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From Fighting Crime To Finding Inner Peace: Bob's Journey As A Lawyer, Teacher, And Author
Manage episode 418257921 series 2796326
From Fighting Crime To Finding Inner Peace: Bob's Journey As A Lawyer, Teacher, And Author. Bob's story is not a common one. He has had a diverse career and spiritual journey, including being a criminal trial attorney, social worker, therapist, professor, and mindfulness teacher. He has also been a columnist and happiness coach, exploring different religions such as Taoism, Buddhism, and Christianity. The anecdotes and experiences he has at his fingertips add color and excitement to the journey of his new book. The person who follows the way of Jesus or the Tao will live a practical, productive, meaningful, and contented life. Bob knows this to be true because this has been his journey. He is an active 70+-year-old cheerful man. He enjoys close relationships with his second wife, his children, her children, and his two dogs. He has had his share of trauma and battled his demons. Bob grew up selling cotton candy and hot dogs in amusement parks. His parents were Eastern European immigrants from Hungarian royalty on one side and Roma Gypsy on the other. The Bolsheviks slaughtered the royals, and, well, everybody slaughtered the Romas. So, his parents concluded that there could not be a God, and his family was atheist. Even so, his father required him to attend children's Sunday School because "We are Americans, and you must know the Bible stories.” Bob thought Old Testament stories were like fairy tales, but Jesus' unconditional love amazed him, and he never forgot it. He was a chubby boy, bullied by boys and laughed at by girls. His parents were all business and not very affectionate. He never developed a sense of "hometown" as the family traveled so much. He could have gone under. A profound belief that someone or something loves him somewhere out there strengthened him then and steels him now. That feeling of being loved leads him to know, as much as anyone can understand, that the universe's energy is good. Bob knows this because he feels it in those moments of stillness, in those rare moments when he forgets himself, in those thin moments when he feels connected to something much greater than himself. He escaped the bullying of his junior years by becoming a football player and then a hippie after a career-ending injury. Then there was law school, a Juris Doctor, a prosecutor under Janet Reno during the cocaine cowboy days in Miami, and a mob lawyer. His life went south in his 30s–a difficult marriage and he was caught up in the glass and glitter of 1980s Miami partying. One day, he saw his therapist, George Robinson, about a profound crossroads in his life. He had started a business, which, in his arrogance, he believed would make him a millionaire. He was pouring money into it and came to a point where he would have to take a massive loan to make it to the finish line. He asked his therapist what he should do. George reached for a small cloth bag on the credenza behind him and extracted three Chinese coins. George started shaking and throwing the coins on his desk, making numerical calculations, and drawing lines on paper. Bob looked on in disbelief. After all, Bob paid him $65 an hour, and George answered his urgent inquiry with hocus-pocus. Finally, George wrote a number, pulled open a book, turned to that number chapter, and showed it to Bob. The Chapter title was one word–"Retreat."
I strongly encourage everyone to follow him, and be transformed by him insights. Everyone has a story, and this is his story. Below is a list of the sites that house his works. https://iamthewaybook.com/
434 episodes
Manage episode 418257921 series 2796326
From Fighting Crime To Finding Inner Peace: Bob's Journey As A Lawyer, Teacher, And Author. Bob's story is not a common one. He has had a diverse career and spiritual journey, including being a criminal trial attorney, social worker, therapist, professor, and mindfulness teacher. He has also been a columnist and happiness coach, exploring different religions such as Taoism, Buddhism, and Christianity. The anecdotes and experiences he has at his fingertips add color and excitement to the journey of his new book. The person who follows the way of Jesus or the Tao will live a practical, productive, meaningful, and contented life. Bob knows this to be true because this has been his journey. He is an active 70+-year-old cheerful man. He enjoys close relationships with his second wife, his children, her children, and his two dogs. He has had his share of trauma and battled his demons. Bob grew up selling cotton candy and hot dogs in amusement parks. His parents were Eastern European immigrants from Hungarian royalty on one side and Roma Gypsy on the other. The Bolsheviks slaughtered the royals, and, well, everybody slaughtered the Romas. So, his parents concluded that there could not be a God, and his family was atheist. Even so, his father required him to attend children's Sunday School because "We are Americans, and you must know the Bible stories.” Bob thought Old Testament stories were like fairy tales, but Jesus' unconditional love amazed him, and he never forgot it. He was a chubby boy, bullied by boys and laughed at by girls. His parents were all business and not very affectionate. He never developed a sense of "hometown" as the family traveled so much. He could have gone under. A profound belief that someone or something loves him somewhere out there strengthened him then and steels him now. That feeling of being loved leads him to know, as much as anyone can understand, that the universe's energy is good. Bob knows this because he feels it in those moments of stillness, in those rare moments when he forgets himself, in those thin moments when he feels connected to something much greater than himself. He escaped the bullying of his junior years by becoming a football player and then a hippie after a career-ending injury. Then there was law school, a Juris Doctor, a prosecutor under Janet Reno during the cocaine cowboy days in Miami, and a mob lawyer. His life went south in his 30s–a difficult marriage and he was caught up in the glass and glitter of 1980s Miami partying. One day, he saw his therapist, George Robinson, about a profound crossroads in his life. He had started a business, which, in his arrogance, he believed would make him a millionaire. He was pouring money into it and came to a point where he would have to take a massive loan to make it to the finish line. He asked his therapist what he should do. George reached for a small cloth bag on the credenza behind him and extracted three Chinese coins. George started shaking and throwing the coins on his desk, making numerical calculations, and drawing lines on paper. Bob looked on in disbelief. After all, Bob paid him $65 an hour, and George answered his urgent inquiry with hocus-pocus. Finally, George wrote a number, pulled open a book, turned to that number chapter, and showed it to Bob. The Chapter title was one word–"Retreat."
I strongly encourage everyone to follow him, and be transformed by him insights. Everyone has a story, and this is his story. Below is a list of the sites that house his works. https://iamthewaybook.com/
434 episodes
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