by Jane Knox
My interest in self-improvement has deep roots that go all the way back to the early 1970’s. I attended the new seminars being offered in New York City by Werner Erhard, the founder of EST, (which stands for Erhard Seminars Training). This morning I happened to remember a core idea I still practice that I acquired in my EST training days. Sometimes EST ideas are so much a part of me they’ve become automatic.
I still find great benefit from the principles I learned in EST. For instance, the idea of choosing life the way it is. This idea recognizes that we experience things that we don’t like. For instance, I recently injured my toe and bruised my foot. This is a fact I cannot change. My EST training reminds me, I can choose it, even if I don’t like it.
What does this mean? Well, it can be a freeing feeling at times to choose something that has negatively shown up. If I think of my injured foot as something I choose, this takes the onus off the negativity. And the most interesting thing happened when I did this. My foot stopped hurting! It looks terrible, but the pain disappeared.
Another unchosen thing for me was yesterday’s gloomy rain and cold. Miserable weather. But, I wondered, what if I choose this weather? After all, the rain is welcome because I want to see April flowers. I choose April flowers in bloom.
My beloved brother’s death a year ago offers another opportunity for choice. I was very fond of him and we had such a good relationship. I was feeling down. And then I remembered the power of choosing life the way it is. Suddenly, I was flooded with all the nice memories I have of him. I felt a sense of joy about his wonderful qualities and his willingness to use his talents to help me whenever I was in need. For instance, I can admire the unique door of the mailbox he made for me as I use it every day.
Of all the workshops I’ve done over time, I have incorporated some of the EST beliefs on a deep level. EST workshops have not been around for many years. Eventually, the workshops became The Forum, and now they have evolved into Landmark which is still functioning.
If you can’t change a negative situation––
choose it the way it is.
The initial EST workshop I attended was held in New York City. It lasted over a couple of weekends. I traveled from my home in Connecticut and attended the event by myself. I got a hotel room to stay over. Additionally, there were several seminars held during the evening and I soon met some other people and we traveled in to the city as a group.
EST wasn’t always fun, but it was challenging. I was there in the early days when EST followed a strict format creating an intentionally intense group experience. We had to agree to the rule requiring us to stay in the room until we were told we could take a break. Sometimes I found that difficult. This was all part of the design of the learning experience. If you arrived late, they wouldn’t let you in, no matter how good your excuse was. I was never late—I wasn’t about to be late. Over the years there have been critics of EST’s model. Looking back, I’m pleased to have gone through the program the way it was. If I had the opportunity to go back and do EST again, I wouldn’t change a thing.
My experience with EST opened my mind to more exploration of my personal empowerment journey.