Editorial: Fire walk? Hotfoot it out of there

Life coaches can be a tremendous help in enabling us to achieve our goals, and motivational speakers clearly have their place. If they didn't, they wouldn't earn enormous fees.

But if you run into one, like Tony Robbins, who thinks the best way to prove to yourself that you can accomplish anything is by walking over a bed of coals pulsing at 1,200 to 2,000 degrees, consider it a test. Be confident enough to look that wealthy self-help guru in the eye and say, "I am a person with value and strength and purpose, and I won't set myself on fire at the whim of an infomercial king."

Last week nearly two dozen attendees at a Robbins seminar in California were injured when their attempts to walk over a pit of burning coals ended in second- and third-degree burns. More than 6,000 participants had paid between $600 and $2,000 to be a part of the event.

Thousands of attendees participated in the walk, and most were not seriously injured.

But the best reason for attending these seminars is to find the faith in ourselves, and in our intellectual and spiritual powers, that allows us to ignore the pack and follow our own, best path to success. So if you're ever at a rally and the peer pressure of thousands of attendees is pushing you into a fire walk, just say no. Then demand your money back, and triumph in your newfound strength. And in the fact that you're not on fire.