In a very real way, life is nothing but a SEARCH FOR MEANING, an inner path we walk to FIND OUR TRUE CALLING, our purpose, what we’re called to do, the BLESSINGS only we can bring to the world.

Happiness -or its opposite- is just a feeling that helps us gauge how close -or how far- we have come from that way that, if followed, will take us to the place where our treasures await.

The way of life is, of course, not linear.

We all have to go through many experiences in life that, were it our choice, we’d rather keep unvisited. 

But every station along the way has a purpose, something vital to teach us, some particular experience without which our final destination would forever remain unreachable.

Personally, I started this wonderful, many times painful, but ALWAYS enlightening journey of self-discovery at a very tender age.

My very first station in this long journey was Astrology.

I taught myself to read the ephemeris tables, and to draw, pen and paper, natal charts. 

I became a student of the stars and planets, and their influence over the human world.

I even gave my very first public lecture on Astrology when I was 15 years old!

Around that same time, I was also studying metaphysics and some other forms of spiritual development, but I was just about to find the spiritual discipline that was destined to have the biggest impact in my life: Gnosis.

In case you’re not familiar with the term, "gnosis" is a Greek word that means “knowledge”, or more specifically: “knowledge that comes from the divine”.

Gnostic studies delve deeper into symbolism, and how that symbolism has been used through the ages.

The esoteric language of symbols is not only present in every religion, mythological system and spiritual tradition around the world...

... but it's also omnipresent in classic literature, paintings, sculpture, ancient carvings and scripts... and every other form of culture our world has seen.

Gnosis gave me something so many people around me didn’t seem to have: PURPOSE.

It also gave me the gift of UNDERSTANDING, and the main tools of self-discovery and inner change: Self-Observation, Meditation and Energy Transmutation.

Needless to say, I became passionate about these studies, and not only embraced them as a guide in my own life...

I dedicated the last 3 and a half decades of my life to teach others these universal principles of self-discovery and inner change.

But Gnosis is THE DOCTRINE OF SYNTHESIS, the core or heart from where all branches of esoteric knowledge grow and expand…

I didn’t understand it back then, but to really grasp the precious pearls of wisdom carefully encoded and passed on by our ancestors from the beginning of time, and to make them flourish in my own life, visiting other stations was required.

Many stations in fact, some more significant than others, but all of them just as important to complete the puzzle of my life, of my own individual search for MEANING and PURPOSE.

Some honorable mentions here are classic literature, Egyptian hieroglyphs (writing & reading), Latin and Greek, and even more importantly: understanding the cultures and the VISION OF THE WORLD that each of these ancient writing systems embodied.

I also studied math to a decent degree, simply because I have always seen math as a LANGUAGE of its own, the language nature and the cosmos seem to speak so eloquently.

And, of course, almost without realizing it, I’d been studying and practicing Human Psychology & Philosophy the entire time!

But one such station that really opened for me a whole new level of meaning and understanding was Aikido.

Before, I had briefly explored the wonderful disciplines of Tai Chi, Kung Fu, and Chi Kung (Ki Gong). 

But it was the physical practice of Aikido that really taught me the universal language of movement with all its circularity and smooth fluidity...

…and the MIGHLY POWER OF RELAXATION when wielded by an EMPTY MIND and a PEACEFUL HEART!

I could talk about Aikido, and the many deep truths I was blessed with from its practice, for hours on end...

But I’ll just leave it at that for now, but not without mentioning the wonderful little book that compiles some of the thoughts of Aikido’s founder Morihei Ueshiba, “The Art of Peace”.

I’ve read many, many great books in my life.

This one, somehow, feels different.

For some reason, every time I read this book it leaves my mind in a state of complete void, akin to the void one achieves only after a prolonged time of disciplined meditation practice.

It’s hard to explain, you need to experience it by yourself!

I’m of course leaving out, for reasons of space, or maybe because some have left my memory since, many other hidden paths I ventured on along my way… and quite some dead ends as well.

I have also learned a fair bit from my 2-decade-long work in the realm of business and, specially, marketing.

It’s to nobody’s surprise that marketing has a big foundation on human psychology, but coming from a background as a writer and a public speaker, I was from the very beginning attracted to one particular discipline under the marketing umbrella: Copywriting.

I don’t really remember if it was copywriting that led me to NLP... or if NLP came first. 

Interestingly, it was in a marketing training where I first heard of the concept of “The Hero’s Journey”, which led me to discover the incredibly enlightening work of Joseph Campbell and his wonderful book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”.

Campbell's work really completed the picture of many things I’ve originally learned in my gnostic studies 2 decades prior, and somehow made them connect back to my own life, reigniting that passion I felt back in the day when I was first discovering the wonderful language of symbols!

This wasn’t the last time the Hero’s Journey and I would cross paths though…

When I was studying to become a screenwriter, I was delighted to find that the story patterns Campbell had found through the millennia had made their way to Hollywood, and were in no small part responsible for the huge impact that many movies, classic and modern, have had on all of us…

… making us think, inspiring us to reach for more in our lives… and sometimes even changing our entire perspective of the world in just a couple of hours of watch time!

Stories, as I started to learn, are powerful, maybe even mighty devices to provoke inner change!

We not only have been raised listening to stories: all the traditions and teachings from the ancient past have reached us through stories!

It’s no wonder our brains are WIRED to listen to stories, TO BELIEVE IN STORIES.

What leads us, of course, to HYPNOSIS…

After decades studying and using hypnosis in many different ways as a powerful tool of TRANSFORMATION, the best explanation I can give you about its nature and effects is this:

We all live in a world WE HAVE CREATED OURSELVES through a combination of THE STORIES WE TELL OURSELVES and the MIGHTY POWER OF OUR IMAGINATION.

We all use this power all the time, even if we’re not really aware of it.  

Unfortunately, since nobody has taught us how to consciously control and use this incredible power, we usually use it against our best interests, which causes us, and the people around us, a world of harm.

The life you’re currently living is THE EXACT RESULT of what you’ve imagined for yourself, THE EXACT RESULT OF THE STORIES YOU TELL YOURSELF MOST OF THE TIME!

.........................

At first, this long journey we've revisited together seemed rather random, consisting of completely unrelated events, learnings and explorations… 

BUT NOW EVERYTHING STARTS TO MAKE SENSE, TO FALL IN PLACE!

As Steve Jobs once said: “You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards”.

And with the enormous advantage of hindsight, IT'S ALL CLEAR NOW:

IT WAS ALL ABOUT LANGUAGE, ABOUT STORIES AND PATTERNS OF WORDS THE ENTIRE TIME!

WHAT YOU TELL YOURSELF is THE ONLY THING IN THE WORLD that has the power to MAKE YOU or BREAK YOU.

And YES, "WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY".

It’s in your hands now:

CHANGE YOUR STORIES, CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE, CHANGE YOUR WORLD.