Tim Carter — former Global Brand Director at Virgin for two decades — shares his powerful personal transformation experience with INLIBRIUM. After decades in corporate branding and marketing, Carter faced a crisis of meaning following his brother’s death and his father’s declining health. The experience included comprehensive health optimization through DNA testing, followed by supervised psychedelic-assisted therapy sessions with Dr. Lebedev. During his sessions, Carter experienced profound moments and a deep meeting with his authentic self beyond professional roles and achievements. The transformation helped him realize his true nature and refocus on what matters most. He emphasizes that the psychedelic-assisted therapy experience is just one component of a broader life optimization process that requires visiting both painful and joyful places to achieve authentic living.
Tim Carter — former Global Brand Director at Virgin for two decades — shares his powerful personal transformation experience with INLIBRIUM. After decades in corporate branding and marketing, Carter faced a crisis of meaning following his brother’s death and his father’s declining health. The experience included comprehensive health optimization through DNA testing, followed by supervised psychedelic-assisted therapy sessions with Dr. Lebedev. During his sessions, Carter experienced profound moments and a deep meeting with his authentic self beyond professional roles and achievements. The transformation helped him realize his true nature and refocus on what matters most. He emphasizes that the psychedelic-assisted therapy experience is just one component of a broader life optimization process that requires visiting both painful and joyful places to achieve authentic living.
In his own words
There's certain things that you have to do, certain games that you have to play, certain roles that you have to take on. It's probably because of the notion that you have to chase money. You have to chase money in order to give, or have this and have that, and so you get stuck in that spiral, I guess.
I'm Tim Carter. My world is branding, brand and marketing. I've worked for numerous big companies, and then I was fortunate enough to work for the Virgin brand for two decades as the Global Brand Director.
People have worked all their lives, given their loyalty, given, you know, themselves to the business, and then you become a target for corporate land to f***ing nail you. We need to get rid of that one, get rid of that one, get rid of that one, let's bring in a young one, it's going to cost us less. F***ing ageism all over the show. Okay, you can see now I'm getting angry, because it really annoys me. At the end of the day, it's just about the money.
So, I've lived apart from my family. There's been almost like a void of 25, 30 years where my family left and I stayed behind. I didn't really know them. And all of a sudden, I got to see my dad this year, and it was under very sad circumstances, because, you know, my big brother passed away. And my father at the moment, he's not in great health. So, yeah, there's this impermanence to life, which is a bit of a wake-up call.
I've traveled all over the world, I've built the life, I've had the family, got the children, lots of sport achievements. So you kind of get to this point where you're like, is that all there is, or is this it? And so how do I optimize the next period of my life? Because impermanence implies to me as well. And that was probably the main thing that prompted me to say yes to Monika and Hardi.
One of the things that happens in this experience is that you are quite clear: the gene testing, the DNA testing, and understanding exactly, have I optimized my cells, my mitochondria, my minerals? That's really interesting.
But, you know, I'm not from a world of experimenting with drugs. The most I've ever done as a teenager was smoke some grass. And so it's a little bit nerve-wracking. Are you able to let yourself go, or are you able to be vulnerable, in an environment like that? And Alex is this very intelligent... he has a PhD, he's an MD, and obviously he understands this process. I truly felt safe.
It's difficult to articulate it, but I closed my eyes and... there was a lot of a rush, of this wave of an incredible crescendo, and... there's no clutter. And I opened my eyes and I looked straight at Alex, because he was sitting right there, and he just looked straight at me, and around him there was a sort of, the silhouette of his face, and it was my brother. He just... there. He was just there. Whatever's just happened, thank you so much, because that's my brother, and he's... and he's okay.
It was quite a shocking experience for me, because I've never done anything like that. But the second time, probably the most powerful thing for me was that I truly met myself. Not the role I play, you know, not the achiever and the mask, or whatever you want to call it, but I truly met myself. And that, for me, is a hugely powerful thing as I move forward.
So it's not just a psychedelic experience, by no means. In fact, that's just one aspect of it. Now it becomes an optimization in order to live your best life on your way to impermanence. And you have to go to some painful places, and some joyful places, to get there.
I realized that my true self is actually a lighthearted, humorous fellow, and this experience has helped me not to take things that seriously. Have some fun, be lighthearted. Might sound a bit frivolous, actually, but f*** it, I owe it to myself. And the world is putting that stuff in front of me, has put a granddaughter in front of me. God, it's like you owe it to yourself to enjoy that.
And there's so much that's crystallized, to the point where I'm really looking forward to this next chapter. Fortunately, I have my own company with my sons, and so it's pushing me to be present for them and mentor them. After all of these years of gaining intelligence and wisdom, you have a role to play in their lives, and that's a huge responsibility that I'm not taking lightly.
There are three things that man fears: to trust, to tell the truth, and to be yourself. And there's something about that that really wraps this entire process up for me.
There's certain things that you have to do, certain games that you have to play, certain roles that you have to take on. It's probably because of the notion that you have to chase money. You have to chase money in order to give, or have this and have that, and so you get stuck in that spiral, I guess.
I'm Tim Carter. My world is branding, brand and marketing. I've worked for numerous big companies, and then I was fortunate enough to work for the Virgin brand for two decades as the Global Brand Director.
People have worked all their lives, given their loyalty, given, you know, themselves to the business, and then you become a target for corporate land to f***ing nail you. We need to get rid of that one, get rid of that one, get rid of that one, let's bring in a young one, it's going to cost us less. F***ing ageism all over the show. Okay, you can see now I'm getting angry, because it really annoys me. At the end of the day, it's just about the money.
So, I've lived apart from my family. There's been almost like a void of 25, 30 years where my family left and I stayed behind. I didn't really know them. And all of a sudden, I got to see my dad this year, and it was under very sad circumstances, because, you know, my big brother passed away. And my father at the moment, he's not in great health. So, yeah, there's this impermanence to life, which is a bit of a wake-up call.
I've traveled all over the world, I've built the life, I've had the family, got the children, lots of sport achievements. So you kind of get to this point where you're like, is that all there is, or is this it? And so how do I optimize the next period of my life? Because impermanence implies to me as well. And that was probably the main thing that prompted me to say yes to Monika and Hardi.
One of the things that happens in this experience is that you are quite clear: the gene testing, the DNA testing, and understanding exactly, have I optimized my cells, my mitochondria, my minerals? That's really interesting.
But, you know, I'm not from a world of experimenting with drugs. The most I've ever done as a teenager was smoke some grass. And so it's a little bit nerve-wracking. Are you able to let yourself go, or are you able to be vulnerable, in an environment like that? And Alex is this very intelligent... he has a PhD, he's an MD, and obviously he understands this process. I truly felt safe.
It's difficult to articulate it, but I closed my eyes and... there was a lot of a rush, of this wave of an incredible crescendo, and... there's no clutter. And I opened my eyes and I looked straight at Alex, because he was sitting right there, and he just looked straight at me, and around him there was a sort of, the silhouette of his face, and it was my brother. He just... there. He was just there. Whatever's just happened, thank you so much, because that's my brother, and he's... and he's okay.
It was quite a shocking experience for me, because I've never done anything like that. But the second time, probably the most powerful thing for me was that I truly met myself. Not the role I play, you know, not the achiever and the mask, or whatever you want to call it, but I truly met myself. And that, for me, is a hugely powerful thing as I move forward.
So it's not just a psychedelic experience, by no means. In fact, that's just one aspect of it. Now it becomes an optimization in order to live your best life on your way to impermanence. And you have to go to some painful places, and some joyful places, to get there.
I realized that my true self is actually a lighthearted, humorous fellow, and this experience has helped me not to take things that seriously. Have some fun, be lighthearted. Might sound a bit frivolous, actually, but f*** it, I owe it to myself. And the world is putting that stuff in front of me, has put a granddaughter in front of me. God, it's like you owe it to yourself to enjoy that.
And there's so much that's crystallized, to the point where I'm really looking forward to this next chapter. Fortunately, I have my own company with my sons, and so it's pushing me to be present for them and mentor them. After all of these years of gaining intelligence and wisdom, you have a role to play in their lives, and that's a huge responsibility that I'm not taking lightly.
There are three things that man fears: to trust, to tell the truth, and to be yourself. And there's something about that that really wraps this entire process up for me.