At least half the people I’ve spoken to over the past few years are

unhappy in their jobs or are stuck in unhappy relationships. Or both.

According to the World Happiness Report 2021,1 there has been a significant

increase in overall sadness and worry globally.

Where are you? Are you happy with the work you are doing? Are

you satisfied with your relationship? What is your overall happiness

score? Me? I’ve certainly felt stuck. There was a time when I had the

money, I had the house, I had the perfect family. People used to tell me

that I had it all. But I did not feel alive; I had no energy. I felt like I was

seeing everything in permanent shades of gray. My life was colorless.

I felt like I was making my way through a puddle of mud every day.

Feeling stuck was wearing me out.

This “stuck” feeling did not make me a very nice person to be

around, and as a result I was getting more and more disconnected

from the joy I used to experience with my family, my friends, and my

work colleagues. I felt disconnected even from myself.

How did this happen? To get more clarity and turn my life around,

I started looking for answers. I read self-help books and talked to

friends. A few of them suggested that I spend time with a coach and

mentioned a specific name: David Bloch. I’d participated in a presentation

skills workshop that David led a few years earlier, but I had not

thought about him since. However, after three people independently

recommended him to me, I decided to reach out to him. After one

phone call, I decided to spend a week with him in Denmark. That week

would turn out to be transformational for me, the start of a journey

that continues today.

One night when I was in Denmark on my coaching retreat with

David, I had a very clear dream. It started with me walking down a

mountain. There were trees all around me, and they were bending

toward me, making everything dark. I felt the sky pressing down on me

too. I was very tense and did not notice anything around me because I

was on the phone, in a heated discussion. I kept walking.

At the bottom of the mountain, the path I was on rounded into a

curve. I could not see where the path was leading, but I did notice a

young boy, probably ten to twelve years old, sitting on a bench at the

point where the path curved away. I turned off my phone and walked

over to him. He was reading a book. When I looked more closely, I realized

the boy was actually me when I was around that age! I asked him

what book he was reading, and he lifted it up and showed me the pages.

They were all blank. He said, “For many years you have had other people

write your story. These pages are your life. It is time for you to start

writing your own story.”

Immediately the darkness disappeared and I felt light and relaxed—

and excited! It was a beautiful dream with profound messages that I

revisit often. It taught me something that I am passing on to you in

these pages: Don’t let anyone write your story. Be the author of your

own book.

Find your own meaning in life—your own purpose. Don’t let other

people tell you who you are. Own your story. It took me many years

after that dream to fully embrace its message. But here I am, writing

my own book!

This book is my gift to you, dear reader.

Here I will share with you all the lessons I have learned through

both my personal life experiences and professional coaching sessions

with my clients. This book contains the blood, sweat, and many tears

that were shed on the journey. In my work, I help individuals reject the

status quo of living a life they don’t really want. I help them build a life

completely aligned with who they are.

As I do with my clients, I will share with you evidenced-based strategies

that can get you unstuck, raise your happiness rating, improve

your relationships, and deepen your connection to yourself. With my

five-step approach to fi nding your rhythm, you will learn how to . . .

• become more aware through meditation, journaling,

spending time in nature, and other mindful activities.

• dial in to whole-body health, which includes emotional,

mental, physical, and spiritual wellness.

• find your life’s purpose through specially designed

exercises.

• ditch habits that no longer serve you, and create new ones

based on your values.

• tell—and live—a new story of who you truly are.

My promise to you is that when you get to the end of this book, you

will clearly understand the concrete actions you can take to start living

the life you desire.