WHEN EVERYTHING ELSE HAS FAILED
THE TRUTH
WILL SHOW THE WAY
Meet Ed Nissen
The Man Behind the Institute of Purpose
A Journey from Struggle to Triumph
In a small town whose residents had little hope, and even less ambition, to aspire to great things, Ed Nissen faced numerous obstacles that seemed insurmountable. Dropping out of school in the 9th grade, grappling with family trauma and tragedy, and battling addiction, Ed's journey was fraught with adversity. However, like any great hero, Ed was determined to rise above his circumstances.
In 2004, Ed turned a new leaf and began his journey towards recovery. His determination to overcome his past led him to obtain a master's degree and a clinical license as a psychotherapist. He went on to successfully build a sizable therapy practice from the ground up in Charlotte, NC, specializing in personality development, existential psychology, and Jungian psychology. Throughout these specialities, Ed also developed a niche for coaching, working extensively with high-achieving professionals.
Throughout his personal and professional journey, Ed experienced profound transformation as a man, particularly, within his marriage. His dedication to understanding male psychological development in the context of relationships culminated in the manuscript for a book on the subject.
While working with therapy clients, Ed became curious about why so many of them yearned for a sense of purpose even after reaching a place of healing. This curiosity grew into a passion, driving Ed to develop an organization dedicated to helping people discover their unique purpose and meaning in life. In 2022, the Institute of Purpose was born.
Through tireless effort, the Institute of Purpose now focuses on gathering data, performing analyses, and developing a psychometrically valid way to measure the sense of purpose experienced by individuals and groups.
Ed's personal philosophy guides him every step of the way. His aim is to bring more meaning into the world by telling the truth, as he perceives it within the bounds of his limited capacity to know the truth, with a determination to always seek the truth, and to deliver it with the thoughtfulness necessary for its reception by others.
Ed Nissen's remarkable story of resilience, transformation, and commitment to helping others discover their purpose aims to serve as an inspiration to all who encounter the Institute of Purpose. His dedication to truth and meaning has the power to positively impact countless lives, shaping a more purposeful and fulfilling world.
Ed's incredible journey from a troubled past to a successful psychotherapist then founder of the Institute of Purpose stands as a testament to the transformative power of purpose and meaning, which give rise to such determination. His relentless pursuit of meaning and truth has led him to create a groundbreaking organization that helps individuals, business, and institutions to discover and embrace their unique sense of purpose, both personally and collectively.
Working with Ed Nissen
Meaning and personality are my two primary areas of focus. Together they can produce profound results regardless of what program is best for you.
Coaching can help with improving yourself in just about every respect. It can inject order into your life as you are trying to navigate the complexities of the world. However, it is important that it be the appropriate order. While coaching may alleviate feelings of being lost in your career, relationships, and social life, many solutions offered in coaching only temporarily do so, often failing to impart useful knowledge that leads to implementable actions, which, in turn, sustain a meaningful life. Therefore, I aim to deliver a sustainable process that produces meaningful work.
There are many remarkable coaches and I am fortunate to know some of them. What I offer is unique in the sense that I have many profound experiences in my personal life that have shaped me over the last 30 years coupled with particular professional experiences that have refined my methods of helping people sort out their lives, find meaning, and begin discovering a deeper sense of purpose. I have designed two separate programs based on levels of intensity and primary area of developmental needs: individuals who are ready to elevate themselves; or teams who are primed for a deeper optimization of their collective performance.
My favorite Quotes…well, some of them
Viktor Frankl
What is to give light must endure burning.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment.
Don’t let us forget that the causes of human actions are usually immeasurably more complex and varied than our subsequent explanations of them.
Jordan Peterson
If it is resentment and bitterness and the consequent hatred that emerges from that tempting us toward the torment and destruction of everything that lives and suffers, then perhaps it is active love that aims at its betterment.
Søren Kierkegaard
Therefore do not deceive yourself! Of all deceivers fear most yourself!
Carl Jung
It is high time we realized that it is pointless to praise the light and preach it if nobody can see it. It is much more needful to teach people the art of seeing.
The finest and most significant conversations of my life were anonymous.
People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls.
Are we to understand the "imitation of Christ" in the sense that we should copy his life and, if I may use the expression, ape his stigmata; or in the deeper sense that we are to live our own proper lives as truly as he lived his in all its implications? It is no easy matter to live a life that is modeled on Christ's, but it is unspeakably harder to live one's own life as truly as Christ lived his.
The way to the self begins with conflict.
Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.
Friedrich Nietzsche
There is no such thing as moral phenomena, but only a moral interpretation of phenomena.
Quotes from Ed Nissen
It seems to me that the more successful and accomplished people become, the more they long to find deeper meaning in their lives.
As time goes on, things unfold for us, revealing things we did not know or understand before. Therefore, the reasons for our actions evolve, sometimes leading to a deepening of our current life or the dawn of a new one.
As my courage grows, so too does my fear.