I was invited to an "introductory" evening by the Kairos Foundation who run a course called "More to Life". I had dashed out of the house with a scrap of paper with directions I'd jotted down over the phone from a friend. When I got off the train at my destination, I somehow couldn't drag up the courage to ask the way from the guy at the ticket office. Instead, I followed my friend's directions the which began from the "No 37 stop for Tysley train station". That turned out to be a load of crap which ended up in me going round in a big circle, involving a few lonely minutes walking through a deserted industrial estate. I wasn't impressed. However, I figured that as I wasn't murdered, at least I got some exercise.
I had assumed that the event was a kind of drop-in evening. Drop-in, have a coffee and a chat, drop-out, which suited me fine cos I didn't want a late night as I was suffering from a heavy cold and preferred to be tucked up in my warm bed. I didn't leave until 9.45pm. Got home around 1 hour later. Still, it was interesting. The woman who ran it was a bit of a knob and by the time I came out I was wrestling with whether to sign up for the next course in a couple of weeks that I couldn't afford, or wait. but if I waited, would i just be delaying something that could change my life. Thankfully, I followed one of the rare pieces of advice that I have ever actually listened to. Never make an important decision on the spot. Sleep on it. So I slept on it for a few days and now realise that its not teaching me stuff I don't already know and its certainly not worth getting into debt over. I'll do it, but not yet and not in London with that silly woman who leads the course there. The longer the time from the event, the more I dislike her!
I'll finish on this. The thing that really impressed me about the course was the focus on allowing the participant to decide how they would use the tools they learnt. The organisers weren't going to tell you what to do and that felt good to me. I'm going to be my own guru this year. Fuck other people trying to fix me or tell me what I'm supposed to be doing with my life.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
I did the More To Life course in 1996. After getting married and having kids it was the best thing I ever did.
I also did the More to Life course in March 2005 and went on to do more courses offered by the organisation. The things I learnt were the significant driver to my career change from engineering to music after years of ignoring what I really wanted and loved. Sarah :)
I advise strongly against the More To Life Program. I attended in 2010. MTL is a cult organisation feeding on the vulnerable in society. At the end of the MTL weekend you are encouraged to pay it forward by making monthly contributions and by 'sponsoring' friends and family to attend the course. You are also urged to get involved; volunteer to be a 'Team Member' at future events and purchase additional classes. MTL might be on the lesser scary end of the cult scale, but it is a cult. MTL uses the power of group persuasion to alter behavior. There may be no malicious intent behind MTL (I have not yet discovered any) but that is not the point - the cult model of MTL means that the most vulnerable will be recruited and will be made to feel good about contributing their time and money to help grow and manage the MTL organisation. This is a living, breathing cult folks. Stay away!!
Obviously the last person that posted doesn't know what a cult is. The More To Life foundation is a not-for-profit educational foundation. There's no cult to it. You pay to take a class; if you want to, you take more classes. If you feel moved to help support the foundation produce courses, you can volunteer or donate money. A cult REQUIRES shutting out all else, demands money, separates the person from the rest of society. MTL says, Hey, here's some tools you can use. Enjoy your life! Look us up for more classes if you want. There's not a cult here, folks. That person is obviously threatened by something here. Sad that they attack an organization that works to help people connect with their life. Sad, too, the lack of understanding what a cult is.
Best thing I ever did - serves me on a daily basis to make the choices I want and live my life to the best of my ability. free to step in and out as it suits me, and skills to use in my own life in my own way for my own benefit and that of all I meet.
More to Life's resemblance to a cult is superficial; there's some unique language, like the term"life shock" to describe an emotionally pivotal experience, and I and many must appear inordinately devoted. MTL's essentially cognitive psychology. The transformational breakthroughs I've achieved through MTL were no different from those I achieved in counciling, except that they were dramatically quicker and less expensive. As with any such breakthrough, of course, confronting and experiencing the subconscious fears and anger behind one's defenses can be scary. I can promise from experience that the more threatened you feel when you address those defenses, the closer you are to breaking through to a life free from them.
I took this course way back in 1985 when it was called life training. Most of it was useful. some of it hookie. I personally have kept many of the processing practices integrated into my life. There are several processes that work very well like the NO process to relieve stress and clear the mind. The True false or I don't know is a little to simplistic in a complex world. I am also Dyslexic so this helped me work out with many of the issue of self esteem and the PTSD that non diagnosed dyslexics had to go through in that time period. The only real drawback to this training is that it is difficult to implement without support groups as the world is very messed up. In 2001 I called on this group for help and was blown off. This was really unfortunate because the training in supposed to teach commitments keeping, which the Austin Tx training group ignored . Again the drawbacks are a non supportive outer group such as churches have. To practice the concepts trying not fall back into the same old behaviors but one needs support to be effective. The group does not appear to have any supports outside of the inner circle of classes trainers and sponsors. As stated I felt this training was beneficial but leave a person kind of on the outside of mainstream living in the real world and also somewhat isolated. I wanted to take the coarse over but did not have the money I was told I was welcome to take the coarse over any time free of charge but that commitment has never been kept and excuses have been numerous . So money appears to be a major motivating factor with this group. I personally have incorporate the integrity part into my everyday life. I just wish the leaders of this course had done the same. Take the course but remember once done you are on your own. This has been my experience I had high hope for this group kind of a bad thing to have considering they stress not making expectation unless you are in agreement with the people who create the expectation like I did with the more to life folk.
Post a Comment