Gary J. DeAngelo

My name is Gary DeAngelo. I am no different from you, no wiser, no more complete. I stand here not as someone who has found all the answers, but as someone who has simply heard a calling in the stillness of life, a whisper carried on the wind that nudged me to listen more deeply. A carpenter by trade, I’ve spent most of my life building with my hands, shaping what I could touch, fixing what I could see. But as the storms of addiction raged through my life, it became clear that the things truly in need of repair were beyond the reach of my tools.

It was in the darkest of moments, in the silent space between all that had been and all that was yet to be, that I surrendered. I didn’t know what I was surrendering to at first, only that it was time to let go. And in that release, something began to shift. I wasn’t pulled from my darkness in a blaze of light; instead, it was as if a slow river carried me, gently, back to myself. The words of this book began to flow through me in that stillness, as if they had been waiting for this very moment to surface. What you will read here is not a tale of triumph, nor is it a manual for perfection. It is a quiet reflection of the journey we all must take—the journey inward, toward the heart of what is true.

I do not claim to be a guide or a sage. I don’t speak from a mountaintop. I walk the same path as you, often stumbling, often unsure, but always moving forward. What I offer you here is not a solution, but an invitation. An invitation to return to your own heart, to listen more deeply, to trust in the quiet knowing that lies within you, waiting patiently for you to turn inward.

As I walked through my own pain—my addiction, my loss—I realized that the very struggles that had broken me were also the very things that would lead me back to wholeness. What felt like destruction was, in truth, a rebirth. Each wave that crashed over me, each moment of doubt, each fall was not a sign of failure, but a part of the unfolding, a part of the way back home.

The words that fill these pages are not mine. They belong to all of us. They are the reflections of a truth that runs beneath the surface of every life. You may have felt it too—that quiet pulse, that rhythm that is always there, guiding us gently, patiently, as we learn to listen. And that is what this book is—a mirror, a reminder that everything you seek already exists within you. It is an invitation to awaken to the depth of your own being, to the light that never left you.

This book is a reflection of that surrender, a humble offering from one traveler to another. It is a reminder that we do not walk this path alone, that every step we take, we take together. We are all learning, all growing, all awakening. And as we awaken, we heal—not just ourselves, but the world around us.

I do not have the answers for you. But I do believe that the answers you seek are already within you, waiting to be uncovered. And so I offer you these words, these reflections, not as a guide, but as a companion. May they serve as a gentle nudge, a quiet reminder to trust yourself, to trust the unfolding, to trust the path that is uniquely yours.

I honor you for being here, for choosing to walk this path, for opening your heart to what is possible. Together, as we awaken, we return to the truth of who we are. We return to the simplicity of life. We return to the flow. And in that flow, we find everything we need.