What Makes Access Different?

By Marilyn Bradford, MSSW, MEd, CFMW

Are you a seeker? Have you always known there had to be
more? I tried lots of different modalities before finding
Access Consciousness.
Over the years Ive done Eastern and Western religions, followed a guru in
India, was a very good astrologer, practiced every major form of meditation,
and spent many years in 12 steps. In addition, Ive been a psychotherapist
for over 22 years and had done countless types of therapy and training.
Access Consciousness is not like anything I have ever done. It is in a class
by itself. It is not spiritual or metaphysical, or a religious. Why? - Because
it does not have a structure or dogma or set of beliefs that you must accept
or fit yourself into. It took me awhile to register the impact of that. We all
look for similarities between the new and that which is familiar to us. You
cant do that with Access Consciousness. It is unlike anything else out
there!
Everything Ive ever tried or heard of is based on some set of beliefs in
the stars, in gods, in a theory of human behavior, not to mention assumed
truths about man, this reality, and what was possible and not possible.
Each modality was essentially an answer a fixed set of conclusions that
you were supposed to accept as the basis for making decisions and
knowing who you were, what was possible and not possible, how to act and
what to do and not do. Each modality gave a person some definition of
themselves to work from. There was nowhere to go except within the
confines of the given paradigm. It was a box, and you had to stay in the
box or suffer the consequences of the group.
Access has no dogma, no belief system and no paradigm for you to believe
in or accept as truth. No boundaries or limits are put on you. This is one of
the first qualities that make it so very different. Think about it have you
ever known or been involved with anything that did not start with some
definition of you and a basket of truths? Access Consciousness is about
empowering each person to know what they know. Not in a context or set
structure, but as an infinite being who is capable of knowing everything.
By Marilyn Bradford, MSSW, MEd, CFMW marilynbradford@me.com

www.rightrecoveryforyou.com

Access is about facilitating you to be your own expert, rather than rely on
someone elses truths. Access will never define you or in any way limit
what you can be or do or create or generate. Wow! Ive never known
anything to be so liberating, if a bit scary at first!
There are many other ways that set Access apart. While it was not obvious
to me at first, I soon realized that every other modality I had tried was
based on judgment. There was always a given about what was right, what
was wrong, what was good and what was bad. These judgments were
assumed to be truths, rather than what they were someones arbitrary
point of view. Not only that, but anything based on judgment sticks us in
polarity. Its essentially a binary system that cant be overcome. Access
operates from a space of no judgment. Its about consciousness.
Ive noticed that in the past few years, many of the popular self help and
spiritual gurus are now talking about consciousness instead of love. Its the
current in thing. Gary Douglas, the founder of Access Consciousness,
has been talking about consciousness for over 25 years, and as far as I
know he is the only one who actually gives a definition for it. In his words:
Consciousness includes everything and judges nothing. How different
would your life be without judgment? What if you didnt have to be ruled
from some fixed external set of whats right and whats wrong for you.
What if you had the tools to learn to not judge yourself? Might your life
open up in almost unimaginable ways? Mine certainly did!
The emphasis on effective tools and techniques is another thing that sets
Access apart. While some modalities offer a few techniques, there is
nothing out there that Ive seen that has so many powerful and effective
tools and techniques. These are not given with any specific expectations
of what one is supposed to achieve by using them. There is just the
awareness that the tools will assist people in clearing away what has been
limiting them. Each person is encouraged to use the ones that work for
them best, and to create the targets that resonate with what they would like
to achieve.
In Access, question and choice replace answer and prescribed ways of
acting and interpreting the world. I never realized the power of asking and
being in the question until I began using it everywhere in my life. Instead of
By Marilyn Bradford, MSSW, MEd, CFMW marilynbradford@me.com

www.rightrecoveryforyou.com

Wow Im sad, (and Im sad is a conclusion a form of judgment), I can

ask: Whats going on here? And: Whos sadness am I picking up? And:
What can I be or do that would shift this? And a thousand other questions
that take me out of judgment and into possibilities. This alone has created
huge changes in my psychotherapy practice. Because of question, which
means that nothing is taken at face value, my clients have many more
options and possibilities available to them. Also were not trying to solve a
problem that may not be what it seems to be, or may not even belong to
the client in the first place! Asking questions also allows for the client to
begin to trust in themselves to know that they know whats true for them.
Its very different from having the therapist telling them whats going on with
them, as in Of course youre sad you just got a divorce. Questions
empower while answers disempower, and reinforce the power and
authority of the so called expert.
Choice is a concept I didnt really understand until I began using the
Access tools and techniques. I always thought that choice was something
like I got to choose between chocolate or vanilla ice cream, or I could make
a choice to date an Aries, but because my birth sign is Cancer, I knew it
wouldnt work out, or could choose to have sex with two different people
within a week, but I would have to know that I was morally wrong and
would either go to hell, or at least know that I had done something bad.
Real choice has nothing to do with that kind of limited menu thats based on
judgment. Real choice is unlimited choice without judgment. Its also
about awareness, because, in the words of Dr. Dain Heer Choice
creates awareness, awareness doesnt create choice. I used to try to
make the right choice by carefully figuring everything out, and then think I
had to stick with that choice. (Have you ever chosen a job or a relationship
that you knew from the first day wasnt going to work out but you stayed
with it anyway because you had made your choice?) Now I know that I
can choose, and choose again, and each choice will generate more
awareness to the extent that I am open to it. Every choice creates more
possibilities for me to choose and ask questions about and explore!
I also appreciate that Gary Douglas and his business partner, Dr. Dain
Heer, have no interest in setting themselves up as gurus or experts who
want followers. There is no hierarchy in Access Consciousness, in fact you
cant even join it! I recently texted a thank you to Dain for some facilitation
By Marilyn Bradford, MSSW, MEd, CFMW marilynbradford@me.com

www.rightrecoveryforyou.com

and he responded with: Im so happy for you to have more of you! Never,
in my life before Access, has anyone been truly happy for me to have more
of me! Why? It might interfere with who they want me to be for them or
what plans they have for me, or it might contradict the rules and beliefs of
their particular paradigm. Access is about being more and about creating a
life that is ever expanding. In order to conform to the beliefs of other
modalities I tried, I always had to contract myself and be less.
Access is the only thing I know that encourages and facilitates you to go
beyond all contexts in creating who you are. Thats right creating not
finding. As infinite beings, we can be and do and choose to be and do
anything. Not as a democrat or a Buddhist or a scientist or a husband or a
female, but as one beyond definition. Yes, you may choose to play a
certain role, but there is an awareness that the role is not you, its just
something youre choosing for the moment. Ive often met people who
believe that they are empowered by a paradigm or a role. Now that I know
Im an alcoholic and that God has removed my addiction, Im free to be
me. Actually no you are not! (Been there, done that one). What I
mistook for freedom was actually defining myself by the paradigms, myths,
beliefs and definitions of someone else. None of that had anything to do
with the infinite beings that we all are! Access has shown me what true
freedom is!
With the Access Consciousness, Ive learned to function from being rather
than doing, which is where most people in this reality function from. Whats
the difference? Functioning from being brings an awareness of the energy
I am being in any moment and how that plays a huge part in what shows
up, and what I can create in my life. Functioning from being opens up
choices and possibilities, while functioning from doing is always about
some solidified decision Ive made. I used to try to do all of the right things
so that I could be successful, (according to someone elses standards), or
prove that I was a good person, (notice the judgment). It was doing in
order to prove that I was being something. Now I dont need to prove
anything! How does it get any better than that?
Im grateful everyday, for the tools and techniques and information Ive
received and continue to receive, (Access is always changing, as each
person who participates in classes contributes their unique gifts), from
By Marilyn Bradford, MSSW, MEd, CFMW marilynbradford@me.com

www.rightrecoveryforyou.com

Access Consciousness. If you are interested in a more expansive life, in

being empowered to create the life youve always desired, without following
anyone elses path, this may be for you.

By Marilyn Bradford, MSSW, MEd, CFMW marilynbradford@me.com

www.rightrecoveryforyou.com