an awakening which transformed her thought processes. Unknown to her at the time, this inquiry into the nature of thought was congruent with Taoist philosophy . .This book clearly shows how we create our own worlds from our thoughts and how we lead miserable lives . . or joyous ones according to how much we believe the thoughts. It has quotes from the Tao te Ching at each chapter heading, which Katie expands upon in her own way.Reading this book is like coming home and the fascinating thing for me, is how Taoist theory is linked to our current explorations in Physics . .

REMARKABLE BOOK FULL OF SUBTLE, BEAUTIFUL, LIFE CHANGING OBSERVATIONS FROM AN ENLIGHTENED LOVER OF REALITY.A GORGEOUS MIX OF ULTRA DEEP REVELATION ALL FROM THE UNIVERSE OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN LOVE WITH ITSELF AND THE VASTNESS OF IT'S OWN CREATIVITY & CREATION.A LOVE POEM TO THOSE WHO ALSO WANT TO WAKE TO THIS AWE INSPIRING REALITY.ANOTHER MASTERPIECE FROM THE AMERICAN BUDDHA. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED