About Me
Before I got a chance to really get started, I was forced to retire from basketball early due to a recurring knee injury that even happened twice after surgery. I loved the game for many reasons, but have long made peace with having to walk away. Thank God for Momz firm love and that she leveraged basketball as an incentive to get me to study and learn to think as a youngster! Now I channel my passion into figuring out how to live the highest quality life possible, and I've managed to distill it down to four areas of life -- HEALTH, CREATIVITY, WEALTH, & PURPOSE. Sharing what I learn with others so they too can live the highest quality life possible is what drives me. I use ALL of my experience, training, knowledge, and insight to meet audiences at whatever level they happen to be at the time, and I set out to ignite them with a zest for life that won’t fade. Why? Because the better off we ALL are, the happier we ALL can be, and since we're ALL neighbors on earth in this together, I do what I do for the world wide community. Harmony over peace!
A few other things you might want to know about me and where I've been…
A few other things you might want to know about me and where I've been…
- My upbringing instilled in me an insidious working-class and consumer mindset I’d need to snap out of and overcome. Recognizing and overcoming that paradigm/handicap has been one of my greatest teachers, and a launchpad into explorations leading to deeper realizations of the soul.
- My athletic background taught me the relationship between commitment, preparation, performance, and results. Whatever a person does most is what that person does best. Many have mastered the art of failure and confusion – I did too (as they say “it takes one to know one”). Now I aim to expose the stealth nature of these detrimental forces (failure and confusion) at their core and help interested individuals reverse the effects of these flawed outlooks.
- My formal educational background (undergraduate and graduate) in psychology, biological sciences, human physiology, math/physics, and education (along with my curious nature and passion for learning history not taught in school systems) has allowed me to acquire a foundation of knowledge that enables me to connect dots that span "apparently" different disciplines and subject areas. After all, we know that "his story" (which is not confined to just past events, we are also talking about current events) is written by the victors, and his version of the story will always make him the hero (and to say "his" and "him" is just a clever way to imply "not yours"). If we want to know our own story, then we have to be willing to put forth the effort necessary to excavate what he has cleverly attempted to bury, conceal, or confuse, and bravely confront the cognitive dissonance that comes along with waking up out of a deep sleep and snapping out of a lifelong spell.
- My formal teaching background (which began in 2002) gifts me with first-hand accounts on the fragility of mind and thought – particularly, the motivational power of beliefs AND the impact paradigm and perception have on motivation and life outcomes. Teaching in that capacity has taught me how to choose my words carefully and to talk less while listening more; because students might take what I say today as truth, only for me to learn better later, at which point, I can't go back and "unsay" it. I find that posing the right questions is a far more potent approach to teaching and learning than giving answers.
- My background as a college faculty and professional development trainer (2011-2016), which focused on educator success and student success, has groomed me to be comfortable in front of large audiences of all educational backgrounds and knowledge levels. I've learned that no matter what a person's level of education or chosen career path is, the life challenges people face are the same, and the success principles necessary to overcome challenges are the same. Now days, I work alongside my wife at www.HealingArtsCreativeStudio.com where we teach our community members how to apply these success principles in the areas of life that provide the best foundation for sustained Happiness, which are Health, Creativity, Wealth, and Purpose.
- My experience as a keynote presenter and workshop facilitator (since 2011) has prepared me and continues to prepare me for the work I love to do now – which is to connect with as many people as I can to ignite them with a fire for coming alive, and equip them with the tools they need to surpass their wildest expectations through/by achieving health, connecting significant life-dots that foster an empowered vision, building wealth, and living a life full of purpose and meaning in a soul-serving and centered way.
- My long-time physical health journey – cleansing, fasting, exercising, and eating “right” – gives me the direct personal experience I need to show me what it means to really LOVE MYSELF fundamentally, the challenges associated with loving Self right (because I "used to be" a master of loving myself wrong -- glad that's over!), and how to teach others to love themselves the right way. The only way a person can know if their love is right love is to be both the giver and receiver at the same time. Love thyself! Oh, and when you have a chance, go check out my FAT STORY and what I did about it... Whoa! Health truly IS wealth!
- Finally, my background in yoga, my personal yogāsana practice (which began seriously in 2006 and could've been included in the previous bullet), and especially my study and application of the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali (which, by the way, harmonize perfectly with success philosophy AND connect directly with how to literally transform just as the caterpillar in becoming a butterfly), has helped me develop clarity, tranquility, nimbleness of mind, and focus so I can keep sustained attention on the areas of life that matter most, and then gently convey practical ideas with the express intent of inspiring and helping others to live their best life, R.I.C.H. with Health, Creativity, Wealth, & Purpose. Patañjali's Yoga Sūtras are the foundation, and at the heart, of ULTIMATE SUCCESS, which is why I've placed so much of my effort and attention on learning, living, and embodying the practical wisdom contained therein, AND why I am so committed to sharing this knowledge with anyone else interested in taking their life to the highest level. By the way, R.I.C.H. is an acronym we created that means Radically Intent on Cultivating Happiness.
WHAT'S NEW...
At the start of 2017, my wife (Kiala) and I decided to join forces on the online business front and you can now find us together at www.HealingArtsCreativeStudio.com. She is a book binder, mixed media book artist, and art journaler (so creativity is her passion and fuel) as well as a creative business strategist helping her clients live prosperous entrepreneurial lives doing what they love to do most. In our flagship program, 12 Radical Intentions for Living The R.I.C.H. Life, we combine all we have to offer (success in mindset, health, creativity, entrepreneurship, and more) in helping interested souls live the R.I.C.H. Life. To us, HAPPINESS is a plentiful harvest that can be cultivated and made to last with the right knowledge, attitude, and action, and this is what we teach.
Shalom, Shanti, Peace, Hotep, Namaste...
~Damon
At the start of 2017, my wife (Kiala) and I decided to join forces on the online business front and you can now find us together at www.HealingArtsCreativeStudio.com. She is a book binder, mixed media book artist, and art journaler (so creativity is her passion and fuel) as well as a creative business strategist helping her clients live prosperous entrepreneurial lives doing what they love to do most. In our flagship program, 12 Radical Intentions for Living The R.I.C.H. Life, we combine all we have to offer (success in mindset, health, creativity, entrepreneurship, and more) in helping interested souls live the R.I.C.H. Life. To us, HAPPINESS is a plentiful harvest that can be cultivated and made to last with the right knowledge, attitude, and action, and this is what we teach.
Shalom, Shanti, Peace, Hotep, Namaste...
~Damon
