Diederik Wolsak, RPC MPCP
He was not looking for a method. He was looking for relief.
From the outside it had all worked. A business, an international athletic career, a life that photographed well. Underneath it, a self-hatred that no achievement had ever managed to quiet for more than a week at a time.
He was not planning to found anything. At fifty, he was trying to find a reason to keep going.
The years before
Everything worked except the thing that mattered
Diederik was born on Java in 1942 and spent the first three years of his life in Japanese concentration camps. At eight he was sent to a foster home in Holland. By the time he rejoined his parents and brothers two years later, he was carrying a self-hatred and a fear of the world that would take him another four decades to put down.
That self-hatred was productive, in the way it often is. It made him a successful businessman and an international athlete. It allowed him almost no joy. Alongside it ran years of alcohol and drug abuse, and long stretches of depression that the achievements did nothing to touch.
He was fifty when he arrived at the point that brings most people here — the recognition that there had to be a better way, or there would be no point in continuing.
What he found
A sentence he had been carrying a very long time
What he found, on the spiritual path he took after that, was that his suffering was not being caused by his circumstances at all. It was being generated, continuously, by something a small boy had decided about himself in order to survive what was happening around him — and had never once revisited since.
Seen plainly, from adulthood, that conclusion could not survive. And what he noticed next was the useful part: the seeing had a shape to it. There were moves, and they went in an order, and the order mattered.
He wrote them down. That became the Six Steps to Freedom.
The method, step by stepThe Six Steps to Freedom
1 Awareness
2 Willingness
3 Core Belief
4 Responsibility
5 Forgiveness
6 Choose Again
He wrote them down deliberately, so the work would not depend on him.
Twenty years of it
What he did with what he found
2006
Founded the Choose Again Attitudinal Healing Centre at El Cielo in Costa Rica, where the retreats still run today.
Thousands
Of people guided through the Six Steps — in retreats, circles, and one-on-one counseling.
Evaluated
The program was independently evaluated in 2014 — few organizations in this field have submitted to one.
A book
Choose Again: Six Steps to Freedom — the method written out, so anyone can practice it alone.
He also trained the facilitators who carry the work now. That was deliberate. A method that only one man can deliver is not a method — it is a personality, and personalities do not outlive the person.
Clients notice two things quickly. The first is that they are being trained to become independent of their counsellor rather than reliant on him. The second is that he has been in most of the places they are describing — the depression, the substance abuse, the self-hatred — and is not shocked by any of it. Ask him how far he has come and he will tell you he is a work in progress.
What people say about working with him
The reason people travel a long way to sit with him
"Direct and eloquent… a practical six-step program to self-liberation."
Gabor Maté, MD — bestselling author
"Inspirational in a way that touched my soul at its very core. Learning from him is a gift that keeps on giving."
Open Circle participant
"His wisdom, compassion, and ability to help people see beyond their limitations are nothing short of inspiring."
Ollie — Managing Director, Participant 2026
In his own words, each morning
He still writes every single day
Each morning Diederik takes a line from someone worth reading — Rumi, Hafiz, Thich Nhat Hanh, Thomas More — and writes his own reflection on it. Not curated quotes; whatever he is actually thinking about that day.
It is the closest thing to sitting with him without booking anything. Free, two minutes, and you can stop any morning you like.
Read the Daily MeditationA recent morning
"Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet."
Thich Nhat Hanh
"This is a declaration of wonder and joyful acceptance. This is a dare to even just become aware of the treasures, to accept the possibility of treasure."
Love,
Diederik
Not only him
The facilitators who carry the work now
Choose Again facilitators have done this work on themselves — often arriving as participants first, carrying something of their own. That is not a credential you can study for, and it is the reason nobody in the room will flinch at whatever you bring.
Diederik still leads the monthly Open Circle himself, and still sits with people one-on-one.
Start here
The sentence you are carrying can be put down
Diederik found his. Eight short questions will tell you where we would start you on finding yours — two minutes, no cost, and no email needed to see your result.
Choose Again USA
Choose Again USA, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit and the American sister organization to Choose Again, founded by Diederik Wolsak.
© 2026 Choose Again USA, Inc. · Choose Again is not a substitute for medical or psychiatric care. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.
