Live Love Now
About David
Today
David Steele, poet, writer, and life coach, has studied and taught a wide variety of interpersonal communication skills over the last thirty years. He has also studied mathematics, metaphysics, mythology, Tai Chi Ch’uan, computer science, cooking, and international politics. David is a founding member of the Rocky Mountain Compassionate Communication Network. He teaches classes on compassionate communication and consults with both groups and individuals on easing tense situations. He teaches classes on Hermetic philosophy and the mythological underpinnings of Tarot cards. He also teaches Spiral Dynamics as presented by Cindy Wigglesworth. David aspires to freedom, both personal and communal, and has an unwavering devotion to the well-being of the planet. He longs for the day when we share a respect for each other that leaves no room for pretense and deception, for the day when our faith in ourselves is secure and we are not threatened by expressions of truth that differ from our own. The day that we accept one another candidly and offer ourselves sincerely is the day that we will find freedom! The journey toward that day is great and long. It must be taken step by step. This web site is one of his steps in that direction.
The Beginning
Born in Denver Colorado, in 1956, David was a shy, studious child. He often stayed up late into the night, unbeknownst to his family, hunched under the covers in bed reading with a flashlight. His father died when he was young and his mother struggled to keep him and his sister clothed and fed. In first grade he took himself to school on the public bus system; his mother had to be at work long before the classroom doors were unlocked. During the summer, she frequently took the family to the mountains, sometimes just for a day, but often on meandering multi-day trips in her black Plymouth station wagon. David soon felt at home in the forest. His love of nature has only grown stronger over the years.
The 1970’s
As a teenager David was deeply involved in his Unitarian church youth group, LRY, where he was exposed to Group Process and Values Clarification training. He inhaled voraciously. The seeds of his passion for developing communication skills were sewn. He attended an outstanding national level training on “Religion Making” where participants took on sacred rituals from various cultures and explored how meaning can be evoked in a wide verity of ways. He then returned to his local church and conducted workshops based on the training. He was also deeply impacted by an intensive national training on death and dying based on Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s work, again, provided by the Unitarian Universalist Association. Many times he has been called on to support people in deep grief. In additions, David was trained to teach the Unitarian Universalist human sexuality curriculum. He taught several workshops with teenagers based on this curriculum. Finally, he got involved with Youth Adult communications (bridge the generation gap) and conducted several inter-generational communication workshops, while teaching Sunday School and heading his church Religious Education Committee. Though he is no longer vigorously active in the Unitarian Church, it left an indelible and welcome imprint on him. Profound were the trainings and transformations the Unitarians provided! A young man could not ask for a better launch into adulthood.
The 1980’s
As the eighties began, David encountered Robert Bly with his fairy story interpretations and was instantly enthralled. This lead to deep involvement with Carl Jung and archetypes, which led to extensive study of Joseph Campbell’s mythological work. He discovered the complex symbols encapsulated in Tarot cards and was fascinated by their ancient Greek and Egyptian roots. He was also stuck by their similarity to modern psychology, and began teaching classes about these similarities at Denver Free University. He took an intensive four-day course presented by an organization called Actualizations, called Creative Personal Interactions. It was a phenomenal look at how we unconsciously interact with one another and sculpt our relationships. This changed his life profoundly. He began studying Yang style short form Tai Chi Ch’uan and practices it to this day. In the mid eighties, David took an intensive Tony Robbins NLP/FireWalking seminar and was so taken by it that he got involved with a local organization, Masterful Discoveries, that put on NLP/FireWalking seminars. He has walked over hot coals numerous times and has integrated NLP awareness into his daily life. About this time he discovered R. Buckminster Fuller and became a devotee. He spent a year and a half working as a-part time dishwasher so he would have time to digest Fuller’s mathematical book, Synergitics. He then taught Denver Free University classes based on Synergitics. Throughout the eighties, his devotion to the Unitarian church was replaced by devotion to the Mercury Cafe where a bunch of hippies endeavored to ferment revolution by serving healthy organic food and provocative live entertainment. He did stage crew duty and appeared in a couple of plays. His involvement with the Mercury Cafe endures to this day.
The 1990’s
David’s nineties started with the Jean Houston Mystery School, one weekend a month for eight months. The theme was myths of the future. He studied science fiction, new myths that are emerging on the planet, and creative responses to emerging world problems. His next teacher was Deepak Chopra. David attended his week-long Seduction of Spirit course, two Advanced Seduction of Spirit courses and an intensive 5-day training, SyncroDesteny. He is now an avid mediator. The nineties also marked the ascendance of the personal computer and the birth of the internet. David was there, helping organizations adapt to computer networks. At the dawn of the nineties, he was a computer programmer creating an alpha pager dispatch system for McCaw Communications for use at the 1990 Good Will Games. By the end of the nineties he was helping credit unions make their complex computer systems behave securely. He was in the thick of the Y2K adventure.
The 2000’s
The twenty-first century began with David’s attendance at a week-long leadership training for men presented by the Men’s Leadership Alliance. It was an intensive look at the pressures we men face and an exploration of the roles we could take on in service to the planet. He led a four day workshop for the Men’s Leadership Alliance based on sacrifice and wounding one month after the 9/11 attacks. He then attended the Nine Gates Mystery School, founded by Gay Luce. Based on the body’s Chakra system, bringing in teachers from different world traditions – African, Asian, European, and North American. It spanned twenty days, split into two sessions six months apart. He enjoyed it so much, he joined the staff and worked with the school for two years. In mid decade David became concerned with sustainability and energy resources. He started a renewable energy company, installing solar panels, wind turbines, and giving seminars on renewable energy. When the finical collapse hit, David closed the renewable energy venture and shifted his efforts the world of Nonviolent Communication and the teachings of Marshal Rosenberg.