| Q: |
Why did you feel compelled to write the book Happiness Is A Choice? |
| A: |
I was humbled by my experiences. There is no other way of saying it. I felt entrapped by the circumstances of my life at some point in my life, and I realized that there was nowhere else to go in the world, and that something in the way I viewed the world that had to change. This was my defining moment. I realized that if I considered life as fundamentally good, I may as well trust what was occurring in my life as fundamentally good, rather than condemning it. I made then and there a commitment to be happy and content, no matter what the circumstances of my life were. This commitment became a passage of awakening and higher awareness that allowed me to transcend the circumstances of my life and reclaim my capacity to manifest my life. I then became willingly compelled to share this message of awakening and inner peace with others. |
| Q: |
Why will someone want to read it? |
| A: |
Entrapment in our circumstances is the human experience without exception at some point in a person’s life. In Happiness Is A Choice, readers are invited to dwell in two powerful affirmations The Choice and The Insight, which by its own unique design, open up a passage of awakening and higher awareness without changing anything about the circumstances of one’s life. The Choice and The Insight release being from its entrapment in language and allow readers to experience an authentic freedom to be and be present again to the true joy of life.What makes Happiness Is A Choice so appealing is the simplicity of its passage. |
| Q: |
Is there a particular timely nature of the subject area? |
| A: |
We live in an era of unprecedented change and are trapped in cycles of crises. In depleting the resources of our planet, we may lose the fragile web of life that sustains us on planet earth. There is more at stake in being happy than our individual happiness, since a commitment to being happy brings about a sense of oneness and perspective to our experience of life. Readers learn that our default way of being is insufficient to deal with our current issues and concerns and that true survival of the human race is only possible inside of oneness. |
| Q: |
What are the specific benefits of your book? |
| A: |
Dwelling in the affirmations of the book, The Choice and The Insight, the reader experiences an authentic freedom to be in whatever circumstance they find themselves in life. Happiness Is A Choice shows you how you can eliminate day-to-day depression, struggle and unhappiness, or just any ordinary bad mood. Happiness Is A Choice shows you how to weather the winds and storms of life from a deep and abiding source of inner peace. Some of the benefits readers and readers who participated in workshops of Happiness Is A Choice reported were that they let go of their resentment towards some of the people in their lives, and felt more peaceful; they were less preoccupied with other peoples opinion about them, and felt a new freedom to just be; they felt less immobilized and consumed by the circumstances in their lives, and give attention to what really mattered in their lives. |
| Q: |
Who is the audience of your book? |
| A: |
The book is for anyone who is in transition in life, and has a sense that there is more to life than what they are currently experiencing. The book is for anyone who is committed to a life beyond struggle and suffering, to live a life beyond a sense of entrapment in their circumstances. The book allows you to empower yourself in the challenges you are facing in life. The book leads you to a place where you start to trust yourself again, and you start listening to your own truth. The book offers a way to reconnect again with the essence of your being and offers a way to live your life according to your true nature. |
| Q: |
What personal experiences led you to the idea of writing the book Happiness Is A Choice? |
| A: |
In essence, the idea of Happiness Is A Choice came to me by making the distinction between being, and the “I,” and by recognizing being as a separate, but invisible reality, the only reality that is in keeping with our true nature, despite what our senses, or the “I” tell us that we are. In hindsight, each event in my life has been an integral part of a journey of trusting myself and life, which allowed me to fee myself from my self-imposed limitations, realizing that I am much more than what defines me, and come to a place of authenticity of being. |
| Q: |
How do you see Happiness Is A Choice makes a difference for other people? |
| A: |
Happiness Is A Choice is a message of peace, a message of oneness. Happiness Is A Choice is a message of a higher awareness. When you commit yourself to being happy – no matter what – Happiness Is A Choice will lead you on a pathway that will enable you to align with your true nature; to transcend the limitations that language has placed on you, and restore yourself to the oneness of being – the place of authentic happiness and higher awareness. This new awareness will enable you to reclaim the power of language and manifest your most heartfelt desires. |
| Q: |
How do you see where Happiness Is A Choice will go? |
| A: |
I see that Happiness Is A Choice becomes part of our daily conversation for life. People may see in Happiness Is A Choice a simple and elegant design that allows them to release themselves from the entrapment in language and start living their lives in a way that is more wholesome and in an alignment with the true nature of their being. |
| Q: |
What do you see is the relevance of Happiness Is A Choice in today’s society? |
| A: |
The innate nature of being is kindness. How to get in touch with that and how to maintain that in the face of life’s daily occurrences, is the challenge. Happiness Is A Choice could aid people who are already participating in some spiritual practice to stay centered in their being. Now is the time. Now there is a window in the experience that people have of our current times, an opening to look beyond the horizon of what they see. Apart from personal enlightment, there is a narrow window in the next couple of years to change the way we view ourselves and each other to sustain our fragile life on planet Earth. |
| Q: |
How do you see Happiness Is A Choice is in keeping with other spiritual teachings? |
| A: |
Anyone who has been dwelling in Happiness Is A Choice, will recognize similarities with Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Taoism. This book aligns with other spiritual teachings, in fact enriches other spiritual teachings. |
| Q: |
What people, philosophers have influenced you in writing this book? |
| A: |
I was influenced by the philosopher Martin Heidegger, by Albert Einstein, and Krishnamurti, who all from their own unique perspective dwelled inside of oneness. I am inspired by the message of peace by the Dalai Lama. I have a deep respect for the wisdom of the pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides, who spoke about unveiling the truth of oneness. |
| Q: |
How has writing the book Happiness Is A Choice influenced your own personal life? |
| A: |
It allowed for my wife and I to have an extra-ordinary relationship. It allowed me to live a peaceful life. It allowed me to be more caring for my patients and be in touch with what really matters for my patients. It allowed me step a little bit outside of the classical paradigm of practicing medicine, which is predominantly evidence-based, and return to the art of medicine, where true caring makes a difference. It allowed me to have a great relationship with my brother and appreciate his great wisdom. It allowed me to just be grateful for the privilege to be alive. |
| Q: |
Who were your biggest teachers? |
| A: |
My biggest teachers were my parents, my brother, and my wife Francesca and our daughter Carmen. They keep me straight. |
| Q: |
What are your other interests? |
| A: |
My interests are just being with my family, traveling, languages and reading. I take on any opportunity to practice speaking Spanish. I am currently teaching our twelve year old daughter in our home education program the masters of Greek thought (Socrates, Plato and Aristotle), history of freedom and cultural literacy for religeon. |
| Q: |
Who are you favorite authors? |
| A: |
My favorite authors are authors of historical fiction; and writers like the great Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, John Steinbeck, George Orwell, and Ernest Hemingway. I am inspired by he work of Adyashanti. |
