Coaching helped me change my life. I learned to be a life/executive coach, I realize now, because I needed to do the self-development work that coaching facilitates. I didn’t need to start a coaching practice. I didn’t need clients. I was financially ready to retire. What I needed was to figure my own shit out!

I studied the neuroscience of mindset and happiness and started building a coaching brand around the idea that the only valid measure of success is happiness. My people, my target market, were leaders and those who carry revenue responsibility (primarily sales and marketing professionals). Why them? Because that’s who I was in the corporate world. Why should happiness be relevant to this audience? Because happier people sell more and make better leaders. It’s a scientifically-validated fact.

This exploration of the neuroscience of happiness and creating results brought me to the deepest of questions. I was totally not expecting that! But it happened as I began to see and feel the connection between inner peace and “outer” happiness. Learning techniques and practices to enhance how happy we feel was great. Understanding the neuroscience made these seemingly “wacky” ideas scientifically valid. As they melded with my lifelong meditation practice, tough, I realized that much of my own happiness was coming from a deepening awareness of myself as a spiritual being.

So I’m continuing with the happiness stuff. My gratitude practice is so rewarding. Meditation remains a core part of most days, and I’m trying to have a better than 3:1 ratio of positive to negative thoughts. These, after all, are scientifically validated contributors to wellbeing. But more than anything, I’m trying to let go of ego. To see the sameness of everything, to feel connected to it all, to love everyone, and celebrate the dance of which we’re all a part. Mysticism, the ancient wisdom of the yogis, and a deeper love of our divine nature are what float my boat these days. Enlightenment, “happiness on steroids,” is the direct awareness of that perfection. It’s on the horizon, either in this lifetime or one to follow. Knowing that makes me happier than anything else!