Furuzan Emine Baran Gul

When The Work found me in 2015, I was out of a long-term relationship, first, my father and then my dog had passed away, I had quit my corporate job, and then quit the company that I co-started. I did not have a direction and I deeply wanted to connect with people instead of business matters. I was in constant stress, not knowing how to manage or how to stop.

I had long felt like a chameleon who had forgotten its true color. I had adopted pleasing as a virtue since I was a child and it did not work for me anymore. I wanted to know who was the real me. I yearned to find the true color of the chameleon.

In the summer of 2015, the book Loving What Is came to me as a gift. It taught and showed the practice of The Work of Byron Katie. It said judge others, question your thoughts, and meet yourself. It asked who would I be without my story. While reading it, in my core it felt very right, but I needed help. I stopped reading at the end of the first chapter and signed up for the next 9-day School for The Work in LA.

At The School, I felt secure; I did not have to accept anybody’s truth, no teachings, I was simply invited to open my mind, to answer the 4 questions, in my own time, in silence, without anybody’s advice flying around. I judged my mother, my father, my relationships, my ex-boss, and I felt freedom and understanding at the end of each inquiry. It really was not about changing others or myself, it was about seeing where I did not look.

During those 9 days and the following years of practice, this information got engraved in my DNA:

• suffering is not caused by the situation but by the judging thoughts around it
• thoughts are not me
• the universe is friendly
• there are three kinds of businesses and when I am in someone else’s business, I suffer
• love is always there, it is not a thing and it is a place
• thoughts are like children, they need attention and care
• thoughts are like clouds, they come and they CAN go
• the world around me is a reflection of my thinking, inviting me back to myself, to home
• emotions show up as results of thoughts, not the other way around
• “I know mind” was not the key for freedom but for captivity

The Work brought me home.

It taught me what and where is home, it introduced me to my inner wisdom. Now, every time I feel away from myself (when I suffer, which I still do), I look for the thoughts and stories that drift me away and ask the 4 questions: I am instantly home again, painless and easily, and the trip is definitely worth it. I find the recipe to make peace with myself, with others, and with life.

I have been serving as a facilitator of The Work of Byron Katie since 2019. I am a meditator, my other practices are yoga, Transformational Breathwork, Osho Meditations, Family Constellation Systems. I had the privilege of meeting many souls with whom I got to sit and witness their inner wisdom by doing The Work on pain, addictions, illnesses, phobias, loss of limbs and movement, loss of loved ones, death, abandonment, physical and mental abuse, body (weight and shape), money, unhappy job situations, and many more. I conduct online courses, in-person workshops, and one-to-one sessions with the practice of The Work.

I invite you to contact me via email or phone for any queries and if you are willing to step into or to go into the depth of your own wisdom, where life is pure joy.