82: DTN Podcast | Jim Alstott Ep. 82 | He Drowned and Woke Up at the Bottom of the Pool | Thayne Martin

He drowned in his own pool, woke up on the bottom under a full moon, and came back with an equation for happiness.

For years, Thayne Martin looked like a man who had it all figured out: six-time President's Club, top 10% nationwide, a career built on breaking sales records. Underneath it he was carrying a secret from childhood, abuse that began when he was a boy in Phoenix, and a stack of diagnoses that included dissociative identity disorder, bipolar I and complex PTSD. He tells us how he hid it, how it surfaced in a board meeting, and the woman who never gave up on him.

Then, on August 13, 2023, alone in the pool late at night, he had a seizure and drowned. It was his second near-death experience. He woke up at the bottom of the pool, calm, an atheist with no idea how to get out, until a voice said: move your head. What came back with him became ELAH, the Equation of Life and Abundant Happiness: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division applied to your emotional life, plus "net neutral," the "gratitude cocktail," and why he says fear is a direction, not a stop sign.

And stay for the Playlist Round: ZZ Top, Propaganda, Above & Beyond, Donna Summer with the Phoenix Symphony, and the song that carried a little boy over the rainbow.

This conversation includes Thayne's account of childhood sexual abuse, addiction and suicide attempts. If it brings something up for you, in the US you can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Thayne shares his own experience; nothing here is medical advice.

KEY TOPICSHiding childhood trauma behind a high-performing career · Dissociative identity disorder, without the Hollywood myth · Two near-death experiences by drowning · Leaving the victim story behind · ELAH: the Equation of Life and Abundant Happiness · Net positive, net negative and net neutral · Experiential gratitude and the "gratitude cocktail" · The principle of abundance · Music as vibration

SOUND BITES"I'm not a victim. I was never a victim. None of us are.""I woke up at the bottom of the pool. That's where I woke up.""Happiness in life comes when we're authentic, a hundred percent who we are without filters.""Fear is a sign and a direction. Fear just says I can learn something here.""There's only one thing on the other side. It's love."

CHAPTERS00:00 Intro01:36 Phoenix, age five, and the secret he carried03:42 "I'm not a victim. I was never a victim."05:24 Every diagnosis was a coping mechanism05:55 Seven pillboxes a day, and then zero06:17 August 13, 2023: alone in the pool at night07:02 Waking up at the bottom of the pool under a full moon08:09 An atheist comes back with a "download"10:02 "Move your head": the breath that got him out12:28 Six-time President's Club: what the man on stage believed14:40 The gap between the facade and the true self17:05 A life of success, and a secret underneath it18:19 The best liar in the world20:40 Gratitude and unconditional love as neuroscience21:56 Every sunrise since September 202422:26 Experiential gratitude and the "gratitude cocktail"25:18 Which diagnosis explained the most28:11 The board meeting that ended his career28:45 A love story: the woman who never gave up29:54 What he wishes someone had said31:38 Net positive, net negative, and living in net neutral34:37 Two near-death experiences: what the first one showed him37:55 The first thing he did when he came back39:18 Love as the power that operates everything40:48 Why we remember what we feel41:59 What happened to the men responsible43:24 A lawsuit, scholarships, and a donation-based program44:24 ELAH: why math is the language of the universe45:44 Add and subtract: balancing to neutral46:49 Multiply and divide: the principle of abundance48:59 From growing up scarce to giving it away50:09 Letting go of ego, and a love that never punishes51:34 Fifty years at the piano: everything is vibration54: