May 6, 2024
We had the good fortune of connecting with Charles West and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Charles, looking back, what do you think was the most difficult decision you’ve had to make?
This is such a powerful question and in order to fully describe the “decision”, I first want to speak to the profound “awarenesses” that presented themselves to me. If you’d go back in time with me to the early ’70s in a middle class northern suburb of Chicago, there was a pretty smart, talented, cute and very shy boy with 3 much older siblings and very loving parents. HIs dad had become a prominent pharmaceutical scientist (the boy inherited his dad’s scientific mind) and his deeply loving mother had a wonderful mezzo soprano singing voice (the boy inherited his mom’s singing prowess) Something else that he inherited from the very conservative/fundamentalist church he was raised in was the belief that God is an angry, vengeful and punishing God that was to be feared and that we humans are born into Original Sin. All of this created deep levels of fear, insecurity, self-doubt within him and the belief that no matter how well behaved or how well he did in school, he was an abomination bound for Hell. You may have figured out by now that the little kid I’m talking about here is, in fact, me.
There were certainly a lot of things I was taught as a kid that served me well as I went on in life. But the deep subconscious belief that “at the very core of my being, there are things that are damaged, wrong and all out evil within me that could not be erased, acknowledged or given voice to. Carrying the weight of all this within me while doing my best to make it look like I was thriving to the outside world, was so painful and created enormous amounts of trauma that affected every area of my life.
When I was 29 I moved from Chicago to New York City to continue my career in musical theater. The Big Apple had huge opportunities awaiting me and I was more than willing to take big bites out of them. Within a few weeks of moving to NYC I booked a European tour of West Side Story and immediately after that I made my Broadway debut in a musical adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac. I showed up and said “Yes!” to performing in 2 more Broadway shows after that and was even featured on a Jockey Underwear billboard in Times Square! I was absolutely doing what I came to NYC to do. I was nailing it, right? Then why did I feel so empty and awkward inside? I was living a life that looked like success, but it was totally impossible for me to feel at home within myself! When I wasn’t on stage performing a role or singing a song I had no idea who I really was. I understand now, thank God, that back then I didn’t feel worthy of all of the success that I had actually studied, trained and worked very hard for and that it was only a matter of time until I was discovered to be a total fraud.
Fast forward now to the morning of September 11th, 2001. I watched both of the World Trade Towers collapse from the top of the building where I lived in the lower West Village. My life proceeded to collapse over the next few years as I attempted to numb all of the fear and trauma I carried within me with alcohol and narcotics. I am beyond grateful for the difficult decision of made in 2004 to stop being so hard on myself, learn how to forgive myself for not being perfect and start to accept myself for exactly who and how I am. I made the decision to be teachable by others who had been through their own devastating life experiences. I decided to allow myself to completely unlearn everything that I was forced to believe about God as a child and develop my own intimate and precious connection with the DIvine Creative Energy of all that is. All of this was so difficult because back in 2004 I truly thought that I had messed my life up beyond repair…but I was wrong. I honestly know now what it feels like to be “home within myself” and I am overflowing with gratitude for, what I call, the Spiritual Muscles that I have been building over the past 19 years, because they support me in having emotional resilience. By learning how to forgive and accept myself, I began to learn how to like myself! Then, even though when I was a kid, I was taught that it was arrogant and wrong to love yourself, I actually learned how to do that too.
Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I understand deeply that everything is energy; every touch we feel, every bite we taste, every word we speak, every thought we think, movement we make and what we choose to do with our time. They all create vibrations and the quality of those vibrations create the quality of the results in our lives. If we are random and careless with the intake of food, beverage, environment, social network, thoughts, time and energy we will most likely not be very satisfied with the outcome of what we are creating in our lives. I began to create my business, Divine Spark Coaching, about 7 1/2 years ago. In the autumn of 2016 I received a cancer diagnosis for EHE, a very rare form of vascular cancer that was localized in my liver. At that time, I was sober for 12 years, newly married and thriving in my life. But,mI was thrust into a very dark night of the soul for about 4 months when my doctor at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in NYC said that the cancer was inoperable and untreatable. So, I immediately sought forms of alternative healing and was attracted to the idea of studying them all, as they brought me great comfort. Craniosacral therapy and Sacred Geometry were the first trainings I put into my Spiritual Toolbox. Then, I certified as a Life Mastery Consultant with the Brave Thinking Institute while, also, diving into the teachings of Dr. Joe Dispenza and Tony Robbins. I was clearly out of the dark night of the soul and was thriving again in my life. I was blessed to work with quite a few life coaching clients and had a profound awareness in the fall of 2017; the clients who worked with me were, indeed, getting satisfying results with my coaching work, but, I could feel and tell that there were aspects of my clients experience that coaching couldn’t touch. I was frustrated because I wasn’t able figure out why or what the solution would be. Then, I heard about Marisa Peer and RTT. I watched her Ted Talk video and investigated what hypnotherapy is and what it isn’t. A very loud voice in my heart called out, “This is it, Charles! This is what you’ve been wanting to add to your Spiritual Toolbox that can bridge the gap between your clients’ conscious and subconscious minds.”
So, shortly after studying with Marisa in London I created a 3-month customized combination of Life Coaching and RTT program for my clients. Immediately the results that my clients received were much deeper and grounded in emotional healing than coaching alone cannot touch. So, in the world of branding, I am a HypnoCoach and It truly is a blessing to facilitate the release of trauma for my clients that then leads to a Divine Alignment internally within them. I now have 3, 6, 9 and 12-month customized HypnoCoaching programs that serve my clients extraordinarily. If someone had told me 8 years ago, “Hey, Charles, you’re going to be diagnosed with cancer, but you’re going to become an international mogul, author, and public speaker too!” I never would’ve believed them. I am proud and overflowing with gratitude to be a hardworking man full of passion, integrity and expert skills that I bring to serve and support my clientele.
Along the way, I have learned that whenever life presents you with a big challenge; whether it financial, health-wise, relationships or your own levels of self-esteem and self-worth you can always attune your mindset to support you to learn and grow through the process. I can attest to this first hand, as just over 4 months ago I was blessed to receive a liver transplant. That’s right! I received a live transplant last December 10th! I was on the Transplant List for only 3 days and I am doing amazingly well! I began going back to the gym, very lightly, after 2 months and the wonderful doctors and nurses at Mt Sinai Hospital in NYC have proclaimed over and over again that “Sir, it just doesn’t happen like this! We’ve never seen a patient go through a major organ transplant like you have!” Friends, I know that every prayer I’ve said, every gratitude list I have written, ever time I’ve meditated and called a friend to lend support, I have been making massive deposits in my Spiritual ATM Machine and, thank God, I have been able to make withdrawals that have supported me miraculously in my journey pre and post-transplant.
Oh, I want to offer to anyone who might come upon this interview a little insider information about hypnotherapy. What I do is not stage hypnosis. What I do is a clinical modality of hypnotherapy that helps to rewire my clients subconscious mind of belief systems and patterns that sabotage their lives. If you have unresolved trauma, addictive patterns in your life, feel like you’re just not good enough or worthy enough, then I have a system and structure of support that can help you like nothing else can.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I love to meet or take friends to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and Prospect Park for 2 different experiences in nature. The Botanical Gardens is gorgeous and inviting for a stroll through the meticulously groomed gardens. Prospect Park is a fun and adventurous park great for a long adventurous romp or a meditation. Dining places vary from Dinosaur BBQ, Ki Sushi, ABCV or Avant Garden Bistro (Delicious vega, choices!) or Marea or Bad Roman for a more fine dining experience. A visit to the Metropolitan Museum would absolutely be a must, along with a walk or bike around Central Park.
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to dedicate my Shoutout to Marisa Peer. Marisa created RTT- Rapid Transformational Therapy, which is an extraordinary modality of hypnotherapy. I am beyond grateful to have studied with her and her team in London 6 years ago and my skills as an RTT hypnotherapist combined with the different modalities of coaching I employ, continue to create life changing results in the lives of my clients.
Website: DivineSparkCoaching.net
Instagram: CharlesWestDivineSparkCoaching
Facebook: Divine Spark Coaching
Youtube: Charles West
Image Credits
L Morgan Lee and Tyler Gustin
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