Culture of One: Retake Control of Your Life

By Terry Jones

What if you could train your mind to see all the good around you? What if I told you that happiness is a matter of perspective? Many people seem to think inner peace is not a byproduct of struggle but rather a switch to ip then—voila, you’re happy. Or they think happiness is only as good as their next relationship. Why? My name is Dr. Terry Jones and I believe the sooner we accept that happiness comes from within us, the sooner we can discover our own Power Tools that will help bring us joy. My goal writing Culture of One is to simply help you maintain a life of personal power and purpose, of internal peace and (yes) happiness. is book will introduce you the tools you need to be happy (no matter your circumstances), then show you how to nd them within yourself. Once you become your own Culture of One, you will be empowered to use your own willpower to be the most aware, empathetic, and self-su cient person you can be. is is not another new age philosophy, it’s a pragmatic, psychology-based mind-set that lives inside all of us. Because we all have the choice to be happy every moment of our lives, we really do. Let me show you how.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781648011009

Book preview

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Culture of One

Retake Control of Your Life

Dr. Terry Jones

Copyright © 2020 Dr. Terry Jones

All rights reserved

First Edition

NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING

320 Broad Street

Red Bank, NJ 07701

First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2020

ISBN 978-1-64801-099-6 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64801-100-9 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Facing Life as a Culture of One

A Pragmatic Approach to Inner Peace

Culture of One Mission

Power Tool #1

Two-Step Peacemaker Process for Finding Common Ground

Power Tool #2

Apply the Power of Peacemaking to Unwanted Thoughts and Feelings

How to Use Power Tools to Become a More Aware Culture of One

Core Values

Power Tool #3

Power Tool #4

Power Tool #5

Power Tool #6

Evolving My Personal Power within the Three Cultures of Life

Discovering My First FACE: The Family Me

Finding the Third Me through LLD

Power Tool #7

Power Tool #8

Power Tool #9

The Vital Role of Peacemakers in Finding Common Ground

The Key to Happiness in an Unhappy World Lives inside You

Discovering My Core Belief: Be a Beacon for Good in the World

Practical Workbook Series

To Kendell E. Jones—a brilliant academic,

clinical social worker, and my brother. May the contents within honor his lifetime of generosity, compassion, unfailing service to others.

Introduction

Surviving Paradise

We must let go of the life we have planned so

as to accept the one that is waiting for us.

—Joseph Campbell

During times of unhappiness in my life, the information in these pages led me out of the metaphoric darkness. Ironically, right after I completed this book, Retake Control of Your Life led me into the light, yet again, when I experienced the biggest challenge I had ever faced—losing my home in the California wildfires. You may have seen it on TV. I used to live in Paradise (California), but my home was destroyed—Paradise was lost, quite literally. The entire town where I lived was ostensibly gone. Like so many of my neighbors, I lost everything. I also lost my beloved dog and companion the week before the fires. After my best friend suddenly passed, I looked around my empty home and couldn’t stand to be there, so I decided to visit family in a nearby town. A few days later, I saw the fires on the news. I know I would not have left my home if my faithful friend had not left first, so I feel like my dog saved me in some cosmic way. One thing is for certain—in the aftermath of the fires, Culture of One saved my life too.

Instead of wallowing in misery, I leaned heavily on the mental tools and techniques detailed in this book, which I developed over my thirty-eight-year teaching career, as well as by gathering insights from the fields of psychology, sociology, theology, and anthropology. So take heart, as the humble author of this curriculum and program, I have quality tested these tools (some may call them mental mind tricks) repeatedly in the past year, and it powered me through it all. I personally like to call Culture of One a powerful mind practice that anyone can rely on in times of vulnerability to protect them from negative energy. That’s why I truly believe it can help you too. No matter what obstacles you face, this book will show you how to balance your emotions so you can live your best life. By applying these techniques to your day-to-day, you can literally train your mind to feel more in control and more powerful—even amid chaos.

I’m not suggesting you will never feel pain or loss again. Odds are you will, that’s just part of being alive. I also won’t deny the fires had an undeniable emotional impact on me. Losing my home, best friend, and possessions still hurts. The hardest part was losing all the memories, the photos, the letters, and the keepsakes—everything my family had given me over the years. But it did not alter my mind-set. It has not defeated me. I simply would not allow it.

Rather, I feel like it made me stronger while raising a universal question: How do we deal with loss in our lives? Because losing things we love just keeps coming the longer we live. If we are fortunate to stick around this planet, the people, places, and things we love are slowly taken from us. Along those lines, I believe Culture of One can help anyone coping with feelings of unhappiness, grief, or loss (in all its modern forms).

After the fire, I moved into an empty apartment without a stick of furniture. My only possessions were the clothes I took to visit my family, but I counted my blessings. I knew I still had my life and my health. Thankfully, I have safely landed in Sonoma, California, a place I love—I plan to stay here for the rest of my life. It may not be Paradise, but it’s pretty wonderful. I have lots of friends and can see the green belt from my patio, which is healing. I even have a family of deer that comes to visit my new dog every day—so, I’m okay.

I realize many people don’t have to go through major losses like a fire that upends their lives completely—but I also know that many people do—so I sincerely hope you will read this book and adopt a mind-set that allows you to persevere through any life challenge you may be dealt. Because even after my recent losses, I’m still a happy guy. How did I find the willpower to overcome? It didn’t come from a magical external source—I found it living inside of me. That same personal power lives inside of you too. In these pages, I will share the internal tools I used to survive this setback, and many others. Are you curious?

Because we are all a culture of one—every single one of us. We all integrate the values we learn from our cultures of Family, Faith, and Schooling into our own personal belief system that drives our happiness, empathy, and awareness. To maintain our happiness for a lifetime, I believe we must be fully awakened to our own personal power. Only then do we become enlightened cultures of one. While others will try to push, pull, and twist our personal boundaries, remember, no one has the power to influence our well-being but ourselves. People who embrace Culture of One will also discover in themselves the power to create goodness in the lives of others, and the world around them. So, if you are unhappy and looking to take the next step toward the light, you came to the right place.

When other self-empowerment books rely on new age philosophy, Culture of One will help you improve your pragmatic perception of the world by heightening your awareness and empathy, in order to better understand yourself and the people around you. Members of the Culture of One community enthusiastically accept the responsibility for giving shape to who they are, and who they are on their way to becoming. If you’ve already bought this book, I encourage you to read it from cover-to-cover (then read it again), and retake ownership of your own happiness this minute, because you alone have the power to live each moment in bliss. We all do.

This book is not a cure for depression, but I believe it will help you embrace every moment of joy life offers you, so you’re not dwelling on negativity as much, and focusing on welcoming positive external forces that will help you live your life’s true purpose. I invite you to become a Culture of One member today because, guess what? Right now is ripe with positivity, if we just open our eyes to it.

Facing Life as a Culture of One

Control Your Context by Becoming a Culture Of One

Are you struggling to keep a brave face? Join the club; join the country.

When nuclear war and mass shootings have become daily threats to our lives, what can Americans count on anymore that is positive in the world? If you’re the type of person that allows outside forces to dictate your state