Author’s Interview…
Why did I you write the story – what do you want your readers to take-away from this story?
Ever notice that when you’re in a stressful situation and someone says,
“Just think positively!”
One suddenly becomes more stressed, as if the positive affirmation suddenly becomes fuel for one’s stressed mind. And indeed, it does become fuel because the mind’s sole focus is to think – to think to the point of becoming obsessive. That is what the mind was designed for. And the advice given by the person, although it came from a place of compassion, is reflective of our world’s dominant style of communication which naturally supports logic over emotion.
Therefore, how can one break the mind’s stronghold during a stressful situation to bring hope when you’re feeling hopeless?
That single question has become my quest for the last fifteen years as I have tried to answer it by interweaving the logic of social science with the mysticism of storytelling into a fairy tale that most authentically speaks to our Higher Self, or the part of our identity of endless possibility.
After countless drafts, I found it – Cindy’s Secret. The gift of Cindy’s Secret is that it teaches one to use what you have in the moment to create a greater sense of abundance in the next moment. More importantly, if you’re stressed, it helps to break or redirect your mindset to a state of thinking that best supports the character of your Higher Self, the self of endless possibility.
On a personal note, this is my last lecture. This story combines two of the most respected academics of our time, a contemporary and a mystic. The contemporary academic is Dr. Abraham Maslow, exclusively his Hierarchy of Needs, which was first published in 1943. For the first time, he supplied us with a “road map” to think, feel, and ultimately be — our personal best.
And the mystic is Rumi, a thirteenth century Persian poet, whose work has become a beloved hallmark of personal enlightenment within the twenty-first century. In 2017, he was the bestselling poet in the United States (The Washington Post, Jan 18, 2017). What is it about his work that appeals to us, wholeheartedly? I believe it’s his approach to personifying love, love being the greatest evolution of our self-actualization. We are loved even when we feel broken and unlovable. Thus, one can say that Rumi was approximately 800-years ahead of his time.
I have chosen these great minds since they are not only culturally opposite, which supplies us with a whole-brained approach, an outlook that supports the best of both cultures, but they are also astrologically opposite of each other as well – thus, this partnership is written in the sky, too. The one gave us the idea of self-actualization through his Hierarchy of Needs, and the other one gave us the outcomes of what it means to be self-actualized through his poetry. Collectively, they supply the mental infrastructure of the novel since I believe the next frontier for the concept of self-actualization is moderation, or more specifically, how to prevent burnout in an age of limitless abundance.
Technology, especially our unrestricted access to it has propelled the search for self-actualization to something that is not only realistically doable; it has become a silent obsession of our time, and computer apps only aid in the process. Technology remains the biggest change on the concept of self-actualization, particularly as we move deeper into this century. The next quest for self-actualization is how to find one’s center (moderation) within a centerless world (a world of abundance).
Moreover, in an age of abundance, the balance or answer can be found in an ancient fairy tale – if you look deeper into the depth of the story’s greater meaning. Cinderella is an age-old beloved fairy tale because she knew how to create balance out of nothing. For me, it became a question of how to update this beloved fairy tale to better mirror the social consciousness of the twenty-first century.
The result is Cindy’s Secret…a gift that has always been part of our lives regardless if we are aware or unaware of this gift’s limitless potential namely: our invisible crown of endless possibility.
What I want my readers to takeaway from this story is how to find hope when all that you have left is your unedited individuality combined with the tenacity to try one more time…Cindy’s Secret.
Who is the character Lucy?
In the story, Lucinda known as Lucy is the female messenger from The Shadowy World of Lost Opportunities. Her name, Lucy, means a light. She is not a fairy godmother. In fact, she states: “I don’t create outcomes for you. I point you in the direction that will help to bring out your natural potential, if and only if — you wish to embrace the gift.”
Therefore, Lucy helps Cindy to connect to her Higher Self. Additionally, Lucy reminds Cindy in the closing chapter that our accomplishments are rarely achieved by ourselves. We are always riding on the success of some lost opportunity from another person’s try. Therefore, our successes are really a team effort as much as our failures.
That is who Lucy is…
Thus, to answer your question, I think Lucy is really representative of all of us. She’s the light in our darkness, the star in our night’s sky. She is the ray of hope that appears when we’re ready to commit to developing the potential of our Higher Self: backbreaking, gut-wrenching “soul work.”
What’s your favorite part of your own novel?
I have three favorite portions from the novel…
My first favorite portion is really the story’s overarching message that doesn’t exclude. This is truly a story for any person who wants to find hope when they are feeling hopeless; a point in life we’ll all share at some part in our life’s story, especially if we’re living life from what I like to call High Definition (HD) – in other words, living life with an open heart.
The unique structure of the story appeals to our human nature, yet its value resides in showing us how to take universal traits and to make them specific to the needs of our life’s story. I believe that is where readers will authentically connect to the story’s deeper purpose and turn the content of CINDERELLA IN FOCUS into a living, breathing part of their daily reality.
My second favorite portion is how the novel’s message encourages one to do what Cinderella did in most global versions of this traditional fairy tale – she used what she had in the moment to create a greater sense of abundance in the next moment.
How often, when times become challenging, do we try to find inspiration outside of our moment’s reality—however Cinderella didn’t. She did not have that luxury, she had to use what she had in the moment, and the only thing that she had in the moment was her ability to develop the gifts of her Higher Self, the piece of her that is directly tied to life’s greater art, or what I like to call the ART within.
In this novel, I have tried to simplify the science behind Cinderella’s behavioral success that has become her trademark in most traditional versions of this story through the metaphor of one’s invisible crown. The crown’s function is to act both as a guide and a tool to develop the furthering of our Higher Self, the part of our identity that contains the richest portion of our personality. In fact, the word “charisma” originally meant “light within.” One’s invisible crown offers one the knowledge of how to “turn on” the natural glow of our inner strength through the limitless power of our individuality. The crown is life’s gift to us since life wants us to succeed in this adventure called living with purpose.
My third favorite portion is that Cinderella doesn’t need a Prince Charming to save her or a fairy godmother to complete her. In this version of the story, Cinderella, called Cindy, finds the secret to higher thinking, deeper living through a series of letters and journal entries. In this version of the tale, she learns how to be her own kind of brave in all seasons of her life’s story, especially how to connect to hope when she’s feeling a sense of hopeless by the weight of her moment’s reality.
Along the story, she learns how to use simple elements in her life as her catalyst to enrich her communication with the world both within and around her. That is an important element since the quality of our communication directly shapes both our sense of self-worth along with our desire to seek out self-development. Cindy’s Secret becomes the answer to Rumi’s wisdom from the 13th century when he said: “Only from the heart can you touch the sky.”
Selfishly, I wrote this novel for my three amazing daughters. If they can only read one book, I hope it is CINDERELLA IN FOCUS: Cindy’s Secret. This is a story for and about living life in the twenty-first century with unedited courage, kindness, and wholeheartedness.
A mother’s unending wish for her daughter…
What type of a reader would enjoy this novel?
I firmly believe a “creative sojouner” will enjoy this novel’s story since it speaks to the core of our individuality, the part of us where our richest creativity resides, and it speaks to the part of our soul that longs for a deeper relationship with the wanderlust in us – the unexplored, under explored, and the completely unknown pieces of us that we can’t even imagine until we come face-to-face with those parts of us that make us feel alive — truly, deeply, profoundly — alive.
That is what this book is about – a journey within to unlock our inner warrior that embraces our inner beauty along with a sense of compassion through the quality of our human connection with and toward each other, starting with our own heart.
CINDERELLA IN FOCUS is a story for those us who hunger for more from life because we understand that now is all that we will ever have…now.
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