My Advanced Course, now my life

What if we lived life as peace on earth depended on it.

This weekend I attended the Advance Course of Landmark Education. Our teacher offered us that we can Live Life Powerfully and Live a Life We Love. We were to experience working as a group, not a group of 5 or 6 but all 134 of us for the whole weekend.

We brought to the table a sense of Having It All, not by doing more, but by being more. By enlarging one's platter to encompass the whole of life. By living as all of life that matters. That our actions effect the whole.

Imagine your physical body with all it's organs. We can imagine and for some have experienced one organ or a group of cells decide to go off on their own, without checking in with the whole. We call this cancer, heart disease, indigestion, and pain. Does not one part end up controlling the whole being when off track.

When the body works together we flow as one being and have perfect health and harmony.

In the world imagine we are all parts, countries, continents, states, oceans, people, and animals. It is an intricate balance to keep these all working separately, especially if we do not realize that it is all one.

If we can stop, even for a moment and realize how connected we all are like the body, we can achieve peace in our lifetime.

Peace to me includes disruption, and then healing, and aggravation, and then healing, not just calm all the time.

In the side bar this is more information to this technology.

Click Here for more information on Landmark Education

My Advanced Course, now my life

What if we lived life as peace on earth depended on it.

This weekend I attended the Advance Course of Landmark Education. Our teacher offered us that we can Live Life Powerfully and Live a Life We Love. We were to experience working as a group, not a group of 5 or 6 but all 134 of us for the whole weekend.

We brought to the table a sense of Having It All, not by doing more, but by being more. By enlarging one's platter to encompass the whole of life. By living as all of life that matters. That our actions effect the whole.

Imagine your physical body with all it's organs. We can imagine and for some have experienced one organ or a group of cells decide to go off on their own, without checking in with the whole. We call this cancer, heart disease, indigestion, and pain. Does not one part end up controlling the whole being when off track.

When the body works together we flow as one being and have perfect health and harmony.

In the world imagine we are all parts, countries, continents, states, oceans, people, and animals. It is an intricate balance to keep these all working separately, especially if we do not realize that it is all one.

If we can stop, even for a moment and realize how connected we all are like the body, we can achieve peace in our lifetime.

Peace to me includes disruption, and then healing, and aggravation, and then healing, not just calm all the time.

In the side bar this is more information to this technology.

Click Here for more information on Landmark Education

A day in the world with Kathy Urschel

Where do I start. Well I'll start with the lesson of the day. Go with the flow. The flow of water that is. This has been a week of pools, hot tubs, and today a large lake.

I was up in Fair Haven,NY, home of the Renaissance Faire and beautiful Little Sodus Bay.

Kathy and I took a walk as usual, Kathy with her Guide Man my new title, and her guide dog Sandra. We got a cup of Joe and walked to the lake. I told Kathy I would take her dog in the lake and she said,"What about me?". She took of her shoes and socks, took off her electronic gear that allows her to hear and unfolded her cane. She walk, and then swam.

She swam away from the dog and I and kept going, and going. I followed her through backyards and past docks until she ran into a boat, thankfully parked at a dock. Then Kathy turned and swam away from shore.

I took a calming breath and found a group of people who owned a canoe. I tied up the dog, and paddled out to Kath. I looked at the people and told them Kathy could swim for hours and was blind and deaf. I told them I was a lifeguard and a canoe instructor for many summers at camp.

Next I thought, I wonder what these people thought of me, a life guard would let a deaf-blind person swim out to the middle of the bay.

Kathy is free in the water. Her stroke leg does not have to hold weight, her body can move through the water without struggle. Though she cannot see or hear, she did finally scream out to make sure I knew where she was.

I paddled out, threw her a rope, and pulled her in.

Another day in my world, amazed at Kathy's world.

Listen to a great radio program where Kathy tells her life story and what motivates her to keep going, and going, and going.

Listen to Kathy and other greats on the internet

Go to KathyUrschel.com

To Feel Better you must better feel

BE Happy

BY AN INTJ

Are you feeling sad or unhappy? Here’s a few things that I’ve found to be extremely helpful.

Exercise

If you are feeling sad, this is probably the most effective method of feeling better right away. Go outside and just start running. It doesn’t matter how fast you run, or how far you run, as long as you get your heart pumping and blood flowing. Try to push yourself a bit so that you have to concentrate really hard to make it through those last few feet. Doing this yields a ton of benefits:

- Exercise releases endorphins which immediately makes you feel better.

- It gives you a long term healthy habit to go to whenever you feel unhappy.

- While you’re concentrated on moving your muscles those last few laps, your mind is not fixed on what you’re sad about.

- Improving in exercise will give you self confidence when you look back on it.

- Do it outside so that you get some fresh air and sunlight.

- It increases your metabolism so that you feel more energetic for a while.

Whenever I return home from running, I’m always breathing so heavily that nothing else matters too much at the moment. There are never any feelings of pain, sadness, or anger. Something about struggling for breaths of life makes all your other troubles seem very trivial.

Laughing

Laughing works faster than other exercises, as you can just throw back your head and do it. Go ahead, just laugh out loud right now… Hahahahahaha!!! Um… okay, maybe that was a little creepy. Uh.. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Okay, feel better?

Like other types of physical muscle contractions, laughing releases endorphins and relaxes you. It seems to be more effective than say running in that you can feel better after a short laugh than a long run.

Of course, it’s not always easy to laugh when you don’t find something funny. Therefore, the long term solution is to try to change your outlook to find life a funnier place. Notice the little quirks and ironic things going on around you and laugh at those. Notice the stupid mistakes you make and laugh at those. Notice how all your problems are so little in the grand scheme of things and laugh at that. Everythng kind of is pretty funny

Meanwhile, in the short term, just laugh when you feel sad. You don’t have to find something funny to start laughing; you can just laugh randomly! That in itself is kind of funny (so you might start off fake laughing, but then find that scene so hilarious that it becomes a real laugh anyway). Once you get used to it, you’ll start naturally laughing a lot more! It’s like a natural endorphin boost throughout the day that you don’t really even notice!

Singing

Another one of my favorite physical activities that just provides a natural endorphin boost. Unlike running, you don’t have to sweat and puff all day long. Singing is a lot like aerobic exercise, except it’s a lot more fun! Join a choir, audition for a musical play, or even just go to church. Pick something that is funny, motivating, and inspiring.

After all, while you’re singing about how good it is to be alive, it’s hard to think of anything negative. Here’s some inspiration: For The Beauty Of The Earth

I have definiately found that my overall mood is much improved when I sing on a regular basis. The easiest regular source of singing is probably church, where no one will judge you and you can feel at home singing in public. Additionally, these regular sources of singing tend to put you into contact with people, which will (hopefully) help you laugh more also

Remember The Happy Memories

Try to think of some memories. Are they ones you feel good about, or ones you feel bad about? If you’re feeling bad, chances are, the bad memories are the ones on the surface of your memory. If you’re always thinking, this is bad, that is bad, then of course everything is going to seem bad to you!

Think of a time when you were truly happy. Just any memory would do. For example, I can remember times in my childhood when I lived in a boarding school. In my corner, there was a big hole, and in it, my friends and I would always stash a bunch of “goodies”. Random stuff like paper, pieces of plastic, etc. My one prized possession was a piece of pinkish plastic shaped like a hat. It was basically an oval, with a cylindrical portion raised up in the middle. It was somewhat rough in texture, but I found it to be unique. It was a special item that I would take out once in a while and look at with glee.

Just describing that experience made me feel kind of happy. Thinking of memories like these in great detail helps you “relive” those experiences. Memory works in that the more you think about something, the more it becomes ingrained in your mind. Trying to continously think about how to get rid of your sad memories just makes you sadder! Spend some time each day and try to recall any good memories you have. Before you know it, you’ll start relating everything to those happy times and your sad memories would just be a vague recollection of the past!

Do Things And Go Places That Make You Happy

Of course, it also helps to get some new happy memories! With all those memories making you happy, why not relive some of those memories? Remember the beach that made you feel really peaceful and serene when you were a kid? Go there and sit by it for a while. Or maybe that trip that’s always made you energetic and gave you a feeling of excitement. Take that again. Do the things that you love to do, and be happy!

Remember that the main goal here is to build happy memories though, not to go through the motions of the experience. As you do these things that make you happy, take it all in and really appreciate it. Isn’t it such a great and wonderful experience? It makes you feel great just being alive!

That’s the feeling you’d like to get later when you look back on this time and relive this experience, so make it a good one!

Make Some Happy Friends

Since you are looking for happy experiences, what better way to make them than by hanging out with happy people? Pick some people that seem to be happy and smiling all the time. Make them your friend and hang out with them on a regular basis. If there is one thing that’s true, it’s that the thoughts of people you are closest to tend to “rub off” on you. You become more like the people you interact with on a regular basis.

There’s a lot of advantageous to making naturally happy friends:

- You’ll have someone making you happy randomly over the long term

- You may start to learn why they are so happy and learn the source of that happiness for yourself

- You’ll be subjected to happy experiences while undergoing this process

- Happy friends generally have happy friends also, so you’ll meet even more happy people

- Happy friends will introduce you to activities that make them happy, which you can adopt even if the friendship doesn’t work out

It sure seems like a lot of ways to make yourself happier

Finding Meaning In Life

Memories can only be happy when things are meaningful though. After all, who feels happy about doing dull and meaningless things? Therefore, you should try to find out what has meaning for you. When you do something important well, you feel important too! Think about it - People who do important things are important! Luckily, you determine what is important, so just find out what those are, and do them!

Before long, your mind will be so consumed with all the details of doing important things, that sad memories become forgotten or unimportant by comparison! Then you’ll just be left with happy memories of yourself doing important things!

This is one of the most important ones for finding long term happiness. Being content and finding happiness when you are alone will allow you to not depend on anything external to yourself. It gives you freedom in that these external factors don’t control your mood. For example, if you’re dependent on your friends to be happy, then you’ll always be afraid of what happens if they aren’t your friends anymore. This’ll make you feel unsure about yourself all the time. Anything that would cause your friends to be away from you would make you worried. You might start becoming very controlling of your friends, always needing them to be nearby. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you might become very afraid of making your friends angry, never seeking out healthy relationships. Finally, when your friends go away (as everything goes away eventually - we all die after all), you’ll be sad once again.

Compare that to having inner security, where you have a source of happiness that no one can destroy. Why not figure out what you want and go after it? You’ll always be happy trying to take that journey!

30 years later, to be young again.

Hey Folks,

Saturday I took a journey back 30 years. I went to Summer Camp since I was 9 years old. I started at Camp Monroe in the Catskills in 1976. In the summer of 1980 we combined two bunks of boys to create one big bunk of young men. We were all 15ish and full of energy. We had a counselor who walked on water to us, and a loose atmosphere without our parent to grow.

Camp was a phenomenon back then. 375 kids, 125 staff, and 8 weeks of summer. Our camp had a 96% recidivism rate in those days. It was not even a thought not to come back. We saw our parents one day mid-summer and tears on the last day till next summer.

We got together on Saturday at the counselor's house downstate, NY and 12 of us out of the bunk that summer showed up. What a blast, I have not seen some of these guys for 30 years, others at least 25 and one I keep in touch with almost everyday by phone.

Great memories, big laughter, and open hearts towards each other. It was 13 hours of food, talk, and playing in the pool.

I got there late because of work and left early due to radio the next morning but tons of fun and a promise of next year or sooner.

Here are some of the e-mails I got today from the gang:

Pool is Ready...Plenty of Towels...Pool Basketball...Floats...Food...Drink...Just missing You!!!

See you tomorrow.

Guys,

I made it back to Baltimore by 10:30 am today.

Yesterday was one of the the most surreal, memorable, and special days I've experienced in recent memory (except for my wedding day and kids being born). I felt like I was 15 all over again. All of you guys haven't changed a bit (except for looking a bit older and definitely more wiser). I never realized how much I have missed you all you after all of these years. All the experiences and memories came flooding back. Stuff I haven't thought about in years.

Billy - thanks for putting this wonderful party together. You have a great family. And thanks for letting me crash at your crib. I was exhausted beyond belief.

I think we all need to get together sooner than next year. Perhaps meet for dinner/drinks in NYC this fall.

I miss you all of you already.

Love you guys,

Rich

Words can't describe how special you all will always be be me...I love you guys so much.

Yesterday wwas one of the most special days of my life.

Paplin...First to Arrive, Last to Leave...13 1/2 Hours of consistency. MVP!

Hey Billy

What a fantastic day. You have a beautiful family and its good to see you so happy.

The get together blew me away. How great to catch up with buddies from so long ago. Please keep me posted with all future events,,and enjoy the rest of your summer

TO all who attended,,, I will always love you guys,,you hold a very special place in my heart,,,the memories are still flooding back,,Johnny on the pony,,,oh man,,,what times

For 13 hours we were 15 yrs old again. Was truly amazing how even with almost 30 yrs of separation we are still all connected by our wonderful memories. Thanks guys. Love you all. Jeff

An awesome day and one I will remember for a long time.Thanks Billy!!!Howie

There is so much to be grateful for beginning with Billy pulling all

of us together and hosting such an amazing event. Thanks to everyone

that chose to be at Casa Ruvolo and share your current life and past

life experiences from Camp Monroe. Thanks to Pearlmutter for updating

me on events that I never experienced the first time but witnessed

firsthand the second time. There is a special bond that makes each

one of us a better person from our experiences at camp both together

as a group and as individuals. I am just getting home from a day or a

late day from camp, spent with both Malcolm and the Hochmeister.

Paired with yesterdays gathering these two days were an incredible

trip into the past bringing many positive memories into the present

and what a great present it was to me. I was able to witness some

amazing cathartic release at camp today when a counselor was walking

his camper to the gate as the boy was leaving the camp for the

summer. Both the boy and his counselor were crying because the boy

was leaving before camp was over. I felt extremely emotionally

connected to both the boy and his counselor and told the counselor as

he was on his way back to the boys side how lucky he was to make the

connection with his camper. I'm sure this is something that we have

all felt during our experiences in camp and that emotional connection

from camp is what someone referred to as sappy. If this is sappy, let

me feel sappy everyday..................Did the Yankees win over the

Red Sox???? ...........Who was pitching?????

Love to all,

PEACE

I can hear summertime laughter up in treetops bent by snow toward the

icy ground. On a cold gray afternoon in January, I can see children

splashing in the sunlit, turquoise-blue water of a swimming pool. Just

beyond the pool, in the empty Palladium (Al Bass Hall) , I hear shouts

and a basketball bouncing on the hardwood, and then Louie and Dix are

arguing: they have the misfortune of being on the same team and there

is only one basketball and they both want to shoot it. Saltzman tells

them to be quiet and play. All three are middle-aged men nowLouie in

Florida, Dix in New York, Saltzman in Ohio. I can hear them anyway.

After all, I am a magician. And here is the secret of my magic: over

forty years ago I first went to Camp Monroe, and I have my memories

still. My memory is my magic.

It is no idle talent, my memory. It enables me, whenever the feeling

strikes, to live in the hot light and cool green shade of perpetual

summer. Alone in my office on blustery winter morning, I can go sit on

the steps of the mess hall after dinner and watch the twilight paint a

satiny blue sky with red and gold. I can see Larry and Steven and Doc

walking across the main diamond, little boys who are now husbands and

fathers, and there is Rickles, smiling, walking down from the waiter’s

bunks, and Sperbs is out on the court, holding the ball above his head.

The list of people I see is long, and sometimes, when I’m lucky, I

don’t have to rely on my magic. I can see them in person, talk about

our memories and create new ones and maintain friendships that parallel

the arc of my life. I saw Baskin a while ago: I hadn’t seen him in over

thirty years, and yet we might as well have sitting outside the Sub-CA

bunks, for it seemed that no time had passed at all.

The wisdom ascribed to middle age is overrated: life can be just as

confusing no matter how old you are, but this I can say with some

certainty. Live long enough and you will find your portion of joy and

sorrow, and the joy is sweeter if you can share it with long-time

friends and the sorrows are less burdensome.

Of course, I never thought about this years ago, when I was creating my

memories. I often think about it now.

Best,

Peter

The grit that makes you grow, what you resist persists

I was listening to an author this morning, she said something that rang in my head.

It is the grit that makes the pearl. She was of course talking about a Oyster. It is sometimes happens that what we resist, delay or deny most, is exactly where we need to work. It is what irritates us that we do not want to look at, might hold the key to what we have to do next.

During the Landmark forum that I did a few weeks ago, this came up. We were asked to call people who we have been running a racket on, or making up stories about them. I used this method that I got from David Essel my Life Coach, look to where you resist, delay, or deny. It worked perfectly. I made the calls I leaset wanted to make first and the easiest ones last.

The grit is this denial. It irritates us though we take some lotion or potion, distract ourselves with entertaainment or dull our sences with drugs and alcohol or food so we do not feel. We do this with pain, we take something to make it go away, rather than figure out why we have pain.

Whether our pain is emotional, mental, or physical, masking it over works only temporarily. A slight knee pain over years might end up a knee operation for a replacement. What if the pain came from diet, or how we move, or work. The shoes we wear or the tension we hold. After the knee operation something else starts to go off from the same original problem.

We need to face what irritates us. What you resist persists.

Take that irritation and make a pearl out of it like the Oyster. Sit with the pain or emotion. Realize though it is real to you but on some level it is just energy. When you are fully with it, it can it go away, or you can figure out how not to cause it again.

Is the food you eating causing inflammation?

Are your emotions eating you up?

Are you shoes worn out?

Do you need a new bed or chair at work?

Many solutions?

Make a list of what you are resisting, delaying, or denying. Really go for it.

Ask for help if needed. I am there for you.

All the answers are inside of you.

Blessings,

Dr. Steve

My Landmark Forum

I have heard of Landmark Education for many years in my search for personal development. Landmark was started around 40 years ago as EST training and has distilled the best of personal development and the study of the human condition.

I know many people who are teachers of this work, due to there involvement in the same spiritual path as me. Still I did not know what to expect, and actually that's how I like to walk into a new experience, with an open mind and heart.

I took the workshop in Philly because a number of my friends were attending in NYC and from a suggestion of a coach of mine I chose to go it alone.

In the first 15 minutes after explaining a certain term used in Landmark, I was sold that I was going to get a lot out of this weekend.

What i got:

The best way to live life is from your beingness. To be fully expressed just like the sun. The sun is totally authentic not worrying what people think about the sun. So just be the unique you that you are.

Things happen in life and we interpret those happenings, and create stories from them. The result of this is misconceptions and ruined relationships. During the course we made phone calls to those we had stories with and it was amazing how things cleaned up. We had participants bring people, mothers, fathers, relatives, and past intimate partners to the last open day of the course, some hadn't spoken for 20 years and they were all crying together.

Those with teens got to hear from teens who just told it like it is about how they feel as teen. This was such a wake up call for me and many others.

We spend our lives trying to look good and avoid looking bad for others, putting on an act. People get this at some level and just you to be you so they can be them.

Best of all we saw that we all have the same dis-ease. Being Human. The problem is that we act like we are just this stimulus response machine, because we are.

The true fact is you are the thinker behind your thoughts, the director of your play, the one who chooses to invent life as you want.

If we accept that we are human and that we behave in a very conditioned way, then we are free to create from a blank space anything we chose that aligns and comes from our beingness.

This Sunday August 8th at 10am on WSYR 570am Syracuse, I will be interviewing one of the senior teachers of this work. Or go to Landmark Education

There will be a Landmark Forum coming to Utica in the beginning of October, click the link right here.