Intro Path 03:
A Brief Bio Of Coach Ellis
OK, as we get started, we need to talk about two things:
We need to talk about me, and we need to talk about you.
Let's start with a bio about me. This page is necessary, because some of you might be more comfortable if you knew more about me. If that's you--if you're more comfortable if you know more about me--then this page is for you.
However, some of you don't give a rat's ass about my life story, and are only interested in the quality of the coaching itself. That makes sense to me. My life story is, in real terms, pretty much irrelevant to this coaching. It's your life about which we're concerned, of course. So, if you don't really care about my life story, you can skip it and move to the next page by clicking here. (You can always come back to it later.)
For those of you who would be more comfortable knowing more about me, or who are just curious, here we go:
My name is Ellis. As I sit here typing this, I am 64 years old. I am divorced, and I have an adult daughter. I live in Colorado. I live in a fairly decent condomium in a nice neighborhood. I drive a Mazda 3, which is about four years old. I like Colorado, I like my condo, and I like my car. Overall, I'm a positive and happy person.
I play piano. I've played ever since I was a little kid. These days, I mostly play bluesy, swing-style versions of classic rock tunes. I also sing. Playing piano and singing is a passion of mine. I've played in public quite a few times in the past. I like playing in public. (I'm kind of a ham.)
Other things? I like to go on hikes. I like the outdoors, and nature. Living in Colorado is good for this. I read a lot, and I read books of all kinds, although lately, I've tended to concentrate on non-fiction, because the books that relate to this website tend to be non-fiction.
I'm the kind of person that gets interested in things. I go through phases--music, art, sports, architecture, history, travel, I just get interested in things. Even physics. I've get a nerdy streak in me. I grew up as a big fan of Star Trek and Lord of the Rings. (In fact, I still am.)
I got a few degrees long ago that really don't have much to do with this coaching. I've got a bachelors, a masters, and a law degree. I got some of these degrees with honors, but not all of them. I was a hit and miss student.
I practiced law, on and off, for about fifteen years, with a moderate, but not a great, degree of success. I gave it up when I turned 40. Since then, I've had up and down years, career-wise.
My 40's were something of a lost decade. Around the age of 50, some things began to come into focus. I realized that I wasn't particularly satisfied with the way things were going, and I wised up and started to behave myself with more mindfulness and purpose. By now, I've more or less "got my shit together", so to speak. I am energetic, enthusiastic, lively, and capable. I eat fairly healthy, and regularly exercise. My credit report is good. I'm thinking straight, and I'm in good health. This is a good age. I like it.
I've always been something of a misfit. One reason for this is that I am smart. I've never scored less than the 99th percentile on any standardized test I've taken. I was put in gifted programs at school. They gave me a couple of IQ tests back then, and I scored 158 on one of them, and 162 on the other. In addition, I'm a Meyers-Briggs type INFJ, if that means anything to you. I'm a sigma male, and an Aquarius.
I find myself to be different from a lot of people. In accord with this, I realize that I can sometimes come across as aloof, as if I think I am superior. The truth is, I have spent the vast majority of my life as nothing very special. For most of my life, I'd give myself average to below average marks. But, the last few years, including today, I actually do think that I am doing better than most people, in terms of my quality as a being. I've grown up. For me, life began at around 50. Sorry if this comes across as bragging, but that's what I see--as of today.
This might sound weird to some of you, so please forgive me, but at a deep level beyond words, I feel as if I came into this life from a different plane of existence. In some ways, I don't feel as if I belong here. That has a lot to do with the "misfit" thing. I feel as if I am a young soul, at least as far as my relationship to this world, and these people, that is, all of you. Because I am a young soul, I spent a lot of years being naive about people. Despite being smart, I had to learn many things the hard way--through the "school of hard knocks", as my Grandpa would say. And I did.
In my six plus decades traveling this planet, I've seen true evil--that is, people who manifest the intent to diminish, damage, degrade, and darken the quality of life--with my own two eyes. I've seen people behave in unaccountably dark and destructive ways--"life-diminishing ways", as I would tend to say in this website. Of course, we've all encountered "evil", at least in courses we have taken, in books we have read, and in TV shows and movies we have seen, but the real difference happens when we see it with our own eyes, in the real world, right in front of us. I've seen it--plenty of it--and it's taught me valuable lessons, lessons that are part of what I want to share with you in this website.
But that's not all I want to share. I am blessed to have been raised in a very loving environment when I was a baby and a young child. I was surrounded by people who lavishly loved me and treated me like a beloved little prince. I was hugged and kissed and carried around, and my chubby cheeks were pinched innumerable times. My Mom loved me, my Dad loved me, my Mom's family loved me, my Dad's family loved me, and they had friends all over the place who loved me. I grew up in a great neighborhood in the suburbs of Washington, DC. I was damn near worshiped and adored. In the face of this, I was a sweet baby and a sweet little kid--I was quiet and I tended to move slowly and I smiled a hell of a lot. I went to a GREAT kindergarten from the age of three where I was told how special I was, all the time.
The capacity for real love was born in me on account of all this.
This all came to a sharp and hard end when my beloved father suddenly and unexpectedly died when I was seven and a half years old. That was the end of my baby days. I sobbed and sobbed--my Dad was a great father, and we were very close. At that time, at a deep level, because of this, a big part of me came to the conclusion that this existence was pretty fucked up. I am still wrestling with the legacy of my father's death to this day. I started hating school with a passion. I stopped doing my homework. I had conflicts with my teachers. They put me in front of guidance counselors and therapists to figure out what had gone wrong. My school career from that point in time was pretty rocky. I actually failed out of high school at one point, and it took me an extra year to graduate. By the time I got to graduate school, I realized I might as well get the work done, but I've never felt as if I fit in. Before I got the idea for this website, I'd never seen a career path that called to me. I've always had this itchy, uncomfortable feeling about just about everything. I've spent my entire life trying to figure what's going on with me, and with the "world of people."
I took some courses while I as in college that had a big impact on me. Before then, and after, I've spent a lot of my time learning about this world of people, reading, studying, and trying to figure out, basically, what has gone wrong for me, and for so many of us human beings. I've always been interested in the real world quality of human life, from as early as I can remember, from when I was five years old, even. I've always searched for and been most interested in things that could teach me about people and the world of people. Like I said, in and around the time that I turned fifty, all of the things that I had learned began to come into focus, and shortly after that, I hit upon the idea of this website as a way to make a contribution to the quality of the lives of the people around me, and people in general.
For your information, I've summarized my material and financial goals, which you can access by clicking here.
But let me talk personally to you, OK?
This next part is going to sound unusual. So be it. A lot of things in SkyVillage are unusual.
Ready? Here we go:
I love you.
I know this sounds weird, but it's true.
You see, the quick and clean definition of love is:
Love is the intention to enhance the quality of life.
I intend to enhance the quality of your life. And not only me. All of us that have put work into this website have done so with the intention of enhancing the quality of your life. We all love you. Simply put, we all want, through your engagement and interaction with this website, for your life to be better. That's real. That's authentic.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not perfect, and I'm not a saint. I have material goals that I want to realize from this thing. But I'll tell you what: here's my promise to you. If there comes a time when my pursuit of material goals conflicts with my love for you, I will choose in favor of love. Don't believe me just watch!
While I can't, in all honesty, make any universal declarations concerning this website and it's effect on every single human, I can declare that this website brings forth unique and potent possibilities in the enhancement of the quality of life. Some of you--many of you--will find that the quality of your life will be enhanced, even greatly enhanced, because of the time you spend engaging, interacting, and working with this website.
That's because I love you--that's because we all love you--and that's also because, as you will see, we've done very good work with this website, and I am an effective coach.
Those are the most important things that you need to know about me.
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