International Network for Attitudinal Healing


INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTERS
Click here to download June 2004 issue


	INTERNATIONAL ATTITUDINAL HEALING NETWORK On-Line Newsletter ~ FEBRUARY 2004

Network News

Letter from Jerry & Diane

Forgiveness

Programs & Events

Personal Reflections

News from Around the World

New Groups & Centers

Network Communication

International Conference 2005

Fundraising Tips

MISC. ARTICLES FROM PREVIOUS NEWSLETTERS

How to Be Happy?
	For as long as I can remember the question of how to be happy has been a big part of my life. That question has always been there. Especially because I did not know how to do it and in one way or another, I knew it had to be possible to live a happy life. When I was 24 years old, I started attending evening school. After 4 years, I graduated and then entered law school at the University of Amsterdam. My goal was still to become happy. During the last 2 years in the university I discovered that it did not work that way. At first I thought that studying would make me happy. I started working when I was 15 years old because my parents had the common idea that studying was not necessary for a girl. Girls marry anyway, they always said, so no need to study. Well it worked out quite differently.
My next thought was: Art! That will make me happy. I did an exam, passed it and started attending evening art school. In the daytime I finished my law studies and worked as a publisher of law books. In the evening I went to art school. After attending art school for 3 years I found out that it did not make me happy either. I liked art school, but it was not the final solution, it did not change my unhappiness to happiness. One day, thinking and talking with Anja, about what next to do to become happy, two girlfriends visited us. We had not seen each other for a few years and all of a sudden they were there. They told us about spirituality and gave us titles of books we could read. At that moment the journey started. It was the beginning of a life-changing period. A lot of things passed by ~~ Macrobiotic, Reiki and Shiatsu. One day I got a magazine that advertised A Course in Miracles. I had seen the books a year earlier, but at that time I was not interested. Reading had not brought me happiness. Now I was interested and decided to go to a workshop. During the workshop people told me several times that I would be a good facilitator. I became aware of that capability in myself. I wanted to join a Course study group in my region, but nothing was in place at that time. Fred van der Burg, (founder of Miracles in Contact, an organization that brings people together to study the Course) suggested that I start a group myself. I still remember my reaction: ‘You must be crazy, I just read lesson 4.’ He replied: 'Well, that’s no problem, is it!' Fred sent me a list of people in my region and after 5 days I phoned them. They wanted to join a group and I agreed to facilitate. The Course group started in my house the day I did lessons 28. I had the idea that I could study the lessons to keep ahead of the participants but it did not work. Some people had been reading the Course for over 8 years! Offering the groups was the only thing I could do. That was the start of what brought me to where I am now. The Course and Attitudinal Healing were very connected in Holland. I attended one facilitator training, and then another. I also started Attitudinal Healing groups in the region and facilitated these groups for several years. Then in 1996 the Board of the Center for Attitudinal Healing asked me to take over the Center and the trainings and workshops. I still like to do this work and I marvel at the wondrous ways that I was brought to this. Meeting the Course and Attitudinal Healing was automatically meeting my own concepts and ideas. There is an inner process that goes along with the outer process. Doing the lessons of the Course and facilitating the Attitudinal Healing groups always remind me of the invitation to choose peace instead of fear. Participants always do what they do. And as long as I have ideas about their doings, they give me numerous opportunities to choose again if I forget to make the right choice. When I look back I can see the inner journey I made. Facilitating groups is a shortcut and strong opportunity to learn to choose for peace and love. There are some things I understand now. - When I do not recognize love in a situation, I must have looked wrong. I see it as an invitation to look again and recognize love. - We always give the best we have to offer. It does not matter what it looks like. - We are totally innocent. And it is possibly that we do not recognize that. - Love is what we are. No exceptions. Sometimes I can add a new understanding to this list. It is added to the list when it has become something I truly know. The inner journey is what makes me feel vivid and alive. There is a sureness and trust about life and living. About the expression of love in everything ~ and I mean everything, whatever it looks like. That gives a huge feeling of freedom and peace and makes the experience of life very joyfull and funny. Loving everyone is the best thing that happened to me in life. And guess what? I now feel happy! Els Thissen The Netherlands AHjoyEls@hetnet.nl ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

BUENOS AIRES "Back to the Road" Program featured in FORTUNE MAGAZINE

FORTUNE MAGAZINE June 16, 2003 is Article on "Back to the Road" programs, based on an interview with Alberto Loizaga at the Center for Attitudinal Healing in Buenos Aires, Argentina

HUMAN RESOURCES
Cultural Change

IMPROVING COMMUNICATIONS
A program intended to generate new leaderships emerging from an inner look. Created by Alberto L izaga, physician and psychoanalyst, president and founder of the Attitudinal Healing Centre of Buenos Aires.

Many Argentine companies are still facing the challenge of palliating the negative effects of the crisis while intending to grow in a different scenario. From a wide variety of strategies offered in the market, each company may choose what best fits its reality. The unifying element, nevertheless, is a general concern for the costs - and not exclusively economic - that these changes may produce.

The program Back to the Road came as an alternative that revalues human virtues and qualities when faced with economic and social crises. Created by the physician and psychoanalyst, Alberto Loizaga, it maintains that human experience is divided into two basic aspects: the inner world, the self and the outer world, the human doing and having . At present the inner path is being forgotten. Companies and in fact all our world are concentrating in the human doing and having. An inner path is needed , states Loizaga. This program was granted an award by the US John Fetzer Foundation in 2002, the Jampolsky Award, inspired by the work of Jerry Jampolsky and Diane Cirincione, his wife.

The program may be applied to various circumstances, ranging from a company with short circuits in the Board (see Case I) to the traumatic moment of early retirements (see Case II)

OUTPLACEMENT The first experience with this program was at Siemens, when the international corporation decided to implement an early retirement system. The objective was to minimize its negative effects. And generate a new image of reality emerging from an inner look. We use meditation techniques consisting in remaining quiet, not doing anything, but being well aware of what s happening. Should thoughts arise, we recognize that it is our thoughts that interpret reality. It is the way we deal with thoughts that will generate either an opening or an obstruction. The opening allows us to perceive a pause between one thought and the next one. It is in this pause that intuition emerges, allowing the space for creativity and for the defeat of negative emotions , as described by Loizaga

The basic concepts of this program are:
Human beings are capable of feeling inner comfort, despite outer issues
Human beings are never victims and may always create new responses
We need humility to accept what we do not know and ability to have access to a permanent learning
The answer lies in the inner self. The outer world cannot be changed.
When the personal feelings of doing and having are aligned, a virtuous circle emerges.
Comfort and a quiet mind pave the way to creativity, thinking clearness, sensitivity towards others feelings, positive communication and a higher and better response ability.
To participate in the certainty that we integrate an implicit order

LEADERSHIP Crises have a bearing on the idea of leadership and Loizaga states that the tools in his program may be applied in this field. Our experience with one of the privatized companies is an evidence of this fact. We carried out a training course with the Board of Directors intended to lead their members back to the road of their inner selves. They had to get together with each other as human beings before they could create together a new vision of the company. We produced a kind of original leadership. In this way the personal leadership that emerges from the self, according to the quality of life each one may chose, was changed into the productivity, mutual comfort, inter-personal leadership. The result was translated into further productivity and higher performance but aligned with a feeling of well-being. Human virtues and qualities were intensified .

The program maintains that the order is created in our consciousness; each human being is conscious of himself and, if in order, he feels fine.

The basic concepts are:
He who feels better, works better
In order to work better it is necessary to find a sense in working. The sense emerges while aligning and synchronizing each action to the warmth of being, doing and having. From the personal to the institutional
It is necessary to be competent in order to do and to produce
The most important asset a human being has is himself. In choosing to value what he already has, he will have what he wishes.
In order to lead it is important to give service to others, to set tasks and facts oriented to the common well-being, and to align each and every action with this change.

The meaning in any work is found in the service rendered to others. But it starts with an inner journey. And Loizaga concludes: By going back to the road of our being we pave the way to get in contact others, we leave space for creativity and we recover the honor of belonging. Milestones in competitiveness and in the creation of richness .

CASE I
LIVING TOGETHER
The Board of Directors of a privatized enterprise (whose name is not revealed upon the company s request) included members from various countries and corporations who were not able to live together in harmony. This situation bore clear negative results in operations. The Board was very rigid Loizaga admits -. This is why I decided to apply an approach different to those applied to corporations. It is based on my knowledge concerning personal crises: the recreation of other values. I urged them to share what they generated and to thank each other for the benefits that this produced in their lives. The discovery of those primary values, their importance for their inner worlds, changed their relationship. Rivalries disappeared and another kind of leadership emerged, based on personal well-being. And this was translated into higher productivity .
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He who feels better, works better. In order to work better it is necessary to find a meaning in work. In order to lead it is important to give service to others.

CASE II
EARLY RETIREMENTS
In 1998 Siemens started implementing an early retirement system that included over 300 persons, under 50, and with 25 years experience in the company.

SIEMENS
They had to face a new reality: no work, free time and the feeling they were no longer useful in the productive process. According to Loizaga crisis emerges from fear, and fear appears when one sees the outside with anxiety. To recover the road of the being allows one to find a new sense in life, a second career. Today all early retirees from Siemens spend their time creatively. They have even generated micro-business such as a tourism agency within the company . The course closed with a barbecue.

A THREE-STEP PLAN
1. To assimilate that change occurs from the inside. If I change, the other one changes . Human beings are capable of creating different responses. That generates an outside change.

2. To face fears, accepting uncertainly. Take an inner look. Say I don t know . The first situation is nothingness. The second is creativity.

3. Interaction with the group. When we take an inner look we can also see the interior of others. It opens the possibility to create productive and healthy relationships. We applied the twelve principles for Attitudinal Healing, created by Jerry Jampolsky.
Alberto Loizaga,
Email: aloizaga@fibertel.com.ar
Website: actitudessanas.com.ar

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What is Inner Vision?
	by Paul Taylor Inner Vision is a method/technique that supports your self-healing. It can be done alone or with the loving support of others. The method/technique is simple. The process, can, at times, be very difficult. This method/technique can always work. Why use Inner Vision? It is my belief that Inner stress, Inner conflict, Inner confusion, and/or Inner fear are the source of all of my “problems”. Problems can include challenges with health, relationships, job, finance and many others. Inner Vision gives me the option of seeing things from a new perspective. Sometimes from this new perspective, the perceived problem no longer exists. I find that I created it all myself. It was not something, outside of myself (or in my body). When there is something that needs work, from this new perspective, I will discover solutions based in Peace, rather than old belief systems, stress, conflict, confusion or fear. (I have found that options/treatments created from those spaces, though sometimes offering temporary relief, generally bring me back to the same place again and again.) I believe my mind and it’s supporting belief systems can be a creative force in my life. I believe that what I see, is a reflection of what is in my own mind. Inner Vision offers me the option of seeing things differently. A refocusing of my life force (attention and intention) in a direction that is more empowering and life-enhancing. In so doing, I create a new experience for myself. Once I learn, practice and experience the results of Inner Vision, I can be free of all unhealthy dependencies. The outside world will no longer be in control of my life experiences. I can be peaceful inside regardless of what is happening outside. How does Inner Vision work? As I said before, the method is simple, but sometimes not easy, particularly in the beginning. First ~ it is moving my attention away from “the problem”. The picture of the problem (health, money, relationships, conflict, fear, etc.) must be converted to a question. Second ~ I must create a peaceful and quiet place, inside and around myself. Third ~ from this peaceful place, I present this question to my Inner Self. I have no need for the answer. My entire attention is to deliver this question as deeply as possible and to have that Inner Self (light, heart, soul, et al) receive the question. Like a Postman that delivers the mail. My only job is to deliver the question. Forth ~ and this can be the difficult part. My old programming (belief systems) may continue to bring my attention back to the belief in the existence of the problem. My friends, family and even strangers may encourage and support the existence of this problem. My work is to bring myself back to the quiet place and remember that the answer to all questions lie within me. There are no problems, only questions. It can be helpful to get support from others, as you do your work. It will be important that this support comes from loving, open minded people, that can see that you have all of your own best answers. That they don’t want to fix you or change you. You are not broken. You are perfect, just the way you are. Your Growth; Evolution; Healing is a natural and normal part of life. Please don't judge it or critisize it, in yourself or others. In closing, thanks for taking the time to read this. I share this with you because this process has saved my life, literally, and given me a new way to live. I and others at the Center, are here to support you in any way possible, as you create your own healing. The Center offers individual Inner Vision sessions and support groups. The Center is supported entirely by donations. There are no fees or membership dues. When you have questions or when we can be of assistance, Please contact us. Paul Taylor The Center For Attitudinal Healing In Bern Stöckackerstr. 65 3018 Bern tel. & fax. 031 992 23 12 E-Mail ~ love_heals@hotmail.com

*New Attitudinal Healing Center in Cleveland*
	THE PERSPECTIVES GROUP A CENTER FOR ATTITUDINAL HEALING 2256 LAKEVIEW AVENUE ROCKY RIVER, OHIO 44116 216-496-2737 E MAIL Tonyandah@aol.com
The time has come for Cleveland, Ohio to receive an Attitudinal Healing Center. I am pleased to announce that I have been facilitating AH here for nearly three years now. I am swinging this “new idea” by myself as I have just moved here after spending 26 years in Vermont and enjoying all that New England had to offer, including the Quest Foundation and all the family within it. I am struggling with the financial end but am encouraged by the number of people interested in AH and the people willing to help with a major fundraiser I am trying to have. I am writing to you today to tell you that perseverance is the only way to get the ball rolling, sometimes you may have to push the ball uphill and sometimes it may roll back on you, but with the knowledge of love is all there is and understanding that nothing unreal exists we are all capable of doing whatever we set our minds up to accomplish. Believe and it will happen. The second reason for writing is to announce that I finally am getting married to someone who fell in love with me as we were doing AH. Our relationship is full of fun and wonder and each day is a great gift to each other. July 5th Wendy and I will become one in a beautiful ceremony that I wrote which is filled with the teachings of AH and the Spirit that I found within those teachings. I hope to continue to build AH here as we walk our daily lives and to have AH grow into a Healing Center for many modalities to come to practice. I believe in AH, and I have seen what it can do for many people of varied backgrounds. Join me in celebrating the birth of AH in Cleveland and of course I ask for your thoughts as we take the walk to oneness in July. I have met many of you at one time or another so don’t be shy and write a short note back and let me know how you are. Lastly, I have applied to host the 2005 AH International Conference in Cleveland and wish to have your support in this wonderFULL adventure

Choose Again Society~ Vancouver Canada

In November of 2002, the Choose Again Society pioneered a long-term program to help rehabilitate a group of six ‘at risk’ youth from the Vancouver Lower Mainland. Two experienced youth and family support workers traveled with the youth to a remote location in Costa Rica The intervention consisted of seven weeks of intensive processing, socialization and educational interaction. The participants, ranging in age from 15-18, had been struggling for years with serious behavioural problems and family dysfunction. It was felt that by removing the youth from their normal daily environment for an extended period, immersed in an atmosphere of complete support and positive stimulation, while learning tools for personal change, a deep, lasting transformation is achieved. The results of this program were outstanding.
Diederik Wolsak, Vancouver Canada
Email: dwolsak@hotmail.com

Attitudinal Healing Coalition of Charlottesville

July 25, 2003 marks exactly one (1) year to the date from our very first gathering of local folks around the vision of starting an "Attitudinal Healing Center" in Charlottesville. We're on our way...with the "Attitudinal Healing Coalition of Charlottesville" ("AHCville"). We now have two "Attitudinal Healing Peer-Support Groups" meeting each week in town, and a "Monthly Potluck Dinner & Support Group Evening;" as well as periodic Saturday "Facilitator Training Workshops" and an occasional Sunday "Potluck Brunch." We've even had one "family hiking day" and are looking forward to other social and recreational events from time to time.

David Kirksey, Cofounder
Attitudinal Healing Coalition of Charlottesville ("AHCville")
Charlottesville, VA 22903
434) 979-7576
Email - david@davidkirksey.com

PERTH CENTER UPDATE

The Centre in Perth is re-building and this year seems like we are making more gains than losses. We have managed to sub-divide a piece of land off at Serpentine (our bush retreat centre) which was surplus to our needs. This is now on the market and we are hopeful once sold we will be able to retire our debt and get on with the job of spreading the word on AH. The Serpentine centre continues to be hired out which allows us to pay our way and keep the facility. Many of the members and supporters were down at Serpentine for the week -end at a " Busy Bee". We were able to complete many maintenance tasks as well as have a lot of fun and fellowship. . .

We have still managed to retain our office down at Cottesloe and run four support groups out of here on a weekly basis. These are: Mens Group, Womens Group, young Adults Group, Mothers. A six week course on the principles was held in May & June. We also have a casual community breakfast on the first Sunday of each month at a local cafe.

In recent times there seems to be much more energy around as we have three of the Young Adults members on the board. Well that’s what is happening in Perth. . . I send our centre’s love and energy to your respective needs.
Michael Dillon, Perth Center
Email: mad@pharm777.com.au
WWW.attitudinalhealing.org.au

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Update from Buenos Aires

News from the Buenos Aires Center.
I want to thank Jerry and Diane for the miraculous experience we had together in Habana, and Santiago de Cuba, where I experienced again their generosity and the capacity to be messengers of God to the Catholic Church.

The Buenos Aires Center of Attitudinal Healing has been keeping its door open all through the strong financial crisis that has occurred in Argentina recently. We could not manage to have enough to pay a secretary but we have a love budget as an answer to any personal assistance needed. We have meetings twice a week in Acassuso (north from downtown) and Las Heras (the downtown center)

This June we had a wonderful surprise to empower our "Back to the Road" program to unemployed, or pre-retired jobless people, Fortune Magazine published a two page article that we have translated for you in English. (See INSPIRATION Section of this newsletter)

We are doing weekend meditation workshops once a month; and a new project is being created by Pilar and Leo. Pilar is the vice-president of our Board of Directors, she is also a professional painter with no hands. She is the most generous human being I've ever known. She receives a grant from a Swiss foundation and with the money she not only helps her brother and family, but also others, such as Moira Pearson, an ex-secretary of the Center, who is now in a wheelchair, and more than ten persons who can not survive economically without her help. Pilar is giving all she receives each month; she sometimes has not enough money to buy her own medicine.

Leo (Leonarda) is someone who devotes her life to Pilar twenty four hours a day. She is a teacher to all of us in applying the principals of Attitudinal Healing.

We are creating a program to train and facilitate handicapped wheelchair personnel and we are open to learn.

Last November we were with Pilar in Lisbon, Portugal at the annual meeting where we joined two hundred feet and mouth professional painters. My wife Ana, Ignacio (my son) and myself were totally astonished by their capacity to smile, to expand and keep their happiness.

In my next email we will send a brief explanation of the project. We have much to learn from these physically handicapped people about the power to love, to have hope and willingness to improve in each aspect of our life.
Alberto Loizaga, Founder & Director
Email: Aloizaga@fibertel.com.ar
Website: actitudessanas.com.ar

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NEWS BRIEFS

Luiz & Rita – Sao Paolo Brazil
Email: curaatitudes@cca.org.br
We are doing very well. Working a lot and very happy. Times of deep transformation in our lives. We keep doing the groups in the hospital on Friday mornings, plus lectures and workshops. Many new groups have started last year and this year. We are working hard in our daily jobs, and attitudinal healing and ACIM plays a very important role at this moment. The center has no physical location. The place is our home. Many people left, and othes came to help. We are flowing with the river......

Tere Valero, Queretaro, Mexico
Email: setvalero@hotmail.com
We have had the attitudinal healing center here since 1994. I have been a hospital vounteer for 18 years. We have participated in HIV programs and with patients with kidney problems. Also with elderly people. We want to make a special group for women in transition (divorced, widows, separated). Now I am working with a small group in chemotherapy but the
best of all is that (with lots of fear) we are building a nonprofit board.

Paul Taylor, Bern Switzerland
Email: love_heals@hotmail.com
When I came here for a 3 month visit in June of 1997, I sure could never have imagined ....... When the Center first opened here in August of 1997, it was in the attic of an old 3 story walk up. I had an English speaking A.H. group and was providing some one-to-one support. I got involved with a local organization and together we supported the creation of the first, free standing HIV/AIDS Hospice in Bern. It was a great experience, while it lasted, as the financing ran out in 2 years.

……In May of last year a ground floor flat (5 rooms) was made available to the Center. I had just been given a rather significant increase in my wages and my partner and I agreed to expand the Center. The new space would allow the group room to return and provide much needed office space and a more comfortable space for visitors. We also have another nice meeting room and an atelier which we use for various arts and crafts projects. . . . In mid June of last year I had an accident on my job and have been unable to work since. My income was suddenly reduced by 35%. I think the timing is so amazing because we would have never made the expansion at this lower income level. It has been amazing to see that every month expenses are made . . . I really don't know how it works in a practical, financial way. Some very intelligent, practical people have told me that it can't work and slowly...slowly they all become open to the practicality of Miracles.

Lyn Love, Cornwall UK
Email: lynlove55@yahoo.com
Hi there to you all at the AH Centre
The Introduction to Attitudinal Healing meeting was held in London. It was really great to share it with so many interested people. It was also great practice for us facilitators, Lindsay, Katherine, Ramin and I, so I hope we did your training justice!

My group in Falmouth, Cornwall is gaining momentum, with a small group of regulars and others visiting from time to time. We are really beginning to reap the rewards of finding our own answers.

I am today considering taking the opportunity to offer a course in Attitudinal Healing to my local Adult Education department, as I notice they are advertising for trainers in personal development. I thought this would be a wonderful opportunity to extend my work.

Corola ~ Peru
I have finally adapted myself to live in my country -Peru- after many many years living outside. You all might have suspected that it was thanks to Attitudinal Healing that I am doing it. One of my personal conquests is that the next Peruvian Congress of Psychoanalysis (June 14th) I have been invited to present Attitudinal Healing in one of the meetings about Looking at the Frontiers for a New Psychoanalysis, called "Psychoanalysis, beliefs and mystical apex" (there might be better translation of: "Psychoanalysis, creencias y vertice mistico").

Diederik Wolsak, Vancouver Canada
Email: dwolsak@hotmail.com
While in Costa Rica in November and December of last year, I came across a wonderful, simple, facility which sleeps about 125 people, large dining hall/meeting room, modern fully equipped kitchen, sleeping quarters, gym, all on about 300 acres of rain forest, fields etc. The location inspired a thought of an International Attitudinal Workshop (say $30 Us, $30 Can, $30 Dutch, etc) multigenerational (families) in December of this year. The format could be something like 3 days workshop, 7 days holiday (independent travel through the country by participants) and closing with 3 days workshop. Focus on family communication as a preventative and healing measure for youth at risk (read: families at risk). Doable?

Yoshiko Matsumura, Kurashiki Japan
Email: myosshi@d6.dion.ne.jp
Wisteria flowers are finished now. Now is the beautiful season of fresh green and the rainy season will come soon Kurashiki in Japan.

We have 3 centers in Japan and there are 2 center in Kurashiki. The Center for Attitudinal Healing in Kurashiki japan has a total of 390 people since we opened. We discuss parenting, responsibility, trust, suicide, sickness, guilt, control, reliance in people, anger, how can we see the light in a people, etc. I am thinking that the group session has subject by itself every time. What a marvel !! . . .
Love and Gratitude

Update from Bundanoon NSW Australia

The Centre continues to thrive though we went through a challenging time last year. Our Board decided we should close and the property was put on the market. We had been inundated with people wanting to access our services who were unable to afford them. We'd very much been a grass roots organisation that needed to go to a whole new level. Up until we had the Centre, Wendie and I personally funded a lot of participants in our programs. As we became a larger organisation though, that sort of personal philanthropy was insufficient!

So while people came through the building/property and indeed, we had several buyers wanting to take over the property, I talked to many people and through considerable effort we were able to keep the property and indeed, expand our services. Everyone, including my parents, friends and Wendie, encouraged me to 'let it go' but I simply couldn't until every avenue had been exhausted. I'm sure you know about the effort that goes into such things! There are times when doors fly open everywhere and others when one must persevere with what one
believes to be the way forward.

We now have a new Board and a fundraising team. On our last program (in April last year) we had a senior manager with Macquarie Bank. She devoted the last months of her life to getting us more financially secure. The bank has committed to holding an annual fundraiser (last year's raised $110,000 on the night) and we're about to have another one in August. With that initial money in the bank we thought it time to re-open and start our programs again. We now run 5-day residential programs for women/people with life threatening illnesses, another one for people with MND, MS, Parkinson's and neurological conditions, another for pregnant women interested in creating healthy bonds with their unborn child, another for people who want to use the medium of writing to further their spiritual understanding, another for people who've 'lost the plot' due to grief, suicide, murder, depression etc., another for health professionals who want to shift from survival to thriving in their work. We are often asked about programs for young people and we're looking at creating a program for 18-30 years olds who are looking for more meaningful ways of living. The words that seem to jump out at people in our 'advertising' is 'loss of meaning'. More and more people are seeking a more meaningful path forward in their life. As you would know, cancer or any illness, anxiety, the unexpected, pregnancy, the unthinkable are simply the stimulus for the deeper questioning of life. The program is almost the same for all people regardless of their illness/condition. Our programs generally benefit the people who are asking, who am I? what am I doing on the planet? is this the life I came here to live? if not, why not, and what am I going to do about it? Wonderful questions yes?

So now we are training more facilitators and all that goes with running comprehensive programs for highly challenged people - the one's I find ripest for change. The Health Dept partially funds us now too which is
a blessing. This means we can accommodate low-income earners in our programs too.

So, that's a brief catch-up...know that you are always held warmly in my heart.

Rainbows to you from down-under,

Petrea King
Quest for Life Centre
PO Box 390
Bundanoon NSW 2578

Ph: (02) 4883-6599
Fax: (02) 4883-6755
email: pktapes@questforlife.com.au
web: www.questforlife.com.au

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HOW DO I FIGURE OUT HOW MUCH SOMEONE CAN GIVE?

Determining how much someone can give to your organization is part of a process called "prospect research." The research process involves collecting information on prospects in three primary areas:

1. The prospect's financial circumstances (income, assets, etc.)
2. The prospect's relationship to the organization
3. Key personal "linkages" between the prospect and key organizational supporters (donors, board members, members, etc.)

In his classic book on fundraising, Achieving Excellence in Fund Raising, Hank Rosso describes a research concept that echoes this approach known as the L-A-L principle:

"A research concept known as the L-A-L principle of prospect identification will help fundraising planners separate suspects from prospects, thus enabling staff members to direct their solicitation and enlistment energies toward those individuals who are most likely to give or to volunteer their services.

What is the L-A-L principle and what is its function in both fundraising research and constituency development? The principle is timeworn. It is a heritage of the past, a piece of wisdom passed on from one clan of veteran fundraising practitioners to another, and it is as described below.

L = Linkage
A linkage relates to a contact, a bridge or an access through a peer to the potential donor. If there is access to the gift source, then this link to the prospect makes it possible to arrange an appointment to discuss the potential of a gift. If access ability is not a reality, then it would be difficult or downright impossible to arrange for an appointment. Solicitation becomes a matter of a letter or telephone approach, and neither is effective in the production of large gifts.

A -- Ability

Through research, it can be determined that the potential gift source has sufficient discretionary holding to justify a gift solicitation at the appropriate "asking" level. Two perceptions pertain: the asker's perception that the prospect has a gift capability at the level suggested, and the prospect's own perception that such a gift capability is reality. Some wealthy but financially insecure individuals who are not brought up with the tradition of philanthropy are not sure that they have sufficient resources to give at the level requested. They may not be psychologically prepared to give.

I -- Interest

If the potential contributor has no interest in the organization or little knowledge about its work, then the person will be prone to make a small gift or none at all. Interest in the organization and an understanding of its mission and accomplishments are imperative in the identification of valid prospects."

It is critical to understand that a prospect's ability to give is only part of what determines a gift's size or whether it will be made at all. Ability alone does not qualify someone as a legitimate prospect. People, as well as philanthropic institutions, will give and maximize their giving when a relationship between them and the organization has been established and developed. The stronger the relationship the more likely a prospect will give and give generously.

In the Grassroots Fundraising Journal, volume 2, no.5, Kim Klien discusses the prospect research process in terms of "ABC:"

You are looking for three things in each prospect:

1. Evidence that the prospect is connected with someone in your organization, so that you can establish contact.
2. Evidence that the person believes in your cause (or a similar cause), which includes evidence that the person gives money to similar organizations.
3. Evidence that the person has the ability to make the size gift you want.

When you have positive information about ability, belief and contact, then you have a qualified prospect - that is, someone who can be asked for a gift. For obvious reasons, we call these criteria ABC, but in order of importance, they are CBA, and we ll examine them in that order.

Contact

The most important factor is contact. If you don't know the person or have no access to them, that person is a stranger and not a prospect. That's why you start with who you know. You know three kinds of people: people you know personally, people who are known by people you know (you might gain access to a person in this category by using the name of someone you both know), and definitely, people who are currently donors. Though you may not personally know each current donor, you can call any donor and say, "We don't know each other but we have in common that we support Very Good Group." As described earlier, many of your best contacts are going to come from people who give money already.

Belief

Ask yourself if there is any reason that the potential prospect would not believe in your cause. Social change groups often think that a person won't believe in their cause when in fact the prospect has no opinion one way or the other. He or she may not have heard of the group, or even the issue, or doesn't see how the issue affects him or her.

Sometimes a person may not recognize that his or her own beliefs are represented by a group because of the way the issues are presented. For example, an organization working to keep abortion legal ran into problems at a meeting in a small, politically conservative community when it described abortion as a vital feminist issue. This language did not resonate with the audience. When a leader in the organization said that the government should not make these decisions for us -- a woman should make a decision about the outcome of a pregnancy for herself, the meeting participants clapped loudly. Though they support legal abortion, they do not identify their support as a tenet of feminist ideology. Several large contributions to the abortion-rights group subsequently came from that community.

In a second example, a man living in a small town was approached for a donation by a suicide prevention group. The person asking him had not done any research on this prospect, but was able to make an appointment through a common acquaintance. The prospect believed suicide tended to indicate a weak character and was, furthermore, more a problem of big cities. He listened politely and noncommittally as the solicitor described the global nature of suicide, using as examples numbers of suicides in Los Angeles, New York an London. He was sent away with a token donation.

Later that year, another person did more research on this prospect. The prospect was member of the local Chamber of Commerce and active in civic affairs. He had lived in this community all his life and owned a great deal of real estate there, much of which had become suburban developments. This solicitor made an appointment to see the prospect and told him exactly how many suicides and attempted suicides happened right in that town. He further discussed that some of the suburbs had high suicide rates for no apparent reason. The suicide prevention program, he explained, proposed to address the problem of suicide locally having on-call counselors available at churches and libraries and by launching a large poster campaign telling people how these counselors could be reached. Posters would be hung in grocery stores ('Two of which are yours,' the solicitor commented) and other public places. The solicitor then asked the prospect to underwrite the entire campaign. He walked away with a check for $10,000 -- exactly what was needed. Obviously, this prospect is not interested if the entire city of Los Angeles kills itself. What matters to him is what happens in his community.

A great deal of money is lost through assuming a lack of belief on the part of a potential prospect. Be careful and broad-minded in weighing evidence of belief in a cause.

Ability

The first question to ask about ability is not how much the prospect has, but whether he or she gives away money at all. Many people profess to be committed to the environment, or women's rights or civil liberties; however, if they do not make financial contributions to groups representing those causes, they are not good prospects for them. We know that about seven out of ten adults are donors. You need to first determine if your potential prospect is one of those seven. If not, she or he is not a prospect.

Sometimes people wonder how they can find out if someone is a donor. There are several ways. (In the course of a conversation, one might ask, "Do you belong to Greenpeace? or ... the National Organization for Women?" If the person says yes, you know that he or she has given to these groups.

To find prospects, start with yourself. Can you give $100? Whom do you know who could give that much or more? (Keeping the size of a major gift at $100 opens up the possibility for a lot more people to become major donors. Almost any employed person can give $100 if they pledge $8-10 per month.) Recognizing that being a large donor is not the exclusive province of the upper-class, you begin to find a number of prospects among your own friends and acquaintances.

From yourself, you can move out to he Board of Directors and other volunteers or staff in the organizations. Statisticians tell us that every person knows 250 people -- no doubt some of these people can give large donations.

Another place to look for prospects is your current list of donors. Do you now have any donors who have given $50 or more? What is the highest gift you have received, and how did it come about? It is not unusual for people to send in $50 or $100 from a mail appeal, and sometimes people send in large donations based on a radio program or other publicity. If any of these people are in your area, it is perfectly legitimate to contact them to renew their gift and to ask them to give you the names of five to ten people they think could also give a gift. Ask first if they will ask their friends: if they don't feel comfortable asking, then ask if you can use their name in contacting their friends."

Therefore it is essential to think about fundraising as a long term process of building on-going relationships with potential donors. In other words, the task is to build a constituency of regular givers. Every organization has a natural constituency of people and institutions that are predisposed to be supportive of your mission: board members, clients, members, current donors and volunteers. Each member of these various constituency segments has a relationship with you. The process of fund raising requires that you understand that relationship and the existing level of commitment, and then solicit an appropriate gift. Beyond the natural constituencies are additional individuals and organizations that have similar interests, but have not yet been identified. The organization's job is to find out who these people are and begin developing relationships with them.

Answering the question "How much can someone give to my organization?" involves judgments (informed by facts) about their financial ability and their relationship to the organization. Remember, almost anyone can give something. However, true generosity depends on strong commitment to a cause that is built and reinforced over time. Involvement builds commitment and commitment leads to generous giving.

Copyright (c)1996-97 Support Center, 706 Mission Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, CA, USA 94103-3113. 415-974-5100. Distribution and reprinting permitted as long as this copyright notice is included. All Rights Reserved. http://www.supportcenter.org/sf/genie.html


FAMILIES FOR ATTITUDINAL HEALING Carmel Valley, CA Our new group, FAMILIES FOR ATTITUDINAL HEALING has gotten off to a good start. We now have ten team members, are starting classes this week to teach a model I have developed called The Peace-Centered Relationship.
We are also continuing our series called “"Choose Once Again" Finding peace of mind in a conflicted world” at the Thunderbird Bookstore in Carmel. To generate some funds to help with our projects we are videotaping some of our events and plan to market them as soon as we get them edited. I will also offer them in half-hour segments for our local Public Access TV channel. On October 18, Lee Jampolsky returns to the Thunderbird to open a dialogue with me and the audience about how to move from anger to forgiveness and peace of mind. It will be from 11 –2 and will include time for a lunch break and plenty of Q and A. The cost, as usual, will be $8.00 which helps us with the expense of the room, advertising, and costs of videotaping. We have no money. We can’t even afford to set ourselves up as a nonprofit, but we are undaunted. The network is building through our volunteers and word of mouth. This photo is of Ken Wapnick and me having a laugh at a meeting of our local chapter of Noetic Siences on August 18. I hadn’t seen him and Gloria since the 25th Anniversary of ACIM in Anaheim two years earlier. We reminisced about when we met. It was 1983 when I traveled to Akumal, near Cancun, to attend a workshop about something called A Course in Miracles that I had been hearing about to study with a teacher named Wapnick whom I had heard nothing about. A friend of mine had called and asked me join her for the trip and to swim in the Caribbean. “On that first morning before class, when I saw the Course lying on a table in the living room of the house where we were to work together every day, I opened it and began to read. I knew instantly that what I was reading was true. Oddly, on some profound level, I also seemed to recognize it. As if I already knew the words but had forgotten them. My shift in perception began to happen at that same moment”. The trip itself had been a complete coincidence! In reality of course I was simply, once again, being led by the hand. * Quoted from a letter I wrote to Ken on August 19, 2003. You can reach me through familieshealing@aol.com for information about our next event on November 15 or just to chat. Nadya

*INTERNATIONAL FORGIVENESS DAY - San Francisco*
	JERRY, DIANE & SAUSALITO CENTER HONORED AS CHAMPIONS OF FORGIVENESS
The Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance founded to increase awareness, promote observance and advance the celebration of International Forgiveness Day honored Jerry Jampolsky, Diane Cirincione and The Center for Attitudinal Healing as Champions of Forgiveness at the Forgiveness Day Celebration in San Francisco, on August 3, 2003. The ultimate objective of Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance is to establish International Forgiveness Day as the world’s first global holiday. It will be celebrated every year in each of the world’s 300 countries and territories. The purpose for creating this annual worldwide celebration is to enhance receptivity to forgiveness in the human consciousness, with a consequent willingness to resolve the grievances that fragment humankind. International Forgiveness Day is intended to initiate a worldwide parade on behalf of forgiveness; a parade so compelling and with such global participation that the world’s leaders are compelled to get in front of it. As millions of individuals and groups adopt the annual observance of this holiday, leaders, both national and international, will be motivated to make it the first official global holiday. Other honorees included Len & Libby Traubman and Elias & Fanny Botto, Founders of the Jewish & Palestinian Living Room Dialogue, and Rick Walker who spent 12 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

International Forgiveness Day - Honolulu

The first Honolulu International Forgiveness Day Celebration, held on August 3, was sponsored by The Hawaii Center for Attitudinal Healing and Conversations on Forgiveness for Youth. Honored as the Hawaii Hero of Forgiveness was Takashi Tanemore, whose family died in the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima. "Peace, he said "is not transforming the masses, but transforming the heart." "We know by now that the world will never know the absence of war, but we can be at peace even in the turmoil. I have learned to enter the eye of the storm --- and from there I get a different perspective."

NOVEMBER FACILITATOR TRAINING LAUNCHES EXPANSION OF LONDON ATTITUDINAL HEALING CENTER
	Attitudinal Healing Workshop 14th,15th 16th November 2003 To all of you who have expressed an interest in the workshop in November, at long last here are some details:
♥ We have a trainer coming from The Center for Attitudinal Healing, Salsilito, USA (Marilyn Robinson) ♥ The course begins on Friday evening 14th November 6.00pm –10pm, Saturday 15th 10.00am – 6.00pm, Sunday 16th 10.00am – 4.00pm ♥ We are inviting attendees to bring along a dish for a communal shared lunch on the two full days ♥ The aim of the course is to prepare you to become an Attitudinal Healing facilitator and enable you to begin co-facilitating your own AH group ♥ We have received sponsorship for this weekend, which will allow participants to attend free of charge. This gift has been give unconditionally. On completion of the workshop if the participants wish to make a similar gift to future attendees, donations will be gratefully accepted ♥ The venue address is Rainturtle Studios, England’s Lane, London NW3 4YD (next to the florist shop at 41a) close to Belsize Park and Swiss Cottage underground ♥ Contact either Lyn Love 01326 212766 or attitudinalhealing@miracles.org.uk ♥ To secure a place please respond as soon as possible to Lindsay Willcocks 01628 530715 ♥ We will then send you a confirmation letter to sign and return to us ♥ It will be useful to understand the work of Jerry Jampolsky and the 12 attitudinal healing principles ♥ The workshop format includes lectures, group discussion, dyad exercises, practice sessions and small group work, for more information on the work taking place in America please access www.healingcenter.org. ♥ Refreshments will be provided during the day, there will be morning and afternoon breaks as well as one and half hours for lunch WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU *Perhaps true healing has more to do with listening and unconditional love than with trying to fix people’ ~ Gerald G. Jampolsky, MD*

FROM BREAKING ROCKS TO RAKING ROCKS
Dan Millstein Visions for Prisons Email: vfp95@aol.xom “Makin’ big ones into little ones, boss.” was the only attitude they were permitted to have back when prisoners busted rocks all day, building roads. (Chain gangs are still happening today) I’m learning late in life that I have spent too much of my energy doing just the opposite, “making little ones into big ones”. You have heard the expression “he has rocks in his head”; I have personally excelled in transforming the littlest pebbles of worry into huge insurmountable boulders. What power!
Daily meditation practice allows us to break down the rocks our head into smaller and more manageable pebbles. Imagine a jar filled to the top with rocks; and the same jar if the rocks were ground to sand. The weight and volume would be the same but the space itself would be distributed entirely different. In fact where you could not fit one more rock into the first jar, you can add a whole bunch more sand to the second. Nothing is lost when we change our minds, we only rearrange the space. This is a visual model of forgiving by examination, leading to new perceptions and understanding. Breaking down a pervading attitude can seem a daunting task unless tools and instruction are available. The adage “attitude is everything” is multiplied many times in prison. Prison encases people within concrete and razor wire. It permeates every ‘cell’ (no pun) and every thought of everyone within it, prisoners & imprisoners. It never goes away as a life altering event, no matter the length of sentence. Prisons offer a vision of the nature of any society. Like a laser can send the power of a 100 watt bulb to the moon and back, prisons can show us, in graphic detail and compressed form, what we don’t like to look at in ourselves. Hide away the evil doer was the battle cry of the 80’s & 90’s. Today, the climate of fear is even stronger. Prisoners are generally only scapegoats for the rest of society. Place the sins of the tribe on the head of a goat and chase it out of the village was the ancient ceremony. The United States had the highest incarceration rate in the world with 2.2 million people in prison while there were 24 million felonies reported last year. If all the bad guys are in prison who the heck is doing all that crime? I have within me an irrational, probably karmic, and possibly even an unnatural anger/rage at the basic human injustice of prisons so it seems natural that I teach anger management to prisoners. Like a window washer afraid of heights, I am a bit claustrophobic too, not the ideal fear for the job. The many doors clanging shut behind you when you enter into prison can be intimidating at the least. Claustrophobic or not, when prisoners break the rules in prison they are sent to the “hole” or solitary confinement, now called Special Housing Units or “SHU”. Usually it is a 6 X 8 concrete bunker with no window, a bright ceiling light and a camera both of which stay on 24/7. Here a prisoner is entombed, cold and alone with himself, no distractions, an ideal environment for holy men. The hole can make, as well, as break a man or woman. This forced isolation changes mental wiring. It can be a blessing, or cruel and debilitating, depending on the prisoner’s attitude. Every stick has 2 ends. Outside of prison only an elite and fortunate few people, have attended even a short introductory weekend meditation retreat and consequently have experienced a taste of what changing their consciousness can offer. “A peace which is beyond understanding” only shows up when we stop trying to understand anything. Even more fortunate are those who have continued a daily practice and have realized the deep and profound value of emptiness in the everyday world. Sixty days in the hole is a common ‘sentence’ or punishment for a minor infraction ‘dissin’ a guard, giving a “dirty” drug test, etc. I have known prisoners who have spent 5 or more years in isolation. 5 years of sensory depravation can “make Jack a dull boy” or, a monk. Here attitude really is everything. It is all that is left of the self when one is caged, entombed in a concrete box. When Visions for Prisons 501c(3) began 15 years ago we offered Attitudinal Healing support groups to prisoners. That eventually expanded at the request prisoners, and sometimes staff, into meditation instruction. Presently our anger management classes have 100’s of prisoners on the waiting list. After one of those classes last week, one of the prisoners, whose eye was looking like he had been in a train wreck, said, “Hey Dan, I’m back from the hole so I’m starting the class over again.” I didn’t remember him from 3 months ago. The topics of the first 3 classes this guy took before he went to the hole were Awareness, Acceptance/Forgiveness & Deep Meditation. The first couple nights of class I pass around some pictures of my backyard Zen Garden These guys never met anyone who raked rocks before, especially for pleasure, so they already suspect I may be a little bit. “off” center . The prisoner continued his story, “Somebody clubbed me while I was asleep and after I got back from surgery they put me in the hole for 60 days ‘cause I was in a fight.” “How was the hole?” I asked him. “Man, it was hell.” he said rather unconvincingly. “Bull-shit.”, I said smiling at him. “What did you do that you never did before?” The prisoner looked at me stonily for a moment, he was not pretty. The new healing on his eye would only add another scar to his ‘been-there-done-that’ face. “Well,”, smiling now, as the ‘bull shit’ answer stopped him short. “I meditated a lot.” he said, trying to suppress some laughter. “So I guess the hole wasn’t hell after all?” seeing him bright eyed and seemingly genuinely happy, “What else did you do?” I pressed him a bit. He looked at me quizzically again. Then with a big smile and tears in both his eyes he said, “I read three books! And, I never read one book in my entire life.” “I guess the hole was your teacher?” I said not expecting an answer. “Oh yeah, and about that ‘Little Soul & The Sun’ book you read to us Dan, I know the guy who busted my eye socket, and, I didn’t kill him.” He seemed proud of himself as he laughed and I gave him a big thumbs up. “That (expletive deleted) really was my teacher. He got me to read. My own mother couldn’t get me to read a book. He must be one of those little souls who came into my life just to mess with me so I could learn about forgiveness.” LOVE & LIGHT, Dan
	Visions For Prisons Website

ATTITUDINAL HEALING & MENTAL ILLNESS
Jennifer Hodges Los Angeles, California jenniferhodges5683@hotmail.com WARNING: THESE ARE MY OWN VERY THOROUGH ANSWERS TO THE QUESTION: can attitudinal healing be effective for persons with mental illness? I only share my own experience. Medicine is a very important part of my mental health. But so is AH!
Sure it is possible to use AH as an approach to dealing with/treating mental illness. One can address it any way he likes. I don’t think that any one way is effective all by itself. I have tried drugs (the ones they prescribe, anyway). They have changed my potential incredibly. I have tried ECT. It saved my life but did not even approach making it tolerable. I also have regular psychotherapy with a very supportive doctor who puts my life in perspective when I lose sight of that. AH does that for me too. It helps to prevent confusion and it helps me manage my relationships. In some of those relationships, I encounter stigma. With AH, I let go of that. In relationships with mental health professionals and fellow patients, I have found that taking an AH approach to things gets us much further than not. I go to support group regularly(actually I facilitate it). I place myself among people who don’t judge me. There is also the nutrition aspect, which is very important for me. My activity level and stimulation level (light, sound etc) makes a large impact on my mood as well. Aside from ECT (shock therapy), I use every one of these techniques in my treatment and management of my bipolar disorder. I find this combination essential to overcoming my illness. My medications impact my body in ways that are not intended, including altering my metabolism. I found adjusting my medication and my diet together tremendously improved my mood and my health. There is clearly an interaction among food, medication, and my mental health. Psychotherapy and AH require a certain amount of control over thoughts. Without the medicine, such control would not exist. The psychosocial processes are very important. Still they interact with the balance of biochemicals. The chemicals influence thoughts and perspectives. These perspectives lead to emotions. This leads back to the chemicals. Every laugh, tear, or screaming match reflects and influences a chemical interaction. Sometimes the chemicals cut straight to the emotions and mess up the process, leading to very bizarre thoughts, and in turn to bizarre behavior. But complete treatment addresses much more than just the chemicals. I believe that the Source (most people around here call it God) made us this way. And I believe that staying in touch with that peace, as through AH, I can facilitate a healthier process. Many people also find that meditation, yoga, exercise, and other tools fit into this process of honoring the body and self and keep the mind (and brain) healthy. AH addresses a very important part of managing my illness. I was not so sure about that when I first learned of mental illness. I thought it was not possible to use Attitudinal Healing when I had no control over so many of my thoughts and feelings. Since then I have modified my concept of the principles to bring me to an entirely new place regarding my process with bipolar disorder. What it really comes down to for me is knowing what is in my control, what is not, and living with it as best I can. With AH I respond to my symptoms in a much healthier way. Then I can lessen the symptoms’ severity and their impact on my life. Let’s take the 2nd principle: Health is inner peace. Healing is letting go of fear. Health may not mean that I never have a manic episode again. Besides, that isn’t very likely. That doesn’t mean that I cannot be healthy. Right now I am experiencing a mixed mood state. That means I am agitated, irritable, and noticing dark thoughts of things that are not true. I have the manic sensation of wishing my muscles could rip off my skin. The depressive side is still there as I notice pessimistic thoughts that make no sense. They race through my mind and throw my mind and body out of balance. I don’t really want to eat or sleep, but know I must. I take my medicine, and I sleep. If I don’t, I talk with my doctor+therapist (all in one person) and he calms me and suggests activities and medicine modifications. Still I am healthy because I know that my brain is playing tricks on me. I am not afraid of these feelings any more. I don’t like them, but I don’t fear them. They are neither my friends nor my enemies. For some reason I have a very delicate nervous system. My job is to take care of it and still contribute love to this society. With this I find a semblance of peace. It makes an even bigger difference when I return to the state of mind most people call normal or at least understandable. Then my health is true. I am at peace with the possibility that next week I may not be as productive or as sociable or as helpful as I was last week. I know that letting go of fear allows me to experience my version of peace and health. When my brain is too unbalanced to allow me to do this, I use other tools to get me back to this space. How about another principle: I can choose and direct myself to be peaceful inside regardless of what is happening outside [of my control]. I added these last three words to remind myself that sometimes the inside of my body is the outside. It is not my true self. My body provides stressors just as a job or class or relationship might. In fact, it is virtually the most stressful aspect of my life. Yet I can deal with stress because I need not fear it. I can respond without reacting. I can focus on what is in my control and not try to control what I cannot. I can control my thoughts about the thoughts my brain races through my awareness. I can choose not to believe them. I choose to remember that the dark glasses depression puts over my eyes can be removed shortly. I choose to remember that the agitating kaleidoscope of mania is mania; it is not life. I choose peace by letting these insightful thoughts push away any fear of insanity. This makes it so I can live my life as normally as possible. I can attend school, work, volunteer, and be a loving friend, all with immense compassion toward myself and others. I can learn, teach, play, observe, laugh, cry, and love. I can do all these things despite my bipolar disorder and the side effects of medications. I find people who can listen without judgment and support me in my process of overcoming bipolar disorder. I essentially grew up with AH, which was a gift few have been given. I rarely find peers who can listen and share without judgment. AH gives me that. With that I can take care of myself until next time. Occasionally I function one week at a time or a day at a time, but more often I have to remind myself of all these things throughout my day. In the midst of mania or depression (or both as right now) I live one hour at a time, or less. My friends and support group members and my WONDERFUL FAMILY facilitate my loving perspective as much as I do myself. That is only because I surround myself with such people by living the principles as best I can. Love and the knowledge of love will not cure all ails, but it makes a tremendous difference in the experience of mental illness. (Adapted from Andrew Solomon’s Noonday Demon). Love & Hugs, Jennifer

Writing myself across the USA
	Marjorie McQuarrie Victoria BC, Canada Email: mdm@uvic.ca In Attitudinal Healing we speak of wake up calls as significant, a moment in our lives that does indeed “wake us up” to what we know, what is important, what is possible. I believe there are many ways in which to define “wake up” calls and, for me, this summer has been fraught with them.
The first was one of illness that woke me up to the knowing I have in relation to my body. I simply had not known how to define it without a diagnosis. The diagnosis and subsequent surgery were a wake up call to step away from my fear and surrender to a power much higher than myself. Throughout the months of tests and doctors visits I held principle #8 “We can choose and direct ourselves to be peaceful inside regardless of what is happening outside” very close to me. It became my mantra for peace. I went into surgery surrounded by a world of loving and I was as peaceful as I believe was possible. The surgery and recovery then woke me up to feeling tremendously well and liberated. Amazing! The most recent wake up call for me came on a bus trip across the country, a pilgrimage at seven weeks post-operative. It revealed patience, humor, tolerance and compassion. It is this wake up call I would like to share with the attitudinal healing community at large. I locate myself as a white middle class Canadian woman. At times that title or location is difficult to verbalize and/or write. It is difficult because I judge it to be benign in a country full of the richness of other cultures and sometimes want to hide as my white skin labels me the “oppressor.” I wonder then if healing begins or takes place on a bus trip across the country where I quickly become a minority of one on a bus full of coloured folks? Where I step onto a bus seven weeks after having major surgery to quest for some bit of truth or understanding? Is it in these moments that I am to get something, to understand that there is a message for the world to hear, spoken through my voice? Is there something for each one of us to learn or is it simply my own experience? I am reminded of principle #9 time and time again that we are indeed “students and teachers to each other.” I define my bus trip as a pilgrimage, a “journey to a sacred place” of learning, being taught by the many people and experiences I encountered. For me, the “journey to a sacred place” becomes about my personal quest to open my heart and pay attention to what I know, to my innate beliefs and values. Each moment then reveals an opportunity to practice attitudinal healing and yet on occasion I just wanted to be angry as I witnessed fear. At times the fear was presented or disguised as racism towards me, sometimes towards people of colour. I judged the racism I witnessed to be external from white bus drivers and at other times internalised from bus drivers of colour, all of whom were in positions of power. I was called then to question what the witnessing meant for me, what were my beliefs and values in relation to the People of the Greyhound?. Does anyone notice this white bus driver from Kansas City to Memphis who is racist, mean and intolerant? I want to scream in those moments that are like a movie where time has ceased to exist. Is there another way or is my judgment, the lens with which I frame this moment, skewed? I support a” F__ you” to the driver as he growls and makes his mandatory “welcome to Greyhound” speech full of power, control and humiliation for anyone who might consider stepping out of line. I am incensed that the person in charge of our safety is riddled with fear and so, finds it necessary to exert his power over those already afraid. I AM HEARTSICK TO DISCOVER RACISM DOMINATES MY BUS. Today…August 5, 2003 I think I could have sent him love, yet that day, August 1, 2003 I just wanted to send love to those young mothers (black) with tiny children whom he insisted be kept quiet through the night no matter what the cost. “Small children will be kept quiet, you mother’s keep your children…for the comfort of the other passengers…” F__ you! I am afraid for these women, and for me, separated by the colour of our skin. My friend and I are the only white people on the bus from Kansas City to Memphis, Tennessee from white, middle class Canada I do not personally experience this leg of the journey differently however, what I see and hear from the driver saddens my heart. At the same time, I am infuriated by the witnessing of such brutal racism directed towards anyone, these women and their children in particular and I am like a mother bear protecting her cubs. I believe I did experience the journey differently for I have returned with a deep yearning to make sense of what I experienced. My heart sends love to all of us that day, surrounding the young moms and babes with light that is not lit by Greyhound. I am reminded of Martin Luther King and his rule to “remember love and non-violence.” There is a deep burning desire to know that kindles inside me when I am faced with cultural differences. I don’t want the burning to stop – the pondering of so much in my heart that keeps my breath pounding. Sometimes I ache to know the truth of each of those that look at me with no response when I ask a question, smile or offer what I think is an opening. Come and tell me who you are …I don’t know what makes your heart beat and in the asking I wonder how I might answer the question if someone were to ask. These people of the Greyhound enchant me and sometimes frighten me. Beautiful mothers with babies whose eyes seduce me, where I know I could fall and never emerge from the exquisiteness of what their spirit holds. I am then called to be respectful in each moment Some of these are simple moments I spent as a passenger on a Greyhound bus bound for Memphis, Tennessee. Those moments were profound for me, waking me up from a deep internal sleep that has left me shaken, questioning and more sensitive to the idea of cultural diversity and cultural difference. In those six days it was an opportunity to remind myself that in my fear, love continues to be “the most healing force in the world,” and that I could experience my judgements and still send love. The burning has not stopped in the writing, it continues to smoulder as I study cultural awareness as a third year student of child and youth care. Blessings to the great creator for the wisdom to know where I needed to be in the healing of my physical body and the further awakening of my spirit. (italisized are excerpts from my personal journal)