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Originally Posted by demk  What do you think of the Byron Katie method for dealing with thoughts? In some ways it seems to be in opposition to mindfulness based methods because you do think away stressful thoughts. Maybe its a way to train yourself to see all your thoughts as meaningless? Its woorking well for me at the moment with any paranoid thoughts. |
I think these are not mutually exclusive, and Byron Katie's method is very practical for dealing with deeply rooted subconscious fears. You confront your largest specific fears, and then when you've dragged these out into the light you'll be able to observe them when they arise again (which they probably will for some time, at first), and thus not get lost in them.
The difference between trying to stop thoughts from arising with force and then Byron Katie's method, is that the former deals only with the effect of the problem. In "the Work," you allow the thoughts to arise and then pick them apart until nothing is left of the illusion. Whereas when you, for example, try hard to think in a way that stops the thoughts from arising, it's like attempting to empty an overflowing bathtub without first shutting off the flow of water into it.
To allow thoughts and emotions to arise without judging them does not exclude other methods of dealing with fear etc., but merely gives you the chance of being able to look at them without
becoming them.