Need a New Story to Believe In?

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On a recent morning, the wind bit at my face with the kind of stubbornness only March in Toronto can deliver. I met my yoga instructor outside her studio and she greeted me, laughing, “I didn’t expect it to be this cold when I left the house.”

I smiled, entering the studio and removing my jacket, “Yeah— well, I was in Miami yesterday.”

“Oh,” she said, eyes wide. “Then you should be complaining more than me.”

But I wasn’t. Not even close.

Because something has shifted. In me. Around me. I don’t know what to call it — awakening feels too dramatic, detachment too clinical. But I can say this: in the last two weeks, cold weather has stopped feeling annoying and started feeling… interesting. A sensation. Not good, not bad. Just something to experience.

That might sound like a weird hill to die on — “The man who no longer minds winter!” — but it’s not about winter. It’s about everything.

Let me back up.

I just spent four days in Miami with my wife and youngest son. We watched movies, hung out on the beach, and I finished a 30-hour video course by Robert Scheinfeld, the author of Busting Loose from the Money Game. Thirty hours, dozens of exercises, assigned reading and watching movies, nighttime audio tracks to rewire the subconscious. I did all of it — exactly as he said.

And somewhere between hour 22 and hour 30, something clicked.

Not a thunderbolt. Not an epiphany. More like a deep exhale after holding your breath for 30 years.

The central idea of the course is this: you’re not in control. Not really. Your job — if you can call it that — is to watch. To observe. To experience. That’s it.

It’s like your life is a movie and you’re both the screen and the projector. A higher self — what Scheinfeld calls “True Creative Essence” — is experiencing the world through you. You’re here for the ride. And that’s not terrifying or nihilistic. It’s thrilling.

For years, I thought I wasn’t afraid of death. But this week, for the first time in a long time, I thought, I’ve got 30 good years left. And I felt disappointment. Like the feeling when I’m reading a great book and realize there are only 100 pages left.

But then I get back to the book, while remembering — there will be more books. And the next 100 pages are going to be so damn fun.

And that tinge of disappointment — that beautiful longing for everything life has to offer — was a sign that something has shifted.

Back to yoga class.

“You look… light,” she said, staring at me. “Your skin, your hair. You’re glowing. You feel good?”

“I feel spectacular.”

I realized: this feeling isn’t just internal. It’s visible. I look different. Because I feel different. Not in the toxic positivity, “fake it till you make it” way. But in a grounded, holy-shit-I’m-alive-and-loving-it kind of way.

We sat down, hands on thighs, grounding into our sit bones (a term I’ve learned to appreciate, if not fully embrace). And I told her more.

That my monkey mind — the part of me that used to constantly scan for what’s wrong, what needs to be fixed, what might happen next — has gone mostly quiet.

That for the first time in forever, I’m not worried about whether I made the right decision. Because of course I did. It’s the decision that was made. What else is there?

That when I catch a red traffic light, I think, Oh good, now I get to sit here and look around for a bit. Not with forced gratitude. Just… presence.

And maybe most miraculously: that when my wife or a friend or a colleague says something that used to annoy me, the feeling just rises and disappears. Up, down, gone. And what’s left is space. Room to respond, not react.

With no constant background chatter in my head wondering what to do next, or wondering if I made a bad decision five minutes ago, I seem to have a lot more time on my hands to just appreciate what’s actually happening in front of my eyes. Living in the moment.

The question, of course: Is this real?

Am I describing a new way of living? Or just a clever coping mechanism for a world that feels increasingly out of control?

Maybe it’s a metaphor. Or maybe it’s quantum physics and the universe is a projection of my consciousness. But the result is the same: less suffering, more joy. Less stress, more presence. A softness in my body that even my yoga instructor felt when I walked through the door.

She told me she’s contemplating a business purchase and has made an offer. She’s deeply invested in the outcome, naturally. I asked her what would happen if the offer isn’t accepted.

“I’ll be upset,” she said.

I told her that’s okay. That the energy of disappointment is just that — energy. It doesn’t have to mean anything. You can feel the wave, let it wash over you, and still be whole. Still be grounded.

Because life isn’t about the perfect sequence of events. It’s about presence. About witnessing. About letting the story unfold while being curious about where it’ll go next.

I told her something else too. Something that might sound woo woo, but that is also the basis for many belief systems around the world.

I think we — our souls, our higher selves — chose to be here. Like cosmic thrill-seekers, we signed up for this story. Body and all. Maybe we were floating in some digital cloud of consciousness and said, Let’s dive back in. Let’s remember who we were and really feel it this time.

Maybe we created this exact life so we could experience all of it — pain, joy, loss, winter mornings and Miami beaches. Maybe none of this is real. And maybe that makes it more magical, not less.

So that’s the new way I’m living. Lightly. Curiously. With the reverence of someone who knows the book is going to end eventually, but is savoring every page.

If this resonates with you, reply and let me know. Or forward it to someone who needs a new story to believe in.

1. Scheinfeld comes from (and transcends) the Tony Robbins world of self help, repetition, and sales funnels. I find that approach frustrating, but ultimately worth slogging through. This isn’t a temporary motivational hack.

2. The book, Busting Loose from the Money Game. No it’s not about money, that’s just an aspect of reality that many people struggle with.

3. The video series. Please read the book first. If you can get through it and it resonates, then maybe try the video series. This link takes you to a free masterclass followed by an offer to purchase the full $1000 online course. My own observation is you’ll get on the path when the time is right, and the time may not be right for you right now. That’s ok. It’s your story, just keep turning the pages.

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