Lou Redmond

“I’ve always had big dreams as a little kid, and I feel like we all do. At a young age, I excelled at everything I put my mind to, but as soon as I got to high school I was in that scene where I felt like I needed to be like other people and fit into that crowd. That’s where I stopped listening to that dreamer inside of me as a kid. I still did well in school and made the grades and figured I would climb the corporate ladder in the golf industry.I ended up in San Diego after being at Penn State because that’s where the golf industry was and that’s where I wanted to excel. In college, that’s when I got into the rave and party scene. That’s where my life was for a good amount of time. There were definitely some lows in that lifestyle and that’s how I went through a huge transformation. This is what sparked a shift and getting me to think a different way….I hit rock bottom and a moment where I just felt done. And one day I ended up at a mastermind meeting, not knowing anyone, walk in and I’m next to people who make millions and have been mentored by inspiring individuals. And all of these people own their own businesses. This meeting shook me and I felt like I didn’t deserve being around these people who are just crushing it at life. I didn’t know people like this existed. The term entrepreneur was something I wasn’t really surrounded by. I was surrounded by that mentality that you would get a job and work your way up.After being in this meeting and seeing who these people were, I was sitting there so uncomfortable because there were these people being vulnerable sharing their feelings, and being in a position where I wanted to be. I didn’t feel like I deserved to be there. At the meeting, they start talking about an event they went to with Tony Robbins, and at the time I didn’t know who he was. So I asked who Tony Robbins was, and this was as far as Summer 2014, and they were kind of baffled that I didn’t know who he was at the time.I had a shift that night where I reflected on it and saw that there were people my age in that group and I felt like it was a way to ask me “what am I even doing right now?” Whatever it was, I wanted more of it. Luckily they let me return to the group. From then on, I started reading and I never used to read books. They started talking about stop watching TV, start reading, and start pushing your comfort zone and start surrounding yourself with the right people. I never knew what kind of impact environment has on us. We literally become who we surround ourselves with, and this group was proof of that.

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Reading these books started shifting the way I was thinking. In the next months, my life was completely changing. I was doing a lot better, and even got a promotion at work because I was doing so well with this new mindset. That was about 7 months after. I needed some time to be alone, so I broke up with my girlfriend at the time and moved to a place in North Park. That’s how I got into meditation. And all of these people in the group would talk about doing meditation during a morning routine. It didn’t come easily to me, but I wanted to keep doing it.It was January 2015 and I ended up being on a hike in Joshua Tree. I went on the hike by myself and meditated at the top of the mountain, and throughout the hike I would take breaks to meditate, and it was the best I’ve ever felt through meditation before. When I got up, I would lose myself in an odd inspiring state. I looked around and started journaling about this feeling. And I get a sort of sign of what I need to do. It was like life was asking me if I was really ready to completely stop that lifestyle of drinking, even though at the time I didn’t drink as much as I did in the past. I didn’t know if I could do that at 24 years old. I turned the pages of my notebook and wrote that on January 2^nd of 2015 I would stop drinking. And when I closed my journal, I had the most euphoric and ecstatic experience when I started crying. I wasn't looking for any spiritual experience, but it came to me starting at that note. I had this beautiful spiritual experience. I was nervous because I did make that commitment to stop drinking right then, so I knew I had to take it one day at a time.That day lead up to a consecutive 4 to 5 days of having similar experiences. This is what lead to me to having this feeling of needing to quit my job. I just had so much love inside of me and I wanted to give and I know I wasn’t doing that at the company I was with. I didn’t know what I was going to do, and I just had this deep love I needed to express. I got the thought of quitting.When I felt so good and knew I wanted to quit my job to pursue this purpose, even though I didn’t exactly know what it was, I started getting really excited about it. I stayed up the entire night just thinking about it and I knew I needed to do it even though I just got a promotion and had responsibilities at work. I woke up the next morning, went to work, and went to share the love with everyone. Once I got there, I was so aware that I could just see everyone;s discontent. No one was happy and there was a disconnect of us talking about things that just didn’t matter. I fought with this the entire day and ended up writing notes to some coworkers and managers. I spent the entire night thinking about it, and I had this feeling that if I don’t quit now, I wouldn’t know how to feel like this again. I may not get these experiences again. I woke up at 3 in the morning and poured my heart out into an email explaining why I could no longer work there and just having another spiritual experience where I was crying, sent out the email to the entire company, put my phone on airplane mode and went outside to bask in this liberating feeling. Then next thing you know, there are 5 police officers come up to my place and I knew I was somehow associated with this. They asked me if I was the one who wrote emails about a higher calling, and the cops explained they were afraid I was going to commit suicide. And it was the complete opposite where I felt like I want to do so much good.They even got in contact with my ex girlfriend at the time and she not having any idea what had happened had the idea that I may commit suicide. She rushed back to San Diego and I was able to pick her up from the airport and in that moment we shared so much love together. This deep feeling of love we had between us was unexplainable and as we’re on the way to Sunset Cliffs, we can’t even say a word because we were crying and I just knew. This all brought us together for this moment. She has always been there for me and if there were ever a time I was going to ask someone to marry me, it was that time. Once we got to the beach, I had proposed to her – even though we were broken up. And she said yes. We had the most blissful afternoon ever, and that was the craziest day of my life… Quitting my job and proposing to my ex girlfriend.I feel so blessed that I’ve finally figured out what I wanted to do. And it wasn’t as soon as I quit my job that I jumped into public speaking and teaching meditation. I still went through serious highs and lows.This whole lifestyle is still so new to me and I’m still navigating and going through the process.Something had really resonated with me with the word – truth. There was something about it that I had found a deeper truth I didn’t know existed. And once I found that truth, it’s allowed me to be free, peaceful, happy, and grateful to experience these deep emotions that I had not felt beyond the surface. Truth is what resonates with me, and for anyone else it could be passion or purpose. I can’t tell you what makes you feel good, but I can tell you what has helped me and it was finding my truth. Or even revealing it, and getting back to which I am. I found who I was and I didn’t know that I was even in search of myself. The only type of fun I thought of was partying, not in a natural environment. I You do things because they make you feel a certain way. We can all channel our passion or addiction to things that will serve us and make us better. Something I want to be a voice for is reframing how we look at the term addiction and how people view being sober, and this could be later down the line for me.Meditation is what opened everything up for me. Like meditating on top of that mountain and getting to where I am today, that’s where I found my truth, in that silence. Times when I felt so lost and so unsure, I found my truth in meditation and it was all while I was out here finding myself in San Diego. When I went back home to New Jersey, I had that need to help those who I was close to. So I knew I had to make that decision to share this with people there and do meditation there and see where that goes.

Lou's journey from quitting the corporate lifestyle to carving his own path was a tough one, but his ambition and path to find his truth was one he could not avoid after he opened his own curiosity to find it. We are incredibly lucky to have connected with him through Zach of Live a Great Story! Thanks, Zach! And we are so excited for Lou to release his book coming very soon! Be sure to check out the video he has provided in sharing a bit of his story and more about his book, and follow his Indie Gogo Campaign to support him!