Bob,

Here is the reason for all self-destruction.

Lack of KNOWLEDGE on how life really works.

It wasn't taught to me in school. It is NOT being taught to my children. In fact my kids and this whole generation is being taught exactly HOW to SELF-DESTRUCT, and they have great role models like the President to learn from too.

In school they want everything to be FAIR.

As I've told my kids since day one, Life is NOT fair...but you can always go to one.

Another thing is a heavy emphasis on Self-Esteem or self-worth. As Bill Gates noted in his book, Business at the Speed of Thought; "the world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself."

My point is, there is nowhere in the educational process that teaches people HOW life works.

I didn't know it. I had a lot of the pieces of the SQUARE ONE WORKSHOPS in use, but I hadn't put them together. It took disaster. It took me landing in the pit you see on the Financial Pictogrigm.

It took a flood. It took a hospital visit. It took a job loss. It took betrayal and heart break.

I lost my house, my car, my family. And I didn't know what had happened. In less than a year I went from the good life into the PIT.

A year after that I was homeless, penniless, and broken down. And I KNEW a lot of what worked.

But NO ONE ever connected the mind/body thing for me. And I worked in the mental health system for years.

It was at my bottom, in desperation, the TEACHER appeared. His name was Manny. And he drew the circle of connection in the sands of Lantana FL.

He YELLED at me, in a loving way. And he showed me how life worked. IT wasn't rocket science.

In fact it is pretty simple stuff.

You were born, you're gonna die. Get over it and get on with it.

You INHERITED some things. Be aware of them.

You were TAUGHT some things in your childhood.

Acknowledge and challenge your learning.

You have been influenced by several sources, find out where your beliefs came from.

You are unique. No one can live YOUR life.

You get to CREATE the life you want.

That is the truth (if you not in some way disabled to do so), but the HARDEST part is

KNOWING WHAT YOU WANT.

So, I asked that question (WHAT DO YOU WANT?) for 25 years, conducted a 25 year research project, and KNEW all the answers, for OTHER PEOPLE.

Then I got challenged. And I failed the challenge.

I wanted status quo...it wasn't going to happen. Life goes on, with you, or without you.

It left me behind for a couple of years. And I was doubly tormented because I had been able to help so many other people to see their own special meaning, but I couldn't find my own.

I've been to the bottom of the pit. It was through KNOWLEDGE and ACTION; the two stroke power engine that runs life if you allow it too, THAT GOT ME OUT.

KNOWLEDGE and ACTION.

Knowing how life works in general. Then knowing how YOU work your life.

I tried to write a book about my experience, I quit at page 1001. It seemed appropriate. It was a boring book like so many other books.

So, I started all over. ASKED for guidance. Prayed for right ACTION. I said I was ready to start over, humility was a much needed lesson.

The TEACHER appeared.

In the sand he drew a circle. He talked about how we THINK, and what that has to do with where we take our BODY.

I drew that circle on a piece of paper. My daily sessions in front of the Lake Worth Pier were puncuated by being YELLED at.

What emerged from that time was the SQUARE ONE WORKSHOPS...a lifetime of knowledge and two lifetiimes of wisdom...came together for me on those little child like drawings.

I art as a child.

Here was a course on how life WORKS, and then, how to make your life work for you.

I started to USE the knowledge through ACTIONS. It didn't take long for me to get to a better place than I had ever been.

As one of my heros Harry Chapin would sing..."a better place to be."

But if it ONLY worked for me it would be experiential, maybe a fluke. So I started SHARING this with other people, I GAVE them this knowledge.

It worked for them too. Not because they believed in me, and most NEVER believed in themselves...but for the first time they SAW with their own eyes, through little child like drawings, HOW life really worked...and what they could do to make their own life work too.

It is powerful stuff. NO secrets. Nothing esoteric or arcane. I wonder why I didn't get taught this in grade school.

Or middle school, or high school, or in college.

Or anywhere along the way.

The "truths" I learned from family and friends were in reality "half truths" colored by ignorance and acceptance.

SQUARE ONE WORKSHOPS are the same for people in Africa, India, China...and anywhere else.

People are born. People will die. They have SOME control over their life. They do have some POWER to decide and to create an unique experience on earth.

But no one has ever told them HOW. Not in a way that could be quickly understood and easily mastered. There are a million and one gurus that will share their techniques, strategies, and methods with you. But you quickly find out, YES, it is THEIR stuff, and it doesn't seem to want to work for you.

Which is why I get so down on gurus. There best DEFENSE (and in marketing it goes to the refund) is that YOU FAILED to follow THEIR directions.

So, I found something better than THEIR WAY. My way. But my way based on universal principles. Not some psychological mumbo jumbo. NOT some New Age belief system.

But on LIFE. On Nature. On how things work.

That is what I see as the mission of the SQUARE ONE WORKSHOPS...but they have to be DONE...just like REMOTE HYPNOSIS has to be done.

The power comes to you in the DOING. Just as it does in life in general.

ACTION is they key. FOCUSED ACTIVITY is the vehicle that takes you automatically to what you want from life.

But first, and this is the Catch 22, is

YOU have to know what you want.

SQ1 can help you find the answer to that question , and then, teach you how to make your answer, your EXPERIENCE.

If I have time, I'll try to post the Pictogrigms and give some explanations.

Gordon Alexander