[Show Introduction]
Addison: Greetings, and welcome to another session of the Inner Illumination Show. On the show with me today are Catharsis and Sally, who we affectionately call granny.
<[spits into spittoon] howdy youngin's…welcome audience>
Catharsis: Granny, do you ever miss the spittoon when chewing tobacco?
Granny: First of all, it's not tobacco…that stuff will give you cancer! Second, I rarely ever miss. I missed a couple of years ago only because a tornado crossed my path and created too much wind resistance at the moment I was trying for the spittoon.
My special chew is an herbal concoction to help keep me young and spry. I actually learned of the recipe many moons ago from a Native American shaman.
Catharsis: That is very interesting. Can you tell us how old you are?
Granny: Catharsis, didn't your mom ever teach you any manners? You never ask a real lady what her age is. You just humor her and play along with whatever she tells you her age is, if she says anything. Unless she looks like she's around 18, and then you better be looking at some form of ID friend.
Catharsis: Yes, some women seem to be a little touchy about discussing age. I just thought it might impress the audience if they knew how old you really are. Maybe your health regimen may inspire others to live healthy too.
Granny: Well, that is a good point so we can just say that I'm older than dirt and leave it at that. Addison what are we going to talk about today?
Addison: The topic that has been chosen for this show is crisis. Granny, would you be kind enough to give us a definition of what a crisis is?
Granny: Well, let me see here. According to my notes, a crisis is an emotionally significant event or radical change of status in a person's life.
Catharsis: Does that mean if I win the lotto, I have a crisis event on my hands?
Granny: <laughs> With as many people who chase you around on a regular basis because of your antics, I can see that number being multiplied with many more now chasing you around for your money too.
Catharsis: <chuckles> Yes, I suppose you may be right about that. I may have to enlist Naruto and his whole dojo to protect me just to pick up the lotto check. I may have to wear a ski mask when actually receiving the check in public.
Granny: I don't think just wearing a mask is going to help you that much. Your name is so unusual that I'm sure just the mention of it will send droves of people to the studio after you.
Addison: <chuckles> That's an interesting angle you came up with Catharsis. Do people experience a crisis event when winning a large amount of money? I say that the answer is yes for many in that situation for several reasons:
Catharsis: I imagine that many winning the lotto probably had a place to live before winning. Why I bet that many of the winners told their landlord, roommates or parents to take a long walk off a short pier when they got that lotto check in their hands. They effectively burned a bridge that may have helped them when times were not so good.
Now after spending money on that fabled mansion and then going broke again, they may not even have a place to live. I thought it would be interesting to conduct a survey to see how many former lotto winners now live in homeless shelters or in their cars. We will present that survey later in the show.
Granny: That's what you call being unprepared for a windfall. Instead of steadily and permanently bettering the quality of their lives, people merely break wind making their situations worse. It is one thing to have the resources, and quite another to use them wisely.
Addison: That leads us to reason number two:
Catharsis: Addison, you know how some people are when they think that they don't need you anymore. They turn their noses up at you and pretend that they don't know you, even when it says right there on their birth certificates who their parents are. Now granted, it is a stretch to call some people parents because they never performed that role well in the first place.
Granny: I think the point here is that people try to buy themselves into a higher social status, or at least a change of scenery than they were previously in, and then proceed to muck it up. They think they are too good for the people they left behind and don't know how to behave in the new situation they find themselves in. They probably alienate just as many people in their new social status as they did with their former status just out of shear ignorance of how to play the new role.
Catharsis: As the saying goes "money can't buy you love." However, it can sure buy you plenty of trouble.
Addison: That leads us to reason number three:
Granny: <laughs> It's surprising how many relatives you find out you have when people know you have money. Why, I remember back when I struck gold at one of my mining claims. I had so many cousins of a cousin of a cousin showing up and running around trying to win my favors that I found it difficult to find time to get back to my secret mine to dig for more gold.
Catharsis: What did you do about it?
Granny: Oh, I gave instructions to turn my home into an orphanage and started living in a comfortable cottage near the mine. I hired some Apache Indians to keep the undesirable palefaces out so that I could have my peace of mind again.
Addison: That is quite a tale. Did the Apaches ever scalp any of your so-called cousins?
Granny: I think they may have gotten a few.
Catharsis: <chuckles> I have heard of kissing cousins, but never scalping cousins. Just what kind of favors were these cousins looking for?
Granny: Some tried to pull guilt trips on me saying that since they were family I should give them some of the money or help them start new lives. Of course, many of them would probably mess up the new life unless they had proper training; the kind of training that Addison and his team offer. I helped a few who were deserving and ready for it and the rest I left to their own resources.
And yes, there were a few males that wanted to be kissing cousins, but I never paid them much mind as I knew they were only after a comfortable life and my hot body, without truly earning it. Back then, males had more legal rights than women did and I certainly was not going to give any lazy bum a free ride at my expense.
Others had what I thought to be whacky schemes at the time. One was going to invent something to find Leprechaun gold at the end of every rainbow. Another wanted me to buy him a ship load of lead so that he could then turn it into gold, making me a nice profit on my investment.
Then there was the electric light bulb idea. Who would've thunk that was possible back then? Of course, Thomas did later invent it without my help - oops, sorry Thomas.
Catharsis: You are related to Thomas Edison?
Granny: Catharsis, when you get old enough and if your family is large enough you may find out you're related to a whole lot of people.
Addison: Quite interesting...now let's talk about the next reason why some people winning the lotto may be worse off than before they won:
Catharsis: Yes, that can certainly be a problem if you do not make good with your lotto winnings. There you are cruising the world after telling your boss what to do with his job. Ah, yes, dining on caviar and fine food…living in five-star hotels…shopping at the most exclusive stores…being seen with the movie stars…and then all of a sudden your credit card is cut up in front of your eyes by some snooty shop clerk because it is no longer good.
The money ran out or otherwise disappeared due to some faulty bank scheme and the fantasy you were living in now turns into a situation of survival; and oops, no job to go back to.
Addison: Of course, in today's economic downturn there is no guarantee that you will keep your job anyway, but at the very least, I generally recommend that you do not leave a stable job unless you have something as potentially stable to go to from there.
Perhaps with the lotto winnings you can go back to school and learn new skills before actually quitting that stable job. Then you might be able to work at a better job or for yourself if you have the personality for it.
Another reason that people may end up in a worse situation from winning the lotto is:
Catharsis: Such irony indeed - I suppose some lotto winners merely see the lotto money as seed money to move onto bigger and better things. As if the lotto money was not enough for them, they want to magically transform it into a much larger sum. Maybe they think they are playing Monopoly.
Perhaps they invest it into a highly risky venture. Perhaps they place a down payment on that mansion on Park Place just hoping that they will be able to pay the monthly mortgage from wisely investing the remaining money. Perhaps they bought that very expensive car not realizing that the insurance payments were high as well.
Granny: Yes, when the fantasy gives way to reality, there may be a changing of the hands when it comes to who has the money. The property will probably be foreclosed upon, the car repossessed, and debt collectors harassing the former lotto winner. I imagine that bankruptcy will make it in there at some point.
Addison: Yes, and that leads us to reason number six:
Catharsis: I am sure that a partner of many of these marriages wanted to dump their mate anyway. They may have stayed together previously to help each other out financially until things got better. With that lotto win, things sure got better fast financially.
As many of us know, the sharks come out when they smell fresh chum. I am sure gold diggers will approach either the wife or husband within some of these married couples, and then start wining and dining to drive a wedge between the couple. The tactic may be quite successful if the marriage was precarious to begin with.
Granny: Yes, flattering people has done more harm over the centuries than many realize. Just think if you were in an unhappy marriage and some hot little toddy came up to you and started treating you like you were fine gold. Many people would find it hard to resist such attention.
Usually these situations end up bad for all involved in the former marriage and the children if there were any. Not only does the gold digger help break up the marriage and family, the money often disappears too, especially if it was left under the mattress.
Addison: And all of the people involved are probably worse off psychologically as well. Not only do they lose respect for each other, they lose respect for themselves. Children living at home may be traumatized by the instability, arguments over money and divorce, seeing mom or dad with a new mate, and so on.
Today, we have been talking about the topic of crisis. A crisis event often serves as a critical crossroad where important decisions need to be made. The event itself may be perceived as something positive, neutral or negative.
Winning the lotto will probably be perceived as something positive by most people, yet as we have heard, there may actually be negative consequences if the financial gains and the winner's circumstances are not handled well.
As Catharsis mentioned earlier, we conducted a survey of a local men's homeless shelter to see if we could locate any former lotto winners amongst the population. We will now play the interviews for you.
[Going to the interviews - street traffic noise in the background]
Catharsis: Hey fella, I'm with the Inner Illumination Show and we are conducting a survey.
Male One: The what show?
Catharsis: Inner Illumination Show
Male One: What does that mean exactly? You shoot people with some of that radiation dye and check out their insides? Now what kind of sick show is that, man?!
Catharsis: Inner Illumination means that we shine a spotlight on the human condition.
Male One: And you are here to shine your spotlight on my condition is that it? Well, where is it, the spotlight I mean?
Catharsis: Shining a spotlight is just a figure of speech. We won't be using a real spotlight today.
Male One: Okay, man, so what do you want to know?
Catharsis: We would like to know if either you or someone you know here at this shelter has ever won the lotto before.
Male One: <laughing> Are you kiddin' me man? Do you think I would be at this dump if I had won the lotto? This is one of those funny video shows ain't it? Where's the hidden camera at? You think it's funny to come out here and make fun of us homeless people?
Catharsis: Actually, I am quite serious about the question. I take it that you were not a lotto winner and that you do not know anyone here who has been one.
Male One: That would be correct man. You know what? I've been standing here trying to figure out where I know you from. I don't think I caught your name before.
Catharsis: Actually, the name is Catharsis.
Male One: Catharsis, yeah, yeah…the big C! I knew I saw you somewhere before. Man, we used to play B-ball back in the day down at the courts. As a matter of fact, it was either you or your cousin that still owes me $500 for that playoff bet we made.
Catharsis: That would be my cousin and I had nothing to do with it.
Male One: Well, you best tell your cousin to get on over here to pay up or I will do some illuminating on his bleep! That no good jack-bleep, son of a bleep, cousin of yours!
Catharsis: I will see what I can do about that. Have a great day sir.
Male One: Have a great day? Here I am living at this shelter and you are talking about having a great day? Get real man! Why I ought to…
Catharsis: You ought to what? Get your anger issue under control and start living life for real? I whole-heartedly agree with you. Naruto, please give this man a free consultation card.
Naruto: Sir, please step over here and I will take care of you.
Male One: Why, I'm not done talkin' to the big C yet. Hey, get your hands off me you [beep, bleep, bleep…]
[The next interview]
Granny: Sir, I am with the Inner Illumination Show and we are conducting a survey.
Male Two: What kind of a survey?
Granny: We would like to know if either you or someone you know at this shelter has ever been a lotto winner.
Male Two: Lotto, lotto…oh yeah, you mean the state lottery.
Granny: That's correct.
Male Two: Yes, yes, I was a winner once. I won five million dollars!
Granny: That's very interesting. How did you manage to end up here at this shelter after winning all of that money?
Male Two: Well, it's like this. I fell in love with a young harlot, married her and then she and her family took me to the cleaners.
Granny: You mean they took all of your money.
Male Two: No, I mean they literally took me to the cleaners, and then took all of my money.
Granny: How did that happen?
Male Two: Well, her cousin Guido and another guy grabbed me one day and took me down to their dry cleaning operation. There they showed me some other guys they had given a permanent pressing to and threatened that if I made any trouble for my wife that they would do the same for me.
Granny: That is really something, then what happened?
Male Two: The bimbo and her family proceeded to spend the rest of the money and when that was gone, they dropped me off here. I have been here ever since.
Granny: Why didn't you try to leave and do something more with yourself?
Male Two: Why, so another floozy can take advantage of me again? I don't think so; although you are a nice looking woman!
Granny: Thanks for the compliment.
Male Two: Here, I get free room and board and I help them out in return with my skills.
Granny: That is good of you to pay the shelter back. Naruto, please give this man a free consultation card. We have helped many people get back on the road to stability and we welcome you to come see us. Let's see what can be done for you.
Male Two: That's mighty nice of you. Are you free for dinner tonight?
Naruto: Sir, if you would come this way we can get you that free consultation.
Male Two: If tonight is not good, how about tomorrow…I am free every night this year!
[Interview Three]
Addison: Hey there, would you have a moment to take a survey we are conducting today?
Male Three: I suppose so, what is the survey about?
Addison: You may not believe this, but we are trying to find out if either you or someone you know here has ever won the lotto before.
Male Three: <laughs> You're kidding me right? The next thing you will be telling me is that Howard Hughes is alive and living in this shelter with me. Well, at least you made me laugh and that is a good thing.
Addison: You don't think it's possible that someone could win the lotto and then lose all of the money only to end up in a shelter?
Male Three: I suppose it is possible now that I think about it. Afterall, there are men here who used to be managers at some high-end companies. They lost everything when the economy turned bad. I was one of them.
Addison: Actually, we have found one man here who was a former lotto winner. Are you interested in possibly getting out of this shelter and learning to create a good quality life for yourself?
Male Three: Of course man, who wouldn't? What did you have in mind?
Addison: We run a program that helps people build skills that help them to develop stable and healthy lives. Naruto here will give you a card for a free consultation. I sense that you may benefit from it.
Male Three: Thanks, man, I think I will check it out.
Addison: Here are some more cards that you can pass out to anyone else who may be interested. The first orientation is this weekend. I look forward to seeing you there.
Naruto: Sir, if you will come with me I will set you up for a consultation.
[End of interviews and back to the show]
Addison: It seems that your suspicion was correct, Catharsis. We did find one lotto winner in that shelter.
Catharsis: Yes, and who knows how many more are in shelters across the country?
Granny: As we can see, some people do not handle even a positive crisis well. Of course some people do not handle anything well, whether it is good or bad. Addison, I know you have just written a book titled A New Beginning, which shows how to deal with crises. Is there anything we can share with our audience at this time that may help them out?
Addison: One of the keys to dealing with a crisis is the significance the event has for you as an individual. How does the event affect you emotionally? Many events that people perceive as a crisis are seen as something negative. In other words, the person experiencing the event would ideally rather not be experiencing that particular event.
Some examples of events usually seen in a negative light are addiction, death, homelessness, abuse, being alone, illness, pain, physical handicaps, and the list goes on.
Essentially, a crisis shakes up a person's comfort zone. When something comes along that exposes you to an unwelcome or unknown hazard or danger, you may see it as negative and treat it accordingly. What do people normally do when they have something negative come into their lives?
Catharsis: They either ignore or attack it.
Granny: <giggles> That may explain why many people attack Catharsis. He challenges them and makes them uncomfortable.
Addison: Yes, a crisis shakes you out of your present comfort zone and forces you to experience things you would never voluntarily choose to experience, to learn new ways of adapting and responding, and to expand what you are comfortable dealing with.
Catharsis' antics are quite mild compared to many events that come into people's lives. Some are quite traumatic, even life threatening. The crisis will test your stability. If your comfort zone is not stable then you may feel like you are riding a roller coaster. While that may be temporary fun in an amusement park, it may not appeal to most in their daily lives.
The crisis, if you survive it, will help you learn how to create stability, balance, and to stay the course that you choose to set.
Granny: Isn't there a safer and better way to learn how to create stability without having to endure a traumatic crisis?
Catharsis: It is not possible to avoid all crises in life. For example, man does not have the ability to completely control nature, and nature certainly brings on many crisis events to humans. I could read all of Addison's books and still get caught by a tsunami when catching waves with my surfboard.
Granny: That is true. However, you may become more aware of yourself and learn how to handle any crisis that you do experience in a better way. Perhaps you may even learn how to avoid most crises from having to take place at all.
Catharsis: So, I could possibly become so aware of myself and my surroundings as to not be out on the waves when a tsunami did come; just like those elephants that ran away from the tsunami in Thailand.
Or, I could ride the board when a tsunami came in such a fashion as to be able to avoid all the ships and other debris being tossed around by the waves; and when I finally reached shore I could immediately go into action to help those who were not as fortunate as myself.
Addison: That would certainly be a record-breaking ride. You might want to get the cameras out there to catch it, and wear a parachute for the really high waves. The main thing you hit upon is becoming aware and that is one of the keys to living a stable life.
When you are aware of who you really are then you realize what your real needs are. When you know what your needs are, you can set a course to best fulfill them, whether you win the lotto or not. Improperly fulfilling needs is something that creates many crises in the first place.
Granny: Many people who lost their winnings after winning the lotto probably spent the money on things that society told them would make them happy, instead of fulfilling their real needs.
Catharsis: Ah, yes, watching Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous may make for an interesting show about some people's wanton excesses but it certainly is not a good blueprint for a stable and happy life. I know that many if not most of those rich and famous people are quite unhappy and unstable. If you have any doubts about that, all you have to do is read the entertainment section.
Addison: Obviously, money by itself will not create a happy and stable life. Money is merely a tool that one can use to enhance one's life, especially if one is already stable and happy.
A crisis often forces you to learn new skills. One of the best skills one can have is to make good choices in life. The better you can understand the interrelated conditions for why something has occurred, the better the choices you can make in managing it.
Catharsis: It seems to me that the best thing you can manage is yourself. If you can manage yourself well, then everything else becomes easier to work with. That is why I became a therapist, to learn how to manage myself and help others do the same.
Granny: So, when those people are chasing you for being what they think is a troublemaker, you are actually helping them?
Catharsis: You bet, because when they are chasing me they are totally focused on the moment and all their other troubles whether real or not disappear, at least during the chase. Many people finally realize what I was actually up to and get a new perspective on life and they are that much better off because of it.
Granny: That is what this show is about - to help people see things from different perspectives, and that is why I am pleased to be a part of the Inner Illumination Team. If anyone in the audience would like to become an active part of the Team, then please contact us by clicking here.
Addison: That wraps it up for this segment of our show. If you would like more information about today's topic, which is covered in our latest book A New Beginning, you may visit the website address: www.NewBeginning.biz, that's www.NewBeginning.biz
We wish you wellness in your life, and invite you to tune into the next show.
<So long youngins…farewell audience>
[Show Ending]