"It gave me language, tools, and perspective that helped me stay present through change I couldn’t control"
The 7 Sacred States Challenge

"It gave me language, tools, and perspective that helped me stay present through change I couldn’t control"

When I Said “I’m Ready”
I didn’t grow up with much stability.
I was an only child raised by a mother with serious mental illness. Home was unpredictable. I learned early how to read the room, how to stay small, how to leave when things weren’t safe. I left home at sixteen. Later, I set a firm boundary and stepped away from my relationship with my mother.
Years after that, she died by suicide.
That loss changed how I see life. It stripped away any illusion that things are guaranteed. It also started a quiet search in me — not for success, but for a way to live that could hold grief without becoming hard. That search eventually led me to Mindvalley.
Knowingness
Even before everything fell apart, I knew my inner world needed attention.
I attended the same in-person retreat focused on embracing pain three times, because something in me knew that insight alone wasn’t enough. Be Extraordinary gave me a simple but powerful framework: that growth often involves letting something fall away before something new can take shape.
Faith
I built a business without a clear plan for where it would end.
I showed up consistently. I cared deeply about the people I worked with. Over time, it grew into a seven-figure company with award-winning projects. From the outside, it looked successful.
Underneath, I was carrying debt I didn’t want to face. I kept believing things would stabilize if I worked harder.
Faith, for me, looked like continuing forward without certainty — sometimes wisely, sometimes not.
Love
Over time, I also began to see that my marriage had become unbalanced. It was familiar and functional, but the connection had changed. When we chose to end it, I turned to the Conscious Uncoupling Quest to do that as cleanly and respectfully as possible.
Love, in that season, meant honesty.
Stillness
As financial pressure increased, I slowed down rather than pushing harder.
I meditated more. I listened more. Through the Silva practices, I learned how to stay present with fear instead of reacting to it. Stillness didn’t solve anything immediately — it just helped me stay grounded enough to keep making the next right choice.
Devotion
Eventually, the pressure exposed cracks everywhere.
Business partners I trusted made decisions behind closed doors. I was pushed out of the team I had built. Projects, clients, and income disappeared quickly.
I sold my home to try to avoid bankruptcy. It wasn’t enough.
Around that time, I quietly said to the Universe, “I’m ready.”
 Not for success — just for whatever would help me live more truthfully.
What followed was hard. There’s no other way to say it.
Nonattachment (Where I Am Now)
What I see clearly now is how attached I was to who I thought I needed to be.
Nonattachment isn’t something I’ve achieved. It’s something I practice — especially while I’m still rebuilding financially. For me, it looks like continuing to create and contribute without needing immediate results to prove my worth.
Receiving (Where I Am Now)
Receiving is the state I’m learning most slowly.
I’ve always known how to give. Even now, with limited resources, I give what I can to people who have less — because that keeps me connected to my values.
Receiving means letting support come without embarrassment. Letting life help without insisting I earn it first. This is ongoing work for me.
Why I’m Here
I’m not sharing this from the other side of the journey.
I’m still in it.
What Mindvalley — especially Be Extraordinary and Silva — gave me wasn’t a promise of outcomes. It gave me language, tools, and perspective that helped me stay present through change I couldn’t control.
Vishen — for me, being extraordinary hasn’t meant rising above difficulty.
 It’s meant staying open, honest, and human while moving through it.

Cheri Stringer

Life Coach

Longmont, United States

Related Stories

The 7 Sacred States Challenge

"I am so in peace and aligned about my actions, my goals, my desires. I can hardly believe such a profound shift could happen in "only 7 hours" of learning"

I attended every session, got value in all of them, and the most impactful was RECEIVING. It wrapped up all the other states, and gave me the insight that blocks to receiving come from when the nervous system...
Read more

Junia Freitas

Banking Manager

Collingwood, Canada

The 7 Sacred States Challenge

"I highly recommend the upcoming 5 months learning from Vishen and others around the seven sacred states. It WILL change your life"

The seven sacred states really opened me up. Before, I had never considered these seven states. In seven short hours Vishen was able to convey the deep nature of these states and the connectivity between them. And now with an alter of 7 reminders it is easy to take time to focus on one of...
Read more

Trish Kruse

Entrepreneur

Boise, United States

The 7 Sacred States Challenge

"I have set the goal to become a professional public speaker and to do speaking and influence mastery in 2026"

I really enjoyed the 7 states challenge. The states that most impacted me were faith and receiving. Leaving in a state of certainty that my financial needs will be met is a true challenge. Having total faith in a benevolent Universe that always supports me is a journey and a path I'm...
Read more

Peggy Ebring

Author

Fort-de-France, Martinique

The 7 Sacred States Challenge

with Vishen

Mindvalley is fueled by your stories

Our community runs on voices like yours. It keep us going, and keeps us grounded.
Tell us like it is. What's your story?
Tell us your Story