We’re human. Sometimes knowing that allows us to give ourselves a pass. Sometimes it just makes everything a bit more challenging.

I don’t show up to teach you. I show up to experience you — to share what I’m receiving from your gifts as a human being, and how those gifts can lift you up when you’re not feeling it yourself.

“I can’t imagine anybody I’d rather have in my corner for a new project or a new perspective than Fred Cohn. He’s balanced, practical, wise, and funny.” — Jonathan Boyarin, Scholar, Professor, Author

I know the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness comes and goes, moment by moment, beautiful and ephemeral. Joy is different. It’s more of a welling up. A gratitude for being here, even when things are difficult. I struggled with feeling true joy for many years. And now I can locate it in my body. That changes everything.

I don’t have answers. I do have compassion. I pay attention. I don’t think regret is a useful way to assess the past.  A good friend once told me to replace “I regret this or that” with “Knowing what I know now, I’d probably make different choices.” That’s about being kinder to ourselves.

“Just between you and me, I have a tendency to procrastinate. Despite my best intentions, I so often don’t get around to it, whatever ‘it’ is. That’s where Fred is a huge help. Without nagging or scolding, he helps me get unstuck and move forward. So I never feel embarrassed or pressured. But I do feel a sense of accomplishment when I’ve taken the action I needed to take — with a little help from Fred.” — Catherine Johns, Professional Speaker, Coach

I’m Fred. I’m 70. I’m not perfect. I had wonderful parents — not my doing, just happened that way — and I don’t make them into saints now that they’re gone. They did the best they could. The rest is on me.

I don’t have a life philosophy. I don’t know what comes after this life. But patience, compassion, and humility (however slippery that last one is)  matter to me, and I try to bring those into every conversation I’m fortunate enough to have.

“Having worked with Fred for almost four years now, I can no longer imagine life before Fred. A gentle, wise soul, he is a unique combination of systems thinker, tech wizard, poet, novelist, and artist. Fred has never let me down or steered me wrong, and that is everything.” — Patti Digh, Author, Life is a Verb

If you’d like to think something through — something you’re carrying, something you’re trying to figure out, something you just need to say out loud to someone who will really listen — I’m here for that.

A conversation is fifty minutes to an hour. $80. No package, no commitment beyond the call itself. You pick the time.

“Nobody is richer than Fred in wisdom and insight, compassion and empathy, humor and humility, creativity and practicality, and life experience with a moral compass. Fred synthesizes the pursuit of success with those values that keep you tethered to your core humanity. Ten stars on a scale of five.” — Steve Erickson, Author

Sometimes a good conversation is all it takes. Find me when you’re ready.