’ve been a logical and structured thinker since I was a little boy. It’s just the way my mind works. My memories of events, people, things I have done, and things done to me, all get involuntarily catalogued in the database of my mind. I even viewed it as point of pride that I could instantly reference my history so easily. The problem was the growing weight of those memories, especially the negative experiences, began to crush my ability to be happy. In trying to factor every historical variable into the equation of my life, the sum was starting to look very different from the outcome I actually wanted. That’s when I decided I needed help. What you helped me to realize is that what I thought was an essential part of “me” was actually learned behavior, that who I wanted to be is not the sum of all my experiences but instead what I consciously choose to keep or discard, and that I can design a present and future that match what really matters to me. That sounds simple when you write it down, but it was really painful to face some things in the process, really hard to strip away some deeply rooted behavior, and I didn’t have any perspective left on what I really wanted. I honestly wouldn’t have faced any of that without your gentle but persistent support. Frankly some of your insights were so intuitive that I know I would never have figured them out on my own. You’re an amazing human being who is clearly living her passion, which makes what you do so much more real. I especially loved that you didn’t stick me in a program – we just started talking and it went from there. I like to tell people now that I’m a recovering linear thinker, which is meant to be funny, but no one really knows just how much that statement is a miracle.
- Michael, Vice President, San Francisco, CA
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