lovelyluna1's Journal

They're coming to take me away, oh my!
Nov 09 2009 10:18

This weekend I did the Landmark Forum. The aspects of it that I liked and were truly helpful were listening to other people stories and seeing their courage to work through their pasts and let things go. I got several useful tools for managing the stories I make up in my head, identifying the background noise in my head for what it is and recognizing the rackets I have going. The things that I did not like were the fact that we were asked to commit to the entire weekend's workshop about 30 minutes into the first day using our word and integrity to bind us with no real knowledge of what was to come.  Everyday was a 13 hour one and we got two 30 minute breaks and one 90 minute one. We were not allowed any food or beverages into the workshop, and only water and Dixie cups were provided. This included coffee.  Note taking was not allowed and no literature was provided. One book was referenced and we were told we could buy it on Amazon. No food or beverages were provided or available to sell on site. Parking was not provided. There were approximately 7 LF employees milling around in suits rearranging the room between every break and monitoring the activities of the members at all times. When I chose to leave 10 minutes early on the last day of the forum I was stopped at the door by 2 separate people who asked what I was doing and where I was going. The hardcore sells pitch to get you to take the additional classes and have your loved ones sign up is constant and takes up a large portion of the time you spend at the conference. The facility itself wasn't set up for the number of people they allowed to register so using the room where you were allowed to keep your food or the bathroom on your limited breaks was difficult. Any skepticism on the details I mentioned before is handled by the notion that paranoia from the past has no room in the present if you are to create the future of your dreams. Drawing off of old experiences isn't accurate or authentic.  That may be in fact true, but a suck-ass facility is a suck-ass facility and I expect more for 1.5 days of lost wages, a weekend away from my family and $395 tuition plus the expense of parking. Some points of the lecture weren't clear and unless you were up for being brow beaten into embarassed agreement by the forum leader, clarification was not going to happen.