A good friend of Fr. Spitzer, Lou Tice, passed from this life in 2012, but lived with an incredible vision.
In a nutshell, Tice had a vision of a human greatness that could achieve goals and flourish as individuals or a group. In 1971 he and his wife, Diane, founded The Pacific Institute, beginning a life-long mission of helping people, organizations, and companies achieve the fullness of their potential.
A Mission of the Pacific Institute
The Pacific Institute uses an education that incorporates cognitive psychology and positive thinking in order to achieve success. One of the most popular methods Tice uses is what he calls “self-talk,” which focuses on a person’s thoughts in order for them to have control over themselves. In this video on how our beliefs form us, Tice tells the audience:
“One thing I would teach my grandchildren if I was gonna die tomorrow would be this piece right here: you gotta control your own thinking because it controls your life.” -Lou Tice
Put simply, self-talk is the conversation you have with yourself and can be broken down into three steps having to do with the three dimensions we think in.
- Words, language
- Picture, image, or idea
- Emotion or how we feel
According to Tice, our thought process goes like this: we think of a word (1st step), then the word gives us a picture (2nd step), and then the picture produces an emotion (3rd step). Tice explains:
“It’s the language we use that triggers the images that has the emotion.”
Tice goes further to show that, even on the subconscious level, beliefs are formed by the way we think:
“Thoughts don’t evaporate into thin air. Thoughts accumulate to become beliefs. Once you get a belief, you act like the belief whether it’s true or not. You build your own belief with your own thought.” -Lou Tice
Tice calls the process of constructive self-talk, smart-talk. Smart-talk demonstrates how the power of thinking can be a determining factor in the way we conduct our behavior and live our lives.
The teaching and popularization of smart-talk is one example of the many things Tice accomplished through The Pacific Institute. By giving people the education and tools to achieve success, he has helped millions of people worldwide live better lives.
The Man Behind the Mission
How was Lou Tice able to bring his vision of helping humanity into fruition? According to his longtime friend and mentor, Fr. Spitzer, Tice was not just a business man but a man of great faith.
On April 13, 2012 Fr. Spitzer gave the homily at the Celebration of Life service for Lou Tice.
A central message that Fr. Spitzer relates about Tice’s spirituality is the relationship Lou had with the Holy Spirit. As Fr. Spitzer explains:
“He loved the Spirit. Lou was truly a Spirit guy. Lou inspired Spirit in people. Lou loved the individual Spirit in people. Lou believed that he was guided by the Holy Spirit and Lou believed that, every time he empowered somebody or gave somebody the freedom to move beyond themselves, that was the Holy Spirit and that there was more to come. The man was truly, truly on a mission. Truly inspired.”
The Legacy
We learn from The Pacific Institutes biography page of Lou that he desired to leave a legacy. The biography page reads:
“At a gathering of associates, just a few weeks before his passing, Lou charged the group with carrying on the work of The Pacific Institute. With his own voice failing him, Lou told the group, ‘You must be my voice now. It is you who will carry on the legacy.’”
As seen above, Tice’s accomplishment in giving people an education for success did not end at his passing into the next life. On the contrary, Tice left a legacy behind him at The Pacific Institute that will continue to perform great works.
To learn more about smart-talk, see Tice’s book, “Smart Talk.” To learn more about Lou Tice and to be inspired by this truly great man, watch the following video of Fr. Spitzer’s Homily at Lou Tice’s Celebration of Life Mass:
[embed]https://vimeo.com/41851331[/embed]
Read Also:
Becoming Your Higher Self: Moral Conversion Series #4
Increasing Happiness Through the Exploration of Transcendence