For the first 25 years of my life, I used my mind – and lots of hard work – to get what I wanted. I attended Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys in Leicester and studied economics at Cambridge University. Then I worked in banking, in London and Chicago. I completed my MBA at INSEAD, where I won first prize. Then I joined Europe’s largest independent fund management firm. Within a few weeks I was diagnosed with clinical depression, which nearly proved fatal. I now see this last episode as a blessing. It was the beginning of the destruction of my ego. Over the next few years I co-founded a software company and worked in sales and marketing, in the UK and Continental Europe. Then I reached another low point. I was living in Paris, running a business which was losing money and ground to a halt when the Metro went on strike and the streets were clogged with traffic. I was broke, ill and mildly depressed, and my relationship was coming to an end. This was a clear signal that I was missing something. On the face of it, I’d done everything right, but my life wasn’t working.
With no work to do, I started reading a novel in which the main character learns to ‘return to now’. I began to do the same. Every time my attention wandered, I brought it back to the present moment. Then I let go completely. In other words, I surrendered. I asked to be guided to the right job or business. Suddenly, my intuition switched on like a searchlight. I discovered that I was able to observe my thoughts and emotions. I was also able to ‘read’ other people. Having long harboured a desire to work in executive search, I knew I was ready. I started buying British newspapers. Within a few days, an advertisement for a job appeared. I applied and got it. I was a perfect fit. This was my first experience of fulfilling a desire by letting go instead of thinking all the time.
Six months later, I was working with the Chairman – Europe of Heidrick & Struggles – one of the world’s largest executive search firms – recruiting CEOs, chief financial officers and board members for large public companies. I was promoted to partner and left the firm after five years. I continued working in executive search and soon learned Transcendental Meditation. This gave me daily experience of pure consciousness. In other words: consciousness with no thoughts. In 2014 I met my guru, SPH Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam, whom I visited four times in India. Following years of persecution, he left India and founded United States of Kailasa, which I’m helping to establish diplomatic relations with other countries. Since then, I’ve gone much deeper into the Vedic tradition, learning techniques from him which I described initially in The Power of Letting Go. It’s become a bestseller and will soon be available in seven languages. The new book is called The Power of Moving On. It’s about moving on from the mind and tuning into the intelligence that’s running the cosmos.
