Business woman and mother Byron Katie spent ten suicidal years locked in her bedroom suffering from a severe self-loathing depression, until, one February morning in 1986, she experienced a life-changing realisation:

I discovered that when I believed my thoughts I suffered, but when I didn’t believe them I didn’t suffer, and 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.

Katie’s waking up to reality led to her devising what she calls The Work. Unaligned to any religion or tradition her method of self-enquiry teaches people to challenge their suffering through empowering them to question their fixed, stagnant views on themselves, on others and on life.

For more examples of The Work in action visit Byron Katie's website.

David Carr, successful journalist and happy family man, spent years sucking a glass crack pipe, tweaking the curtains and believing the police were God's secret emissaries. His fresh and insightful account of his drug-fuelled past is striking in its simplicity and originality

READ MORE

From grass hut to supermodel  to UN Special Ambassador for women's rights in Africa - the amazing life of Waris Dirie

By Vida Adamoli 

Waris Dirie is an ex-supermodel and Bond girl. Revlon, who once used her as the face of their skin care products, called her the most beautiful woman in the world. 

But Waris is more than a fashion icon, an envied celebrity with perfect skin, sculpted cheekbones and elongated limbs. A survivor of  appalling circumstances, she now fights fearlessly against the terrible practice of Female Genital Mutilation, also called Female Circumcision.

As the world financial system suffers its greatest shock since the 1929 Wall Street Crash, it's a good time to revisit  Fritz Schumacher's classic essay on Buddhist Economics

'Right Livelihood is one of the requirements of the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path. It is clear, therefore, that there must be such a thing as Buddhist economics...'

See also on This Way Up:

The Money Bubble and the Coming Crash

America's House Price Time-Bomb

It was all going so well but, as is often the case in life, there are gremlins in the machine.

It's hardly surprising that something as brutally large and complex as the LHC would be flawless, and so it has come to pass that the stuff of magic has been brought crashing down to earth by a very  simple human failing - a wiring fault. 

Still not to worry - they will fix this and results should be available about two months later than anticipated last week, but probably still to the original schedule.

Read more 

And for Hospital Laughs go to Funny Stuff!