Classes & Seminars

When we sincerely want to know our self, we will be willing to see ourselves in a new light. This new light will include the body, the mind and the spirit. We will also begin to see our self as a social being, as part of a human and global society. Happiness will come when we balance a life with interest for our self, knowledge of nature (God), and healthy interactions and relationships with other people. We will be able to attain this balance by a process of minor adjustments to activities we are already doing in our life.

In 1981, the World Health Organization announced that the #1 health problem worldwide was stress. This included stress-related illnesses and stress related deaths. It was the major health problem in both developed and undeveloped countries. Since that time, we have begun to live at a faster pace. We have computers, internet, e-mail, cell phones, and fast foods. We have come to expect things instantly - instant food, instant information, instant communication. Research has found that the speed of the internet has changed the way people are able to receive new information. Society has become geared to instant stimulation, both visual and auditory. Each of us is living in a society that, as a whole, is struggling under the weight of stress. We are living at a time when we are being encouraged to go for the gusto, to seek out all the stimulation that we can find.

Stress was the #1 disease over twenty years ago and it is out of control today. Medical research has found that major diseases, including strokes, heart attacks, panic attacks, anxiety attacks, and depression, have all originated from stress. They also report that numerous minor physical and psychological conditions are stress related, like migraines, allergies, insomnia, aggression, fatigue, moodiness, and low self-esteem. Long-term stress will cause biological changes in the physical body, which will eventually manifest disease in one form or another. The insurance industry is constantly raising their rates to handle the increasing medical costs. Prior to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack, the business community was losing over 100 billion dollars a year in employee health related costs, absenteeism, and diminished productivity. In the two years since September 11th that figure has tripled to over 300 billion dollars a year.

In one form or another, philosophies and religions talk about the three universal relationships everyone has. These are: our relationship with others, our relationship with our self, and our relationship with God. Little time is given to developing a balanced relationship in these three areas, and this alone will bring stress and anxiety. Very few of us take the time to get to know our “self,” and it is our self that is lost or forgotten in daily life. This will also cause us stress and anxiety.

Humanity is constantly seeking happiness in the material objects of the world, and this also causes stress. Everyone seems to have different ideas of what will bring happiness, which indicates that we believe that happiness is the attainment of something. We go through the day pursuing those activities that we think will bring us happiness, trying to avoid those that will cause conflict or pain. There's an old saying of having “too many irons in the fire.” In this day of information overload, we need to begin to sort through the “irons” and prioritize them. If our life, mind, and body are seemingly out of control, we can take back control by making some changes. We are being overly stimulated by the constant seeking of external input, activity, and approval. Only when we take control of our mind, feelings, and body can we begin the discovery of who we are and what will fulfill our life. This discovery is a major step towards what will bring happiness and joy into our daily life.

What used to be called the opinion of the world is, now called co-dependency. Co-dependency is a lack of relationship with our self. It is an attempt to get from others the love, approval, and security that we feel we lack. This idea of incompleteness, that we need something from someone else to complete us, is the main cause of conflict in our lives. The idea of incompleteness is the root cause of all human suffering and of the eight meannesses of the human condition (hatred, fear, shame, grief, condemnation, race prejudice, class prejudice, and narrowness of thinking). This is why people around the world, in both developed and underdeveloped countries, are suffering from stress. Anytime we are dependant on someone else to give us love, appreciation, or security, there will be inner conflict and stress. Getting from others what we feel we lack involves negotiations and compromising of our ideas, our dreams, and our sense of self.

As we begin to work on who we are, we will find life becoming more calm, peaceful, loving, and fulfilling. Happiness will begin to bubble within. As we begin to know more about our self, we will begin to notice more about other people. This diversity becomes the beauty and the spice of life. When we begin to know who we are, we will no longer need others to think, feel, or believe as we do because we are no longer dependent on their support, approval, or validation of us. This will give us the beginning of freedom because trying to get others to give us what we feel we need is a complicated process with no guarantee that the other will actually fulfill our needs. It is our life and only we can live it in a manner that will fulfill our purpose for being here.

To gain understanding of our self, we simply need to pay attention to what we are interested in doing or exploring, what we are interested in knowing and sharing, how we want to live our life. If we pay attention to our interests, we will discover what we want to do and then we can discover a way of doing it. For example, someone who has always dreamed of being a teacher, but is delivering mail probably won't feel fulfilled. However, if he was mentoring a student or coaching a little league team in the evening, he would find joy coming into his life and that joy would spill out to those around him. The changes we make don't necessarily have to be huge in order to be life changing.

It is our life. When we begin to accept full responsibility for our life, we can begin to take control of it, and then we will begin to experience the unfoldment of our life. The unfoldment of life is about coming to our self and beginning to live in a manner that is in harmony with our self, filled with energy, enthusiasm, joy, and love.

There are changes we can make in our life and techniques we can use to help us regain control of our life. We need to address each aspect of our life - that of the body, mind, and spirit. The vast majority of people on the planet believe they have a spirit, they may not be sure what that means, but they have a belief or feeling that there is something beyond this physical existence. Some people believe they are a body that has a soul. Others believe that they are a soul that is the body and mind. Still others believe that they are a soul that has a body and mind. The perception we have influences how we perceive our self and others.

An important step in understanding our self is to have a basic understanding of the mind. We have a left hemisphere and a right hemisphere of the brain. If we are to embrace life, we must work towards balancing the right and left hemispheres of our brain so that we may develop and utilize the whole brain. This will be covered more fully in chapter one.

When we sincerely want to know our self, we will be willing to see ourselves in a new light. This new light will include the body, the mind, and the spirit. We will also begin to see our self as a social being, as part of a human and global society. Happiness will come when we balance a life with interest for our self, knowledge of nature (God), and healthy interactions and relationships with other people. We will be able to attain this balance by a process of minor adjustments to activities we are already doing in our life.

In the journey to our self, we will expand our understanding to a more complete view of our self, while learning to change unhealthy habits into a healthy and happy life filled with enthusiasm for learning, growing, and living.

Included in this book are quotes from numerous people throughout the ages. The diversity of the backgrounds, cultures, traditions, and time periods of the people quoted reflects that there is a universality of the human experience that transcends time and boundaries; and it is the human experience that inspires and uplifts the human spirit. I have also included some of my poetry at the beginning of each chapter. The quotes and poems in the book can be used as positive affirmations to help change negative thoughts or feelings into positive thoughts and feelings.

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