painted-sky-ranchWhen: October 22, 2007, 4:30 pm ( it was a Monday)

Where: Rancho Santa Fe, CA

What: My house burned to the ground

What Else: The fifteen year relationship that I had been in was also going up in flames.

There’s More: Yes, one of my companies was in a multi-million dollar lawsuit with a big-ass global company.

Then What: Needless to say, I had to re-imagine and then re-create my life. The odds of one’s house burning down is one in 16,000 and although the odds of a relationship breaking up are extremely high it doesn’t make the pain any less. As far as the lawsuit, it is my experience that being up against one of America’s largest companies, even as the Plaintiff is certainly not for the light-hearted. The great poet Rumi once said, “Set your life on fire.” Rumi would be proud, I was all in!

Building a house from the ground up was never on my “list of things to do”.  As a matter of fact I had never even given any thought to doing such a thing. GOD had other plans for me and who was I to argue with the “big guy”. I was so broken from a failed relationship that my heart literally ached. My business partner and I were supposed to be in Minneapolis (in the middle of freezing ass cold winter) meeting with attorneys in two weeks to continue our David and Goliath legal battle. I didn’t even have a coat let alone anything else to wear.  I lost almost everything I owned in the fire.

I decided to simply be with the loss and heartache. As humanly challenging as it was, I elected to accept all that each moment brought to me as if I had chosen it for myself.  I was still; often.  I went on walks; many. I lived moment to moment and realized that being happy and healed and safe was all a matter of choice.  As the days, weeks, months and now years passed I learned a lot…about myself, about others, about life and about love.  Along the way (thousands of magazine pages, a bunch of books, a seminar here and there, the support of friends and family and absolute determination) I created Lines In The Sand:  A 10 Step Invitation to Be Your Authentic Self.  I created it because I want to help others live an authentic life…a life that is extraordinary…a life worth living.

This journey will be challenging, invigorating and worth it. There will be hard questions that demand answers that are honest and certain. There will be moments of sadness and of great joy. There will be “ah ha” moments and times when you will want to close the book and put it on a shelf never to return to its pages. You will recognize things about yourself that you don’t much care for and you will discover things that you would have never imagined…good things, grand things. LIFE giving things.

You will become a “Warrior” in the most captivating way. As you courageously start to peel away the layers of who you are currently being you will be delighted when you get to the “good stuff”…to who you really are…you will “be”-come your true essence…the amazing, one-of-a-kind, genuine article, authentic YOU!