The Spirit of the Men’s Weekend

Eric Louie 
Columnist

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Eric Louie of the San Diego Men’s Division did the Sterling Men’s Weekend in March 1995. Ever since he has been a proponent of the initiation event. Though the Men’s Weekend is not a sanctioned MDI event, many of the MDI men had their start in men’s work at that weekend and still support men to attend. To keep the spirit of the Men’s Weekend alive, Louie offers this monthly column, maintaining confidentiality as necessary.

 

First of all I’m going to tell you what you’ll get from reading this column. You’ll get a renewed desire to give the Sterling Men’s Weekend (SMW) to other men. You’ll understand the importance of the Men’s Weekend in our organization. If you haven’t taken the Weekend yet, then you’ll be more inspired to do so.

I’m Louie, Eric, son of Foone. I did my weekend in March 1995, in Oakland. My context around the Men’s Weekend, and around MDI, is that every man deserves the opportunity to do the Men’s Weekend. Same context around MDI – every man deserves the opportunity to be on a Men’s Team. I’d fight to see multiple Men’s Divisions in every community. Now that you know where I’m coming from, where am I going with this?

The Purpose of the Sterling Men’s Weekend: “To engage in the process of locating the source of your power and discovering and dissolving the barriers between you and manifesting that power so that you experience total freedom as only a man can and with that freedom be the man you always wanted to be.”

Why do we, MDI and the Men’s Divisions, have a relationship, a connection, with the Sterling Men’s Weekend? Simple. It’s where this organization came from originally. Our roots are from the Men’s Weekend. MDI (Mentor Discover Inspire) was formerly Men’s Divisions International, which was once the Sterling Men’s Divisions (which, in the 1980’s, were the Sterling Communities, a co-ed organization). When we separated from the Sterling Institute of Relationship and became our own non-profit 501(c)4, we still didn’t have a men’s initiation event, which was something we found vital to our organization. We continued to send men to the Men’s Weekend because, at heart, we were still a Men’s Weekend Graduate organization.

So what’s the point, Louie?

The point is this – I still believe the SMW will enhance your life. The Men’s Weekend has shaped us, shaped our lives, shaped the lives of the leaders for this organization, influenced how we lead, how we conduct ourselves with one another, how we organize, what standards we hold, and even something as basic as a 3-minute cold shower and The Code of Honor (developed by the Sterling Men’s Divisions), came from these beginnings.

And there’s an incredible, unique dynamic between men who have graduated from the Weekend – one of ruthless compassion and unbridled truth and no selling one another out, something that for many of us was a foreign activity prior to taking the Weekend. Ask the hundreds of men in our organization who have graduated from it, about that special bond between graduates.

There was a Men’s Weekend in Oakland last month. If you are one of the men who attended, congratulations on taking a big step in your life. If you are a man who thought about it, keep thinking about it, there’s another in the first weekend of December in New York.

I’ll keep banging the drum around the Men’s Weekend (and the Legacy Discovery and MDI). The tools that come from the Men’s Weekend – technology, truth about yourself as a man, relationships with women, relationships with dad, relationships with daughters and sons, opportunities to process different emotions, interactions with other men in a large crowd.

That is all.

I’m not going to convince you if you haven’t done the Weekend to do it – at least, not here (but I might in person). If you are a SMW graduate, you have an obligation to give other men the Weekend. But it’s not an actual obligation. It’s the presentation of a gift that you possess and may be the only bearer of that gift in another man’s life. From the Spirit of the Men’s Weekend, give the other men in your life 100% of what you have.

They deserve nothing less than the best that you have to offer. Be the unstoppable motherfucker that you were when you left the Men’s Weekend. And when you’re in that state, when you’re drinking that water, remember the men who dug the well.

They’re still with us, and they would encourage you to go for it, no matter what “it” was or is.