Have you ever read the book Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life by Byron Katie? In the book, Katie lays out four questions that she says help people alleviate mental suffering and anguish, improve relationships and truly see reality as it is.
Many people swear by this method of inner inquiry, which Katie calls “The Work.” I find it interesting, though, that an alternate technique that Katie admits renders her method unnecessary is buried at the end of the book.
Rabbi Simcha Bunim, may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing, had a famous oral teaching:
Everyone must have two pockets, with a note in each pocket, so that he or she can reach into the one or the other, depending on the need. When feeling lowly and depressed, discouraged or disconsolate, one should reach into the right pocket, and, there, find the words: “For my sake was the world created.”
But when feeling high and mighty one should reach into the left pocket, and find the words: “I am but dust and ashes.”*
