Question 1:  “If you get a 'bad' feeling about an interaction with someone, how can you tell if this bad feeling is just from the past coloring your perception of the present or a real intuitive warning that this person is not trustworthy and out to harm you?”  
 
This is not a simple question or one that can be answered quickly.

Remember Step 2? Step 2 says, unequivocally: It is about me. Any and all feelings are chosen by me and 'by me' I mean the 'self' I made up, a belief in other words. So the bad feeling may be chosen by a belief that I deserve to be punished for example and I see the 'punisher' in this person. Or it could mean that have done what I suspect this person 

Dear Friends,
We just completed three weeks of workshops in the South of France at Les Labadous, our home away from home. The workshops were, as always, incredibly effective and many a breakthrough was witnessed.
For this message, however, I want to talk a little about how my perception chooses my experience. This is, of course, a well known concept and one we teach consistently. Circumstances have nothing to do with my experience, my choice does.
Charlie and I took a few days between workshops and drove to the Mediterranean Coast 

Dear Friends,
Remember,​ bliss is my birthright and whether I claim it now or not matters not one iota, but since it feels so much better... ​why would I not choose that now?
The last weekend I had the great privilege of spending a very intensive time with the Beyond Addiction Team at a Vancouver workshop. The Six Step Process was introduced and practised by all with the result we at Choose Again are so familiar with: “Wow, this is so simple!” and “I can’t believe how much I shifted in just a matter of minutes!” Sat Dharam is ​a stern task master and she asked me to have a sign- up sheet for one-on-one sessions, fifteen minutes each, I agreed. Well, that meant that I ended up doing twenty two sessions in two days, certainly a new record for me and one that left me stumbling over my eye-lids by the end of Sunday.

Dear Friends,
We are seeing so many changes at so many levels and my own healing has continued or, perhaps, accelerated.
 
I had the great pleasure and privilege to teach a one-day workshop and give a talk with Dr. Gabor Mate in Vancouver. He is an internationally recognized pioneer and expert on addictions and being on ‘stage’ with him was, well, a blast.
The event was also evidence for the fact that while at one time we, Choose Again, were 

​Dear Friends,
This week marks the tenth anniversary of Choose Again in Costa Rica. Ten years! It is quite incredible to me that the idea of a spiritual residential center in a strange tropical country, underfinanced and without marketing of any kind would take form and not only that, that form is growing in scope and breadth. The original funding for this idea came from Veronica Dahl, Christine Walters, Greg Lynch and Eric and Anne Andrew. Why they jumped in and said YES with such conviction and love, I will never really understand but gratitude has been my state of mind on many a day when I look at what we have collectively 

Recently I had the privilege of addressing a group of people at the annual Vancouver Wellness Fair. The subject of the talk was ‘Is there a non-pharmaceutical solution to depression?’ ​

At the start of each talk I asked if anyone personally knew someone who suffered from depression and everyone, every single individual, raised his/her hand. Now, that is astonishing. That gives you an idea of how the idea of depression has taken hold of our collective psyche. It is not too outrageous to state that we as a species are depressed.

Every day I walk the 72 steps from my room to the dining room or our circle space. It is a beautiful stroll, often accompanied by the songs of many birds or the lively communication from the monkeys.
Halfway up the walk there is a hibiscus branch which overhangs the path. Right above the