Remembering Richard Parenti. Life is an amazing roller coaster ride, or at least Richard Parenti helped me to remember to have fun. I very recently learned off his passing. The way I found out was a bit disheartening, this week in fact. I googled his name and saw that he had passed away in May of 2017.
Richard's Obituary I knew that it was coming, his imminent passing, I found out about a year ago when he came to Fresno to visit another friend and we had lunch . That's when I learned that his cancer had come back and the doctors had given him a few months to live.
I met Richard in October of 2014. He was seated next to me at The Great Valley Bookfest in Manteca, California. I was there to promote my book(s), do a cooking demonstration, and pass out samples of my homemade banana bread, biscottis, and "popcorn hands". He was there to promote and to sell his book,
Emotional Sobriety: feel Good Secrets for Everyone, Balboa Press, 2013.
Richard's Book He kindly gave me a copy and I read his life story as well as his great "feel good secrets". His charismatic personality led him to invite me to Modesto for his small but mighty, "Master Mind Group". And my brave personality allowed me to accept the invitation. The Master Mind Group was comprised of a small group of individuals dedicated to learning. Richard compiled a workbook called,
My New Story: Tune in, Tap in, Turn on. Let the good times roll, Get in the vortex. Based upon the teachings of Abraham-Hicks Videos and on the higher teachings of Yoga. I only made the trip a handful of times, but each time I benefited from the information presented and purchased a workbook to glimpse through when interested. To be honest, side note, words like "the vortex" scared me and so it took some time and understand that "the vortex" is just another word for "joy".
In honor of remembering Richard Parenti, I will be providing his words of wisdom and tips on living joyfully every Monday at part of the make a difference Mondays Series.
To recap, here is an interview that I conducted with Richard about a year ago.
What made you decide that your life needed to change?
In 1974 my life was abruptly interrupted by my wife asking for a divorce, my car being repossessed, getting fired, being locked out of my home and all my credit cards canceled all in one big swoop. On top of that I realized I had enough of drinking and drugs and that my life was going downhill in a hurry, so I quit.
Describe for us, how was the process of writing for you.
I had a habit of writing down on napkins my thoughts. My best friend one day said as we were having dinner, “Why don’t you take all those napkins you have saved up and show them to a published writer.”
I did just that. I found an eighty-year old author who charged $5.00 an hour for his time. He had authored 13 books, had owned his own ad agency and was still writing, but now for the fun of it he loved helping new writers, and why he charged so little he said, “I’ve made all the money I need. The five dollars is to buy myself some wine that my wife keeps hiding from me.”
He reviewed my napkins and told me to write a two to three page story of my experiences in Europe when I was involved in the espionage business.
I told him I had no idea of how to use grammar. He retorted, “That’s unimportant. That’s what editors get paid for. I just want to feel your style.
After I completed my first assignment, he said, “You got passion. You can write, but you’re right you know nothing about grammar” We both got a good laugh. That was 1982. Since then I have written many articles that were published, initially in all the major restaurant magazines nationally when I was in the restaurant business and then several articles in a prestigious international Yoga magazine over the last 10 years.
When did you know what your true calling would be?
In 1974 when I got divorced and fired I had an internal experience that revolutionized my life. I went from being an international spy, jet setting around the world to looking inward as to what I had experienced and within a very short time I began looking for answers to what had happened to me. This led me to the science of yoga. Not postures, but the inner science that would lead me to an authentic path to God Realization within and being mentored by Swami’s from India.
Then it was in 2004 when I was in India on a 40-day silent retreat in the Himalaya’s that I got my first inkling what my calling might be. Initially I thought it was only for me to learn how to master my emotions, but after my return the United States it was revealed to me that this inner work of yoga, mastering emotions would be my life’s work, not only for me but for other people as well. Up to this time I had fun teaching the yoga postures, mediation and in talking about many of the other aspects of yoga that I knew about.
It wasn’t until later that I began teaching “Emotional Mastery,” in a workshop after I had tested it on myself for over 9 years. First, I offered it to the public, who had little interest. Then, I was invited by a yoga center to teach it to people who were training to become yoga teachers. That was when this work found a home, as the interest was genuine and they were hungry. I realized they had never heard of this in their yoga training before and were eager to learn more about the inner science of yoga.
