We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lainie Goldstein a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lainie, thanks for joining us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

My defining moments: 1. I made the decision to leave my secure position as a civil service typist (with a pension) in a college and take a position as a paraprofessional in an innovative Life, Career, Educational Planning Center (same college) with no benefits.

2. I decided to take a significant reduction in income and return to school to obtain a bachelors and then masters degree in social work.

3. I selected a scary, challenging internship in a renowned psychiatric hospital so that I would have the optimal learning experience. When the internship ended, I accepted a professional position at this hospital.

4. I left my position at the hospital to work in a friend’s private practice counseling service on a fee-for-service basis.

5. 1991 Started Overeaters Anonymous, lost 70 lbs,, developed a healthy spirituality and a healthy relationship with food.

6. Started my own private practice, which lasted about 15 years

7. 2006, made a decision to close my practice in NY and buy a home in southern California.

Lainie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

For as long as I can remember, I have been consumed with questions about how the universe works:

What is the meaning of life?

What is the purpose of my life?

Why are we here?

Why am I here? What are my greatest gifts?

What do I need to do to feel truly happy and fulfilled?

How can I serve others?

This longing led me on a lifelong journey of self-discovery and mastery, which eventually led to immense joy and peace.

Personally, I have had extremely positive experiences with various types of therapy and healing modalities: traditional talk therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, Core Energetic therapy, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), meditation.

My passion for self growth led me to various workshops, trainings, and/or private sessions with many amazing master teachers:

Karen Curry Parker, Founder & Creator – Quantum Human Design – certification

Maggie Ostara – Quantum Human Design/Sovereignty by Design Specialist – Quantum Human Design Reading and coaching.

Chetan Parkyn & Carola Eastwood – Human Design reading, workshop and coaching

Dr. Joe Dispenza – Author: Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, Becoming Supernatural. Attended weekend workshop & then weeklong Advanced Retreat.

Gary Zukov & Linda Francis – Author: The Seat of the Soul – retreat at Mt Shasta

Dr. Brian Weiss – Many Lives, Many Masters – private sessions

Ann Bradney – Core Energetics/Radical Aliveness

John Assaraf – The Street Kid’s Guide to Having It All – workshop/coaching

Jean Ghanem-Ybarra, PsyD – EMDR

Dr. Patrice Fields, PsyD – Spirit-evolving Coaching and Mentoring

For more than 15 years, I had my own private practice in New York as a traditional social work psychotherapist and a Core Energetic practitioner.

For 10 years, I worked as a hospice social worker. This experienced deepened my capacity for empathy and compassion.

My confidence in the healing power of Quantum Human Design, my belief in its capacity to have a significant positive impact on the world, and my passion and pleasure helping people create the life they want has led me to start a private practice as a transformational coach!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I use to be ruled by fear. I was afraid of making mistakes, afraid of looking foolish, afraid of not knowing the answer. This caused me to avoid challenges that took me outside of my comfort zone. How did I respond?
I procrastinated and avoided tasks that would move me forward and into the unknown.

Another way that fear has expressed itself in my life is through learned helplessness. I grew up more aware of things that I could not do than things I could do. I believed that I was not a good learner (other than psychology and sociology) so I tended to avoid trying things. I would ask others for help fixing and solving things and I would often ask multiple people for their opinions.

None of this was effective. Eventually, through a variety of excellent therapeutic modalities, I gained insight, self awareness and self confidence. I discovered the power of going inside me for the answers – and to my utter amazement – the answers are almost always there!

In addition to excellent insight-oriented and energetic therapy, I discovered the power of meditation to take me to my deepest truths and highest wisdom.

To illustrate the results in my life, through the power of my beliefs and strong will, I left all my friends and family in New York and moved to California in 2006 at the age of 55. In 2023, at the age of 73, I completed levels 1 and 2 of the Quantum Human Design Certification course, I created a new business as a transformational coach, I created a website, I am meditating daily, walking 3-5 miles a day, eating health food (high nutrition, low carb). As a 73 year old female, one of my proudest recent accomplishments has been purchasing a lawn mower and mowing and fertilizing my own lawn!

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Other than training/knowledge and skill, what I believe is most helpful for succeeding in any field, but certainly as a transformational coach, is passion and a strong belief in possibilities. I have overcome many obstacles in my life through a very strong belief that anything is possible. When we are not getting what we want, I believe this is largely due to long held negative beliefs, many of which are unconscious. As a result of moving through false beliefs in my own life, I have been able to confidently and authentically hold that belief for others until they are able get there themselves. I once had a female client who very much wanted to meet her soulmate. She had a very strong belief that the man of her dreams did not exist. I believed 100% that if she was willing to do the work – which meant exploring the messages of her childhood that led to her beliefs that she could and would turn this around. It took about 2 years for her to clear her “story”,
but she did and she did meet her “soulmate”.

Contact Info:

• Website: Createthelifeuwant.com

Image Credits
Carl Kravats, photographer