The Work
Updated 2026-08-09
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Founded by Byron Katie, this self-inquiry method interrogates a belief through four questions: is it true; can you absolutely know that it is true; how do you react when you believe that thought; and who would you be without that thought. A turnaround practice follows. As a scaffold it loosens fixation and transforms suffering by identifying the belief that generates the pain and reframing it. The related practice of one thought replacing ten thousand uses a single focus to displace scattered mental noise, and a single thought's difference can turn a whole outcome.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Belief capture: write down the exact thought that is causing the suffering. - Four probes: ask whether it is true, whether you can know it, and who you are without it. - Belief turnaround: reverse the thought toward yourself and find the version that rings truer.
Anchor fast decisions
The four questions and the turnaround test whether the distressing thought is actually true, and they turn the finger pointed outward back toward oneself. That loosens the fixed belief and drains the emotional charge it was generating.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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