A SHORT BIOGRAPHY
I share the following short account of my life so you can see that all of the practices I recommend to people have come from years and years of practicing and developing them myself.
GROWING UP IN IRELAND
I grew up in Cork, Ireland. It wasn't a particularly religious neighborhood but something about that world always fascinated me and I became an altar boy when I was young, probably mainly to get time off school. By the time I was 12 or 13 I felt bitter and resentful of a lot of things. I discovered AC/DC and I feel like they saved my life. Their music, their passion and their saying no to a bullshit system lit my soul on fire. I would listen to them most of the day. When I got my first guitar when I was 13 I was instantly hooked. Learning AC/DC songs were what kept me motivated and it wasn't long before I was pretty good.
I've always been pretty obsessive and this energy got deeply directed into song writing from a young age. I remember how amazed I was when I would sit down and an entire song would feel like it was "downloaded" from somewhere in seconds, I would see a vision for how the whole thing would come together. When I reflect on it, I think this is what I lived for back then, the connection to something greater than me where this music would come from. My entire body would be electrified with excitement when it would happen. Then it would take me months of working on it slowly before it was finished. It was what I lived for from the age of 13 to 22. I would often practice and play 3-6 hours a day.
FIRST SHIFT
I had my own band in college "Underhanded" and while we were pretty well known and appreciated, I struggled inwardly and in relationships with other people. I broke up with my first girlfriend in a sudden and unexpected way because I found the intimacy with her brought up difficult feelings from my past that I didn't know how to deal with or couldn't think myself out of. I remember being depressed lying in bed late for a few weeks at a time when my Mum suggested "Why don't you go and see a therapist?". This is when my life really changed.
The first session I cried for the first time in years. I felt such a relief in being that honest with someone about ho I was feeling and didn't know I had so much locked up inside. I remember thinking walking home that first day, "If this is what it feels like to heal a little, I want to know what it feels like to heal fully". Since that day that has been my life path and where almost all my energy has been devoted to.
After the first session crying became such an important part of my life, I found every time I allowed myself to cry deeply, a piece of armour in my body would melt and I would feel a deep peace that lasted some time. I think for about a year I would devote some time every day to watch a touching scene of a movie or book and allow myself to cry, it was truly life changing.
“Derek has an amazing ability to intuitively know where you are and to meet you there, gently but firmly guiding you to wholeness. My few meetings with Derek have helped me more than years of therapy managed to; through his joyful, almost electric presence, he helps you awaken to a light that leaves much of your previous problems devoid of power. He is an extraordinary healer..”