michaelspirit144
michaelspirit144
| Forum role | Member since | Last activity | Topics created | Replies created |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Jun 1, 2022 (4 years) |
- | 1 | 0 |
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Bio
About Michael
Michael holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons), from the University of Melbourne, and a Master Business Administration (Beta, Gamma, Sigma), Deans Honours List, from Columbia University, New York.
A Message from the Author, Michael V O’Brien ~
The fourth year of Honours in Economics was very theoretical and I found it challenging, particularly as I suffered from an undiagnosed mental health issue.
After completing my undergraduate studies 1987 I worked for a consulting firm for ~ 3 years. I recall spending many hours preparing pitches to present to clients, as well as final reports, on behalf of the senior consultants. I worked long hours (sometimes all night), and consequently my undiagnosed mental issues came to the fore once again and persisted whilst I continued my work in high-stress environments.
My fiancé and I married in the European summer of ’92 and we then moved to New York so that I could start my post graduate studies. We spent our free time trawling through the New York museums and Soho, West Village and Greenwich Village, as well as hearing live concerts and performances at Carnegie Hall and other venues.
We also started to attend church services at the university chapel on a weekly basis. In hindsight I was looking for something more meaningful, perhaps spiritual, in my life.
I loved every moment of my Masters Degree. Each day was stimulating in its own way. During the course we had an abundance of guest speakers, such as Warren Buffet, come and talk to us.
Life in New York was going really well. I got a summer internship with a bulge bracket US investment bank downtown and upon its completion I was offered a full-time job, which was pleasing.
Then my wife and I were in a car accident. My wife’s injuries were quite serious ~ a broken leg, in multiple places. I sustained a far less serious broken leg. I recall, at the time, saying to my wife something like…
“this is a big wake up call, we could have endured much more serious injuries - maybe we should reevaluate our goals and priorities.”
After that, everything in my life seemed to fail. I didn’t realise it, but this was the beginning of the “dark night of the soul” for me.
This was the beginning of the end of my dreams to become a successful investment banker and financially independent.
Whilst working in the job in the US, I face ethical concerns which, admittedly, I could have handled better. When I moved back to Australia I resigned from this firm and got another job with another bulge bracket US investment bank. This job didn’t go too well either. I was very unhappy spiritually speaking and I resigned half way through 1997.
My wife and I then went to a health clinic where I lost some weight, stopped smoking and drinking and I got myself fit and healthy. I then started to meditate. It came to me really easily, like I had done it before.
I tried a few things career-wise, but nothing seemed to work out for me. In hindsight, this was my spiritual awakening. I had to let go of attachments ~ work, money, prestige and materialism. And, as a result, I experienced a lack of abundance and poverty consciousness.
We moved to the country so that our children could attend a Rudolph Steiner school. And I went from being a junior investment banker to picking fruit and vegetables at orchards and farms in the Yarra Valley. It was a humbling experience.
But things did start to improve for me and my family. It wasn’t soon after that we moved, I started an organic home delivery service for ~ 8 families who also attended the school. I enjoyed doing this and whilst I was not making a lot of money, it did pay for my family’s weekly food bill.
I experimented with different spiritual practises. Fo example, I did a ten day course in the Vipassana (Buddhist) meditation; I continued to attend Ascended Master meditation events and the occasional class. But I found that as I continued to grow spiritually & psychologically that I needed to spend less time with groups and more time focusing on my own path, as well as caring and supporting my children. For in truth our loved ones old and young are our best teachers.
And then I was was employed as an in-house tutor at the University of Melbourne’s Master of Applied Finance (MAF) program. This involved me spending one day each week helping students with any problems they had. I also enjoyed this job as I felt like I was helping people.
The other thing that happened was I was asked to teach an elective program in the MAF program. I taught a course in Value Investing and the students seemed to enjoy it.
I was then offered a job as international analyst (and later portfolio manager) for an ethical investment fund. I did this for approximately ten years and we achieved some pretty good returns. But despite my career success, my spiritual practices became my true focus.
It was during this time that I received treatment in the form of medication for the mental issues that had always been resident in my psyche. However whilst the medication helped me to a certain extent, I was still very unclear psychologically speaking.
In 2016 I experienced a severe mental breakdown and was hospitalised off and on for ~three months. It was during this time that I experienced my second “dark night of the soul”.
In hindsight I realised that there were a lot of benefits from experiencing this latest episode. For example, I came to feel grounded; I gained clarity of right action and I was no longer weighed down by things that did not serve me. It was through this realisation that
I came to better understand my spiritual mission and this dark night of the soul taught me to remain on a narrow and steady path, that included holistic self-care practises.
And it was only after working with the I AM University and Dr. Joshua David Stone’s psychological/spiritual teachings, that I started to get a handle on how the negative ego, was working through my consciousness. And this has also helped me deal with my mental issues with greater clarity.
After working with Dr Joshua David Stone’s psychological/spiritual teachings, and the I AM University, I am now working full-time with the family of Light. specialising in business, economics and finance. For the immediate future this means writing business, economics and finance articles from a spiritual/sustainable and ethical perspective.
Michael resides at Melbourne, Australia.
He can be contacted at michaelspirit144@outlook.com
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