A Midwest Journal

A person recently elected themselves my student, so I agreed to teach as best I could.

Here’s the first installment of this:

Well, I’m honored, to say the  least. If I hadn’t gotten over being embarrassed, I’d be red-faced.

But sure, I can help you as I can. And as we do, I’ll probably use this to figure out how to train people on this – as well as helping them to train themselves and others around them.

Now we have to start before the beginning.

First, you can’t learn this stuff – and it can’t be taught. You’ll find that you are actually un-learning lots of false data heaped on top of what you natively always knew to be true.

Second, you can’t do this releasing stuff wrong. In fact, you can’t actually live life wrong. Everything you’ve went through up to this point has been a necessary step to this point. Any problem you still have with what you’ve done in the past is simply that – something in the past that is only bothering you because you are still resisting it to some degree.

And that’s what you’re here for – to learn to release and reacquire that native peace you were born with. We want to make this a permanent feature in our lives from here on out. The great point is that it’s not that hard to do.

Releasing is simple. Hale Dwoskin gives this great example:

1. Pick up a pencil or pen and hold it in your hand out in front of you. Now grip it really tightly. Really hold onto it like there’s no tomorrow. It will get uncomfortable after a bit.
2. Now, just let it go.

That’s a demonstration of how you are holding on to stuff and how you can release it.
(Now pick up the pen so it doesn’t bother you – or you trip over it.)

You’ve been taught, or learned, from time immemorial that you can’t, shouldn’t, must, mustn’t, should do or not do all sorts of actions, be or not be all sorts of identities and personalities, have or not have anything and everything around you.

But practically, none of that has helped you get real peace of mind, or perpetual happiness, or unchallengable personal freedom. All that you’ve been through has just layered on top of earlier teachings and lessons – and these simply told you that  you couldn’t.

And all those teaching moments were just piled higher and deeper on top of your native state. (See, you’ve already had a PhD…)

You are and always have been just as happy, free, and peaceful as you could ever want or need. The trick is that you’ve agreed to a greater or lesser degree that you can’t, won’t, or mustn’t. The only thing that is keeping you down is your own agreements.

Getting rid of these agreements is simple – you only have to just let them go. And they do.

Now, the way I learned this stuff was to study all the various methods and techniques that were out there. Crane, Dwoskin, Seretan. All these guys learned directly from Levenson. It ended up that the most of my time was simply listening to and reading everything I could find from Levenson himself.

Here’s a simpler way to start – all the key blog posts plus a couple of video’s I’ve found:

• http://robertworstell.com/sedona-method/zen-releasing/
• http://robertworstell.com/sedona-method/create-life/
• http://robertworstell.com/sedona-method-review/sedona-method-six-steps-sedona-method/
• http://robertworstell.com/books/7-huna-principles-serge-kahili-king/
• http://robertworstell.com/sedona-method/how-you-release-simply-easily-effectively/
• http://robertworstell.com/sedona-method/world-perfect/
• http://robertworstell.com/sedona-method/author-life-story-truth-responsibility/
• Lester Levenson – Fireside Chat 01
• Levenson Introduction to Release Technique

That last one has a word AGFLAP – which is an emotional scale of sorts. See this post for a brief explanation:

http://robertworstell.com/sedona-method/thoughts-and-dreams-not-same-nor-different/

I’d also say to go to all those sites on http://robertworstell.com/sedona-method-review/ and get all the free stuff you can from these. Dwoskin sends you out a nice CD and DVD for signing up with him, and Crane has a lot of MP3 downloads – as does Hale. Seretan’s got books, as does Crane. Start off with the free stuff and don’t take any of it seriously – nor should you take me seriously. Just “take it all for checking” as they say – and use what you can out of it.

Because you are the only one who can “free yourself” – so you have to tailor make your own tools to fit whatever you are needing at the time. Just the way it is. One size doesn’t fit all, even if it fits most.

So look over what I’ve given you above and make your notes, try out what you can that’s immediately applicable.

Now, I’m going to have to let you get on with this from this point and then come back at me with the questions you have.

There is no way to teach this in a formal classroom. That type of teaching is built on enforced resistance. You’ll have to take the more traditional method of teaching, which is ask the question you have as it comes up – and I’ll see how I can answer it from what I understand.

And you have to realize that the teacher is always the student, the student always the teacher – I’ll be learning as I go from you just as much. So please don’t mind if I ask you a question from time to time…

Once you digest all of this, let me know. I’ll be out here somewhere and will get back to you as fast as I can.

Generally, I’ve found that it’s just too simple to get peace of mind at will. You just have to really want it, and then use Lester Levenson’s Sedona Method (releasing technique) to simple get exactly what you want.

Of course, this also means that you can have all the Happiness and Freedom you ever desired. Because they are really all the same thing.

And it’s quite simple to do this. While it’s easier done than said, there is a simple two-step release process. But it’s a bit more of a Zen-related aspect to life, since you can easily get to where all those former worries just doesn’t seem to matter any more.

Simply:

1. Welcome whatever it is that’s bothering you – accept it for being what it is.
2. Consider the idea of letting it go.

With the various noises that sound off all the time around us, it’s good to keep this in mind.

What do these three have in common? Simple:

1. They have to threaten you to get what they want.
2. They are based on convenient fictions.
3. They need your money to survive.

Of course, they also are all government related, but they also prey on your basic needs. And they are all scams, but what else is new…

Global Warming does exist, but it runs in cycles, both on 30 years periods, and also 1500-year and even longer cycles. Al Gore and his fictions started out with bogus data inside a Powerpoint, which was compounded by scientists who falsified their data in order to get or preserve huge government subsidies. Gore himself profits by this with his personal company that makes money off selling “carbon credits”. …While he meanwhile lives in a huge mansion and flies jets around to accept his awards.

The IRS was originally voted into law on the basis that they would tax the “very rich” in order to pay for the Civil War. Of course, since then it has started picking all of our pockets. It’s a favorite boondoggle of politicians, who riddle the code with inconsistencies on behalf of various corporate lobbyists. And these same politicians – who never think in terms of saving money by cutting spending or a balanced budget – only proclaim that we would “lose money” if we cut taxes. (But practically, we have the evidence of actually raising revenue as well as providing more jobs in each instance where presidents cut them: Kennedy, Reagan, Bush.)

Scientology threatens excommunication from friends and family if you don’t go along with their demands and keep supporting their financial causes. They got their IRS exemption as a “church” by actually suing and threatening the IRS and its officials itself. And the Anonymous protests continue due to the C of S denied-but-practiced policy of enforced disconnection. Of course, no one can trace where all those millions which their parishioners spend (mostly tax-free) with them goes. Or how hard it is to get it back, even when you are a celebrity. (And of course, these facts have to be documented, while the other two are more common knowledge.)

How to stop their bullying

All is not sad, however. Tracking back these commonalities also show us how to get free from their effects.

It has to do with people not wanting to return the way they came into this world – helpless, penniless, dependent. Essentially, they continue learning to thrive by exploiting the Lester Levenson buttons of control, approval, and security. If you learn to accept (or welcome) these and let them go (or release), you don’t have to stay effect of any of these. (Of course getting scam-free has been laid out “Get Your Self Scam Free”…)

And the other point is to learn to do with less government in your life. Because none of these would continue to exist if you didn’t give away so many of your rights to others.

Now, these all may seem far too simple. But these simple solutions work. It just takes a lot of people applying them personally. The only real side effect is that you get more personal Freedom, Happiness, and Peace of Mind showing up in your life.

A far cry from how government officials and their flunkies sleep at night.

Here’s wishing you a scam-free life.

So what am I up to?

Oh, other than saving the world, I check my cows every day. Run the farm, which right now is checking on loggers who are hell-bent on making ruts and then apologizing and filling them in as best they can. And people who want firewood who come every now and then, but not effectively removing the tree tops the loggers left.

And chuckling with myself when I take everything so seriously and being critical of others.

I’m in the middle, or mostly done, with promoting “Get Your Self Scam Free” and having someone edit “Freedom Is – (period)” for me. More of a collaboration.

But next on my list after that promotion is to write up what I’ve researched on mob grazing and grass fed beef.

Of course, my day job in designing web pages goes on apace. Slow over the holidays, but at least I’m working and getting paid for it.

When that Freedom book is finished, it will be published to Amazon and maybe I’ll start giving talks on it or something. Lots of promotion to do on it, both online and otherwise.

After that, I’m done with writing about self-help, which has taken most of my lifetime so far. Once I made that trip and discovered Levenson and his Sedona Method, everything was over. That was the base that actually then explained and dissolved all the stuff above it.

I’m just going to let others write about it and move on to comics – which has been my real bent all the time. Amusing to myself and others.

Sure, I’ll footnote what I’m talking about and there will be the occasional “heavy” blog post here to keep everthing rolling. But most of it will show up in comics as parody of what is happening around us.

And I think that this will keep us all amused as long as this body lasts. Entertaining, Educational, and Enlightening. Should be fun, too.

So, I’m writing this perfectly non-SEO’d post just to give you fair warning. Oh – it won’t be happening for probably a month or so, since I have some work to do on the above to wrap it all up, plus my comic blog to ramp up.

Lots of stuff to do.

Cheers.

How to figure out if a company or product is a scam.

Also, how you can see it you are scamming in your own life – or if you simply want to improve how people view you or your business.

If you’ve read “Get Your Self Scam Free” or the lessons from that book, you’re already well ahead of the game. You already know how to get your own freedom and happiness back.

In that book, I tell you that Cialdini, Maslow, and Lester Levenson have the key points you need to find and get scams out of your life. Those same key principles can be used as a checklist to rate the products and services in your life to see how much of a scam they are. It doesn’t matter whether it’s an Internet scam, online fraud, or someone selling at your doorstep.

I’ve made a little checklist below. You just check off what you find they are using (or misusing) to get you to do what they say or to buy their products and services. The total number of checked-off items tells you their “Scam Free Rating“. The higher the number, the  more likely they are scammers.

Scam Free Checklist and Rating Guide

_____ 1. Reciprocation - are they giving you a “free” gift in return for your email, phone, or (worse yet) your credit card number. Do they want you to pay for “shipping only”?

_____ 2. Commitment and consistency – Do they just want you to “try the first lesson free” and then pay for the rest on a monthly basis (with your credit card, again)? Monthly books, fruit baskets, or “try it and you’ll be amazed“? Rediculous money-back guarantee you hear about over and over in a 30-second ad?

_____ 3. Social proof – Is this a fad? Is “everyone” doing it? Do they tell you “don’t be the last on your block”? Are they trying to get you to be a lemming and jump off because everyone else is doing it? Does it have a fan club?

_____ 4. Liking - Are the models they use incredibly gorgeous (and well-proportioned)? Have they hired a spokesperson who is “just like you”? Is the sound of the voice and mannerisms such that you would really like to just sit and chat with such a person for hours? (Not that ugly models ever sell products, but there is the reverse of this used in advertising sometimes as well – someone so honestly homely that you begin to feel can trust them with your charge-card implicitly…)

_____ 5. Authority - Are they using a well-known celebrity who you used to watch on TV when you were growing up? Or someone in a doctor’s garb, dressed up like a chef, or maybe a minister – but these people don’t have clients or a congregation and are only actors? Is the government mentioned? IRS? Or some executive of a well-known business?

_____ 6. Scarcity - Are there only a limited number of these? Is the offer only good for a limited time? Are you one of a select few which have been specially chosen to receive this pre-release version? Is the price going up shortly?

_____ 7. Control - Does this product help you control others or get out of being controlled? Does having this product (or voting a certain way) take control away from others? Will this make you free from some sort of nasty situation – like the IRS garnishing your wages? Does this help you “get what you deserve” (favorite of laywers)?

_____ 8. Approval - Will this make people like you? Will this get you noticed? Will this help you have more friends? Does their ads have huge crowds gathered to cheer you (or someone) on?

_____ 9. Security - Does this make your life more secure in some fashion? Will you sleep better at night once you buy one of these or have it installed? Will this politician keep your neighborhood, state, or country safer?

_____ 10. Self-actualization – Is this company actually out to help you on a continuing basis as one of their clients, or are they just wanting a customer (habitual buyer) or pitching a one-off product (in order to get your phone number and credit card so that telemarketers can call you incessantly?!?) Is this company actually interested in your well-being enough to stick with you regardless of how much you spend with them?

- – - -

This post is simply to lay out this checklist. Obviously, there is much more discussion and review of this.

Some examples of organizations which rate a “perfect 10″:

• Any program (and most people) from or representing any government – 10
• Any insurance company – 10
• Any company who uses telemarketers – 10
• Any and all advertising (but not all promotion) – 10
• Most organized religions (not their original scriptures or philosophies) – 10
• Any diet plan advertised on TV or other media – 10
• All media or any company which relies on advertising for all or most of their business income – 10
• Most “big label” Record companies and the RIAA/MPAA – 10

Some examples of products which rate a “perfect 0″:

• Any product you hear about from a neighbor or friend who has actually bought it and used it, and found it works (word of mouth) – 0
• Books or recordings you’ve read which actually help you improve your life, the ones you’ve tested for yourself – 0
• Some writers and companies who tell you not to believe what they say, but try it for yourself first - 0

(Now, I don’t rate a perfect 0 myself. So don’t think I’m not a scammer to some degree.)

But do try all this out for yourself and see if this works for you. If you have suggestions on how this could be improved, leave a comment. But don’t accept this until you’ve checked it out personally.

Of course, any Master would say probably that it was a waste of time even making this blog post.

Because it is really that obvious.

It’s just that I’ve been studying right along with the early Lester Levenson material – not that anything is missing from Larry Crane’s or Hale Dwoskin’s versions of this – I’m just a bit hard-core in my research. Always wanting to dive straight into the deep end before I am in anyway certified in dog-paddling.

Lester spent many, many years reading and studying all he could to understand this state he wound up in after 3 months of self-inspection. So his lectures and talks are full of references to yogi’s and swami’s and so on. He even quotes Jesus and and Hebrew prophets with the same abandon.

Of course, anyone who is simply using releasing to get all the mess out of their lives, to get more stuff, to live a calmer life – you can just skip this particular post and continue with your successes. And anyone who simply follows any particular brand or kind of Sedona releasing method has success, almost regardless.

Except those, of course, who think it’s a scam. And for them – it is. They’ll get no results out of it. They’re right, of course.

But the rest of us can move right along with our practice and our studies and creating better lives for ourselves.

Back to my studies: this really starts to explain my recent seeming divergence into taking up Alan Watts, Zen, and the Tao.  Of course, I can get away with this as I work in Comparative Religions all the time. Even got a sheepskin that says I can.

Alan Watts starts to explain Levenson pretty well. I’ve been listening to Watts’ “Out of Your Mind” series. Quite entertaining. No-holds-barred and all that.

Where these two meet is in the Eastern studies, principally Hindu. Levenson hasn’t mentioned the Tao in any way, but what he describes as a top state undoubtedly contains what the Taoists and Zen devotees attain.

I see only that all the religions – in their basics, not in their interpretations – all are heading to a very similar if not identical goal. Buddhists are expected to become a Buddha in their own right. Christians are expected to emulate Jesus and attain a state of  the Christ (“…better things than these shall you do…”) All religions and philosophies have their various high states, but each of these compared show a similar end value.

The key point to take up here is that from an intellectual viewpoint, Watts sheds some light on Levenson’s idea of getting over the resistance you put up toward death. Levenson held that fear of Death was basic to all desires. Having to survive as an individual entity on this earth in this particular time seems of vital importance – or so it’s been called.

The study of Watts’ lectures tend to free up the intellectual points on this – how we’ve been trained through our life – and so we are then able to release these views more rapidly and let that internal peace of mind out, as well as all the happiness and freedom that’s in there as well.

And a friend pointed out recently that factually, you actually release releasing itself after a time. Which then tells that a person will essentially get to a point that releasing is just another factor in living life. No different than breathing or other organic rhythms we perform on a daily basis.

To this degree, we then let our own Zen master out. By simply releasing all the extraneous additives we’ve piled on for so long.

Worth some discovery if you aren’t already there.

And if you are, you can see that this really was an unnecessary post…

Pounding around and checking out old feeds, I found a link from finerminds.com where they pulled up an old (2003) article about lucky and unlucky people.

Of course I commented on how to make your own luck earlier, and was surprised to see in this old write up how my observations tended to explain what he had found.  Richard Wiseman original article here.

And here’s what Wiseman said of note:

Unlucky people often fail to follow their intuition when making a choice, whereas lucky people tend to respect hunches. Lucky people are interested in how they both think and feel about the various options, rather than simply looking at the rational side of the situation. I think this helps them because gut feelings act as an alarm bell – a reason to consider a decision carefully.

Unlucky people tend to be creatures of routine. They tend to take the same route to and from work and talk to the same types of people at parties. In contrast, many lucky people try to introduce variety into their lives. For example, one person described how he thought of a colour before arriving at a party and then introduced himself to people wearing that colour. This kind of behaviour boosts the likelihood of chance opportunities by introducing variety.

Lucky people tend to see the positive side of their ill fortune. They imagine how things could have been worse. In one interview, a lucky volunteer arrived with his leg in a plaster cast and described how he had fallen down a flight of stairs. I asked him whether he still felt lucky and he cheerfully explained that he felt luckier than before. As he pointed out, he could have broken his neck.

All this thinking about how their lives are rolling unlucky or lucky are really just additives. It won’t allow you to release your native freedom, happiness, or peace that’s already there inside you.  You have to really start living within your intuition – which is a very broad world, actually.

And you can see that Sedona Method releasing technique will actually take you right out of any “unlucky” scene you are involved in. Because when you take the control, approval, and security desires out of the Wiseman paragraphs, then you can’t really be anything but lucky – unless, of course, you want to play the “unlucky” game for awhile…