About Me
My name is Daniel Willis, and when I was 16 years old, my mother passed away after a long battle with breast cancer. Every day, every hour, since she passed, she has been on my mind. Whether it be inspiration to excel and achieve or the resilience to continue when I don’t, my thoughts of her are constant and the experience changed my life forever. In her passing I read the book “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl and was deeply moved by it. A quote that stood out to me was a paraphrase of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche which said:
“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”
What I internalized from this quote, along with many others, was that I was not in need of a change in circumstance - I stood in need of meaning. Years of searching for this meaning in my job, relationships, religion, and education has brought me to where I am today. Here, with you.
I will be the first one to tell you that I am not professionally qualified to make suggestions as to how another should live their life, but I have spent years desperately seeking personal meaning, sifting through scientific material, and putting principles into practice. With an intentional use of the principles and activities included within The Program, I believe anyone can find what they are looking for - no matter the circumstances.
Why do this?
As a neuroscience student, I find perception incredibly interesting. Though we have the ability to be present in the same, unanimous moment, we can experience it differently. When my mother passed, my family and I lost the same person. We all lost a mother, a friend, a #1 fan, and a priceless counselor. However, how we each experienced the loss is remarkably unique.
This same idea can be translated into our perception of the world and the circumstances of our lives. The laws of physics, thermodynamics, and science demand that our environment behave uniformly no matter who we are and no matter where we are. However, just as it was with the loss of my mother, that environment can be perceived and experienced an infinite number of ways.
What I hope to do is to help people experience it better. My goal is not for everyone to experience life in a certain way because it’s the “right” way or the “normal” way, but I want their experience of it to improve.
This world, this life, is more fantastic than we often see it as being. Those who pursue the challenge to live life more intentionally will feel as if their circumstances are changing without them ever having to. This movement is about helping restore that sense of wonder to our experience.