A Graduation Note

On Monday, March 23rd, I completed my fourth Landmark Education course, and thus completed their "Curriculum for Living".

The following is an email I sent to my fellow participants:

This afternoon I was present to feeling accomplished.

Tomorrow is the conclusion of our Self Expression and Leadership Program, the end of the Curriculum for Living. Everyone who completes The Landmark Forum is a "graduate". And yet, it feels incredibly special, powerful, remarkable to have completed the Curriculum for Living.

When I was 22 I graduated from Stanford University. My mom insisted on seeing me walk across the stage. I have vague recollections of sitting outside. There were speakers talking. I'd taken a year off and wasn't sitting with my "friends". It was meaningless, and not in the Landmark way. Less than a decade later I was finishing law school. Once again, I hadn't gone straight through. I was eligible to "walk" in May with everyone else, but I didn't finish officially till December. I chose to sit in the crowd and watch everyone else. It just didn't seem like a big deal. And, importantly, I never invited anyone to either graduation. To be honest, I don't even remember if I had anyone besides my mom there with me when I sat in the audience at my UCLA Law graduation.

This afternoon I realized that if there were stands, I'd invite all my friends and family to come out and celebrate my completing the curriculum for living. This really is the first time I feel a course of study has been worth celebrating. This education has had a profound impact on my life. This is the first time I'm genuinely proud of Who I Am. (typing that line, tears fell)

If college or professional school had made promises; if they'd delivered on them the way Landmark delivers on theirs, perhaps I'd have comprehended the celebratory nature of a "graduation" earlier. Prior to this curriculum, I never completed anything in a way that was satisfying or empowering. And certainly, not with the level of integrity and intention that I now apply to every aspect of my life.

I am living life powerfully and living a life I love. I've done more in the last three weeks than I usually do in three months, maybe six. Even though there are still plenty areas in my life that could use greater integrity, I see the incredible difference in who I am since I began this curriculum with The Landmark Forum in August. My home is cleaner; repairs I'd put off for years are now completed; student work is graded; grades posted timely; my desk is cleaner...sometimes completely void of pending items instead of cluttered; my relationships are richer.

I won't be able to attend the following Monday's revelry due to a prior commitment to assist at the Breakthroughs Seminar. Just know that all of you--coaches, participants, Kathy and everyone who has assisted in our program--all of you have participated in generating my first taste of what it means to be truly empowered by a course of study.

Finally, a "graduation" that is incredibly meaningful even as it's meaningless, shared with people that matter to me.

Love and thanks to each of you.

Robin