Introducing the “Healing Continuum Formula.” Are You Choosing Heart or Hell?

Introducing the “Healing Continuum Formula.” Are You Choosing Heart or Hell?

By Justin Breen

Of all the smart people I know, and there are thousands, Stephen Ibaraki (LinkedIn) is the brightest.

To say he is a genius is not enough. To list his awards and accolades would take up pages and pages, but to simplify, Stephen is a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, futurist, tech savant, teacher, analyst, brilliant writer, philanthropist, advisor and global speaker at the world’s top events all rolled up into one amazing human being.

I like talking to Stephen because as big as his brain is – and it’s massive – his heart is even bigger. Like every visionary, he has overcome tragedy. He has suffered greatly from deaths within his family. He cares deeply – very deeply – about his friends. I don’t think people really see Stephen’s heart the way I do, but I feel that’s his greatest gift.

We talk every few months via Zoom, and sometimes they’re recorded for his great podcast, which interviews some of the world’s top leaders. The recordings are fun because we can simplify and augment each other’s thoughts and feelings in real time, which is how we created what Stephen calls the “Healing Continuum Formula.”

We both see patterns through listening to leaders and organizing their thoughts and actions into phrases or doings. During our interview, I mentioned that most visionaries overcome or deal with all four of the following: 1. Bankruptcy or potential bankruptcy; 2. Depression; 3. Anxiety; and 4. Trauma as a child or young adult. Then leaders take those obstacles and turn them into companies or books or other “products” of value.

How I’ve seen this pattern evolve is, unfortunately, much of the time, the visionary is not healing themselves, and instead of creating something of positive value, they are taking their trauma or unhealed hearts and projecting into to a negative, something that does not help society and many times only pads their pockets.

Stephen took my pattern and turned it into this formula:

F = T … or Fear = Trauma

After the T, he put an “M” with a circle around it to represent “Material” gains.

And after the M, there were two arrows, one up and one down to an “H” in both directions. The “H” heading up represented “Healing, Heart and Higher Power.”

The “H” heading down represented “Hell.”

I’ve included my drawing from our podcast discussion in this article, and hopefully it makes sense.

Original drawing by Justin Breen on Feb. 19, 2026

To simplify the formula, which I think is the key to creating something of true value, here are a few facets.

1. The Fear and Trauma and necessary – yes, necessary – components for creation. Learning from those obstacles or lessons creates the Material gain (company, product, book, etc.)
2. The crucial choice comes from the “M” and what “H” direction do you want to go: Creating something that is guided by Healing, Heart and Higher Power; or something that leads you further into Hell (or more trauma)
3. I feel most visionaries currently are not following the upward arrow; instead they are overthinking their way into further Hell and despair because they are not following their hearts.

I feel what Stephen coined here can be a game-changing formula for anyone, whether it’s starting a company, choosing the right partner, or any everyday decision. It also can be a great way of transforming fear and trauma into pure heart and love. 

Making music through Corvia and other avenues has been a good example of this for me. Telling someone I love them unconditionally has been another. I have very little patience, so this formula also will be a key for me to slow things down to listen to my heart. 

I’m endlessly grateful to Stephen and others like him. He is a master of combining logic and brain with intuition and heart. I hope HCF takes off and helps others follow their hearts as well.

Note: I asked ChatGPT to make a drawing, and some of the words aren’t correct or in the right order, but it’s the basic idea that counts