Dr. David Stefan
What does it take to live a happier life? There are many misconceptions about what brings and sustains happiness; but positive psychology research shows that there are strategies that can significantly increase your meaning, well-being and even extend life. In this service, we explore the research and practices that can help you live a purposeful and good life.
All people are invited to prepare for this service, if they choose, by reading and working through the Heritage Church article What’s Your Ikigai?
Worship Associate: Lisa Prantl.
After more than a decade as a therapist, career coach, and college instructor, Dave Stefan, Ph.D., formed a production company and set out on an extended global research expedition; working and living in 20 states and 12 countries on six continents, he fulfilled a vocation exploration project called “12 Months to Live.”
Guided by the quote, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is men and women who have come alive,” Dr. Stefan brainstormed what makes him come alive.
He drafted a life list framed by the question, “What would I do if I had 12 months to live?” Based upon this, he then mapped out a series of adventures. Each month for a year, Stefan experimented with a new career or personal passion: he worked with the United Nations World Food Program in Nepal, walked alone into the Cascade Wilderness for a three-day/three-night solo fast vision quest, and shot an adventure film while trekking up Everest.
After completing his circumnavigation of the globe, Dr. Stefan rediscovered his calling as an educator and therapist. Now, he has launched a new adventure – helping others dream up, design and complete their own come alive projects through positive psychology and life coaching practices and training programs.
Dr. Stefan is founder and director of The Come Alive Collaborative, a counseling, coaching and positive psychology resource group. www.thecomealivecollaborative.com
David Stefan, Ph.D.
2022
