Discussion about entry: 1. We Are The Same: 3 Psycho-Spiritual Principles That Unite Us

I am an ordinary American consumer with a strong desire to live in a maximumally conscious way. I studied and participated in several eclectic and energetic as well as austere religious practices in my life (Quaker, Sufi, Subud, Theosophical Lodge (W.Q. Judge), Christian, Jewish, Zen, Eurantia Book, and G.I. Gurdjieff/P.D. Ouspensky [the Fourth Way]). I participated passionately in EST, Mind Dynamics, Lifespring, Cognitive Psychology, Psychology of Mind, etc.
In a lifetime of seeking practical understanding of mental health and holistic wellness, and, OK - yes, "enlightenment," I have sought out the progenitors and top practitioners of Principles Psychology since 1981. The most nurturing and satisfying understanding I have found in my 60 years of living (seeking since 13 yrs of age) is found in Principles Psychology. The learning I have absorbed is universal, comprehensive, experience-based, and validated continuously every day of life.
Principles Psychology is non-situational, non-diagnostic, non-conditional; it represents the greatest hope for a general rise in levels of understanding and collaboration in every culture and environment in this fraught old world, including prisons, business, addiction, family, and mental health services.
If one looks into the results achieved by leaders like Dr. Roger Mills, and the effect of this understanding on inner city housing, homeless services, corporate climate, community groups, counseling, prisons and jails, and mental health agencies throughout the continent, one cannot find any excuse for ignoring the power and impact of this alliance of practical self-knowledge and spiritual fact, and one is compelled to seek out the hope and solutions based on the meta-truths that Dr Mills has been vigorously passing out to all who will lend an ear. Nothing else even comes close.

I am a mental health provider and recently completed my graduate degree in family counseling.  I learned about The Principles three years ago, and it has absolutely changed my life in every way.  Gaining an understanding of how I create my experience via my own thinking has given me the power to experience life differently.  I am no longer a victim of my feelings or of other people's behaviors.  I see the innocence in people and I see that we are all just using these Principles to the best of our abilities.  It's truly a shame that more people do not know about The Principles, because there isn't a soul on earth who would fail to benefit from this information.  Put simply, having an understanding of these Principles has changed my marriage, my parenting, my relationship with my family and friends, and has allowed me to help others in  my work.  Things I didn't even dare to wish for are coming true all because I am able to see how I create my own reality each moment of each day. Many of my colleagues in the mental health arena are working hard and using what we've been taught in school with only marginal success and minimal sustainability.  This does not have to be happening.  Too many people are suffering and looking to us for answers.  The theories that we're working from are not good enough!  We've become experts on mental illness and diagnosis, and have failed to master the art of peace-of-mind.  As a result, we are burning out and feeling less healthy ourselves.  By offering my clients an understanding of The Principles they are realizing that they have the power and the means to live the life they want right away.  They are realizing that they are not only in the driver's seat, they are the entire ride!  I know that I am a "Changemaker" now, because I am seeing change daily in my life and in the lives of those who have gained an understanding of these three simple Principles.  These Principles, if shared and spread, have the ability to raise the consciousness of humankind, and they certainly deserve to be recognized as outstanding and meaningful!

Cory Willson, Three Principles Facilitator

I have been practicing medicine for 12 years as a Certified Physician Assistant.  All of my years in medicine have been completely autonomous with no physician in house and all of those years have been in primary care. 

 As the "gate keeper" for my patients care I deal with lots of their issues both physical and mental.  I first learned of the Three Principles several years ago and for the past 3 years I have incorporated these concepts into my patient care.  When I talk to my patients now I talk to the whole person that has health inside.  I now understand that people have a natural buoyancy to right themselves and have the skills inside they need to come back to their health.  Since I began practicing daily from the perspective of the Three Principles I see miracles!  I have seen patients ask me to stop their long term psychiatric medications, I have seen blood pressure readings return to normal without medication, sleeping patterns return without sedative drugs, physical complaints - such as heartburn and palpitations completely go away.  Miracles!  I have not turned my back on my medical school training and I still prescribe medications but what I do different is treat the whole patient and remind them that THEY are the expert on themselves, not me.  THEY know what they need and if we work together from that perspective, amazing things can (and do) happen.  

We, as human beings, know that if we hurt ourselves physically we will heal.  The medical community usually agrees on this.  If you come see me after a fall and I take an X-ray of your arm chances are if I see a broken bone, three of my colleagues, from anywhere around the world would see the same broken bone.  We would all agree (for the most part) on the treatment.  In 6-8 weeks, the arm will heal.  It works a little differently in the psychiatric community.  If you go a psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker and therapist and tell them about your problems you could potentially come out with 4 different diagnosis (or "labels")  Mental health is very subjective.  You can't look at an X-ray with three colleagues and all agree, yes, this is depression.   In mental health, if you meet so many bullets out of a list of criteria it is considered diagnostic for depression or anxiety or post traumatic stress disorder, etc.  This is not only confusing to providers (both mental health and physical health - like myself) but it is very confusing for the patients.  Often in my practice, I will see a patient that in the past has been labeled bipolar, depressed and anxious.  As their primary care practitioner I might disagree with all of these labels and as a primary care practitioner that works from the aspect of the Three Principles, I would disagree with these labels.   I no longer label my patients with diseases but I instead help point them back to their innate health and wisdom.  I will still prescribe psychiatric medications if needed, on a case by case basis, but I always know my patient has everything they need inside of them to heal.  

Going back to the idea that if we hurt ourselves we know that we will heal.  Lets say, for example, you cut your hand while making dinner.  You might wash it up and put a bandage on it but for the most part you won't think to much about that cut.  You know that in a few days your body will heal.  What would happen if every time that cut began to form a scab if you meticulously picked it off, piece by piece.  Would it heal?  Could it ever heal?  So, why is it that we think it is helpful to pick those scabs off from our patients mental wounds by asking them to relive and re-experience past trauma by talking about it.  Our mental preference is health and that is where a human being will return and stay if we stop picking off the scab.   I no longer ask my patients why they are depressed or to tell me all about what happened to them. 

I had one patient that came in with gastric complaints, he was very nervous during his visit asking me to do all the tests I could do, he knew he was going to die.  He told me he was going through a divorce, his house was being foreclosed and he father had just died.  Instead of discussing this with him, I ask him what it was he use to do that made him happy.  After a bit, he said as a teenager he enjoyed the beach.  I "prescribed" going to the beach 2 times for the next 2 weeks and then coming back into see me.  When he returned in two weeks he was amazed.  All he keep saying was "wow...  wow...., you are amazing, I haven't felt this good in years!"  I didn't fix any of my patients real problems, I didn't prescribe him anti-anxiety or anti-depressant drugs.  What I did was help point him back to his own well being.  By pointing him back to his health he began to see things differently and even his physical health complaints had went away.  We didn't pick off the scab from his mental wounds that day and he felt better just by allowing himself to heal. 

I know that my understanding of the Three Principles has completely changed both my life and my medical practice.  I no longer treat just an illness or see life as a problem.  I see my patients and myself as whole and healthy with this amazing ability to access wisdom through our common sense.  With this wisdom and common sense, all the answers that we need can be found. 

I was first introduced to the 3 principles in 1994 when I attended the first workshop given in Santa Clara County. I had been diagnosed with cancer and was recieving radiation treatment on a daily basis.  This understanding helped me stay in the moment and when I would fill in the unkown with the worse possible outcome, I realized I was only using the my imagination in a negative way and I had a choice. Feeling fear or realizing I was creating my own moment to moment experience of this event via the function of thought that alone brought me back this moment. I also had the insight that I would be Ok no matter what the outcome was. I was cancer free for 13 years and found some wonderful gifts from facing my greatest fear. I was diagnosed again with cancer in 2007 and my husband suffered a TBI brain injury  this year.  I have discovered the innate capacity of all human beings to unders tand and release all our persoanl suffering regardless of our personal or life experiences. gift of life unfolding and the capacity to live a life of grace, gratidude and humility no matter what happens. . I have been trained as an MFT and Alcohol & Drug Prevention Counselor in the desease model. I no longer use techniques, focus on additions or mental illness or do work taking clients back to their past. I now focus on innate health, the function of thought and states of mind.  I have taught this understanding in elementary, middle and high schools, to students teachers and parents.  Students where sending their parents to my parenting classes.

My name is Bill Landauer. I am a mental health consumer. I first heard about the 3 principles as a result of a problem I was experiencing at work. I was having a terrible time getting along with one of my coworkers. Things got so bad that I went into a depression and was severely upset most of the time. I couldn’t even see straight. One time I complained to my boss about an email she had sent me. When I showed it to my boss, I then saw that I had not even read it correctly. Anyhow, I believed that I needed to change her behaviors in order that I could be happy again. But I could not change her. Finally, one day, I read in a book that my happiness was not really an outcome of circumstances. Instead I could touch that inner peace inside myself at any time. The world was not doing it to me. My experience comes from the inside out, rather than the outside in. With that knowledge, I felt better right away. And my coworker never had to change any of her behaviors. The book I read was based on the 3 principles. This book said that it was based on the work of Roger Mills. Therefore, I began studying more about the principles with Dr. Mills. Everything on Earth comes from a formless energy. You could call it a manifestation of the spiritual energy. This spiritual energy can be named by the 3 principles. Once in the form, these 3 principles also describe why life looks the way it does. You notice that I say “looks”. There is a look and an experience of life. But these are different from who I am inside. The true me can only be described as a spiritual being; a being that is always OK. I also learned that when I happen to be in a low mood, later I will automatically come out of it. I always have resiliency. I don't need to do anything to make that happen. In particular, I need to not try to figure my way out of it. I don't need to "think" my way out of it. And even when I am in a low mood, I am still OK. It does not change who I am. I have seen numerous examples of peoples’ lives being changed just from learning about the 3 principles. Disclaimer: I am not a certified teacher of the principles. What I wrote above is only my views of them. 

 I became exposed to the Three Principles in September of 2008 and it has transformed my life.  I took training training provided by the Center for Sustainable Change with funding from the W. K. Kellogg foundation as a volunteer for Lakewood Community Development Corporation in Charlotte, NC. I had my "aha!" moment within the first hour.  It has empowered me to view, assess, and act with confidence in my perspectives and choices and with more love for those around me.  Situations and people that would bother me previously no longer do.  I am still learning in monthly sessions with the neighbors of the "challenged" Lakewood neighborhood.  I have seen many of these neighbors, both adult and adolescent, transformed by their exposure and includion of the Three Principles perspective in their life.  They report better relationships at work and home, greater happiness, less stress and more confidence in all they do.  It is an impressive and empowering approach to mental well being.  Some people "get it" faster than others, and it is life changing for the better for those who adopt this philosophy.  I am also impressed that even folks with deep religious convictions find no conflict with this perspective and their faiths and I would predict that it is not conflicting with most, maybe all, religious beliefs. 

In 2007 I was fortunate to attend a discussion of the  3 principals of mind ,thought and consciousness.

This 2 1/2 day "training" offered by my employer....frankly changed my life.

As a mental health professional for the past 27 years I had often suffered  "burn out" from  on the job fatigue .

My focus as a health care provider had always been  to address the illness of others. I approached my  " burnout" in the same manner.  I often tried to change [ what I perceived to be] the external obstacles keeping me from  my mentally health.....{work load, co-wokers...etc.}I found myself taking many vacations as a prescription to address the problem. I began returning to work much less refreshed.

Health was hopefully to become the outcome...but rarely.During this training I was introduced to "my" innate mental health for the first time. To understand that we are the "thinkers"  creating our unique  realities was amazing. An introduction to this understanding has allowed me to continue in my field today.What a gift it is to share hope with my clients and  point them toward their wisdom as a healing force.

I feel fortunate to share aspects of my journey toward an understanding of these principals with my family, friends, colleagues and clients.

 As a physician and medical educator, I've observed results of this method, The 3 Principles, over the last 14 years, and with thousands of participants.  This method actually works, people's mental health improves markedly and their lives change as a result.

The work described here represents a change in the way we view mental well-being. The three Principles describe and explain how thinking works, and how people create their thoughts, and thus their feelings and experiences, from the inside out. The Principles link Mind, universal energy, Thought, the way we transform that energy into form, and Consciousness, the way we bring form to life as sensory perception, in a dynamic flow of creation. From birth to death, the principles describe the the thinking process -- i.e., using the energy of life to create thought -- to the experience of life -- i.e., realizing the thoughts we are creating through Consciousness.  Consciousness translates as our moment-to-moment perception of life. The truth of this logic resonates with people and awakens hope across all populations because we can recognize the capacity to change as internally generated, unrelated to circumstances. In a world in which so many people have innocently come to blame their circumstances for their thinking, and thus to feel stuck and victimized by intransigent problems, awakening to the inside-out nature of experience is a refreshing, empowering change. We are all creating our experiences via the universal truth of the three Principles in action. But we are all creating different experiences, moment to moment, person to person. To change our life experience, we come to understand how our thinking works and how to allow change from within. I am an educator; for more than 20 years, I have seen this simple, but profound, new paradigm inspire people from all walks of life, from all manner of life situations, to find freedom from everything they THOUGHT was holding them back, or making them miserable, or ruining their chances, or haunting their days. We are united by the common truth that we are all thinking and making up our life; we are divided only by what we make up and take seriously.

The significant work pioneered by Dr. Roger Mills and others deserves careful attention. These principles have been one of the major influences on the development and longevity of the National Resilience Resource Center at the University of Minnesota. In the early days of my own personal learning Dr. Mills was most generous with his time, support and invitations to participate freely in his programs and activites. I was encouraged to learn using my own common sense and wisdom and to teach from that perspective in my own words. Now more than 15 years later in our own work, we see changes in individuals of all ages and in entire community systems. This approach has helped us shape a practical, well-received way of pointing our ferdrally funded and other project particiapts in the direction of natural resilience, health and well-being previousy described as self-righting in a massive body of multi-disciplinary scientific resilience research. The marriage of that research and this principle-based practice has been very important for us.