Although the Tibetan Nyingma Buddhist teachings were very valuable, there was some kind of direct connection to my soul and emotional life that was missing in the Buddhist teachings. My wife and I began to explore the Diamond Approach in 1987 – we knew a few people who were students. Several "suggested" books and videos were met with a "ho-hum", then reading the Elixir of Enlightenment changed everything! The idea of a teaching that might meet me – in an individual and personal way - this is indeed what the Diamond Approach teachings offer. This work challenges and invites exploration of both painful wounds as well as gifts and riches. The defenses and resistances are formidable but when I allow myself to let go and be open to these hidden places, there arises deep settledness, satisfaction, and aliveness. This feels like home, a returning to who I am as authentically human in the context of living life in the world.