Yeah, it’s just the two of us, with plans to add more.
Oh, and Art, which we’ll get to in a moment.
For now, the short version of our story is that we met through our respective businesses in 2008, enjoyed an evolving friendship, drank a few beers, and before you know it we discovered that we had a vision we could share with the world:
Well, there’s two of us and since Dave drew the short straw, he goes first.
His early years growing up in Toronto, Canada, were difficult.
His parents divorced when he was 16, which was understandable since his dad was gay and his mother was emotionally ill-equipped to manage a 50’s-style marriage, her own career, a family, and that surprise announcement.
All at the same
time.
Equally understandably – given the era – Dave’s dad was handling the situation miserably. As best he could, but still miserably.
In time, the ubiquitous uncertainty did its job and the damage got done.
Too many challenges. Mixed and indecipherable messages. All accompanied by a lack of interest in repairing the breach between them.
The toxic combination led to an unfocused projection of resentment and pain on Dave’s part. And a life slowly sinking into ‘permanently stuck’. (which now we know is a rotten place to start from)
Young Dave didn’t like who he’d accidentally become and, worse, who he was clearly in danger of becoming.
“What is going on? I don’t understand,” was the silent question he asked almost every day of his evolving life.
He also now credits his dad – who died of AIDS in 1994 – as his greatest teacher. One man’s anger became another man’s pain, fueling his desire to avoid it.
It was a gift which led to multiple therapy and self-awareness interventions over the years. Dave now smiles when he admits that he definitely had/has an unusually low tolerance for pain. It was finally time to put down the gloves and start smelling some roses.
At this point, the edges begin to blur where his obsession with discovery, understanding, and his potential to exit the matrix are concerned, but one memory sticks out.
In the same summer of his parents’ divorce (1972), Dave joined his American family (mom’s sister’s clan) in Kingston, Pennsylvania, to help them dig Susquehanna River mud out of their basement in the aftermath of Hurricane Agnes.
One afternoon he wandered absent-mindedly into his cousin’s beroom and discovered on her bed a copy of Psychology Today.
And the hunt was on.
Never before had Dave considered that so many answers to so many pains and problems could possibly have already been discovered and were readily available to the common, screwed-up, pain-sensitive kid.
That was roughly the inaugural moment of Dave’s healing journey and the rest is history.
Today, Dave is proud of one accomplishment in particular: his tireless and now effortless commitment to letting his ordinary desire for happiness merge into every decision he makes. Which in tandem with his invincible Comfort With Change, rules his life.
And he has never been… happier.
All of which was mostly incomprehensible to his friend Larry.
Because Larry
was lucky. He grew up happy from the
start.
But unlike Dave’s family, Larry’s was poor.
He had seven siblings, and the family never had any money. His home in Toronto was what Dave would have called on the other side of the tracks.
Good feelings were always in plentiful supply. From loving, laughing, caring, sharing, talking, and just being friends with each another.
Larry credits his unconditional love of people and seeing them happy and successful for his meteoric rise inside Canada’s largest retailer at the time.
He reached a Vice-President’s position managing an eight-hundred-million-dollar (yes, that’s $800,000,000!) budget.
To this day, Larry spends more time with members of his family than he does with any of his outside friends. Married to the same beautiful woman for 40+ years, the two of them recently welcomed grandchildren into their world and that has, not surprisingly, taken it over.
But life has not always been sweet for Larry.
In 2005 he was given a terminal diagnosis and 6 months to live. (and as of this writing, he’s still with us!)
Then in November, 2014, his oldest daughter sat down against the bathroom wall separating their bedrooms and quietly died.
No foul play was suspected, and nothing in her behaviour would have predicted an untimely demise. But Larry kept going.
Because that’s what Larry does.
More on Larry’s death-defying antics and his stoic embrace of multiple family tragedies can be found elsewhere.
He’s still in the
process of dying prematurely, but he’s not waiting around for the grim reaper
when there’s beer to be drunk.
Larry’s natural, happy, carefree attitude, towards the unlimited opportunities of life, is what originally caught Dave’s attention – feeding his endless curiosity about and need for understanding of human nature.
The boys prepared for the reality they both know is still ahead when they began their project.
What was extraordinary is that the longer Larry lived, the more Dave became convinced that his conclusions were right. First that the desire for happiness can prevail and be fed in even the most ugly of situations; and second, that people can change. According to how bad they want to feel good.
The combination was going to be revolutionary.
And together they decided they should take a crack at codifying that magic and then sharing it.
Meanwhile, they also like to just
sit around and chat. Feel free to listen
in, here:
If you already
know that you want to know more, then you can get started, below. In exchange for your email address we’ll
slide you into the information loop that’ll solve your challenge with change.
Oh, and if you’re curious, bored or otherwise inclined, here’s the video from which the screen shot above was lifted.
Honestly, Dave just wanted to record Larry’s story and his genius while he still had time.
Larry thought that would be fun. (of COURSE he did…)
And here it is.
Just for fun, allow us to introduce you to one of our family friends. Yes, he’s a puppet.
Art works at the Happiness Hospital, where he dispenses his own brand of ‘Patch Adams Wisdom’, cocooned inside the story of a wayward butterfly named Steve.
With the indubitable help of a
smoking caterpillar (on loan from another story you might recognize), Art’s little
insect friend discovers his inner eagle and never looks back. Or in this case, down.
If gliding, soaring and smiling above the insanity of the world sounds appealing to you, listen in and see if you pick up a few pointers.
From a puppet. 