Asklemmy

I am well aware this won’t a popular answer.

I am also well aware of all the negative aspects of what I’m about to talk about. I believe these negative aspects to be real and I'm not disputing them.

I am also well aware of the follow on hard-sell-to-vulnerable-people problems that happens here. I myself felt under immense pressure to “buy more” when I did it, resisted and never heard back from them again.

But…

Attending the Landmark Forum was absolutely the biggest, long-term, positive thing I’ve ever done.

So many positive things followed on from that. In a long weekend, I genuinely changed who I was, towards something that was much more fulfilled, much more true to myself and with much greater self-worth. 25+ years later I still use the learnings, especially around taking accountability for everything that happens in my life and the realisation that every memory I have is flavoured by my interpretation of it too (since I own the interpretation, and I have made an active choice on how to interpret, I can change the interpretation and thus change the meaning the memory has for me; since my memories shape who I am, I can change who I am by changing my interpretation of my past).

I would not recommend it to anyone else. I learnt this the hard way, because I DID recommend it to someone else and they decided to leave their wife after doing the Landmark Forum course. I know that this is likely to have happened without my involvement but I still feel immensely awful about it. I should have kept my mouth shut.

Don’t do the Landmark Forum. You will be under difficult pressure, in a vulnerable spot, to attend more courses and to bring your nearest and dearest in as prospects. The view of the Landmark Forum is "we know it works, we know it transforms people's lives for the better - you do too; why don't you want your friends and family to experience the same transformation?". It's hard to argue against, both because you're surrounded by happy, transformed people when they pitch you, and also because, for me at least, it was actually true. It really did change me for the better, hugely so. I was intent on not "joining anything" but just take the upsides away. I saw many who immediately went out to become a "convert" and probably annoy and worry the f*** out of their friends and family. I really don't like this technique and I can't understand why they don't take the pressure off, which would remove a lot of the accusations that's fielded against them.

Having said all that, for me, it was the most positive thing I’ve ever done.