EP 432: Why Everything ‘Bad’ That Happens to You Is Actually Perfect with Nicolas Canon

What happens when your most devastating heartbreak becomes the doorway to your greatest awakening? Nicolas Canon reveals how losing the relationship he thought he wanted became the catalyst that cracked open his heart to divine love, transforming him from a successful but empty tattoo artist into a spiritual guide helping others navigate their own profound transformations.

After years as one of Canada’s highest-paid tattoo artists, earning thousands per session with bags of cash beside his desk, Canon found himself at a crossroads when his girlfriend delivered words that would change his life forever. Instead of dismissing her brutal assessment of his character, he made a decision that would launch him into what he calls his “spiritual birthday.”

The Artist’s Awakening: From Financial Success to Spiritual Emptiness

Canon’s journey began in Colombia, where childhood violence from his mother planted seeds of unworthiness that would drive his adult pursuits. By his twenties, he had achieved everything society told him to chase as a man: financial success, dating freedom, a prestigious career in tattooing where clients would tip him up to $1,000 in cash.

“I remember one evening, my client left, and I grab a glass of wine. I look at the bag full of cash, wine in hand, a date and a party lined up. And I realised I feel miserable,” Canon recalls. “I’ve followed everything that society told me to follow as a man, the financial success, the plenty of dates, the cool career, all these things. And I just felt empty.”

The breaking point came when his girlfriend, in the heat of an argument, called him “the biggest piece of shit” she’d ever met. Rather than defending himself, something cracked open in Canon for the first time.

The Divine Orchestration: How Pain Becomes Medicine

Canon’s revolutionary insight centres on reframing our relationship with adversity. What most people see as random suffering, he now recognises as perfectly orchestrated opportunities for growth. “I saw that breakup with my girlfriend was so beautifully orchestrated,” he explains. “It was this divine plan that pushed the right spots, created the right amount of pain so that I will drop the mask.”

This perspective shift came through an intense ayahuasca experience that Canon describes as his spiritual rebirth. Initially an atheist who dismissed anything he couldn’t physically perceive, four cups of the sacred plant medicine forced him to confront every emotion he had avoided and every painful memory he had suppressed.

“At the other side of that, there was this big light where I felt the creator. For me, it was the most real experience I’ve ever had,” Canon shares. “I felt there is this thing that created me. It’s also part of me, like it’s bigger than me, but also I’m an extension of it.”

Pain vs. Suffering: The Crucial Distinction

One of Canon’s most powerful teachings distinguishes between pain and suffering. Pain, he explains, is mandatory in human experience, like cutting yourself while cooking. Suffering is the story we add, the emotional charge we attach.

Using his childhood as an example, Canon explains that while his mother’s physical discipline caused temporary pain, the real damage came from the stories he created: “I’m not worthy of safety. There’s something wrong with me. I’m not good enough.” While he experienced perhaps five incidents of physical punishment, he tortured himself thousands of times with these narratives well into his twenties.

“Pain is what life hands us, situations that are difficult. Suffering is living with that story,” Canon clarifies. “Pain happens. Suffering is a choice that we make, and very often a recurring choice.”

The Mirror of Relationships: Why We Attract Our Triggers

Canon challenges the popular notion of finding “the right person,” calling it “total bullshit and a cop-out from taking full responsibility for the relationships we decide to engage in.” Instead, he reveals how relationships se