David Stamation, Executive Life Coach A Warmhearted Report from our Participants Couples come to our annual Love Retreat for many different reasons. Some are simply curious about how to deepen an already strong relationship. Others are looking for new tools to communicate better or bring more connection and vitality into their partnership. And sometimes one partner hears about the retreat first and invites the other to join them in exploring something new together. Save the

David Stamation, Executive Life Coach Boundaries without values are hollow constructions. Most of us have heard it in therapy, in coaching, from a friend over coffee: "You need to set better boundaries." I've fumbled with this one myself and spent years exploring it, both personally and with clients. I was a man with almost no boundaries. It showed up as anger — sudden, uncomfortable, relationship-straining anger. Nobody wants to be around that. So, I started digging into my

David Stamation, Executive Life Coach When Everything Is Good and You're Still Waiting for It to Fall Apart I've said it myself. I hear it from clients regularly. Everything is going well in relationships, family, business, and yet when describing what's good, many add reflexively: "But I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop." Or its companion phrase: "How long can this last?" It's a pessimism many of us build into our outlook. A hedge. A guard against something we can't see

David Stamation, Executive Life Coach "Track Day in my Evo 9" "I love it when you are in your purpose." Hearing that from my wife felt great. Here's what was happening. I was getting ready for the season-opening track day organizing the road trip, booking a tech inspection at the shop and swapping brake pads in the garage. In the Pacific Northwest, all the tracks reopen in April after winter break. It's a decades-old passion of mine. And apparently it shows. Where We Get It

David Stamation, Executive Life Coach High achievers have a particular relationship with avoidance. It doesn't look like laziness. It doesn't look like fear. It looks like a full calendar, a long accomplishment list, and a life that, by most visible measures, is working extremely well. And underneath all of it, quiet, patient, persistent, is the thing you keep not doing. You know what I mean. Not the tasks. The other thing. The conversation that keeps getting rescheduled in y

David Stamation, Executive Life Coach I've been indecisive. For a long time I didn't think much of it. Then I started paying attention to the energy it took to carry it around. Every unmade decision sitting on a mental to-do list, quietly draining me. When I finally saw what it was costing me, I couldn't unsee it. My emotional block was fear of failure. Everything had to be right before I'd move. So the list grew and grew. My strategy, though I wouldn't have called it that, w

David Stamation, Executive Life Coach Get playful, get curious. Take the Delegation Quiz . Here is what I hear most often from endodontists when the topic of delegation comes up. " To do it right, I have to do it myself." "I don't have time to explain it, so I'll just do it." "My name is on this." I call these bypasses. They sound reasonable and feel practical. But, they're rationalizations and underneath every rationalization is something worth examining, The Bypass is Not t

On Mission, Meaning, and What Comes After Dentistry David Stamation, Executive Life Coach Part Three of Three: What You Build Next . The Retirement Series. Here is something nobody tells you about high achievement. The precision. The focus. The discipline to keep growing long after you could have coasted. None of that disappears when you hand over the practice. It goes looking for somewhere to land. And if you don't give it somewhere to land, it turns inward. Restlessness. A

David Stamation, Executive Life Coach The Conversation Nobody Is Having Part Two of Three: What Your Retirement is Doing to Your Marriage. The Retirement Series In Part One , we talked about the identity question that arrives when the practice closes: Who am I without the work? For most retiring endodontists, that question is deeply personal. Private. Something you sit with alone. But you are not retiring alone. I see it often. Two people who built a life together around a d

David Stamation, Executive Life Coach A Retiring Doctor’s Worldview PART One of Three: Who Are You Without the Practice? The Retirement Series Over the next three posts, I’m going to walk through the three questions I hear most from retiring endodontists. Not the financial ones. The ones that arrive quietly, usually six months in, when the novelty of freedom wears off and something more complicated takes its place. This first post is about identity. The second is about marria

David Stamation, Executive Life Coach (I don’t mean that, but let’s look at what I am saying.) When we take on a new endeavor, most of us follow a familiar pattern. We set a structure. We promise to commit. Then we move straight into hard work. Productivity. Performance. Discipline. We try to brute-force our way to the outcome. We rush directly into doing, and we skip a crucial step. When the effort falters, which it often does, we turn inward with judgment. I’m lazy. I’m inc

David Stamation, Executive Life Coach If the new year has arrived without the spark, you expected leaving you feeling flat, uncertain, or quietly unmotivated, you’re not alone. This reflection explores why that feeling may be an invitation, not a problem, and how it can become the beginning of your next chapter. It’s also a great alternative to the productivity trap . The Start of the Year Doesn’t Feel Like I Expected it to We’re taught that January is supposed to feel electr

David Stamation, Executive Life Coach If you’ve been wondering whether something is wrong with you or whether your low energy is actually trying to tell you something important, this reflection is for you. Illness or Misalignment? In executive life coaching, one of the most common questions I hear is quiet and loaded: “Is something wrong with me… or am I just in a low season?” High performers are especially prone to mislabel their inner state. When energy dips, clarity fades,

David Stamation, Executive Life Coach This quiz is not about being “right.” It’s about becoming aware .Take it slowly. Take it together. Let curiosity replace defensiveness. How to Take the Quiz Sit side-by-side with no distractions. Each of you answers every question privately using this scale: 1 = Rarely | 2 = Sometimes | 3 = Often | 4 = Almost Always Do not discuss answers while taking it. When finished, compare your scores and talk about what you notice. Your goal is no

David Stamation, Executive Life Coach Most people think gratitude is about staying positive but what if it’s actually a mirror for your inner world? This reflection offers a deeper way to use gratitude, not as a mood boost, but as a powerful tool for awareness when life (and you) go off track. Gratitude is one of the simplest and most powerful practices I know. Not because it’s polite or positive, but because it’s orienting. It brings you back into relationship with what’s al

David Stamation, Executive Life Coach This reflection comes from my marriage with Cynthia and the work we do alongside couples at The Love Retreat. It’s an exploration of masculine energy as grounded presence, not control and how that embodiment creates the polarity that deepens connection, trust, and passion. Where Passion Comes From As I’ve embodied my masculine energy more fully, something remarkable has happened: passion returned. Not forced passion. Not performative pass

David Stamation, Executive Life Coach This approach tends to resonate most with people who are capable, driven, and tired of setting goals that don’t stick. Beyond Tips and Hacks and Into Process and Transformation This planning kit grew out of lived experience, not theory. Over the past year, life asked me to slow down in ways I didn’t choose through health challenges, shifting priorities, and moments that forced me to listen more closely to what my body and life were asking

by Cynthia Stamation A Note from Cynthia David’s article speaks about the masculine side of polarity and why initiation, planning, and leadership matter in relationship. What follows is the feminine completion. When a man steps forward to lead, something else must also happen for polarity and intimacy to return. This is the other half of the conversation. Includes a Quiz for women. When David wrote Men, Make Plans and Initiate , it brought language to a dynamic many couples

Used unconsciously, ‘sorry’ shrinks us. Used well, it builds trust. Once I tuned into it, I heard it everywhere: ordering food, asking a question, making a request. Leaders use it to soften directives. Parents use it to repair relationships. Growing up, when I crossed a line, my dad expected me to be contrite , a sincere apology and a heartfelt “sorry.” That early conditioning stayed with me and sparked a deeper question: what does “sorry” actually signal in adult relationshi

David Stamation, Executive Life Coach This blog explores how men unintentionally step back in relationships, creating tension and collapsing polarity and why initiating, planning, and leading restores connection, ease, and intimacy. Includes a quiz to reveal your default pattern. Restoring Polarity, Connection, and Leadership in Your Relationship As a husband, I’ve learned that the little things matter such as planning a date night, choosing the restaurant, deciding the outi