From Zero to Hero-Doing The Math
My First Ship
I showed up in Hawaii, and magical things began to unfold. It all began with one simple decision—to go.
Hero Header · Answer the CallMy Hawaiian Adventure and Following Bliss
The audio companion to the first doorway: Hawaii, following bliss, hidden hands, and the decision to answer the call before the full map appeared.
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My Hawaiian Adventure and Following Bliss
Ever have those moments where it feels like uh the universe just lines up perfectly for you?
Absolutely. Like everything just clicks into place?
Yeah. Where you know seemingly random skills or experiences suddenly come together and poof, an unexpected door opens.
Mhm. It often feels like luck, but maybe it's something else, too.
Well, that's exactly the kind of uncanny alignment we're exploring today.
We're diving into the uh really fascinating journey of Ed Reif.
It's quite a story. Looking back, you can almost see a kind of hidden logic in the twists and turns his life took.
Exactly. And we've got some great material here. Ed's own stories, his thoughts on life, philosophy, some behind-the-scenes stuff from well, both the maritime world and the entertainment industry.
A unique combination for sure.
So, our mission today in this deep dive is really to try and understand how Ed Reif through this mix of um solid preparation and a certain mindset,
being present maybe.
Yeah. Being present, being prepared, how he seemed to consistently find himself you know, in the right place at the right time.
From sailing ships to acting and Lost in uh a Hollywood movie. It's quite the range.
It really is. Okay, let's unpack this. Where should we start? Maybe his seafaring days.
Yeah, let's start there. His time at the Harry Lundberg School of Seamanship. What strikes me right away is how proactive he was. Very specific skills.
Absolutely. This wasn't just like a casual interest. He really dove in, got that STCW95 certification. Standard of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping. That's serious,
right? And it led to his US Coast Guard merchant mariner Z-card. That shows real commitment, you know, getting tangible skills in a pretty demanding field.
And the courses themselves, basic firefighting, first aid, CPR, personal safety, survival training. These are intense.
He wasn't messing around. It suggests he was preparing for, well, potentially critical situations at sea.
Definitely. He even mentions feeling like mission accomplished after the firefighting course, which included tackling different kinds of fires.
You see that drive, right? To not just learn, but to master it. For you listening, I think a key thing here is how investing in those foundational skills,
even if you don't know exactly where they'll lead
precisely. They could open up pathways you never expected and then after all this intense prep, he's cruising the Hawaiian Islands.
Yeah. And experiencing aloha time.
Talk about a contrast from strict maritime protocols to this
uh more fluid patient rhythm, where things happen when they're ready.
It really shows adaptability, doesn't it? Thriving in discipline, but also understanding flow.
Yeah. Learning to be prepared, but also learning to just be present.
Yeah.
Which kind of sets the stage for the next big turn. The
Hollywood shift. Unexpected, right?
Totally. He moves from Maui to Oahu. And for a while, he's actually living out of his car. Not exactly the glamorous Hollywood entry most people imagine.
No. But it shows that willingness to, you know, embrace uncertainty, to follow a path even without a clear map.
So, he sends out his head shot, takes a chance,
and then boom, a call from Hawaii Film Studios, but not quite how he might have pictured it,
right? The funny part is they didn't cast him as the lead because he looked too much like the main actor.
Almost typecast by resemblance. Wild.
But instead of hitting a wall, it turned into something else. An opportunity
stunt double work on a little show called Lost.
Yeah. Just a small unknown series. No, a massive hit. He was Terry O'Quinn's stunt and photo double.
And that's a great example, isn't it? Being open to things that aren't exactly your initial plan. He didn't say, "No, I want to act." He took the gig.
He leveraged his physical abilities. Found a way in, which connects to his philosophy, this idea of being there and following your bliss.
Mhm. He brings up Huna.
Yeah. The Hawaiian philosophy, tapping into that life force, chi, whatever you want to call it.
It suggests the sort of receptiveness, doesn't it, to the energy around him, maybe a belief in a certain flow.
And it wasn't just acting. He talks about teaching contracts too, seemingly out of the blue,
more examples of opportunities just
appearing.
And his advice for his students, it really sums it up. Follow your bliss.
Echoing Joseph Campbell, Campbell's whole idea about the hidden hands guiding you when you pursue what genuinely calls to you.
Doors opening where you didn't even see walls before.
It really makes you think, doesn't it for you listening, how does pursuing what you're truly passionate about maybe make you more available for those unexpected chances.
It feels like more than just luck when he moves back to LA after Lost. He's actually thinking about um driving trucks, something stable.
But then he sees that yellow sign, a film sign.
And crucially, he knows what it means. Last minute background work. He'd done this before, seeking out these speculating gigs.
He had a method. He knew how to find these shoots. It wasn't pure chance he was there.
And getting those union vouchers, what was it? Four out of seven times just by showing up.
Yeah, it really hammers home that point about just being available, putting yourself physically in the place where opportunity might strike.
Woody Allen's quote, right? 80% of success is showing up.
Something like that. And then the chance meeting with Steve, the assistant director,
who remembered him from a previous connection shows how networking, even brief encounters, can pay off later.
Absolutely. And that connection leads directly to the Richard Elfman film Modern Vampires, originally called The Revenant, I think.
Right. With Casper and Natasha Gregson Wagner, Kim Cattrall,
and he goes from just being background, a union extra, to getting an actual speaking part, a day player contract, all from an onset audition.
Even the AD called him a lucky dog. It was clearly unusual.
And that's where the Taft-Hartley Act comes in. That US labor law letting you join the union after getting a union job basically.
But again, opportunity met preparation. He still had to deliver in that impromptu audition.
And he gets this small but uh pretty memorable speaking role. What was the line?
"I'm an attorney. You'll never get away with this." Right before his character meets a sticky end.
Classic. And even in that moment, that whirlwind of getting the part, he's still learning, picking up tips from the sound guy about whispering for projection
and getting notes from the director about his New York accent. Always absorbing, always adapting.
Yeah. Constantly open. And then there's the practical side. Getting Taft-Hartley'd, it meant he had to pay union dues. Big dues,
right? Suddenly needing to come up with the initiation fee
and his plan potentially selling his Super Bowl ticket. It just shows his incredible resourcefulness connecting completely unrelated parts of his life to solve a problem.
It wasn't just about the lucky breaks falling into his lap. It was how he handled them, how he navigated everything.
So looking at Ed Reif's whole journey, it really seems like it's not just chance. There's this underlying current of intention.
That moment under the Waikiki banyan tree he mentions committing to go for it.
Exactly. That conscious decision combined with this uh readiness, being prepared from his seafaring days, being open
and his understanding of aloha. It's not just hello, goodbye,
right? It's that deeper philosophy, being present, love, peace, compassion. It seems like that informed how he interacted with people, how he approached things.
Maybe it made him more receptive to those positive connections, those opportunities, like his later work as a cruise director where he consciously brought in that Hawaiian spirit, the Huna principles.
He wasn't just playing a role.
He was living his philosophy,
being the hero of his own life, following his own hero's journey, as he puts it.
It really ties it all together. The preparation, the mindset, the action.
So ultimately, Ed Reif's story is just this really compelling look at how a solid foundation of preparation
combined with that intentional, open approach to life
can lead to this series of remarkable, almost serendipitous moments. It wasn't just luck, it was prepared luck, maybe
activated potential perhaps.
So for you listening, how does Ed Reif's story resonate? Can you look back and see times when your preparation unexpectedly opened a door?
Or maybe think about it going forward. Where in your life right now could applying that focused preparation combined with being open and intentional, where might that unlock your own right place at the right time moments?
It's definitely something to reflect on: the real power of being present and setting your intention.
It Began With One Simple Decision: Go.
Before I found the sea, I got LOST.
I showed up in Hawaii, and magical things began to unfold.
Being here placed me in a unique space—one that fostered personal exploration, oneness, and mystical experience. I was fortunate to tap into the ancient teachings of Huna, where Hawaiian spiritual traditions speak of life force as mana, and where attention, intention, and energy become part of how you move through the world.
These practices became part of my life on the island, guiding me in ways I never expected.
Eddie Would Go.
The strange thing is, I didn't know the expression when I made the decision. I came to know Eddie Would Go only after I had already gone to Hawaii.
That matters. The phrase didn't send me there. Hawaii gave me the language for an instinct I had already acted on: go when certainty isn't available, go when staying put feels safer, and trust that the next version of your life may not introduce itself until you move toward it.
Eddie would go. Apparently, so would I.
Looking back, Hawaii didn't teach me to go. It taught me what to call it.
The Film That Re-Routed the Pathways.
Not New Information. New Wiring.
“It didn’t just give me new information; it completely re-routed the pathways. Suddenly, every story, every struggle, and every choice stopped looking like an isolated incident and started looking like a node on a much larger, ancient map. It rewrote the source code of how I understand meaning itself.”
The Journey in Images
The story moves from American Hawaii Cruises into the lived chapter, onward to the ocean-liner years, and finally into the Hero’s Journey frame that ties the arc together.
Life aboard ship becomes a lived reality rather than a distant idea.
A later sea-years frame: the great ocean-liner chapter enters the archive.
Not collecting destinations—building an operating system for uncertainty.
Fortune Began Opening Doors.
My journey began with an unexpected opportunity on the television show Lost. Soon after, teaching contracts appeared, allowing me to stay longer, go deeper, and experience Hawaii not as a visitor passing through, but as a place that had begun to reorganize my life.
Even the reverse commute from my condo in Ka-a-a-va became part of the rhythm. The route itself felt like evidence: I had stepped outside the familiar map and discovered that another life had been waiting just beyond it.
Follow Your Bliss.
Reflecting on the journey, I realized I was the hero of my own story. Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey resonated because it gave language to what I was experiencing: departure, uncertainty, unexpected allies, and the strange realization that a new world appears only after you leave the old one.
Bill Moyers: Did you ever have the sense of being helped by hidden hands?
Joseph Campbell: All the time. It is miraculous. I have a superstition that has grown on me—if you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a track that has been waiting for you all along. When you see this, you begin to meet people in your field of bliss, and they open doors for you. Doors will open where you didn't know they would be.
This philosophy became a guiding light. As I stayed true to myself and to the things that pulled me forward, opportunities appeared in places that had previously seemed out of reach.
Hawaii became more than a backdrop. It became a place of transformation. The invisible hands Campbell spoke of seemed to be everywhere: people, moments, invitations, and unexpected turns that opened not only professional doors, but personal ones.
What started as a simple decision—to go—became a life of unexpected blessings.
Neurons That Wire Together Fire Together.
The biggest change was not what I knew. It was how I connected what I knew.
Campbell gave me a pattern-recognition system for experience. Events that once looked random began to reveal structure. The Hero’s Journey became less a literary theory and more a mental operating system for locating struggle, transition, choice, and transformation inside a larger human map.
From Linear to Archetypal Thinking
Before encountering Campbell, the mind can process life as a string of random, disconnected events. The switch flips when the hidden scaffolding becomes visible: trials, thresholds, mentors, ordeals, transformations, and returns. Personal experience begins to read as part of an ancient, shared human blueprint.
The Awakening of “Bliss”
Campbell’s directive to “follow your bliss” acts like a system override. It interrupts the purely conventional or utilitarian script and prioritizes inner resonance, curiosity, and authenticity over external pressure. The question changes from “What am I supposed to do?” to “What feels alive enough to follow?”
A New Operating System for Meaning
Mythology, religion, literature, work, travel, and personal struggle stop behaving like separate categories. They become psychological maps. The mental software upgrades from viewing life as a checklist to viewing it as a continuous, unfolding myth.
You Do What on A Ship?
Thirteen Films. One Working Life at Sea.
The Job Behind the Journey
The sea-years archive is more than a list of ships. It is a record of contracts, crossings, cabins, ports, audiences, and the strange privilege of making a moving world feel briefly like home.
The Balloon Tycoon
Featured sea-years film
MS Prinsendam
Ship contract film
Celebrity Solstice
Ship contract film
Pacific Pearl
Ship contract film
Crystal Serenity
Ship contract film
Azamara Journey
Ship contract film
Carnival Splendor
Ship contract film
Princess Cruises
Ship contract film
Oasis of the Seas
Ship contract film
Disney Magic
Ship contract film
MSC Poesia
Ship contract film
The Queen Mary 2, the last of the great ocean liners.
Ship contract film
The Prinsendam That (Damm) ship Holland America
Ship contract film
The Archive Behind the Journey
Go East, Young Man
The decision to move toward possibility—and what happens after you stop waiting for permission.
Open StoryEarthlings, Please Don't Feed the Tourists
A field note from the strange territory between visitor, observer, and participant.
Open StoryA Miracle Is a Shift in Thinking
The Huna companion story: a shift in perception that reframes possibility, hidden hands, and the meaning we assign to what happens next.
Open StoryFrom Lost to Paradise Found
The bridge from an unexpected television opportunity into a larger Hawaii story.
Open StoryThe Cruising Godfather
The larger sea-years archive: ships, crossings, contracts, and the life that grew from following the horizon.
Open StoryYou Do What on a Ship?
The working-life chapter behind the shipboard stories, roles, and moving-world experience.
Open StoryI Myth You
A companion chapter where travel, myth, memory, and personal narrative meet.
Open StoryNew York Harbor
A harbor-side chapter connecting the sea journey back to one of the world's great maritime gateways.
Open StoryThe Asymmetrical Life
The later-life framework that turns movement, risk, opportunity, and accumulated experience into a philosophy.
Open StoryThe Blue Frontier: Four Voyages That Changed Everything
Ed Reif · Master Archive
Open StoryThe Story Keeps Expanding.
This new post sits inside a larger archive. These seven stories connect the original decision to go east, the Huna shift in thinking, the first ship, the sea-years, the mythic frame, the harbor, and the later philosophy into one continuous journey.
Go East, Young Man
The originating move toward Hawaii: choosing possibility before certainty and discovering what waits beyond the familiar map.
Open Story
A Miracle Is a Shift in Thinking
The Huna thread returns as a change in perception: the moment the same world begins to reveal a different set of possibilities.
Open Story
The Cruising Godfather
The sea-years master story: contracts, crossings, ports, and a life built by answering the call.
Open Story
You Do What on a Ship?
The working-life archive behind the ships, roles, and stories from the sea.
Open Story
I Myth You
The mythic thread: narrative, identity, and the Hero’s Journey underneath the travel story.
Open Story
New York Harbor
A maritime gateway chapter linking shipboard life back to one of the world’s great harbors.
Open Story
The Asymmetrical Life
The later framework: movement, optionality, risk, and the compounding value of lived experience.
Open Story