I have gone through a lot of self-improvement, self-actualisation, self-realisation and “enlightenment” courses in my 33 years of life. The first self-improvement program I attended was when I was 15 years old! I recently finished my almost 5 year stint at Landmark, of which 1.5 years was as a Introduction Leader.
At this point – I am no longer a supporter, proponent or endorser of Landmark Forum and/or any other program they offer. I highly doubt their effectiveness. I can say that they have had little to no impact on me (although I did claim that they did make a difference in my life, primarily because I was told that it did and I accepted that notion like a jack-ass). I did land up having a lot of people sign up for their programs, because I believed it when they said that having people do the Landmark Forum was a very enlivening and satisfying experience personally and was a way to make a profound difference in the world. When I look back, I wish I had told them – “bull-shit” when they presented that ridiculous idea. Anyways, I now accept that I left myself be brainwashed and manipulated by them beyond limits that I allow anyone else. It is among the worst mistakes of my life.
For people reading this post – if you are considering to do the Landmark Forum – DONT! You and your life and people in your life are far better already and will continue to be far better without the Landmark Forum.
As I look back, I do cherish some of the programs that I attended before the Landmark Forum. The first one I did was back when I was 15 years old. I attended a program called Winners conducted by Dr. Bharath Chandra. I reap benefits of the skills I picked up from that program to this date.
- I learned all about the art of public-speaking from that program. The ability to speak boldly in public and make sense to and engage your audience is very crucial for an entrepreneur.
- At Winners, I picked up a few memory tricks – which I later taught in numerous schools and colleges. All of that helped me build self-confidence.
- I also learned about progressive and deep muscle relaxation; both of which work very well on me. Whenever I feel stuck, creatively, I practice relaxation for a couple of days and then I am good to go.
I used to frequent KFI Study Centre and study some of Jiddu Krishnamurti‘s works. Jiddu Krishnamurti’s approach to “enlightenment” (which the Landmark Forum also claims to offer) is in my opinion far more natural and effective. There are enough insights to gain from participating at KFI – to enliven self.
I also cherish that 4 month marathon running training program – informally conducted by my friend Kowshik. I managed to train myself to run and complete the 2014 Auroville half-marathon. When I started the training – I could hardly complete a 500 meter run! The whole experience left me more confident physically.
I recently completed Stanford Ignite – a 9 week program on entrepreneurship from Stanford Graduate School of Business. It was an outstanding program. We had the best faculty in the WORLD teaching us various subjects. As a hands-on training, it was super impactful for me. I will write a whole other blog on it – because there is so much to write. There is some news cooking in my life post my graduation from Stanford Ignite. I am going to write all about that in a couple of months time, when I have something more concrete to share.