The Soul of a Friend – in Memory of Douglas Brady

My dear friend Douglas Brady died and left this world on August 11. He was 60 years old. He was a great being. These words are written in his honor and memory.

It occurs to me that one of the pristine and flawless ways we could show the world the value of a friend is to want to share that friend, to exalt them by saying “this is someone who I wish you could know as dearly as I do. Because if you did, you would feel something rare – a sense of security and joy that your heart is truly known.”

Such was my friend Douglas, and indeed if you know me, you know that I did my best to share him with you.  And for those of you who know me more from afar, I selfishly want to share him with you in his death. This would be a noble way to honor my friend, and to honor you. He had a special wisdom to impart and a message he came here to deliver. I know this for sure.

See if you can hear his words whispering through mine. If you do, my introduction will be complete, your life will change – even if just a little – and my tears will be a little less sad. Douglas was a very different kind of scientist. He studied energy. Human energy. Intuitive energy. The unseen energy in the body. He studied the soul.

Like a lot of great scientists, he experimented, he made a few messes, he learned, he discovered. And all along the way, whatever gift he found, he shared. We live in a time when healing and medicine is tainted by politics and money. It’s difficult for us to find the heart of healing. It’s rare to sit in the presence of a healer of any kind who truly bows before the divinity and deity that healing is.

My friend Douglas made it his life’s work to rediscover the sacredness of healing. His clients, students, friends and loved ones were fortunate enough to experience the kind of magic that Douglas called forth. He could invite holiness into some of our darkest places. He could help people walk into their greatest fears, their deepest wounds, their betrayals, their most intolerable memories – and bring in the Light.

If channeling were really possible, if there’s a place where the soul resides after earthly life, if I could conduct the voice of my friend, a great being, from that realm, it would perhaps sound something like this:
“A soul directed life is the only life worth living. And we’ll live thousands of lives until we walk in this world as men and women of God. The soul is real. It talks to us. It whispers. In needs us to be quiet to hear it. Your soul will tell you everything you need to know. The greatest intelligence of the universe is so exquisitely attuned to each and every soul.

When we don’t listen, we suffer. When we don’t listen we fall ill. When we don’t listen we make choices that we know we shouldn’t make. When we don’t listen we stay in relationships too long. When we don’t listen we contract.

When we don’t listen we lose our joy. When we don’t listen the body talks to us, it hurts, it aches, it diseases, and it asks us to listen to its hidden language so we can make ourselves whole again.”

“When I learned the code of how God’s intelligence speaks through the body in its own special way, I knew I found my life’s work. I’ve watched miracles happen with people. We’re here to have heaven on earth. We came here to live in joy. We came here to find the Light. There’s so much darkness that grips the planet though.

So many people are wounded. We don’t know where to go. We don’t know how to find help. We forget that nature heals. And we forget that above all else, love heals.  If you’re alive on planet Earth, you’re here to heal. We’re here to heal the wounds inside of us, and the wounds of others. When we forget this, we’re likely to hurt each other again.

When we remember who we are, our new life is born. Your soul is here to guide you every step of the way. This is what people so desperately need, but don’t even know it. Your soul will guide you in every moment. Just listen.”

“Following you inner guidance can feel dangerous. It might make you feel unsafe. But the soul always guides us to choose the light. If you follow the messages of your soul, you’ll be challenged, you’ll give things up, you’ll be taken to your edge, sometimes you’ll die, but I promise you, you’ll laugh harder than you could have ever imagined. Living a soul directed life guarantees that you’ll experience magic. I live this magic all the time. Every day. My life is living proof.”

My friend’s life really was living proof. He traveled in amazing circles, lived in magical places, fathered two exceptional children, had beautiful relationships, swam with wild dolphins, kayaked with whales, talked with angels, wrestled with demons, and witnessed the healing power of the sacred on an almost daily basis. He followed the guidance of his soul, in his perfectly imperfect way.

My friend’s death was living proof as well. He died in nature, gracefully, on a hike, with his girlfriend. In his last days on earth, we taught a workshop together. I watched him touch many lives, very deeply. I wish you could have been there to witness a masterful healer at work. In my world, he had no equal.

He went out with a big burst of love, and quite honestly, gave himself as fully as a human being could – in the service of the deepest transformation and healing of others.

Life is not so easy. Amidst the work and the chaos and the sadness that often just is, we need some soul satisfying reasons to be alive. My friendship with Douglas was such a reason.

My warmest regards,

Marc David

Founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating