Graham W Price's Blog

A review of Graham W Price’s book ‘What Is, Is!’ appears this month in Little Green Blog. An extract from the book can be downloaded here. Graham’s next seminar in London teaching the skills of Positive Acceptance is on Friday morning September 23 in the City or Wednesday evening September 28 in Victoria.  Discounted to £20.00 here.

We could and should be tackling psychological and social issues in the community far more effectively. We now have the tools to give everyone a satisfying, productive and fulfilling life.

An individual’s history and circumstances need no longer be seen as the key determining factor for well-being and effectiveness. Giving people life skills that focus on resilience, effectiveness, motivation and relationships, enables them to free themselves from the constraints of their past, cope with their current circumstances and then change those circumstances if they wish to.

TV soaps, while exaggerating real life, reflect the lack of resilience and relationship skills in our community. The prevalence of stress, weight problems, relationship issues, unemployment, crime and ill health are all indicators of a lack of resilience, motivation and effectiveness.

The government could act to make those skills available in schools, prisons and to the population at large. Savings in the health service, welfare benefits and justice systems alone would far outweigh the costs. The economic benefits would dwarf those costs.

Abicord’s ‘Personal Effectiveness and Achievement’ training, called ‘The Power to Choose’ is an illustration of how lives can be changed. As part of the course feedback participants are asked to score their life satisfaction and effectiveness before and after the training. A single subjective rating is used on a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 is the most satisfied and effective person they could imagine. Practically all participants increase by three or more points. Many have moved from 2 to 9 and 3 to 10. Most move from 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 to 9 or 10. Reviews after 6 months have shown that changes are sustained or further improved (on average for the group as feedback is anonymous). See www.abicord.com for details.

Or read ‘What Is, Is! The Power of Positive Acceptance’. Judge it by the impact it has on your life and then let me know if you agree.  You can see a free pre-view here.

What would life be like if we could:

• stop resisting what is, what was and what will be (the latter only to the extent we cannot control it)
• replace ‘resisting what is’ with ‘accepting what is’ … all the time (i.e. stop wishing things were already different, which is what we’re always doing whenever we’re dissatisfied about anything)
• focus only on changing the next moment or the future to the extent we want to and are able to
• accept any uncomfortable feelings, as long as we have them  …  no exception
• possess some powerful tools to change whatever we want to change and achieve whatever we want to achieve
• understand we live in a determined world …  and so replace blame with responsibility (we’ve always done the only thing we could have done with the awareness we had at the time so blaming ourselves or others is pointless, but we / they are still responsible which is about accepting penalties and other consequences, making up to those we’ve hurt and resolving to change our behaviour in future)
• understand that in a determined world, everything that’s happened is the only thing that could have happened at each moment given the awareness of everyone involved at the time and every situation we face is the only situation we could be facing at this moment. But the future is wide open
• accept ourselves totally by understanding that in a determined world who we are right now is the only person we could have been right now, but we can be whoever we want and choose to be in the future
• own our reactions (our reactions are all about our own programming … the situation or other person is just the trigger)
• choose the way we experience every moment
• understand the other person always believes they’re right from their perspective so it makes sense to try to understand their perspective
• take total responsibility for any challenging interactions (the other person is doing the only thing they could be doing with the awareness they have right now and the only person who can change their awareness is me)

Might life be different? Few have experienced such a life so you’ll have to take my word for it. It’s very different. It’s truly amazing. Regret, worry, stress, disappointment, dissatisfaction, anxiety, frustration, irritation, guilt, feeling low, procrastination and blaming ourselves and others all disappear.

Life becomes easy, enjoyable, satisfying and fulfilling. We become more motivated, energised, responsible and achieving … and more emotionally expressive in a positive way. Nothing is lost; everything is gained.

Abicord’s Acceptance-Action Training is changing lives. See www.abicord.com or read ‘What Is, Is! The Power of Positive Acceptance’, published by Hothive. See www.abicord.com/what-is-is. A free extract is available at http://www.what-is-is.com

We all feel time pressured, yes?  At least I assume we all do. Seems to me it’s a good idea to stop once in a while and spend a few moments contemplating what it’s all about. Why are we working so hard? For me it’s clear. I have huge goals I want to achieve. I love working towards them. I’m driven by them. But I also stop every now and then and tune into the moment. When I do I marvel at the buzz I get out of it all. It’s simply amazing. I love thinking about the opportunities life brings …. and ensuring I’m making the most of  them. If you don’t do this once in a while, give it a try. Let me know if you come up with any inspirations.  www.abicord.com/what-is-is