Everything i was about to write about was literally smack dead on another page online and so i will save myself the typing and attach below the entire article.
This speaks from my heart and was written by Tim Burness. Please read this entire article.
The Landmark Forum
They run personal transformation seminars my experience of Landmark courses was extremely positive. In fact it would be no exaggeration to say it was the most extraordinary and inspirational experience of my life. I have rarely felt so ALIVE!
These days there are many other self help or awareness courses of a similar nature available, but having talked to many people who have attended such similar courses, many people feel that The Forum remains the most powerful and inspirational in the entire world. Perhaps this is because Landmark have been developing their course far longer than anyone else, and so over the years have had the chance to carefully refine the whole process.
What is the Landmark Forum?
"The Landmark Forum is a seminar extending over three days and one evening. It allows people to create something that is truly extraordinary. It is conducted as an inquiry, and poses questions and explores issues that are most fundamental in living our day-to-day lives. These questions are about how to be effective in our relationships, how to operate at our peak performance, and how to communicate so that we bring out the best in others. In The Landmark Forum, participants look at their beliefs, choices and actions, and, perhaps most importantly, what underlies who we are as human beings.
This inquiry is a guided dialogue between the instructor and the participants into what is possible in their lives, a dialogue that gets at the heart of what it is to be human. In The Landmark Forum, participants examine the basis of their identities and their personalities, as well as our formulas for living, relating and achieving success.
Approximately 150 people take part in each Landmark Forum. The Landmark Forum is conducted in a workshop setting in a college or university auditorium, hotel conference room, or one of our meeting facilities in major urban areas. The program is held in a room most often set up in a classroom type of format. Each day begins at 9:00 AM and ends about 10:00 PM. Breaks are approximately every three hours, and there is a 90-minute meal break each day.
The men and women who lead The Landmark Forum are extensively trained senior program directors of Landmark Education Corporation. They conduct our programs on a regular basis in more than 90 locations in the United States and Canada, the Middle East, Australia, India and Europe. The training program which qualifies them to lead The Landmark Forum includes three to seven years of full-time, rigorous and specialized study, preparation and practice" (Landmark Education).
My positive experience of the Landmark Forum
by Tim Burness
In late 1993, a friend of a friend came in to the university bar where I was working at the time, and enthused to me about a course called The Forum. As soon as she mentioned that it used to be called est, I could feel that now was the time to follow up on an introductory evening of 12 years previously... yes it’s always good to take some time to think things through before committing oneself! The astrological picture for me at the time was also an influence on me deciding to do The Forum. Astrologers may note that the next available course at the time (January 1994) coincided exactly with the final pass of transiting Saturn conjunct my natal Aquarius ascendant, a sure sign that something significant was coming my way.
So what exactly did I get out of The Forum? Was my life "transformed", and if so, what exactly does that mean and is it still relevant several years later? And if the course sorts out so many of your problems, or at least your relationship to them, why did I go back and do it again in March 1997 and September 2001? After the last one I even did the Advanced Course. As it happens, I found it worth several times the financial cost.
I have vivid memories of many conversations from all the courses and other one off introductory seminars I attended in London and Brighton. There can be an extraordinary quality to the communication that opens up in the Landmark environment. You can choose to stand up and talk about your own life, or else remain seated and listen. Either way, the psychological and emotional barriers come down and secrets are openly shared by those standing up in front of everyone or sometimes with the stranger sitting next to you. A handful of people find this disturbing or threatening and walk out. On the whole I personally loved the intimacy. During the breaks, some people go off to phone relatives who they may not have spoken to for years. Many people share difficult or even traumatic childhood experiences with tears running down their faces. People get to see how our holding on to their interpretation of past events, the "story", has been preventing them from living fully in the present moment.
Other times, the whole thing is hysterically funny for many people. I spent a very large proportion of my second Forum in fits of laughter! This relates to the est or Zen idea of "getting it", "it" being the meaningful/meaningless tragic joke of life, or enlightenment, the truth, call it what you will. You are born into this life, you do some stuff for 70 years, you die, they put you in a box... that's it. Except that it doesn't mean anything that it doesn't mean anything. So what? There is the possibility that you can create the life you wish to have from "nothing".
Specific measurable results
1) During the Advanced Course I stood up and declared, "Who I am is the possibility of Love". There is something very empowering about literally making a stand for something to a room full of people. I believe this one act has improved my ability to give and receive love in all areas of my life (relationships, family, music, nursing).
2) After the Advanced Course I said "I love you" to my Dad for the first time in many many years. In the context of my difficult early childhood, my mother's mental illness and other family problems, this was an important step forward (or 'breakthrough' as Landmark would have it).
3) Had a profound realization about the nature of the word "God" and that it can mean whatever you want it to mean. I recommend the "Conversations With God" books by Neale Donald Walsch here.
4) Gained an increased general awareness of the communication process in myself and others that will remain with me for the rest of my life.
5) Experienced a real sense of how similar all human beings are when the surface layers are stripped away i.e. basically the same hopes, fears, insecurity, need to be loved, and so on.
6) Made some very good friendships that have continued outside my involvement with Landmark.
By Tim Buness
A Few Words From Me!
Susan Johnson (Snoopy) you saved my life. Literally. I owe you my word, that i will carry this new found life with me forever and promise to spread the word, my word. We have lot's of work to do now amiga :-)
My friends, bloggers and familia, this is beyond what you could ever imagine. I have never experienced such joy, happiness, peace and a zest for my NEW life. I feel like anything before this past Friday was a dream. It was NOT real. It was just a story i created with my racquet's/drama. Not drama caused by one other single person but myself. Someone hurt you? Look it's just the story they are carrying around with them from their OWN story. Their pain. Their hurt. I have nothing to gain by posting this blog but to help set you FREE! I have all the books in the world for "Self-Help" but nothing and not one single person has ever ever been able to get in my head in regards to love and happiness like Landmark. NO person, parent, friend, partner, being or pastor has ever been able to give me what i got Friday December 10 2010. Freedom. Peace. Self Love. Happiness. Forgiveness. Courage and LIFE! I have not one tiny tiny bit or regret in my heart. This is so real. A New Life.
I'm going to say this like it is. The churches have lost its foundation. Its all so sugar coated and a bunch of politics. This is the closest i have ever felt to GOD in my entire life. This is the deepest form of love i have ever felt in my 35 years of living.
I feel like i can fly.
The 160 people i sat in this room with for 3 entire days became my brothers and sisters. But no, you see not like it is in church or in our everyday lives. I'm talking real, raw and no filters. No cover ups. No make up. No fasad. Never seen before. The hugs, the tears, the stories.....it all blew my mind.
I'm on a mission like never before. I have a BIGGER problem. My ministry is on another level. My bigger problem is "I'm out to transform lives forever....to set people FREE"
Give yourself the best gift you can ever imagine and enroll into The Landmark Forum. It will blow your mind.
If i had the power to make rules, i would say from this moment on, every human being would HAVE to enroll in this program. I would give up my life if i had to prove that this is REAL!
Go and give yourself a gift of "happiness" so that you can in return share it with the world.
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