Julian Merten

If you’re reading this, chances are something in your life is stuck right now. 

By now maybe even frustrated, exhausted, or still stressed.

You thought about this a lot already. Come up with a lot of plans and solutions... but they don't seem to work anymore. By now it's just overthinking...

You’re smart. Capable. You’ve built a life where your thinking actually matters. And it has taken you far. People respect you for it. They rely on you.

You "should" be happy now... But you are not.

Maybe you keep asking yourself whether what you’re doing is good enough.
Maybe you replay decisions long after they’re made.
Maybe you feel busy, productive, and yet strangely unsettled.
As if you’re always one step away from finally feeling at ease.

For a long time, I tried to think my way out of doubt, too. I got more insights. More understanding. More clarity. And while that helped, it never really brought the kind of calm or trust I was looking for.

My work is for people who sense that too.

People who are done trying to optimize themselves into peace. Because it never works. 

Thinking things through has probably helped you solve many problems in your life. It’s one of the reasons you’ve gotten this far.

But the mind has a strange habit. When something feels uncertain or important, it keeps trying to solve it by thinking harder.

And at some point the thinking stops producing clarity… and starts producing noise.

That’s the moment where the problem isn’t a lack of insight anymore.
It’s that the mind never stops trying.

And when that loop quiets down, something interesting happens…

A world opens up in which life is filled with joy, curiosity, boundless energy, and humor. That is all there in this moment. But your current way of thinking is preventing it.

Breaking the pattern

Life is boundless and has endless opportunities. Sometimes everything shifts in a moment. But only if we allow ourselves to stop bracing for impact all the time. Being in fear. Life is giving you hints to evolve and to grow.

I believe you can do that, and you did that already. So now it's time to unlearn, to come back to this joyful, free, and curious mind. One that makes you feel grounded, strong, and light at the same time.

What actually happens when we sit down and talk?

Most people who come to me are not lacking insight.
In fact, they usually have too much of it.

• They’ve already analyzed the situation from every possible angle.
• They understand where their thoughts come from.
• They’ve read the books. 
• Reflected. 
• Tried different strategies.

And yet the mind keeps returning to the same questions.

Not because something is wrong with them. But because the mind has learned to keep searching for certainty where certainty doesn’t exist.

In our conversations we slow that process down.

Not by trying to control the mind or force positive thinking.
But by looking at the patterns that keep the cycle going.

Often these patterns are surprisingly simple once you see them.
And once they are seen clearly, something interesting happens.

The pressure to solve everything in your head starts to loosen.

From there, a different kind of clarity becomes available.
One that isn’t forced or constructed.

People often describe it as feeling more grounded, calm, and trusting of themselves again.

Not because all questions disappear.

But because they no longer need to fight their own mind all the time.

About me

My name is Julian.

I’m a psychologist, meditation teacher, and someone who has been fascinated by the human mind for a long time.

At the time I was living on a farm in Australia. During the day I worked outside, and in the evenings I sat down with online psychology courses, trying to understand what was happening inside this strange “black box” we all carry around.

The mind.

It shapes how we experience the world, how we interpret events, and how we feel about ourselves. Yet almost none of us were ever taught how it actually works.

Our perspective on things can make them look vastly different.

This curiosity eventually led me to study psychology. But while the academic side helped me understand the theory, I became more interested in something else:

The direct experience of the mind.

That curiosity brought me deeper into meditation. Over the years it became a daily practice, and eventually I traveled to Nepal to attend a 10-day silent meditation retreat.

Ten days of silence.
Ten hours of meditation a day, starting at 4:30 in the morning.

Something shifted there.

For the first time, experienced what it felt like when the mind becomes completely still. Like a calm lake without ripples.

It’s hard to describe, but it was similar to understanding a magic trick or seeing through an optical illusion. Once you’ve seen it clearly, you can’t quite go back to seeing it the same way as before.

That experience fundamentally changed how I related to my own mind.

Instead of trying to control life or think my way out of every uncertainty, I became more interested in understanding the filters through which the mind interprets reality.

Over the past decade I’ve continued exploring these questions while living and working in different places around the world. Australia, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Taiwan, the Philippines, Uruguay, and more.

Living in different cultures reinforced something I had already begun to see:

There is never just one way of experiencing the world.

Much of what we feel is shaped by the patterns through which the mind interprets life.

Today my work is an extension of that curiosity.

Through coaching, meditation, and hypnosis I help people explore the patterns of their own thinking and rediscover something that is often already there underneath the noise:

A quieter mind.
A clearer perspective.
And a more grounded sense of trust in themselves.

But in order to understand it fully, one cannot forget the body. There is a big focus in my work to look at how you care for your body. It has a huge influence on our perception of the world.

You might know it yourself. When you are angry or in pain, the world can seem bad and cruel. 

This helps to get to the root of the problem by looking at it holistically and dynamically. Not just as a thing to fix but as a process that can be understood and flowed with. 

Who this work is for

The people I usually work with are thoughtful, capable, and used to figuring things out on their own.

Often they have already tried many things. Reading, reflecting, optimizing their routines, trying to think their way to more clarity.

But at some point they realize that more thinking isn’t necessarily bringing them closer to the calm or trust they’re looking for.

They’re not looking for another productivity system.

They’re more interested in understanding their own mind and changing their relationship with it.

If that resonates with you, we will probably have a good conversation.

Who this is not for

This work is probably not the right fit if you’re looking for quick fixes, life hacks, or another framework to optimize yourself.

It also won’t be helpful if you’re hoping that someone else has the perfect answer for your situation.

I don’t see my role as giving solutions.

What I do instead is help you explore your own thinking more clearly — so that the answers that are already there become easier to see. I mirror things back that are hard to see from the inside.

A first conversation

If something in these words resonates with you, the easiest way to explore this further is a short conversation.

I offer a 30-minute clarity session where we take a look at what’s currently on your mind and see whether a different perspective opens up.

This isn’t a sales call.

It’s simply a chance for you to experience what a conversation like this can feel like.

Sometimes even a short conversation already shifts something.

And if it feels useful, we can talk about continuing the work together.
If not, that’s completely fine too.

You can book a time here.

What others say

What changed during the coaching?

Apart from literally everything, my biggest success is my own perception of myself. I changed my beliefs into a positive mindset that enables me to achieve my set goals, to create a vision, and to tackle any challenge with a smile and excitement. I don't feel little anymore, or stupid or not capable. I now know that I have all the qualities I need in order to fulfill my life. I am now and finally the director of my own life; I created a vision, and I feel encouraged to pursue it. And all with the great and professional support of Julian, who managed to unwind all the mess in my head and in my heart. Julian has shown me the long-lost pocket where I kept the key to all my potential. And he encouraged me to grab and use it. I know the journey is not over, and I can't wait to unlock deeper parts of myself.”

• Jan Lawyer

I contacted Julian because I had the feeling not to live the way I am. I sought help in finding out who I am and how to direct my life that way by forming habits and reflecting on where I am and where I want to get to. The calm and direct approach of Julian helped me a lot. I really needed someone who would be able to make me feel safe but could also confront me whenever I was fooling myself throughout the process. 

• Jasper