The Moment That Changed My Life

Each life has defining moments. The moment that changed my life happened in a home for alcoholic women in 1976. I was in a discussion with Lois, another alcoholic from Brooklyn, and she was talking about her life. Midway through her talk, I felt intense warmth toward her and compassion flowed through me. The miracle was that I had had a very sheltered life and she had had a very tough life, but in that moment we were sisters and kindred spirits.

When I got up and walked outside, everything was different—trees, cars, the street—I saw everything with new eyes. It took me much searching to find out what had happened to me. In a book by William James entitled The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), I found that I had had a radical conversion.

Did I answer a calling? I don’t know what happened to me except I knew that God had given me that compassion and love that I felt that day. I know that someone with an experience is never at the mercy of someone with an argument.

From that day until today, I have tried to accept the guidance that God gives me and it has been the most amazing journey. I don’t believe that God does more for me now than He did before that day. The difference is that I now can see the daily miracles. “Once I was blind and now I see.”

About Changemaker Library

The Changemaker Library includes the following books. All of the books used are the choices of the author without solicitation from any author or publisher. We include the title of the book, the author, the ISBN number, and an Amazon link if you choose to order the books yourself.

For the Changemaker Library, we will be including the basic features of some books you may want to use. All of the books used are the choices of Changemaker without solicitation from any author or publisher. At the beginning of the post, we have listed the name of the book, the author, the ISBN number, and a link where you can order the book if you choose. The rest of the post includes actual content from that book for you to better be able to determine if this is a book for you.

I keep my special books together and use them frequently. I call them my textbooks as I seek direction time and time again from them. I will be reporting about each them on posts in order to help you to create your library of the books that will help you. The Changemaker Library presently has 50+ books we use for our sessions. This library can be acquired gradually either for your individual work or resources for the Changemaker Groups that you begin.

All the books are listed on Changemaker: Change Your Life and have an Amazon link to buy the book.

The Changemaker Offer

Have you ever wondered what your personality labels mean about you?

Everyone has many personality labels yet most of us resist being labeled. Over a lifetime, we each will have hundreds of labels because we have unique life experiences. The main way that we learn our labels is from others. We generally resist these learnings as it feels that the labels have a negative connotation. Yet most of our labels are positive and negative at the same time.

We each love to learn about ourselves. But we pretend that we don’t want to know. It is the same maneuver we use to view a group picture that includes us. While oohing and aahing over all the other group members, we are secretly gazing at ourselves. Most of the labels used by counselors are unknown by clients.

Have you started a path of self-discovery?

It is estimated by the age of 21, each of us has acquired 20,000 hours of negative self-talk. Learn to listen to the voices in your head. Whatever you are thinking is what you are feeling. By learning our personality traits, we can determine the positives about ourselves and change the negative thoughts to positive ones.

Personality study is a type of psychology that has found the study of personality traits to be a valuable indicator of behavioral choices. Each of the psychological groups (cognitive, psychoanalytic, humanist, behaviorial, existential, transpersonal, or social development) use personality indicators.

Do you want to help others to better understand themselves?

The Changemaker Test offers education for self-discovery as Changemaker believes that the change within a person involves the courage to see (insight) and the courage to act (action). The Changemaker Test will teach anyone 10 labels about themselves. Therefore, by using the labels to change themselves, the changemaker is the person who decides to learn and make the change happen.

This test is meant to be the starting point for self-discovery. With the complete test, answers and explanations, anyone can test their friends and family. Also anyone who has compassion for others, can use these materials to begin discussion groups of persons interested in self-discovery.

Would you like an easy entry into organizing small groups of others interested in self-healing?

You can use the Changemaker Test Package (available at Changemaker: Change Your Life) to start Changemaker groups. The sharing of similarities and differences of personality indicators among the group will quickly establish a level of trust and belonging among the members. After the group learns his/her individual labels, all the group can then choose to move on to other topics that will be decided by all group members

The Changemaker Test, which is meant as a vehicle for self-discovery, includes the labels used in NLP (neurolinguistic programming), birth order, family roles, emotional energies, and MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator). Also included are the labels for the Big Five Test, enneagram, and transactional analysis.

Why are small groups the best learning place for self-discovery?

Changemaker Groups provide short-term specialized direction and solutions to help others to better understand themselves and ourselves. With this direction and self-knowledge others will learn to implement techniques designed to lead to greater self-mastery.

Groups are the recognized best method for people to gain information and acceptance from others. One of the main underpinings of AA is that all members are peers. Anyone has the opportunity to share and to be heard.

The following quotation by Tom Rusk is what we believe, also.

“The closest thing to a cure for most forms of serious psychological suffering is a permanent change in the way one conducts one’s life–and the changes in feeling and self-concept that occur as part of that process.”