Episode Summary What if the voice that saves your life is your own? In this deeply human conversation, writer and coach David Alan Brown traces the slow erosion of self that came from always being “the good one”—the supportive partner, the present dad, the dependable friend—until one pandemic night he drove in circles, ideating, and realized he needed help. Therapy, awareness, and a surprising validation—“anger is the appropriate reaction here”—reopened his emotional life. From there, David rebuilt with a simple framework: cultivate awareness, honor emotion (without judgment), and take aligned action. That framework became Convergence, his program for weaving three voices—instinct/emotion, active intellect, and a higher-power “I got you” presence—into one integrated way of living. We dig into functional depression, the gifts inside every feeling (“the gift of anger is motivation”), and how to move from autopilot to authorship—on purpose, one step at a time. If you’ve been drifting through your own story, this episode hands the pen back to you.   Show Notes & Chapters [00:00] Cold open + premise: “Find the simple thing that helps you remember you are worthy…” [02:30] Author your life: handing the pen to others vs. taking it back (James & David) [05:00] Backstory → “good guy” identity; slow self-erasure by helpfulness and humility [10:00] Functional depression as numbness; the lyric that revealed “I haven’t felt anything” [11:30] Pandemic triggers; late-night drive and suicidal ideation; choosing to tell the truth in therapy [20:00] Relearning feelings without judgment; “anger is appropriate” + the gifts inside emotion [29:30] The return of the third voice: “I got you” (story of his son + the inner voice) [31:00] Convergence framework: emotion ↔ action ↔ higher-power integration (Venn lens) [39:00] Building the program with community conversations; who it helps most [43:30] What it’s like to work the program: tools, community, authenticity, love in action [48:00] Writing the memoir as unflinching self-inventory; why he knows what he knows [51:30] Big life bet: moving to NYC with faith and practices intact [53:30] Close: worthiness, simple mantras, one step at a time Resources Website: home Program: Convergence (details via website/contact)