David is the author of two books, A Book About You and Pictures of Your Soul. He is also a composer, musician, inventor, teacher, and speaker.

In this episode, David shared how God awakened him to lead him on the path towards 

David talks about his success as a musician from as early as 18 years old. Seeing the future of what he can become. 

Little did he know that his life would turn as the sudden realization awakened him that the path he wanted was not toward happiness.

David tells Dr. Brad about the time when he entered college. He experienced depression that led him to think things through and lie on the ground. This connects him to God, as he feels the earth God created. Thus, he desires to find his spiritual identity.

In the search for his spiritual identity, David decides to go to Israel, where Judaism is. He immersed himself there until he became a Rabbi himself.

David shared the story of his diagnosis of having a brain tumor that causes him to have seizures. This challenge made him learn and appreciate the beauty of life in the simplest form and use this learning to go forward with his life.

David Green’s story is an inspirational story of one who walks on the path with a childish dream but ultimately pursues life toward happiness with God.

Episode ___ of The Beyond Adversity Podcast is a must-listen for anyone who wants to find happiness. Those who want to live and enjoy the life God has given us.

“The Beyond Adversity Podcast with Dr. Brad Miller is published weekly with the mission of helping people “Grow Through What They Go Through” as they navigate adversity and discover their promised life of peace, prosperity, and purpose. 

https://www.realyouproject.com/ | 

Today, we have the author David Green with us.

He's the author of a couple of books, A book About You

and Pictures of your soul. He is also a very

accomplished musician and composer. And he is

an inventor, and he works in the world of

technology, a teacher, a speaker, he has

eight kids and 16 grandchildren. He lives in

Israel and has a lot of insights to offer us

about how to deal with matters of the soul.

His website is realyouproject.com. David Green,

welcome to Beyond the adversity. Welcome.

Thanks very much. Appreciate having me.

It is awesome to have you here. David,

you do have a fascinating story to tell.

To share with our audience, you have a

varied interest in technology and music

and composition, your writing, in dealing

with matters of deep within us, you know,

depression and so on. Tell us your story a

little bit, I know you have a fascinating

story that kind of sets the stage for

what we're going to talk about here today.

So tell us a little bit about David Green.

Certainly, I grew up in Toronto, Canada

originally and I was a totally immersed

in the music business at 16. I was a staff writer

for a company called A&M Records. And

I was so so immersed in it, that I was like

running a million miles an hour towards

success in music. And I in a sense, had

lost touch with myself because I was so

busy trying to be successful, that as a

16 year old, you know, there's stages

of life you have to go through and I was

very, very disconnected because the music

was all I really cared about. And by the

time I was 18, I was recording an album

in Los Angeles and an R&B album. And with

a tremendously talented producer, arranger

named Jean page and he was nominated

for an Academy Award, I mean, sorry,

Grammy Award for an album he had done.

And he couldn't accept that because he was

unavailable. So he asked this 18 year old

David Green to go accept his award on his

behalf. And as you can imagine, you know,

I was so delighted, this was my way to break

into the business they asked Who is that

guy who's accepting Jean Page's award,

you know, and the rub shoulders with all

these people was trying to get through to

and I was all excited about it. And he had a

limousine pick me up and take me down

the highway in Los Angeles to where

the center was for the Grammys.

And about halfway down, I got this incredible

fear, where I was afraid that I was going

to go accept the award and make a mistake

and say the wrong name or something really,

really stupid like that. I was so scared that

I would prefer that he lose to avoid the

embarrassment then that he win, even

though there were all the benefits of

doing so. I think that was the first time

I prayed to God. God, please make him lose.

You know, before that I had no connection

to religion to observance of any sort. And

thank God he lost. But what happened was after that, I was

Literally thank God that he lost.

God heard my words and he lost. Yeah.

So I went to this big event afterwards, for

those who are nominated and other people's

in the business. And I had come from a kind

of snobby bat, a jazz background, which was,

you know, where you can't sacrifice your

artistic integrity at all for the sake of popular

music. And yet, you know, there was one

artists there, who was one of my favorite

jazz artists who had a pop single that was

so successful, I think he won a Grammy that

year. And so this was to me, like, that was

what I was running after, that was who I

was, like, it was my God, that's who I was,

you know, emulating, I just wanted to be him.

And when I looked at him, I had this like

vision that was like a total wake up experience

where I saw a person that I was running

after becoming, and he looked totally

depressed to me. And Whoa, what a flash

of reality I had. And suddenly I said to

myself, you know, I think you better figure

out what makes a person happy. And use

your music as an expression of that happiness,

rather than trying to be the musician

and be completely disconnected from who

you really are. And that made me turn

around 180 degrees. And I decided, You

know what, I've not been through being

an 18 year old. I need to go do it. 18 year

olds do and grow out of it, rather than just spring over it.

Foreshadowing of what could have

been I suppose that foreshadowing

what a projection, a pathway your

life could have gone on.

Yeah, exactly. And I never decided on that

path, it was just too much of something

that that sort of like, accumulated as a kid.

And it was a kid's vision, and that's not

what I wanted for my life. And so I decided

to go to college and, you know, upgrade

my orchestration, and, you know, music

composition skills, and I saw everyone

else they're running after that same

childish vision and not realizing that it

was dangerous for them. And I decided,

you know, what, there's a lot of hypocrisy

within my religious identity. And I wanted

to resolve that because while I was on

campus, I think I was very lonely and

experienced some depression. I remember

going out to the park near my house

where I lived there, and just lying down

in a ditch, and feeling myself being part

of the ground, like the earth like immersed in.

And it was like, I became like dust of

the earth. Like, you know, the, in the Bible,

it says the guide was created man from dust

of the earth, and we returned to dust of the earth.

So without knowing what I was doing, I

felt this incredible connection to just being

nothingness. And that made me feel so alive.

And this started making me think more

and more about my spiritual identity.

And that was the opposite of the college

campus party scene. And I decided, you know,

what, as a Jewish person I wanted to go

and believed in God and believe in the

to where people really believed in Judaism,

Bible. And I decided to go to Israel,

because I figured that's where I could get

answers to my questions. And I ended up

going to what's called the Yeshiva, which is

where we learned Talmudic law and Jewish

philosophy, and were you trained to become

a Rabbi. And I was with a bunch of guys

that also came from a non religious background.

And after a couple of months of arguing with

the rabbis, so many of us became

observant over that period of time

To be clear, you did not come from

an observant Jew background.

Jewish not at all, I lived a very, very

secular lifestyle. You know, I worship

that artist, you know, not God, I was like.

So while I was there, I lived overlooking the

Western Wall, where the temple used to

stand that was like, my, that was just my

front window was like, overlooking that.

So I was just very inspired also, emotionally

from there. And over time, I began to

become more observant. And over the years,

then I became a rabbi. And then I spent

many, many years like over 25 years teaching

beginners. And one of the things that I found

was that, because there are so many laws to

follow in Jewish observance, it seemed like

everybody was the same to me, like, why is

everybody doing the same thing. And, as the

more I learned, the more I discovered that

God wants the opposite from you, God

doesn't want you to be like everyone else, just

like we have different fingerprints. So to, we

all have a different soul. And each soul is

made up to be different and has a different

purpose in this world. And I found more and

more I studied, the more there was an emphasis

on that as being an obligation, as an obligation

to discover who you are, what you're here in

this world to achieve. And what's going to

make you happier is doing God's will,

which is what you were here to do.

So it's not a matter of fighting against

what God wants from you. It's fun fact

immersing yourself in surrendering yourself

to what the skills are and what gives you

true pleasure on a spiritual level. And so

that's where I became a counsellor so

many students coming through, I started a girl

school here for many years. And I counselled

so many girls who are suffering from depression,

some from a lack of identity, not knowing what

they're here to do relationship issues, all kinds

of struggles that I was, thank god able to

help them with. And I think, you know,

many of the ideas that I learned over those

years, I think, apply to a lot of the types of

issues that you're addressing as well.

It's interesting that you really, through your

own introspection through your own literally,

earth earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust moment,

you are able to kind of as a word kind of go

from death to life kind of a thing in your own

search for your own soulful purpose in that

was able to be helpful to people that you

became a rabbi you became a teacher,

have you already word musician but through

all your music and through your teaching,

you've had a lot of influence on other people.

You've had some rather unique experiences

but transformative experiences in your own

life and be able to translate to other folks that

must be fulfilling but Challenging at the same time.

Yeah, and I never tried to portray myself as

being any higher than I really am. I myself

have gone through some, I've been to hell

and back with the struggling with my own

depression, I have chemical depression, I once

had a seizure, so I have to be on medication

to prevent from, I found they found a tumor

in my brain, which was, which is thank

God benign. But for months, I was walking

around wondering how many days I had left to

live. And that was the most eye opening

experience. Because when I was feeling such

a fear of dying, so suddenly, all these big save

the world type of things that I was running after,

didn't matter to me at all, what mattered to

me were my wife and my kids, and the fact that

I had a chance to breathe every moment of my life.

That was what was valuable to me. And I tried to

carry that with me into my future. Because

just because they found that it was a benign

tumor doesn't mean all those things that I

came to realize aren't true. Those are very true,

and very much a part of my life. And I tried

to keep that awareness as I moved through

the positive experiences as well.

David, it seemed like you had a lot of things

going on, you had a story here about how

things formed in your life. And then you had

some issues with a seizure and some other

things in your life. Let's, let's talk about that.

Yeah, so I went through a number of ups

and downs in my life. But the first one that

I had, where I learned a very powerful lesson,

and I'd like to show that coming through the

other downs that I had as well. There's actually

a principle that if you'd like, if you go into

the darkest place in the world, and you light

a candle, then you could light up the

whole room. But if you hold the candle next

to the sun, you can't see it, it's nullified from

so much light that you can't notice it. And

so there's certain things I've learned through

various challenges that I've been through.

But using my spiritual awareness has

helped me a lot. And the first first real

down I had was, I had a seizure. And the

doctors told me that I had a brain tumor.

And I was, I was in shock. And I was wondering,

like, you know, what am I going to do now

I had been on a path of trying to save the

world, you know, and bring, bring people

around to understand spirituality more and I

was just just very, very determined to achieve

all kinds of things. But I didn't know how

long I had to live. And I went through a time

where suddenly things that that I overlooked,

such as the beauty of my kids, my marriage

of this the opportunity to breathe, everything

suddenly meant so much more to me.

In terms of those things that were in front

of me, where I wasn't running elsewhere

anymore, I learned to appreciate the beauty

of life in its simplest form. And thank God,

it turned out that the the tumor was benign.

And I was able to go forward in my life

with a commitment to never forgetting

what I learned from that scary time in my life.

Your perspective, it sounds like David,

in the sense of you had this big, great big

vision. And that's a good thing, you have a

big vision. And yet you had to be kind of

brought into the context of your real life,

circumstances that you're in, you can't

get to the Big Vision unless you deal

with your present circumstances. It sounds

like and that's the matter.

And similar to is a pattern that I that

you saw my story about Hollywood, I was running

too fast somewhere. And I had a realization

that I was disconnected from myself. And so

too, even though the vision that I had

was for more productive purposes, it didn't

mean that I was able to let go of the most basic

fundamental principles of awareness and

value of life. And so I in a way I made the

same mistake, but just running after things

that were I did spend the time evaluating,

but still, there's a tendency to make every

day count in a productive way. But that

doesn't mean you're aware of the value of life

and the beauty of life. And so being being

sort of shocked into that awareness was

something I said, you know, what I want to

try to hold on to that and as I became

more and more observant. I pray three

times a day. And every time I pray, it's a

matter of readjusting and recognizing each

prayer we say 18 prayers, blessings three times

a day. And each one blessings is an appreciation

of another basic fundamental gift that

we have in life, knowledge, you know, having

the ability to do repentance, having the

recognizing that God is one, all these basic

ideas that are part of the way we're supposed

to look at the world all the time. If we don't

review them and sort of meditate on them,

then the likelihood of carrying them forward

is very difficult. So started utilizing my

observance more as a way to, to preserve

those things that are truly most valuable to me.

You've mentioned being observant, you've

mentioned prayer, you mentioned these

other things that you've been doing, it sounds

like you, when you went through some of

these experiences when you went through

your brain tumors. And when you went

through your physical health in your kind

of your depressed moments, that

you took some pretty significant action here,

you know, you went on to become a rabbi

after becoming a non-observant Jew for a

while tell us more about some of the pivotal

action actions that you took, which were

pivotal to you that can be maybe transferable

to other people, some actions that you took?

Well, I think that one important principle is

that when you're in a very dark place, that

doesn't mean you're on holiday from real life.

That dark place is something that, although

it may sound strange, but you can actually embrace it.

And take advantage of it as a way to heighten

your awareness of what truly matters. And my

book called Pictures of Your Soul actually has

a section that talks about two paths, to lift

yourself from a dark place up to a brighter

place spiritually. And one way is the means

of contemplation where if you're in a very

dark place, and you start to contemplate

on just your breathing, and your awareness

of your body, your awareness of your soul, and just the fact that you are alive, and, and what a miracle a human being is,

and what a miracle, a blue, blade of grass is

just that just taking note of the most basic

creations that have an incredible designs to them.

There is deductive reasoning there to

say that there's a God who created all this,

because there's no way this could have been

an evolutionary process, once you see the

genius of the creation of the world, including

the creation of you as a human being. And

that will bring about a higher spiritual

awareness. And if you have a higher spiritual

awareness, that begins a path towards recovery.

And the other other path towards that recovery is,

is recognizing that we don't have five senses,

we have six senses, the sixth sense, the sense

of the soul that is aware already of what God

wants from you and what you're here to achieve.

And what path to move forward with.

The problem is that that sixth sense gets

covered up by distraction. The world we live in

today is so noisy with our phones which take

us away from the people in front of us, we've

taken away it'll take us away from ourselves,

if we could turn off our phones and, and

stop listening to all these images of who

we're supposed to be based on what celebrities

are projecting as being a happy way of life.

If we would turn off during that volume

down and listen to what the soul is saying.

Then we have the we have ability to actually

hear what God is telling us through our soul

which already knows, deep down aside, what is

the right thing for us. There was a time when,

when about 1000 years ago when even

though we read about the prophets in the

Bible, there were 1000s of prophets and the

role of those prophets were to come to you

and tell you that you are here in this world

to achieve this and this particular task,

and this is your personality. Well, that's been

amazing pathway to happiness. If I knew

that it was a prophet is telling me God's words

of how to discover who I really am. But today

we don't have those as prophets, but what

the prophets did is a look inside you and

see the message that's there. That means

that there's a goldmine. And inside every

one of us that knows what we really should

be doing in this world. It knows who we are,

what we are, how incredible this world is,

how incredible God is. All that is something

that's already embedded within us. And

what do is we need to learn when learning

need to learn how to dig for gold, where we

know gold is there to be found. And, and that

means if I know there's a goldmine inside of me,

that knows that there is a beautiful life

here that my soul is on fire, that I should

dig down and see where people unfortunately

develop their self-esteem on a subjective level.

We should be able to have self-esteem by just

knowing that God gave us this divine soul

that is so precious and so beautiful. And it's

just a matter of taking the time to dig down,

move away from the distraction

and hear that inner voice.