Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Meet a Scientologist - Barbara Schneider's Happy Ending

Scientologist Barbara Schneider is a model, TV personality, paramedic, Scientology counselor and mother of four who didn’t anticipate how well things would turn out 18 years ago when things went wrong.  

Born and working as a paramedic in Lugano, Switzerland, in the early 1990s a failed relationship left her desperate to get away.


“I went to a travel agent and told him I needed a change,” she says. “I wanted to be someplace far away and on the sea.”
The next thing she knew, she was flying to Majorca with her 3-year-old son. Once there, she was paying a friend a visit at a hotel when a man directed her ‘right this way for the audition.’  She tried to tell him that was not why she was there, but he insisted, and she ended up being cast as co-host of a TV show.
Despite the change in scenery and an exciting new job, a year and a half later, Schneider was still suffering.
“My twin sister Elena could tell I was unhappy,” says Schneider. “She had been a Scientologist since we were 16 and she was convinced Scientology would help me.”
Agreeing to give it a try, she received some Scientology spiritual counseling and was amazed—the upset vanished.
Schneider relocated to Clearwater, Florida—the spiritual headquarters of the Scientology religion.  It was there that she met and married husband Roberto. 
A Scientology auditor (religious counselor), she credits the skills she has gained from her training for her success as a mother and in so many other aspects of her life.
“I don’t know how I would raise a family in the world today without what I’ve learned in Scientology,” she says.
She is tremendously proud of how self-reliant and responsible her children are.
“My kids have a very good life but they work hard for it,” she says.  “It’s not automatically—‘Oh, you’re 16 so here’s a car.’ They earn what they get by studying hard and doing well in school. Even with my little one who’s only four, she loves contributing to the family.  She helps me around the house.  We make it a game and she’s proud of what she does.”
Schneider’s commitment to helping others extends beyond the family.  A Scientology Volunteer Minister, she traveled to Port-au-Prince in January 2012 with her three sisters and several close friends to help in the wake of the Haiti earthquake. 
 “We are all mothers and the children there really touched our hearts,” she says. “We took on helping more than 100 children who were living on the streets, orphaned or separated from their parents. We built tents, turned an old school bus into a cafeteria, cooked and served their meals, arranged medical care, and tutored them.  Where possible, we helped them find their families.  My sisters stayed on for months and made sure the children would be cared for when they left.”
Involved with helping others since she was a child, Schneider finds being a Scientology auditor (counselor) enormously gratifying.
“What I like most is to touch someone’s life with a bit of magic—that’s what I really love to do,” she says, “to inspire them, bring out the best in them, so they can see solutions on their own and go ahead and resolve their problems and be happy.”
To meet more than 200 Scientologists and hear their stories, watch the “Meet a Scientologist” videos at www.Scientology.org
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The popular “Meet a Scientologist” profiles on the Church of Scientology International Video Channel at Scientology.org now total more than 200 broadcast-quality documentary videos featuring Scientologists from diverse locations and walks of life. The personal stories are told by Scientologists who are educators, teenagers, skydivers, a golf instructor, a hip-hop dancer, IT manager, stunt pilot, mothers, fathers, dentists, photographers, actors, musicians, fashion designers, engineers, students, business owners and more.
A digital pioneer and leader in the online religious community, in April 2008 the Church of Scientology became the first major religion to launch its own official YouTube Video Channel, with videos now viewed more than 7 million times.


Happiness and strength endure only in the absence of hate. To hate alone is the road to disaster. To love is the road to strength. To love in spite of all is the secret of greatness. And may very well be the greatest secret in this universe.~~L. Ron Hubbard, founder of theScientology relgion

Sunday, September 02, 2012

Meet a Scientologist—Jim Brewer on the Olympics, Then and Now

Jim Brewer (number 11) on the U.S. Men’s
1972 Olympic Basketball Team
Former NBA center and member of the U.S. Men’s Olympic Basketball Team of 1972, Jim Brewer reflects on competing in the Munich Games and the direction his life has taken since then.

For Jim Brewer, of Maywood, Illinois, the Olympics represents more than the thrill of seeing great athletes perform at their best. Forty years ago at the Munich Olympics, Brewer was a member of the U.S. Men’s Olympic Basketball Team. What began as the happiest moment in his life was marred by frustration and sorrow.

“The Olympics are humanity at its best,” says Brewer. “The whole world is there in one place and all the athletes treat each other with respect.”

Munich, however, also brought Brewer face to face with tragedy and injustice, when 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team died at the hands of terrorists.

And, on a personal level, he was brought up short by a decision that turned the men’s basketball final into what is often referred to as “the most controversial game in international basketball history.” The U.S. team, thrilled with their 50–49 win in the last three seconds of the game, ultimately lost the gold medal to the Soviet Union. Because of unauthorized interference from the scorers’ table, those last three seconds were ordered replayed twice and, in the end, the Soviet team took the game 51–50.

Graduating from University of Minnesota the following spring, Brewer went on to play nine years in the NBA including a championship season with the Los Angeles Lakers. But success didn’t bring him everything he had hoped for—there was something missing in his life.

“I just was not satisfied,” he says. “My career was OK, but for me personally, things were just kind of so-so.”

He began reading self-help books and in 1979 he came across Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health by L. Ron Hubbard.

“That book made so much sense to me—the way it explained about the mind, the body and the spirit,” he says. “I saw that something could be done about any problem a person might have.”
In the back of the book he found the address of the Church of Scientology Detroit. He enrolled on courses, read more books, received Scientology auditing (spiritual counseling) and trained as a Scientology auditor (counselor).

“I was very eager to learn how everything was done and see why it worked so well. I just wanted to know it all. And everything I have looked at and experienced in Scientology has been positive,” he says.
His advice to young athletes or anyone who wants to succeed in life is simple.

“The beauty and the joy of living comes from working toward something,” he says. “Just make sure it’s a purpose that’s meaningful to you and something that you enjoy working toward, because you can’t really fail if you continue to pursue those goals in sport and in life. There’s always something to get you closer to what you are trying to accomplish.”

As to his own formula for success:

“I try to think for myself,” says Brewer. “At a very young age, I was doing what everybody else did and what people expected of me and I didn’t feel so good about it all the time. But I think when you look into things for yourself and make decisions based on what you think and keep counsel with yourself, that makes you a lot happier.”

For Brewer, thinking for yourself includes making decisions about recreational and psychotropic drugs. Knowing that athletes are role models for youth, Brewer volunteers with a Scientology-sponsored drug education and prevention program, conducting seminars in Chicago and Texas. He also worked on a program for Milwaukee kids identified as “at risk” by that city’s police department.

“Drugs are demand driven,” he says. “Kids are sold the wrong information—that they should drink and try recreational drugs—they don’t really understand what the effects are. If they know the effects of these substances and where drugs will lead them, they won’t try them, or, if they do, when they understand the down side they will quit. With the largest proportion of the U.S. prison population stemming mainly from drug use and sales, we owe it to our young people to get the word out to them. And that’s what my involvement comes from—just wanting to see things get better.”

To meet Scientologists from all walks of life and learn what they are doing in their communities, visit the Scientology website at www.scientology.org.
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The popular “Meet a Scientologist” profiles on the Church of Scientology International Video Channel at Scientology.org now total more than 200 broadcast-quality documentary videos featuring Scientologists from diverse locations and walks of life. The personal stories are told by Scientologists who are educators, teenagers, skydivers, a golf instructor, a hip-hop dancer, IT manager, stunt pilot, mothers, fathers, dentists, photographers, actors, musicians, fashion designers, engineers, students, business owners and more.


A digital pioneer and leader in the online religious community, in April 2008 the Church of Scientology became the first major religion to launch its own official YouTube Video Channel, with videos now viewed more than 7 million times.
 

Happiness and strength endure only in the absence of hate. To hate alone is the road to disaster. To love is the road to strength. To love in spite of all is the secret of greatness. And may very well be the greatest secret in this universe.~~L. Ron Hubbard, founder of theScientology relgion