Part of my search came from not feeling like I was okay as I was. That I was definitely broken in some way and needed to figure out how to be better. We moved around a lot when I was growing up, so I didn’t have a sense of community – or belonging. The scenery changed as often as my friends until I decided to stop making them because it was too painful to say goodbye over and over again.

We moved so often, even today, the question “Where are you from?” elicits a touch of angst. I know I pause too long and sound suspicious no matter what my answer is. I’m sure it sounds like I’m just making things up. (I’ll let you in on a little secret  – We’re ALL making it ALL up. And that’s wonderful news and is the key to ending suffering. But we’ll get into that later.)

I guess I always felt a little bit like an outsider, so I tried really hard to fit in. I thought I needed help to be more like other, happy, successful people. That belief led me to read self-help books galore. To take ALL the online courses. It was a tactic I habitually turned to when something wasn’t working out in my life. The “problem” that I was trying to solve – when I accidentally changed my life forever – was around making my previous business work. I was mentally exhausted with it and beyond frustrated with myself..

I had decided, clearly, there must be something wrong with me, as a human being, because I couldn’t make my business work. I must need more self-confidence and self-discipline. The situation was untenable. My wife was irritated the business wasn’t profitable and we were arguing- a lot!  Like many entrepreneurs thinking the problem was outside of themselves, off I went to Quora to figure out what was wrong with me that kept my business from succeeding. 

An answer to the question “What is the one habit that changed you completely and accelerated you towards success?” changed my family’s life forever. This reply by a transformational coach named Antti stunned me and things never looked the same. For the first time, it occurred to me that I was not broken and didn’t need to be fixed. I went down a rabbit hole learning more about where this guy got this crazy idea that our natural state is well-being, but for our silly thinking telling us otherwise. I learned where our experience of life really comes from … spoiler alert, it’s our thinking!

What I learned, I shared with my wife. It changed our relationship with each other (and ourselves)! Our relationship has deepened and we love spending as much time together as we can. We saw that a solid foundation in our marriage allowed us to do great things individually, and together. We could take on new challenges and adventures together. Like our current one where we move to a new state every few months for her job! 

While traveling, I realized my calling was to help others live nicer lives and do the things that they want to do. I went all in and hired a few coaches to get a deeper understanding of this new, cool thing I learned that made such a difference in our lives. 

I was mentored by Dr. Mark Howard, one of the first students of The Three Principles. Then I trained with Dr. Amy Johnson and joined the ranks as one of her Certified Change Coaches. Currently, I’m being mentored by the amazing transformational coach, Grace Kelly, of Graceful Coaching. Coaching is my favorite thing and I’m consistently continuing my education through other great coaches- some who I haven’t even personally met! 

After lots of searching, I stumbled upon the truth of who I really am and how the human mind really works and it’s made life so much easier. I now live a life I love and do all the things I want to do. I’d like to help you do the same!