TEXAS THERAPIST SAYS SYDNEY TRAINING IS UNIQUE
Barbara Lustfield from Carrolton, Texas, a therapist with 15 years experience, currently working with the psychologically disturbed people of the North Texas Psychological Services Institute, has great faith in the Sydney ‘OPENINGS’ training run by Adam Davis. So much so, that she brought a client from Texas to participate in last week’s programme.
The effects of her client, a Dallas business-woman, and her own positive experience since she took the training herself in 1984, have convinced Mrs Lustfield that ‘OPENINGS’ should be made available to schools, businesses and the helping professions.
Mrs Lustfield said, “Our society has a lack of balance, there’s an over-emphasis on intensity – it doesn’t matter what type of intensity – and because of this we are losing ourselves, we’re not taking the time to listen. There’s nothing like ‘OPENINGS’ in the States because it provides the opportunity for people to lift their own emotional blocks and self-defeating behaviour – people don’t want to walk around with the ho-hums of the brain or the ‘I can’t’s or the victimisation. During the training people actually let go of their destructive patterns”.
Mrs Lustfield became aware of the Sydney Training after one of her clients, who had been undergoing therapy for months, had completed ‘OPENINGS’ in Dallas, Texas. She said, “There was such an aliveness in her face and body, the training had visibly done so much good, that I decided to find out more about it”.
Speaking in a soft voice with a great deal of charm, Mrs Lustfield said, “I’ve done an awful lot of personal growth workshops, including EST, Bioenergetics and a course with Carl Rogers, and there has been nothing that even comes close to what I experienced in Sydney”. Mrs Lustfield was not surprised that such an innovative training had originated here. “I view the Australian people as the people who have a heart. Many people in the USA are head people. But I noticed that here there is willingness for people to co-operate. If I had a problem on a tour, or I was confused, people would always stop and talk and help if they could. To me that shows a people who care and do have their hearts open”. After an interesting and enjoyable stay in Sydney, where she had the opportunity to work with Australian clients in an advanced training with Adam Davis, Mrs Lustfield rejoins her family in Texas this weekend.
Meanwhile, now in its eighth year, Adam Davis’ ‘OPENINGS’ trainings are attracting more and more participants. Probably the most significant difference between ‘OPENINGS’ and many of the personal and spiritual growth workshops currently available is its gentle, non-confronting approach.
On request the Sydney-based training has been taken to the UK, South America, the USA and New Zealand.
THE GIFT OF LIFE
Recently I was asked to consider, for my own clarity, what I had gained from my Openings intensive and how the Openings experience had changed my life. I was unprepared for my own answer to these questions, as it revealed a breadth and depth of change that I had not taken time to acknowledge fully. The changes were assimilated so naturally into my being that I forgot what I was like before they occurred. I would like to take the time to now acknowledge these changes by sharing some of them here.
Essentially, Openings did more than change my life – it brought into my conscious awareness the Gift of Life itself – the Gift of Me. Prior to Openings, in knowing only my body, mind and emotions, I was vaguely, but painfully, aware that something was missing – something to do with ‘union’ I thought – union, that is, with something other than me. In some obscure recess of my mind I thought that if I worked very hard I might become perfect enough, or God might become forgiving enough, to give this to me. Until Openings, I did not realise that what I was looking for was not ‘missing’ at all – it WAS and IS myself. In other words, Openings extended my understanding of ‘self’ beyond the limitations of body, mind and emotions to include Spirit – Spirit as Reality, not as a concept, but as an experience of My Reality. This experience bridged the gap – the missing piece – between what I WANTED to be the truth, and what IS the Truth about Me – always and forever. Knowing this Truth from my own experience, from this glimpse of eternity, I could never again get totally ‘lost’ in any of the diverse forms of me (at a personality level) that appear to exist apart from My Reality. Best of all, I could stop searching outside myself – either for some formula to make a better me, or for some missing piece to complete me.
In addition to this new experience of Me, this Gift of Life, Openings gave me a new Resource. This Resource was – incredibly – the Light of the Christ Consciousness to call upon for ALL my future needs. With the learning of how to ask and receive the assistance of the Light, and with the integration of the use of the Symbol, I became the Source of my own healing, and the transformation from ‘one-who-is-run-by’ to ‘one-who-runs’ the nature of my own experience.
So how did this transformation process begin to manifest itself in a practical way? In essence, the certainty (as opposed to ‘hope’) that I was here to go Home placed my earthly experience in a whole new perspective. This perspective basically said ‘There is nothing you want more than to return to your Source. This longing is so great that it will ultimately transcend all fear and dread of ‘sacrifice’ to achieve the Perfect End’. Such a perspective also said ‘You have encountered in I.A.M. and the All-One Foundation a magnificent form of spiritual support for your journey Home – go get some more support. And so to RTC2 (April 1988), and then a Transformation Circle and Home Meditations (August 1988), and another Openings as an assistant (February 1989), and then the Transformation Training (April 1989), and then being more involved with the organisation because the more I do the more my own transformation evolves (May 1989)… etc.’
The effect of all these trainings which stem from the Openings Retreat can be stated quite explicitly: ALL areas of my life involving relationships with others have changed – some dramatically – in a positive way: 1. Relations with my mother, father, brothers, children, and ex-spouses have all undergone transformation, so that the level of personal distress arising from interaction with these people who are closest to me has dropped about 70% (or more). 2. People in senior positions with whom I work are less likely to evoke my fear outside ‘authority’, or to receive my permission to impose their will upon me – though I still have a need to be ‘nice’ – sometimes at the cost of my Truth. 3. On average, I am about 60-70% more trusting of others and, therefore, less likely to ‘see’ the need to protect myself. 4. Importantly, my relationship with myself has changed. I’m more compassionate with myself and I estimate that the level of negative ‘self-talk’ (i.e. self-criticism) has dropped by about 60-70%. I ‘manage’ me a whole lot better. 5. Above all, my relationship with God has changed. Suffice it to say that I no longer blame Him for all my discomfort. I have a whole new set of relationships with people I have met through the All One Foundation and I.A.M. – a whole new family of like-minded people, to love, and share with, and learn from.
I am not the chronically dependent person I was 15 months ago. 1. There has been a significant and ongoing increase in the level at which I take responsibility for providing for myself financially. 2. I ‘miss’ having a special relationship about 10% of the time instead of 100%. The experience of living alone has been, and continues to be, an opportunity for self-discovery and personal expansion. 3. I am starting to ask for what I want rather than waiting for ‘proof’ that others care about me. 4. My perception of what constitutes a material ‘necessity’ has simplified. 5. I am basically more flexible and adaptable to unexpected changes in circumstances.
My ‘productivity’ as an individual is on the increase (less time and energy spent being depressed or anxious). I fit more into my day than I used to and this is growing with time. There is more evidence of initiative with decision-making, reaching out, making phone calls to others, and taking risks sharing where I’m at. There is at least 60% less conflict around what I ‘should’ be doing at any given moment.
I take about 95% less medication than I did 15 months ago. In particular, a sinus condition has completely gone since Openings.
People who have known me a long time have recently commented on changes that they have noticed: (To me) ‘You look so much happier and more relaxed these days’ / ‘You’ve certainly changed/grown’. (To my children) ‘Perhaps you should do what your mother is doing – she’s never looked better’. The knowledge that these changes are only a beginning – only one small step through the Openings doorway is another of the gifts of Openings.
The gains I describe are true for me, and the external changes I have listed can be validated. It would be wrong, however, to suggest that there has been, and is, no struggle in this growth process. For such is our condition, such is our investment in everything that would keep us separate from joy, that the long-standing ego territories are not relinquished without some degree of opposition between right-minded and wrong-minded ways of perceiving what is apparently ‘out there’. There seems no way of avoiding initially, at least, the perception of ‘sacrifice’ and ‘loss’ in making choices which will lead us to Knowledge and the Truth within and beyond us. And so the ground for new Vision is won slowly at first, with much resistance and much reverting to old patterns, old tapes of fear and doubt, and lust for control. The gifts of Openings and subsequent trainings however, for me, were such as to provide an undeniable new point of reference – the conscious memory of which could not be completely extinguished by any journey into the world my ego made. And as time goes by, that reference point is becoming THE Reference point. THE Truth, against which all else must eventually fade into the nothingness it is.
Melodie Ruzzene
CHANGING...
One particular metaphor comes to mind as I look back on myself and the effect my Openings experience has had upon me; that of seeing myself as a train, a very long passenger-and-goods train. I can see that at various times in my life I have been very preoccupied with my derailments, and the hows and whys of them, the drama generated by goods spilling everywhere and much talk and chatter about how to get myself back together and on track; then there have been times where I have been so concerned about my performance – am I doing it right? Will the other engines love me? Can I really do what I need to do if one of my windows will not shut or I really can’t go anywhere until it’s all OK, etc., etc.
Experiencing Openings, and using the tools over the past five years, has changed the way I experience myself and others profoundly. Every day my awareness of myself as being part of a whole increases. So now the things I used to worry about aren’t as important any more, and hence, I am much more relaxed, at peace within myself.
With others my increasing acceptance is making a big difference – for example, I’ve stopped wanting my parents to be different or to even see things my way, so we now have a much more loving time. With my husband we are having a lot more fun together, our ‘problems’ seem to dissolve quickly in our acceptance of ourselves and each other – our ‘’differences’ are fading in my awareness. As I live more in the moment, I become more creative and it becomes less important to me that a loved one ‘should see my point of view’ and more space gets created. In that space I experience my relationship in a fresh way.
The beauty of all this change is that through the tools made available to me in Openings, I know that I am self-sufficient in continuing this positive growth and accessing an enormous space that is within me but not mine. In fact, as I write I feel excited that I can continue on my way through life knowing that all the time I am moving closer towards God and merging further and further into Peace and Love.
And the train metaphor; more, each day, as I tap into an infinite fuel within me, I feel freer and more alive. My carriages are coming into greater alignment, just as a natural consequence of me travelling into who I really am. My wheels are spinning more smoothly. The tracks I don’t need to take don’t catch my attention as much. Getting lost is becoming increasingly irrelevant and I laugh more easily when I do. The way I need to travel just appears more clearly ahead of me. With gratitude I acknowledge my Openings.
Jennifer Bartlett
Parent and Part-Time TAFE Teacher, Brisbane
MY JOURNEY THROUGH OPENINGS
I decided to do Openings six years ago after attending an Openings Talk Experience presented by Adam Davis of I.A.M. I had previously had some contact with people who had done Openings, and also received several Light Healing sessions with an I.A.M. trained Healer through which I experienced a sense of deep peace and natural wonder. At the talk I experienced something new again – something beyond which I had previously ‘known’. Put simply, I experienced neutral Love – a Love that I simply was, that I became totally – at One, a clear, light and balanced Being.
I recognised truth in what Openings was – a rightness that was internal, so that I simply knew. Openings was about accessing my spiritual self – who I truly am – which was, ultimately, what I was looking for.
So I decided to go on to do the Openings retreat – with excitement, wonder and intuitive affirmation at what I was choosing to embark upon. I also experienced some personal struggle and confusion making the decision, yet held to my subtle intuitive sense of what was really right for me.
Then followed further powerful spiritual experiences of Self in relation to Openings – experiences of Universal Love, equanimity, joy, compassion, freedom, unity. Looking back from now, I see that Openings really marked a new beginning for me in my ongoing journey of personal transformation. Six years after doing the retreat, I continue to expand with Openings and integrate this spiritual awareness in my everyday life.
Through my ongoing use of the spiritual abilities I gained from Openings, I am supported in my continuing growth in all areas of my life. This includes increased and abiding creativity; spiritual-sensual connectedness to nature; clarity and harmony in personal relationship; intuition about life direction and with decision-making; awareness of meaning, purpose and spiritual guidance in my life; knowing my own truth and being free from outside influence; positive acceptance of different aspects of myself and others; taking personal responsibility for, and balancing and mastering of, my physical, mental and emotional process, and experiencing beyond this into the Loving consciousness of my spiritual Being.
Peter Culross
Psychologist, Brisbane
MOVING LIGHT YEARS AHEAD
I WROTE THIS AT THE TIME: “Since Openings I have stopped struggling. Life before seemed so difficult – a rough and hard road to follow. I suppose I adopted a battler mentality to get along. I often felt at odds with the world and with myself and the two didn’t fit very comfortably together. Now my life is different. It ebbs and it flows. There are still obstacles and challenges I meet on the way but my perceptions have changed. Now I know that I am fully supported by LIFE and travelling the road has been much smoother. I know I am moving forward.
Thirteen years later, I can say that my experience of Openings has had a profound and positive impact on my life. In this single training I evolved light years in my spiritual growth. I feel truly blessed by the gift of Openings and the smart choice I made to just ‘go for it’. I have never looked back and I am still walking this path. Using the spiritual tools I accessed on Openings.
During my Openings, I had a very deep and real experience of myself as the source of pure love, completely unified and connected to all things. I got a greater understanding of the truth of who I really am. It basically turned my view of the world upside down and inside out – confusing at first, but eventually transforming. It affected my life on lots of different levels and continues to be an ongoing process for me as I learn to live with and express the essence of my true nature and higher Self.
Tamsin Scott
Landscape Architect/Creative Director, Brisbane
More testimonials from participants can be requested by emailing Hilary
