In December of 2009, Morty read a book called The Three Laws of Performance by Dave Logan and Steve Zaffron. Just a few passages in that book inspired him to create a process that would change both our lives.
“Each person assumes the way things occur for him or her is how they are occurring for another. But situations occur differently for each person.”
“So what exactly does occur mean? We mean something beyond perception and subjective experience. We mean the reality that arises within and from your perspective on the situation. In fact, your perspective is itself part of the way in which the world occurs for you. ‘How a situation occurs’ includes your view of the past (why things are the way they are) and the future (where all this is going).”
“None of us see things as they are. We see things as they occur to us.” (Emphasis added.)
Morty thought a lot about these passages and wrote about them on his blog. But of course, he was not content with merely a few new insights. Morty immediately tried applying this idea to his own life. He wrote the following a week later:
I noticed last week that recently I experienced being overwhelmed with things to do. No matter how much I did there was always more to do. There never seemed to be time to rest. That situation occurred for me as a problem. Because I had started thinking about the phenomenon of occurring, I tried to shift how these circumstances occurred to me, from negative to positive: all the things I have to do are opportunities. Aren’t I lucky to have so many great possibilities open to me? I don’t have to take advantage of all of them if I don’t have time. But I’m fortunate to have all of them and to be able to create new opportunities daily. It worked: My circumstances started occurring to me differently.
How this situation originally occurred for me seems to be largely the result of my beliefs, but the shift did not require me to eliminate beliefs, only to be conscious of the old way and consciously choose a new way.
What Morty realized is he could identify the meaning he was giving events, then he could choose another meaning. His ideas about occurring would evolve over time to focus more on dissolving the meaning and less on creating a new one. However, it’s still useful to note this initial insight because it helps us see how his ideas evolved.
Morty published his first blog post about occurring, on December 15, 2009
He then wrote two more articles about it over the next two weeks. During this time, he was changing. He was less prone to becoming upset or annoyed. By the time Christmas had come and gone, he was ready to share in much more detail what he’d learned with an intimate group.
He designed the Lefkoe Freedom Experiment — a course that would help others experience what he had been experiencing
The goal was to learn how to dissolve the meanings we make in the moment and just notice reality. As a result, participants’ emotions would change. They’d be calmer and happier. At least this is what he hoped.
The course was 10 weeks long. Participants were to do Morty’s exercises daily and report back weekly. Morty gave each person individual feedback to help them apply the occurring concept to each event they experienced during the week. It was a lot of work for him.
And by the end, the results for those that completed their assignments were a bit unexpected
Morty thought that participants in his course would only learn to dissolve their occurrings in moments as they arose. This should shorten the time they felt upset. This would be like lighting a match and quickly blowing it out before it can burn anything else.
But what happened was a bit different.
Participants were reporting that they didn’t get upset at things that used to bother them. They weren’t applying the process very much because they were far less reactive. It was more like trying to strike a match and the match failing to catch fire at all. The friction is still there but it didn’t produce enough heat to make a spark.
Morty was of course, quite proud of the progress that he and his students had made in 10 weeks
And he naturally offered the course again. In fact, he taught this material to 16 groups until his death in 2015. Each time he taught, the students and he learned new insights that made the course better. The Lefkoe Occurring Course now has a full suite of learning exercises and techniques for dissolving meaning. None of which would have been possible had Morty not decided to share his learning process with groups of students.
So what can we learn from the story behind Morty’s creation of the Lefkoe Occurring Process?
First, an idea can come from just about any place. The Belief Process was stimulated by Morty noticing a problem and looking for a solution. The Occurring Process was inspired by Morty reading about an idea.
Second, Morty reflected deeply on what he read. He took the time to integrate it into what he already knew. He didn’t merely accept an idea or reject it. He fully explored it.
Third, he applied this new insight right away. He looked at situations he was unhappy with and tried noticing his occurrings and shifting them. He wasn’t content with a nice idea. He strove for application.
Fourth, he shared his ideas with others. He had conversations with me. He wrote on his blog. And he then created an experimental course. Through teaching others and leading experiments, new ideas emerged that made the process much more useful.
We have continued Morty’s legacy by teaching the course 13 more times since his passing
We keep experimenting with the Lefkoe Occurring Course and make changes based on what we’ve learned from our students and our own experiences. We expect to continue to learn and improve inspired by Morty’s drive to learn and grow.
My hope is that you can take some inspiration from Morty’s journey. You may have an idea. You may not know how useful it can be. Apply it to your life. Teach it to others. Make use of it. You never know how much you’ll learn and contribute to others.
How to dissolve negative feelings in seconds (and make it a compelling habit)
We all have things we want to do but we don’t always have the courage to just try things and experiment. Our doubts get in our way. How do we keep our inner doubts from slowing us down?
Fortunately, my husband Morty created a way to dissolve inner blocks called the Lefkoe Occurring Course. In that course, you learn how to dissolve unwanted emotions in seconds. Then you make dissolving emotions a habit. You see reality with much greater clarity. As a result, you do more of what you intend to do without the need for certainty.
You can register for the Lefkoe Occurring Course on August 15th. However, to do that, you first need to join the waiting list here: https://www.mortylefkoe.com/lfc/lfc-2-0-waiting-list/
While you wait, you’ll get several goodies teaching you more about how to dissolve unwanted feelings. So please join today and use what you learn to help yourself and contribute to others.
