Mental Health
· Depression
· Anxieties, Fears and Panic Attacks
· Anger Management
· Grief and Loss
· Stress and Worry
· Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
· Addictions
Business and Leadership
· Human Resources: Employee Attraction and Retention
· Leadership and Compassionate Management
· Negotiation and Dispute Resolution
· Research and Development Meets Cooperation and Creativity
· Spirituality in the Workplace
Life and Career Coaching
· Relationships and Intimacy
· Parenting
· Spirituality and Religion
Sports
Creativity
Other Benefits
· Physical Health
· Pet and Animal Relationships
· Artistry and Musicianship
Relax. Despite what you’ve been told, depression is simply a thought pattern.
Anger, fear, guilt, resentment, jealousy, worry, anxiety, stress,
impatience and all other manner of insecurities and suffering are all
generated by our own thinking. You think something, chemicals are
released in your brain and you sense an emotion.
“There is no ice or snow independent from water.
The Buddhahood of ordinary people
can be likened to snow and ice melting and becoming water.
From the beginning nothing has ever been lost.”
Jawaharlal Nehru
Our mental health is like the sun,
while suffering is like a cloudy sky. It is important to remember that
the clouds do not make the sun go away any more than misdirected
thinking makes our innate health go away.
By discovering the difference
between the Power of Thought and the content of our personal thoughts,
we can better understand how our experiences are generated. Functioning
from this understanding brings us the peace of mind necessary to have
the most positive and productive responses to the world around us.
Gain control over the most powerful
chemistry factory on the planet earth. Influence your mental health
directly with the power of your own thinking.
We have
worked successfully with people dealing with a variety of issues.
· Depression
· Anxieties, Fears and Panic Attacks
· Anger Management
· Grief and Loss
· Stress and Worry
· Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
Make a difference in your own life by simply understanding the incredible power that
thought has over our lives.
“In
the 5 or 6 years prior to taking the course I attempted to commit
suicide at least once a year (and in one particularly depressed year,
several times in a few months). I was hospitalized twice, I had tried
four different antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications and I was
extremely dependent on weekly visits to a psychologist and psychiatrist.
"In the two years since I've taken the course, I have never—not
EVER—gotten nearly as depressed as I did before Principles Training. I
am no longer taking medication, I am no longer seeing a psychologist or
psychiatrist and I feel stronger, happier and more like my self than I
have since as long as I can remember.
"Meeting Scott and taking The Course very very literally saved my life.
If I could assign a value to my life, then I would assign an equal
value to what I have received from Scott and Principles Training.”
Christina
Artist & Student
· Addictions
Thinking about quitting smoking, drinking or anything else, is—in other words—thinking
about the addiction itself.
“Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it.
Michel de Montaigne
Long after the chemical affects of an addiction
wear off, people still find themselves struggling with the desire to appease “the
addiction.” When this process is viewed from the appropriate understanding,
individuals can begin to recognize the role of their own thinking in their
apparent addiction. By taking conscious control of that thinking, we can free
ourselves of the guilt-pain-abuse cycle that otherwise holds us prisoner.
Rather than struggling with trying to stop an addiction, healthy individuals
instead reinvest themselves in gratifying aspects of their life and, in doing
so, reorient their thinking away from the addiction and toward their goals. In
the end, we don’t so much stop our addiction. It’s more that we start the rest
of our lives.
“If
you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the
thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the
power to revoke at any moment.”
Marcus Aurelius
Businesses
are collections of people. The performance of a business fluctuates only
because the thinking of the people in the business is constantly changing. By
having more influence over those thought changes, businesses can focus their
energies in the most productive ways possible at any given time.
“Life is like a game of cards.
The hand that is dealt you represents determinism;
the way you play it is free will.”
Jawaharlal Nehru
· Human Resources: Employee Attraction and Retention
The supply
and demand curve has inverted. Facing a shortage of workers, the smart employer
recognizes that it is not the employees who are lucky to have a job, it is they
the employer who is lucky to have good, dedicated people.
On survey after survey, employees list job
satisfaction and appreciation ahead of money on their list of
motivations to choose or stay with a long term job. Money is certainly
a part of satisfaction, but since work represents roughly half of our
waking life, it is those moment-to-moment experiences each day that
influence our decision to stay or go. When a company finds ways to make
the daily experience more positive and fulfilling, those employers are
not only more
likely to keep top performers, but they’re also more likely to attract
their smart friends.
“In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true,
either is true, or becomes true.”
John C. Lilly
· Leadership and Compassionate Management
Busy thinking and ego-based decisions by managers and
employees result in the sorts of problems that slow a business down and
degrade its morale. By modeling healthier, more productive behaviour
managers can drastically influence how well any business runs. In the
end, managing poorly is very common and easy to do from an
ego-perspective. The good news is that it is even easier to manage
people well when it’s done from an understanding of how the role of
thought affects our daily lives and the lives of our co-workers.
“Who ranks as the highest?
One who does not harm anything.
One who never retaliates.
One who is always at peace regardless
of the other person’s disposition.”
Buddha
· Negotiation and Dispute Resolution
Whether it is between management and a union, or
between a client and customer service representative, the negotiation
of a solution can be approached from two perspectives. In one, the two
sides expend energy attempting to defeat the other side and what
results is whatever possibilities survived the battle. A much more
productive and cooperative approach is for both sides to remove their
initial bias so they can see the potential in each others ideas. From
there, decisions can be based on what is best, rather than what is best
from any single perspective. By seeing everyone’s position as sensible
and understandable, the process itself stays calm and dealings are
respectful.
“Truth is a river that is always splitting up
into arms that reunite. Islanded between the arms,
the inhabitants argue for a lifetime as to which is the main river.”
Cyril Connolly
· Research and Development meet Cooperation and Creativity
Many businesses find their success hinges on the
creativity of their people. Insights
necessary for the creative process can be nurtured in the right
environment, so it’s important for managers to know how to approach and
support creative personalities. Again, all business is ultimately a
human process that is helped tremendously by calming our ego-based
thinking and focusing on the present moment and the opportunities that
naturally exist within it.
“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.
We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
Albert Einstein
· Spirituality in the Workplace
Employers are only now starting to realize that, from
the employees’ perspective, they are singular individuals first and
employees second. And for some, their spiritual identity is their
primary one. Many proactive businesses have recognized this and are now
implementing full time or contract “company chaplains.” Having a
spiritual approach that can speak to any faith is key to success in
today’s diverse labour market. Principles Training is way to clearly
see the common, underlying truths between a variety of beliefs that
otherwise might seem different. In terms of its impact on a workplace,
this sense of spiritual kinship should not be underestimated.
“This
program is excellent and I highly recommend it for virtually anyone who
feels a need for positive change in his or her life. The learning
transfer is remarkable, and the principles have had a greater effect on
me than any other training of its kind. In fact, it has been four years
since I took the course and I draw upon it more now than right after
the course when I probably wasn’t sure how to process everything. Since
then I have practiced the principles like any other type of training,
and I (and my wife) am amazed at how much happier, calm, and content I
am.”
Greg Ford
Vice President Vancouver
David Aplin Recruiting
Author,
“Catch Them if You Can”
“The most decisive actions of
our life—I mean those that are most likely to decide the whole course of our future—are, more often than not, unconsidered.”
André Gide
Decisions. Life is made of them.
And yet for so many of us our lives are habitual. We date the same
types of people, encounter the same kinds of frustrations at work, and
in general our lives seem more like routines than deeply felt
experiences.
By simply changing our perspective to one less
personal and more objective, individuals find themselves easily able to
identify what they really want and how to get it. The Principles of
Human Experience shows us how to avoid our internal dissenting voices
and instead feel our own sense of inspiration and enthusiasm. From
there, we can all make the sorts of decisions that lead to a rewarding,
productive and joyous life.
· Relationships and Intimacy
“Muddy water, let stand, becomes clear.”
Lao-tzu
Most ego-based relationships feature
habitual conflict. Arguments may as well be tape recordings for how
much they change. Whether it’s with co-workers, friends, lovers, a
spouse, child or parent, the complaints are usually pretty consistent.
But the key to successful relations isn’t “fixing” or changing anyone
or any thing other than our own perspective—fortunately, the one thing
that is in our complete control.
By quelling the ego’s need to be “right” and
“win,” our natural ability to make peace emerges. Functioning with less
attachment and expectation, we begin to realize that love is not
something that is built; it is something that is automatically realized
when two people know how to truly see past the impression that is
created by our personal thinking. With this veil of thought lifted, we
can easily see the greater Truth that is behind the person we are engaged with.
Whether yours is a good relationship that is being
strengthened, or one that seems angry and hopeless, the loving feelings
we shared in our best times are always only one thought away.
Understanding the Principles behind our personal experiences, we can
begin to actively steer our lives toward more rewarding, fulfilling and
loving relationships—even when people seem very different from
ourselves.
“I lived my entire life through the influences that I grew up
with that were for the most part very negative. Even though I always told myself
that never wanted to end like my father (he was mostly responsible for the
negative influences in my life), I was turning out just like him and it has
dictated how my life has gone from broken relationships to dealings with
co-workers and everyday situations.
"I have known Scott for many years and he offered me his
training program many times. It wasn't until I lost the most important thing in
my life, my best friend and fiancée, that I looked to him to take him up on his
offer.
"It was purely with the intention to change my life in
order to live happily that I went into this training with Scott, not with the
intention of getting the love of my life back. As far as I knew it was too far
gone and I had to move on.
"After I started my training with him, I quickly started to
see the world in a different light, and it wasn't through any magical
revelation or potion that was administered by Scott, it was simply by him
helping me see things that are so obvious to us all, we just cloud our vision
and minds with thoughts and notions that we have no control over and we have no
basis to make those notions separate from our own insecurities. Hearing the
obvious is not always what we want to hear, nor is it the easiest thing to hear
but Scott made it easy to comprehend and accept. This was the only revelation
to me: how easy this all truly is and how easy it is to live a happy with life
with the only effort required being to accept the things we have no control
over anyways.
"I started to live my life without worry and preconceptions. By just remembering
what I was taught, catching my mind wandering at all sorts of times in the day,
each day became easier and easier. Without the intention for it to happen, the love
of my life started to see the differences in me that she didn't think possible.
With much doubt in her mind, she slowly opened up to the idea that I may
actually be able to change.
"It has been several months now since our break up and we have gone from living
in separate bedrooms and planning how to divide our lives to being in love all
over again with a new found appreciation for the friendship we have built over
the years we have known each other. I feel like I have fallen in love all over
again and I appreciate every moment that I spend with her. We have started
to talk about our plans for the future and the beautiful life that we hope to
build together including our children that we hope to have someday.
"All that I can say is, "Thank you Scott", for
giving me a new found hope that a person can change and thank you for
inadvertently helping me regain the love of my best friend, I couldn't have
done it without your help."
Christian
Salesperson
· Parenting
“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
Leo Tolstoy
Most parents have no awareness that they are
functioning from an ego-perspective and so they have no opportunity to
teach their children to function otherwise. Rather than directing,
demanding, fighting, convincing or even rewarding behaviour, we can
instead utilize our own clarity to help those around us see past
ego-based responses to the world. This allows a sense of closeness and
connectivity where children choose to pay attention because the
messages they are getting are positive, loving, supportive and honest.
Whether it’s by doing the same or doing the
exact opposite, children learn from those closest to them. If loud,
aggressive arguments are used to convince the child, then loud and
aggressive arguments will be used to justify behaviour. By maintaining
a calm approach in relations, we can hear past our biases and find
solutions to today’s problems all while establishing the healthiest
possible problem-solving approach for the future.
By better understanding how we process the
world through our thoughts, parents discover simple and effective ways
of presenting this reality to their children. Rather than strengthening
an ego that will later hobble the child, parents can instead nurture
the child’s spirit. Rather than lessons on “how to win at life”, life
lessons instead become about “how to enjoy life.”
· Spirituality and Religion
“Where is the temple of God? In our heart. Therefore
that’s where we have to go and meet Him.”
Swami Chidvilasananda
It is worthwhile noting that all of the
world’s major religions have common beliefs. All identify that love
should guide our dealings and that we should move toward what is best
for others as a means of creating what is best for ourselves. While the
rituals can differ greatly, seeing past those differences to the heart
of each prophet’s message shows us that each was using a different set
of metaphors to describe the same indescribable Truth. In the end, our
spirituality is a direct experience we have with the universe. By
facilitating that experience, each person (regardless of their
religion), can find a deeper and more meaningful appreciation for the
supreme entity that is the origin of all things.
“Your
worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts.
Develop the mind of equilibrium. You will always be getting praise and
blame,
but do not let either affect the poise of the mind:
follow the
calmness, the absence of pride.”
Sutta Nipata
Any golfer knows that feeling of a
beautiful swing. It always feels curiously easy. In the end, the hockey
phrase “holding the stick too tight,” is just a euphemism for “thinking
too much.” While traditional psychology-based focuses on locking in on
positive thoughts, or managing visualization techniques, these
approaches carry with them several serious pitfalls. Instead,
Principles Training takes thought away from the equation. If the
training has been good, there will be no need for intellectual thinking
in the moment. Rather it will be the quiet mind that allows that
knowledge to travel efficiently through us and into action, without the
mitigating judgment of thought.
This “feeling” of no-thought is
referred to as “the zone” and it is absolutely obtainable with the
right intention. So if you want to swing your golf club fluidly and
without self-consciousness; if you want to keep your eye on the ball
and not just think about keeping your eye on the ball, then it is
critical to learn the difference between the thought-form of an action
and an intentional action itself.
Bring some Zen to your sports. Have more fun and improve your game. It’s a win-win.
“One day a student asked Ike no Taiga, “What is the most difficult part of painting?”
Taiga said, “The part of the paper where nothing is painted is the most difficult.”
Zen Parable
Original thinking requires
opportunity. If our minds are busy reorganizing our current collection
of ideas, there is little opportunity for new, original ideas to enter
our consciousness. Understanding this, the famous inventor Thomas
Edison would invite an “open mind” by sitting in a chair and placing a
metal pie plate between his legs. Holding a spoon loosely in his grip
above the plate, he would eventually drop off into sleep. As he did,
the spoon would slip and clatter on the plate, awaking him to a mind
clear and free of the ideas that it held when it was awake. He
understood this to be a “place” where great new ideas were discovered.
Understanding
The Principles of Human Experience allows individuals to enter this
open state of mind without the need for chairs, spoons and pie plates.
Abandoning the notion that ideas can be right or wrong, artists and
inventors are liberated from their personal perspectives on a subject,
and they can instead see opportunities outside the box-like limitations
of the intellectual thinking that is traditionally used.
Every
creative person knows the feeling of those ideas that are somehow
simultaneously our best, and yet are also the ones that come so easy
that we’re reluctant to take credit for them. Leave behind limiting
concepts like “writers/artists block” and move consciously into “the
zone.” In short; create better ideas, sooner, with less stress and more
enjoyment.
"No matter what one does, whether one’s deeds serve virtue or vice,
nothing lacks importance. All actions bear a kind of fruit.”
Buddha
· Physical Health
Many students report notable benefits to
their physical health, from faster healing, to a reduction in symptoms
from ailments as wide-ranging as MS, stomach aches and back pain. An
increase in dexterity and physical self-awareness is also very common.
· Pet Relationships
Many students are initially uncomfortable
admitting this common response to the training. Seeing their pets less
as extensions of their ego-based life, and instead seeing them as
individual parts of the universe just as we are, generates a stronger
bond and much better communication.
· Artistry and Musicianship
Being free of self-doubting thoughts
allows us to join the flow that is naturally present in music. Rather
than “playing a song,” we can become a part of the music itself. Every
kind of artist knows those times where it seems creativity is simply
flowing through us. It often results in our best work, and yet we are
reluctant to take credit for it because it is also often the work that
came the easiest. And that sense is quite accurate. By keeping one’s
mind clear, it is possible to enter this flow and access the incredible
creativity that perpetually resides there. An artist’s block does not
require some Herculean action on our part. To the contrary, it requires
that we become quiet enough inside, that we can begin to hear the
ever-present voice of inspiration.
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