Mental chatter is the internal monologue you have going on in your head ALL the time. Most of us try to ignore it and get on with our lives as best we can despite the tumult in our heads. This is a big mistake because we create our lives with our mental chatter. This lecture describes how it happens.

Do the mental chatter assignment after you watch the lecture. Do it conscientiously because this is one of the foundations of the program.

A mental model is a notion you have that this is the way the world works. You have dozens, perhaps hundreds, of such models. The problem is that you do not recognize that these are models. You think that they describe reality and, in fact, ARE reality.

This creates all kinds of problems in your life. EVERY time there is an unpleasant situation in your life, and it persists, it is a sure sign that you are using one or more mental models that are not serving you well.

Do the alternate reality exercise after you watch the lecture. Do it with care. This is a VERY powerful exercise and, by itself, can produce a significant improvement in your life. On average, two thirds to three quarters of persons who participate in this program achieve their first major breakthrough with this exercise.

Your mental chatter and the mental models you use combine to create the world you live in. Much of the time you live in an emotional domain where there is too much to do and not enough time to do it all. It is a domain of stress and anxiety. It is possible to live in a different emotional domain, one of appreciation and gratitude. The lecture and exercise show you how to do this.

We live as if the world revolves around us. We evaluate all events in terms of "What is the impact on me?" Living this way guarantees that we will feel frustrated much of the time since the universe goes its merry way without much care for what we want. If we want to live a radiant, fulfilled life, we have to learn to step outside into an "other-centered" world. The lecture and exercise show you how to do this and the benefits.

Virtually everything we do is a directed quest for happiness. We are in a job because it gives us the income we need to be happy. We are in a relationship so we can be happy. When asked what we want our children to be, "happy" is mentioned more often than all the other responses combined. But we have unclear ideas about what it takes to be happy. The lecture and the exercise give you a radically different take on happiness and how to be happy.

We are a goal obsessed society. From a young age we are taught to set goals and then take action to achieve them. This has benefits both personal and societal. However, it also has a downside. It leads to frustration and even depression when goals are not reached due to extraneous factors. There is a superior method of action - a method that both rejuvenates one AND makes it more likely that the goal is reached. The lecture explains what this superior method is and how to use it. The exercise helps you apply it to your life.

We are constantly distracted - by TV, phone calls, email, instant messages, meetings and what have you. The most powerful distraction is our own fickle mind that is constantly flitting from subject to subject, It rarely rests and frequently drives us batty. Research shows that distraction - of any kind, even pleasant distraction - is a major source of tension and unhappiness in our life.

Mindfulness is a technique that turbocharges all of the other exercises in this program. View the video and then do the exercise scrupulously. It will ease the stress you feel and will also make you much more effective in your work. It will also improve relationships with your family members.

There is something that we do every day, dozens of times every day, that is very deleterious to our health and well-being. We do not recognize how harmful this is. It is our habit of classifying everything that happens to us as 'good' or 'bad'. We stick these labels on without conscious thought. it is instinctive and instantaneous.

We do not recognize that suffering begins the instant we stick a 'bad' label on something that happens to us. We do not begin suffering when an event occurs. We begin suffering when we classify the event as 'bad'.

So what happens if we learn not to stick a 'bad' label on whatever happens to us? If we learn to do this, we become resilient and much stress simply leaves our life. The video explains why and the exercise shows you how.

This exercise, by itself, will greatly improve all aspects of your life if you practice it diligently.

Why do you feel stress? Most persons feel that the reasons are outside such as precarious job situation, shaky relationship with spouse, financial insecurity, children facing challenges and so on. It is true that you will have to deal with these outside circumstances, but the cause of stress is elsewhere. There is one reason, and one reason only, that you feel stress.

The video explains what this reason is and the exercise shows you how to deal with it.

The only thing you ever do in life is go on a journey. There is the massive journey that began with your birth and will end with your death. And there are all manner of side trips and each of these is also a journey. Your participating in this program is also a journey.

The short video explains how you can get the most out of the journeys you take.