Brad O'Brien - Founder

Another struggling human, trying to find where the borders of health, happiness, and utility overlap, is Brad. He was born in Rhode Island in the 70s, and as he nears his fiftieth birthday, he has started spending more and more time trying to "figure this life thing out!" In his late thirties, Brad earned a BA in Liberal Studies focusing on History and Advocacy.  With professional experience covering everything from cleaning toilets in a family-owned supply shop to Fortune 500 corporations, higher education, and as a gigging musician, describing it as a rich varied life would be an understatement.  

Brad's search for deeper meaning and purpose started very early. As a young man, Brad spent a few short years deeply involved with a non-denominational Christian church. However, after some time, he became disenfranchised and began to question the simple answers, strict hierarchical structures, and doctrinal authority. This is not to say that he didn't learn a great deal from the experience, including a respect for the value of faith, charity, and service to others. However, Brad could relate to a sentiment often attributed to Mahatma Gandhi: "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

Throughout the years, Brad has pursued various belief systems, reading stacks of books on Buddhism, Taoism, and Shamanism, and is now pursuing an interest in the philosophical approach of the Stoics and their cardinal virtues of Wisdom, Justice, Temperance, and Courage.

Brad has come to see the pursuit of a good life, one worthy of self-respect as a path rather than a destination. Through the exploration of different religions, philosophies, and his own failures and successes in navigating the human experience, he has come to realize and embrace the unifying truth that being a human is hard!