This is a special Portals conversation with a former corporate executive who is focusing his unique background and journey on exploring and sharing new pathways into the art of increasing joy, meaning and belonging in our daily life.
Tim Coats is the author of the blog Towards a Life Well-Lived: Reflections on the Art of Increasing Joy, Meaning, and Belonging in Daily Living. In this dialogue with Aviv Shahar, Tim reflects on his time since leaving the business world and the importance of deeper connections with life – with people, with nature, and with how he thinks and feels about spirit.
Tim traces the evolution of his sense of self-awareness and the journey as a senior corporate leader, where he learned to see the business world as not only a theater of achieving career goals,
but also a laboratory of self-discovery. Achieving high levels of success while preserving an inner dialogue about the deeper meaning of it all.
Releasing the inner mystic – “Someone who pursues union with life” – Tim explores some of the pathways that can help people living in a time of complex and rapid change experience a joy and belonging that transcends the material world of circumstance.
How do we find joy amidst these circumstances that are beyond our control? I started becoming more and more interested in that. So, I think that my stint in business was almost a learning lab where I had the opportunity to learn how to connect with others in a way that helps them bring themselves to work. So, in effect, they're working for themselves and not for me, and as I did that, I kind of watched what happened.
Tim Coats
At age six, while playing with friends in our yard, I was suddenly struck with the thought, I am me!
The thought has never left me. What is the nature of awareness? How do we find joy that transcends circumstance?
I grew up in a devout Christian family, but organized religion never spoke to me. Determined to find a way, I began a thirty-year journey, reading, studying, and journaling.
Ultimately, I found the road to peace, by way of intellect, was impassable. I began a contemplative practice that is integral to my life. I reflect on this life-long journey in a blog titled, “Towards A Life Well-Lived” at Tim-Coats.com
Aviv Shahar
Aviv is the Founder of Aviv Consulting, helping leaders unleash strategic innovation, and is the author of Create New Futures: How Leaders Produce Breakthroughs and Transform the World Through Conversation.
