We all have a story to tell. No one’s is more triumphant or tragic than the next. Each one of us has their own journey to go through, and THAT makes it unique!

What happened in my life before I started a worldwide podcast? What happened before I survived cancer twice in my 20’s and struggled through a tumultuous 18 year career in law enforcement? How did I discover all of the amazing and profound things about live in the process?

Here is my story:

It starts as the son of a single mother in rural Western Massachusetts. My father was nearby, but they were a young couple whose time was not meant to last long with each other. For the most part, my mother had to do a lot of things on her own, especially when my father moved across the country when I was about 9. Through my teen years, I had to fend for myself while my mother worked several jobs to make ends meet.

I didn’t have much fatherly direction in my life, and had to do a lot of things on my own. I struggled in school, failed out of playing sports which was hard since I was such a good athlete. I managed to get straightened out around the time I was in 10th grade with the support of my friends and teammates who didn’t want to watch me fail. It was that exact support that helped me make it through high school an beyond.

By the time I was nearing my senior year in High School, my friends were taking SAT’s and choosing colleges to go to. I had no idea where I was going myself though. I had finished my senior year early, and I has encouraged by a family friend to look into police work. Before I knew it, I had graduated high school 4 months early, and two weeks after cleaning out my locker- I was off to police academy. I had my academy graduation only a week before I put on my high school cap-and-gown.

Fast forward 3 years, I was working as a police patrolman in the small town I grew up in, at the amazement of my friends and neighbors because I wasn’t exactly the straight-edge kid growing up that you would expect in that line of work. I guess that was what partly drew me to it, because I knew how to beat the trouble-makers at their own game! But that is exactly the point where my ego started to get the best of me…

I entered a specialized police academy in 2003, and went all the way through with no problems, until the last week. I made the mistake of standing up for several student officers who were getting taken advantage of by the staff at the academy, since I was already a “know it all” with 4 years on the job. Since I made the choice to stand up for someone, I inadvertently became a target and they tried to ruin my career. The situation was later resolved, but not after a long legal battle that put me to the ultimate test, and also showed me I didn’t want any part of that profession as my full-time career.

Deciding to start my transition out of law enforcement, I transferred my skills to the private sector, and at age 25 I became the Head of Security and Facility Operations for several world-class museums. I excelled at this career, quickly becoming one of the Northeast’s top experts in the field of museum security. At the height of my time in that career, I was hired by several museums to set them up with a security management program that mirrored the one I had built. I wanted to be the best at everything I did, and have always been that way. That career was an example of that, the only difference was back then I was doing the creating by default instead of doing it purposefully, which is the whole premise behind Live This Life!

For over a decade, I made a name for myself in the museum world, becoming one of the top directors and consultants in the Northeast. Additionally, I became the Vice President for the International Foundation for Cultural Property Protection’s New England Chapter. I was privileged to see “behind the scenes” of almost every institution I visited. I was able to view and touch historical artifacts that the general public never was able to see, and hear secrets of some of the highest value collections on the planet.

As my career excelled, I tried to find other areas to gain knowledge, and started to study forensic art crime techniques. I examined paintings with x-ray machines, learned the ins-and-outs of forgeries vs. copies, and was mentored by some of the top art crime investigators in the nation. In 2013, I had the privilege of working on a major art theft case with the FBI that occurred in 1975 (2014 LA Times Article). All of this was occurring while still being a police officer part time on the side in the hometown that I started out in.

Now, while my professional life was moving in leaps and bounds, my personal life was about to hit a major speed bump.

At age 26, I developed my first case of cancer. I had discovered a lump in my lower abdomen and consulted my primary care doctor. He advised me that I was being paranoid about it being cancer, and that “every young guy that comes in here lately thinks they have some form of cancer”. He made me feel foolish for being concerned for my health, so I left the office that day under the impression I was OK. But after several weeks of thinking it over, my wife convinced me to get a ultrasound to just be sure everything was indeed normal, since we did have a baby on the way. I got an ultrasound on the morning of my company picnic, and by the time the picnic started at noon, the doctor was calling me with a much different tone in his voice. He said “Heath, are you somewhere you can talk”. He continued to say, “It appears your concerns were well based, it appears that you have some sort of tumor developing”. I instantly became enraged, and he proceeded to tell me that I was going to be fine. This was the start of a significant down-slide in my life.

Following the cancer, my wonderful son Mason was born. I bounced back from the surgery pretty quickly, and I declined chemo and radiation since the cancer was caught so early and it was removed effectively. But the medical field did not stop failing me there, not by a long shot. I changed primary doctors, but my post-cancer care did not prove to be very beneficial to my long-term health either. They put me on a “watchful waiting” program of x-rays and CT scans to see if any cancer developed. I trusted them that this was the best route for me, that is until someone in the radiology department whom I knew, pulled me aside one day and said “Why are you here so much, what is it they are looking for”. I told her why I was going in for repeated tests and scans, and they advised (confidentially) that I should seek a second opinion on the matter. Another group of doctors told me that I was subjected to excessive CT scans, and that each one was about 3 years of radiation, and that I had about 35-40 years worth in only 2 years. They advised that it was unlikely that the low-level cancer I had would return, and that now I had to be more concerned with the radiation causing another unrelated case of cancer. I then grew fearful of cancer returning, and kept say how “those damn doctors are going to give me cancer again” I kept beating that drum, which is something I found out later on in life is how things show up in your life…..

In the process of moving my cancer care to the Dana Farber Institute in Boston, I found out that I had developed cancer again. This time it was a more dangerous and aggressive form of cancer than the first. I went through a very invasive surgery the second time that eliminated my ability to have any more children- which was so difficult for me since I was not sure if I wanted to have more kids or not.

I made it through the second case, and the doctors again recommended chemo and radiation, which I declined again. They said that it was not necessary, but a good precautionary to make sure I didn’t have another development. I sought alternative treatments, changed my diet and moved toward a more holistic approach to life since the medical field had failed me so badly. That involved moving to an alkaline diet, reducing all red meat to zero, tons of anti oxidants and a host of other changes that has worked for me for 10 years (seek professional medical advise before taking any such measures for post-cancer care- this was very risky and is not advocated)

After the second cancer, I became very bitter toward life. I had a series of events on the police side of my job that effected me deeply. In the town that I worked, there was a large bridge that people often chose to commit suicide on. I personally dealt with nearly a dozen (or more) of those incidents myself, and in that year I dealt with four of them. One particular incident around midnight, a young man was standing in the middle of the bridge with a hooded sweatshirt on, smoking a cigarette. Another Officer was already there and was walking out to the middle of the bridge as I was pulling up. The young man chose to pull out a gun and take his life as he was climbing the railing to go over into the . Another officer was right next to the young man as it occurred, and I was rolling up to him in my vehicle and was unsure if he was shooting at us or what happened. Within minutes, we had dozens of police, helicopters, boats and all sorts of people trying to find him. It was at that moment that my mortality started to really set in. I had been horribly sick that night as well, having walking pneumonia as a side-effect of my compromised immune system. But in that line of work (especially in small departments) you were not able to call in sick unless someone would cover for you.

So after that incident, I found myself increasingly having mental health issues. I started to dream of the incident happening in worse ways. I dreamed he shot at me before he went. I dreamed about a people in hooded sweatshirts and the glow of a cigarette often. One of my first shifts back on the job, I was walking out to my cruiser and the automatic light did not turn on so I could walk the 10 feet out to my patrol car. I got two steps outside, and immediately went back in because the light did not turn on. This was so unlike me, a guy who would crawl through abandoned factories at night looking for fleeing criminals. It was at that time I knew I needed help, but I didn’t know how to get it.

The significant amount of Post Traumatic Stress Injuries (PTSI’s) that I had sustained on the job and in my personal life were taking their toll. Every sore throat was “cancer” in my mind. I was falling apart mentally, not sleeping, drinking a huge amount of alcohol every day, spending 10-12 hours a day at the office and working the part time police job on the side. I was creating an unpleasant home environment because of the miserable person I had become, and my wife had too much. And like many law enforcement officer’s marriages, ours broke up. She moved in with some friends nearby, and my world seemed like it was in shambles. This was where I made a decision to transform my life in a major way.

I made peace with what I had done to my marriage after some time and professional therapy. I made a conscious decision that I would never create such a bad environment for anyone ever again, that they would want to leave me. This started my spiritual awakening journey.

I began my journey looking at traditional religions, as so many people “find god” after hitting rock bottom and seem to live such a happier and fulfilling life when they do. But I found out that religions were so convoluted and influenced from their original content, that I could not follow the concept that they presented of our higher power. I started looking into Buddhism which made a lot of sense to me, as well as the Tao and the teachings of Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching. The spiritual practices and teachings I was learning were starting to change my life, and transformed me into who I am today.

After all my spiritual awakening and transformation, I changed as a man and husband. This resulted in saving my marriage and things progressed into a whole new stage of life.

I became less and less congruent with the lifestyle of what my career demanded of me. I became more compassionate for people and humanity, and I was finding out that I was not in like company when it came to my career. The more I opened my eyes to the possibilities of the world around me, the less I could tolerate my career any longer. I decided it was time for a change.

I took a leap and left the only career path I had ever known. I moved into a whole new world of possibility and potential. For the first time, I was allowing myself to accomplish anything I wanted to accomplish without the opinions or beliefs of anyone else dictating my path. It didn’t happen overnight. It didn’t happen without a massive amount of effort, consistency and sacrifice. But in the end, the life that I have wanted to live is the one that is unfold right in front of me. Every small step I take in the direction of my dreams moves me one step closer to a dream come true.

Are you at the place in your life where you are ready for more?

Are you ready to dig deep into your true and authentic self an awaken what may be been burrried under years of trauma, stress, patterns and conditioning?

If you are truly ready to LIVE THIS LIFE and give it all you have, take the leap and discover what potential your life has in store for you.