the founder
Welcome! My name is David Matthew Bernstein - Founder of Life Force.
Thank you for visiting our site and for your interest in Life Force.
I thank the universe every day for giving me the opportunity to transform my life in ways that continue to exceed my wildest expectations. I am not a guru or therapist, but I am passionate about spirituality, mindfulness and the human experience. What I am - what I have always been - is a communicator, a collaborator, a teacher. I am the guy who connects, who gets people excited, and who inspires.
Time for Change
I did not always have my present sense of gratitude and wellbeing. My life was headed in an unfulfilling direction. As an ambitious, hardworking 20-something, I was seduced by the high-profile image, the dollar signs and the sexy lifestyle that came with my role in the finance profession. I became consumed by my work. The concept of a healthy work/life balance was alien to me, and by my late 20’s, I was overweight, stressed out and absorbed by the empty promises of material success.
When the financial market crashed, it felt like I had lost everything. I lost my job, my wife, and my identity. But something inside me knew that there had to be more - something greater - and these circumstances brought me to a moment in which I realized something had to change.
Opportunity in the Midst of Crisis
I will never forget that phone call I received from an old friend during my darkest hours of heart ache. The one that perhaps changes your life. His words up lifted my spirit and gave me hope. I can still hear his voice echo in my heart and soul: “there is nothing more inspiring than a man putting himself back together”. Its only now, in retrospect, that I can see how paradoxical this all was. We have to arrive at our most weakened state in life to find the strength to put ourselves back together, and transform. And so, from a broken and defeated place within, in the midst of divorce and a global job meltdown, I moved forward and surrendered to whatever practice, book, teaching, or friendly phone call could support my re-becoming. And the magic of it all, was that I didn’t need to search or work to find the answers- the act of simply opening up to support from the universe provided me with everything and anything I could have ever needed. I only had to continue trusting the process of my own becoming and embrace the opportunity!
The Practice
Once the pilot light is on, it doesn’t ever really go off again. My philosophy is that once we experience true connection, source, existential purpose, or love we can never undo that spark from our being. The work is always to find the ways back to that place amidst the complex journey of being human. Looking back, I can remember multiple entry points along my journey that activated a sense of profound connection and meaning in my life. I worked with a renowned spiritual teacher in Boulder who I met on a plane days after my divorce. He became one of my most profound guides to this day. I left my home, my coveted job, and my community and traveled throughout the majority of Latin America for nearly 3 years without returning. This was a soul igniting adventure and the impetus for Life Force Project. I embraced solitude on empty beaches in completely unknown places, and transformed the fear of being alone into the joy of infinite connectivity. I discovered power of breath, movement, nature, and plant medicine. These all became part of my daily practice and continue to contribute to finding my pilot light each and every day.
Becoming a Creator
Neil Donald Walsh in his famed book “Conversations with God” transmits a message that has always stayed with me – we are creators, in every act, every movement, even in the most redundant of tasks. We create, always. It is our birthright as humans.
My healing journey of nearly 4 years from divorce and career crisis to living abroad and gyrating from the seductiveness of the finance world and my path towards harnessing deep purpose in my life was the most creative time in my life. Did I build a company during that time? No. Did I write a book or launch a podcast? No. Did I leave behind even one material memoire? No. But what I did was create a relationship with myself, my connection to the mystery of life, and to a sense of deep meaning and purpose. It was a messy, wild, and prodigious ride- and the beginning of a new approach to my creator with in.
Inspired by the experiences I had, I began my first venture, a wellness travel company with aim of sharing my journey and creating “experiences conducive to change” for my community at home and abroad. It wasn’t a multi-million dollar venture that IPO’d and made me rich or a business that scaled for the maximum reach possible. Life Force Project was a genuine channel of my purpose and passion, expressed by my most authentic creative voice. My success and the metrics by which I calibrated the business was based on the most important measure of value, MEANING. This signal reverberated throughout my community and has led to 10 years of abundance, impact, and the most exciting adventure of my life.
The Red Thread
Purpose takes practice. Its not something we can intellectualize or find- its something we continually access through living, through presence and through practice. In fact, purpose is something that transforms throughout our lives. There is a “red thread” of our unchanging core that stays with us from the moment we are born until the moment we die- how it evolves and changes is a result of how we live and how practice. My trajectory landed me in the middle of another full blown COVID pandemic as I was turning 40 and looking for a new iteration of my work life and mission. I spent a year during lock-down in the mountains of Colorado, reflecting on the past, imagining the future, and practicing, every damn day. I couldn’t help but arrive at a sense of overwhelming gratitude amidst the apocalyptic level fear. I had created a life and business that were a true expression of my heart, mind and spirit. Life Force Project had created an abundance of relationships, experiences, wisdom, nourishment and the perfect amount of material success. Without any possible way of knowing how travel, wellness and the foundational elements of my business would change in a “post-COVID” world, I stepped forward again from surrender, trust, and tapped into my creator. My “red thread” is a joy for connection- and it has taken many forms through my careers in finance, real estate and wellness.
Today, I have continued to pull the thread and contribute my inner teacher, collaborator, and inspirational character to support others find theirs. Through a series of mind-set trainings, retreats, and one on one mentorships, I will be sharing my practices and life story to the business leadership community to cultivate a culture of connection for the forward looking enterprises of today.
With much love & gratitude,
~David
