Learning through life lessons can, for many, be the best teacher. My guest today understands how circumstances that are, let’s say, less than pleasant can be transformative, not only from a practical perspective but from a spiritual perspective as well. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that he sees choices and change from a far broader perspective than most. Daniel Parmeggiani is what many call a modern-day spiritual teacher. Daniel believes that he’s called to share his 
message, the magnificent healing truths that he’s discovered with the world.
Now…here’s the transcript of STRAIGHT TALK RADIO with my guest – Daniel Parmeggiani. And here’s a link to the podcast of this show: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/straight-talk-host-chuck-gallagher/id850468894?i=313707403&mt=2
Tired of traditional talk? People pontificating about this or that? The left or the right? Sometimes the truth is just off lost in the noise. Having learned life lessons the hard way, Chuck Gallagher, international speaker and author, cuts through the noise to share truth through transparency!
Nationally-known guests talk about what’s important to you – your life, your concerns and your success. So tune in, turn on to Straight Talk with Chuck Gallagher.
Now, here’s your host, Chuck Gallagher.
CHUCK: And welcome to Straight Talk Radio! Hi, this is Chuck Gallagher and golly, thanks for joining us on transformational talk radio. If you’re a regular listener to our show, thank you! We’re here to discuss issues and ideas that can transform your life and we so appreciate you tuning in and turning on to Straight Talk Radio. And of course, today we have another great show lined up for you. So, let me ask you this: Have you ever wondered what in the world can I do to find happiness? Or is happiness even possible?
I get the opportunity from time to time to talk with people, especially those who will email me, and by the way, that email is ch***@ga*******.com , Gallagher is G-A-L-L-A-G-H-E-R. Once the shows have aired and then following for people to send questions and comments and ask questions. I so love receiving those because it really tells me the direction that you’re thinking. Of course, on Straight Talk Radio we just want to have straight talk about those issues that make a difference.
The challenge often arises when we’re, say, thrust in the situations that require us to make choices that maybe we didn’t really want to make or situations we didn’t consciously choose to be in. All too often we tend to believe that we’re victims of some outside force, a force that controls us or a force that robs us of the potential for happiness. I have people asking me the questions all the time about happiness and joy and success, and there are many, many people that seem to feel that really is a bit of a problem.
Sometimes life rolls at us opportunities to make choices and here’s the kicker; what we might choose that seems simple and limited to us can have profound consequences outside of what we might think is our sphere of influence. My guest today, well, the best way to put it is he found himself in a strange, life-changing situation, one that opened the door to inner peace and happiness. My guest today understands how circumstances that are, let’s say, less than pleasant can be transformative, not only from a practical perspective but from a spiritual perspective as well. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that he sees choices and change from a far broader perspective than most. Daniel Parmeggiani is what many call a modern-day spiritual teacher. Daniel believes that he’s called to share his message, the magnificent healing truths that he’s discovered with the world and I’m happy to have Daniel with me here on Straight Talk Radio. Daniel, welcome to the show.
DANIEL: Thank you, Chuck. I’m very happy to be here.
CHUCK: I want to say first off and foremost, I really appreciate you sending me a copy of your book. It is magnificent! I’ve got to tell you a little side story before we get into really the depth of the book. I received the book, began reading it and had set it on my desk at work. Yesterday I was away on a business trip and when I got back, the book was sitting in my chair and one of the administrative assistants at the office had put a sticky note on there that said, “Can I read this when you’re done?” Look, I’m going to tell you, I have books sent to me from time to time. I’ve never had someone pick up the book, check it out and ask to read it and made sure that they knew they were first in line for it. There is obviously something about that book that reaches out to people. So I want to congratulate you on the fact that you took the time to write it, Daniel.
DANIEL: Thank you, Chuck. That means a lot.
CHUCK: Your book is entitled The Magnificent Truths of Our Existence: Unlock the Deeper Reality That Guarantees Permanent Happiness. And this is your first book, is that right?
DANIEL: It is my first book, yes.
CHUCK: Okay. Daniel, you started kind of deep, didn’t you? You went for the gold the first time out and I congratulate you for that. Tell me a little bit about what motivated you to write this book.
DANIEL: Well, for a long time I knew I had to write this book. I was just waiting for the right time. I wanted to be ready to represent my message. Once I finally felt ready and that was eight years ago when I started actually writing the book, but obviously I wasn’t a writer, I’ve never tried anything like this before so it took me a while to really understand how to make this work and how to present my message in a way that was accessible to as broad an audience as possible. I had very high standards for myself so that’s why it took me a long time. I wanted to make sure my book– I didn’t want to write just an ordinary book, I wanted to write an extraordinary book that would really, really make a difference.
It took me a long time, but I definitely succeeded in what I set out to do, given the reception that the book has had. It became an international best seller on Amazon just in the first couple of days. It just came out April 29, 2014, and right away it’s had an impact. So, I’m very happy to say that yes, it’s been what I imagined and it’s just– When I had these realizations, they really saved my life; it was a shift in perception in how I perceived myself and how I perceived the world. I realized this is the key to happiness, it’s all in how you see things starting with yourself, how you perceive yourself, the labels, the beliefs you have about yourself and then how that extends to the world; how you perceive your life, how you perceive your past, the people around you, your circumstances. Everything is an interpretation and finding the correct interpretation that creates happiness, that’s what this book is all about.
CHUCK: I think it’s safe to say two things as we really begin this journey here today on Straight Talk Radio. I think one thing safe to say is you obviously were impressed from spirit to write the book, but I think it’s also really critical that you said you had a vision of what that book would look like and we’ve talk many times on the show about the power of being able to envision and to manifest what you see. I’m just listening, Daniel, to your comments and obviously that’s taking place, but you also were willing to respond to the direction you receive and yet not rush it because you said it took eight years to do this. That takes a lot of perseverance, it takes a lot of dedication, and yet, I think both of those coming together, it’s fairly obvious with the reception that it’s received, is just rewarding and reinforcing the fact that you did this the right way.
DANIEL: Yes, it definitely is incredibly fulfilling and rewarding. There is no better feeling, I believe, than to help others to find happiness. We’re all here looking for that. [09:03] the common denominator of humanity. We’re all searching for happiness, we’re all searching for that place within ourselves where we’re just fulfilled, happy, at easy with ourselves, at ease with the world around us and to assist others in getting a little bit closer, or a lot closer to, that state because that state we’re all in [09:32] and we’re all entitled to it and we’re all capable of this. Happiness is the automatic result of how you perceive things. I’m perceiving things in a positive, uplifting way. There’s no magic here, it’s not an unreachable goal some people think it is because once you perceive things a certain way, this is the automatic result.
There’s a big movement now of people sharing these ideas and contributing to this universal goal of reaching this place that is our rightful home.
CHUCK: I like the way you put it. You talk about our rightful home and I know, Daniel, that there’s a lot of, how do I put this, there’s a lot of strife in the world. You’re right; there are a lot of people that are searching for that place of comfort, of harmony, of happiness. I know one of the things you talk about is harmony and we’re going to get to that, but I want to set things up just a little bit before we go to break here.
You start your book with what you refer to as your path to truth. I think it’s safe to say if you pick up Daniel’s book, it really does start off by capturing your attention and sharing a story. My guest today is Daniel Parmeggiani. Daniel, first, I’ve got to tell you this, I love your last name. It just reminds me of a wonderful cheese.
[Daniel chuckles]CHUCK: Don’t take that the wrong way, but it just rolls off my tongue. It is so cool.
[Daniel chuckles]CHUCK: My guest is Daniel Parmeggiani and he has written the book The Magnificent Truths of Our Existence: Unlock the Deeper Reality That Guarantees Permanent Happiness. Daniel, when we come back from break here on Straight Talk Radio, I want you to share with our audience your path to truth. What took place in your life that brought you to the point of finding this magnificent truth? We’ll be right back in just a minute. This is Chuck Gallagher with Straight Talk Radio, we’ll be back.
[Commercial break]CHUCK: Hi, this is Chuck Gallagher with Straight Talk Radio and thanks for joining us here today. I’ve got to tell you, I’m really excited about our show. My guest today is Daniel Parmeggiani, the author of the new book, The Magnificent Truths of Our Existence.
Daniel has an incredible story, but more importantly, because we all have stories, Daniel has stepped out of his story and found truths that he is actively sharing with others. Let me say this before we jump in, Daniel, to a question. I want to tell you, I encourage people to pick up a copy of Daniel’s book. You can easily find it on Amazon, just search for “Magnificent Truths”. Daniel’s book is the first book to come up. It was just released in April of 2014 and it is a bit of a rocket. It has been doing incredibly well. Daniel, at the beginning of the book you talk a little bit about what you refer to as “my path to truth”. Tell us a little bit about your past and that path.
DANIEL: Well, I had a very, very difficult and traumatic childhood and adolescence. It all started with the untimely, tragic death of my older brother who got shot and killed back [13:36] and we’re talking about Caracas, Venezuela. That’s where I was born. My father’s Italian, hence the pasty last name.
CHUCK:[laughs] I like that.
DANIEL: My father’s actually from the town. He was born in the town where they make parmesan cheese.
CHUCK: Really? Oh, my goodness.
DANIEL: That’s where the name comes from and if you look at the phonebook in that town, the P section is about 20 pages long because there are so many Parmeggianis and variations of that name that you wouldn’t believe it.
CHUCK: Oh, that’s too funny. As I said, it brings warm and tasty feelings to my mind so that’s great.
[Daniel chuckles]CHUCK: But you said that your brother was killed in an untimely way and a tragic way. What impact did that have on you?
DANIEL: Well, initially, I didn’t even know about it. My parents hid the truth from me. They didn’t want me to be upset so they just said that he went away to study in the United States, but my mother felt so guilty about what happened because she felt, you know, “It’s because I wasn’t watching over him and he was hanging with the wrong crowd.” I was five years old at the time. To ensure that that wouldn’t happen to me, she just completely started overprotecting me, treating me like a baby, doing everything for me. When I went to school, I was different; I didn’t take care of my things, I spoke differently, I acted differently, I didn’t develop well and kids started picking on me and bullying me. I was bigger, and blond, and blue eyes, and I stood out already, and now I was like a big baby so I was an easy target.
CHUCK: Right.
DANIEL: Then, as time went on, I just kept believing, “There’s something terribly wrong with me,” and I started going to the [15:42] and I had social phobia, paralyzed with fear, didn’t want to go to school. Eventually, my mother and I moved to the United States when I was 12 and I started developing this perfectionism that went totally out of control. I just could not accept any mistakes. I believed I had to do everything perfectly, and if I didn’t, I thought I was a terrible person. This drove me crazy. I couldn’t live with myself and psychologists couldn’t help me. They tried to explain to me what was going on, they tried to teach me to relax and to just let go. One exercise a psychologist assigned me was, he told me, “Danny, you have to sit down every day for 20 minutes and just breathe and relax.” After one or two minutes, I had an asthma attack because I thought, “Am I doing this perfectly? Am I supposed to do something different?” I was this totally OCD person.
By the time I reached 17, I just couldn’t live with myself anymore and I became obsessed with figuring out, “What do I do to feel better? What do I need to do to get out of this misery?” And that’s when one day it just hit me and I realized, “Wait a minute, every single thing I do is an attempt to feel better. That’s all I ever want!” So I found that if I’m not succeeding, this is not because I’m trying, because that’s my only motivation in life. It’s ignorance what’s keeping me from happiness because that’s all we ever want.
Basically, I saw that we all share the same driving force in every single thing we do and that’s what started it all because as I went deeper and deeper into that, I realized, “We’re equal, we’re all wanting the same things.” I analyzed what that requirements, the real requirements for happiness are. And I saw the world looking to fulfill the same five existential needs, which is what I call them. Every single thing we do is an attempt to fulfill those needs. This makes us equal, this makes us innocent. It makes forgiving ourselves easy when we see ourselves through this deeper reality.
CHUCK: Let me interrupt you for just a second, Daniel, because I’ve got a little age on me and a lot of grey hair and if I don’t think to ask the question when it comes to mind, I’m probably going to forget the question. You said you became a perfectionist and life was a challenge. I think that was probably a nice way to put it, but you said there were five needs. What are the five needs as you see them?
DANIEL: I think the first one is inner harmony, self-acceptance, embracing yourself, being at peace with yourself, ending that war that we have inside with ourselves. That is the first one, the first need. Harmony within, and then the other four needs are harmony with our world. The first one of those is the need for connection. We all need to feel connected like we’re [19:31] part of the universe, of society, of existence, and that we have a connection to those around us, that we’re not just isolated fragments in this universe.
Then, there’s a need for meaning. We all need to have meaning in our life that our very existence means something more than just a temporary blip in the universe that we just come and go and that’s it. That is not fulfilling. We cannot be happy if this is the idea we have in our minds. We need more, we need permanence, we need something deeper why we’re here and what our real purpose is.
Then there’s the need for justice. We’re all born with an inherit need for fairness and justice and the way we see the world right now, superficially, on the surface, it looks like an extremely unfair place so we need to be able to see beyond that and perceive the universal justice that is really going on, the fairness, that things really do make sense.
Then, finally, there’s the need for safety and we all have this. This is obvious to see. We all have a need to feel safe and at the deepest level we need to feel like our existence is guaranteed, that we’re not going to just expire. We can’t really be truly happy until we have that assurance.
CHUCK: It’s interesting that you laid out those five, and I want to just restate it: inner harmony, harmony with the world, and that means having that connection, having meaning or finding meaning within our lives, feeling that life is just, that there is an element of fairness, and ultimately, the issue of safety, believing that we are here and everything is okay and we are safe. I think laying it out that way makes so much sense. Yet, I have to ask this because you shared with us the circumstances– It is odd that your brother was killed and you were sheltered from that and that set into motion a whole range of things. Did you say you were 17 when all of a sudden you had this epiphany? Is that right?
DANIEL: Yes, I was 17 and the epiphany was simply seeing that every single thing I did was an attempt to feel better, that we’re always trying to maximize our wellbeing with everything we do and that’s our only motivation. That just opened my eyes to realize and first it allowed me to forgive myself because I saw if I’m doing the best I can here, I’m doing the best I can to be happy, and if I knew how to be happy, if I knew what I needed to do – remember, my original question was, “What do I need to do to feel better?” – then I realized I’m doing the best I can to feel better. We all are. That’s all we ever do. So that took a lot of pressure off of me and it allowed me to forgive myself. And then I said, “Look deeper into this.”
It took years, it didn’t all happen at once, but this is what started a new direction, my spiritual direction. It’s something that I believe anybody can do. What enabled me, what empowered me to do this, I kind of lived in a bubble at the time, I was very isolated and I just did not believe, I did not know that I wasn’t supposed to be thinking about these things.
CHUCK: Well, let’s put it this way, you might have been living in a bubble, but somehow spirit reached through that to open the door for you to able to write The Magnificent Truths of Our Existence. I’m interviewing Daniel Parmeggiani. Great last name. Yes, it makes me feel good, but his book is absolutely wonderful and when we get back from break here on Straight Talk Radio, we’re going to continue with Daniel and talk about the truth within us. This is Chuck Gallagher with Straight Talk Radio, we’ll be right back.
[Commercial break]CHUCK: This is Straight Talk Radio with transformational talk radio. Hi, my name is Chuck Gallagher. I am your host and I am so pleased to be with you. Today we are talking about The Magnificent Truths of Our Existence. This is a grand new book by Daniel Parmeggiani, and I have to tell you, it is really profound. Daniel has been sharing with us in the segments that have preceded this a bit about his story and about what has brought him to the place that he is, to write this book, a book that’s been in, we’ll say, the process of maturing to publication for over eight years. I really, really want to encourage you to buy a copy of Daniel’s book. You can find it on amazon.com, just search for “Magnificent Truths” or you can visit mtruths.com, M-T-R-U-T-H-S.com, or if you want to ask Daniel a question, email him at in**@mt*****.com. Now, I hope the southern accent is not hurting too many people and you can understand what I’m saying, but mtruths.com is that website where Daniel talks a bit about his book and what’s taken place to get him to this point.
You say, Daniel, that we all have truth within us, and by the way, I agree with that, but there are probably those who would say, “Um, this is all mumbo-jumbo.” If you meet with a skeptic, what do you say to help them understand that that truth really is within?
DANIEL: Well, first of all, I find that funny that we have this mental block to think that the truth of our existence, who we really are is beyond us. It’s not within our reach. When you think about it, this is really basic information. Who are we, right? I mean, it’s not something like, “Wow, how dare you ask that question?” It’s very basic. It should be known by everybody. Who are we really and how do we function? What’s really driving us? What is our true purpose? It’s really quite odd that we don’t know these things. That’s how I see it.
Furthermore, it’s really all about understanding how you operate, what truly drives you at a deeper level, why you do the things you do – that is the key right there to be happy. This is what happened to me; I understood what truly drove me and I saw that my intentions were always pure and I saw that everybody’s intentions are always pure, our ultimate intention, because our ultimate intention is to find true, lasting happiness and to find love and inner peace. These are the highest emotions, the highest feelings that we’re capable of, so of course we’re looking for these. What else would we be looking for?
So, our intentions are always pure. All you have to do is examine your own actions, examine what truly drives you. Sometimes that can be harder in this world that’s so full with noise. Our lives are filled with noise, constant smartphone, answering emails, answering texts, getting updates from Twitter and Facebook and it’s constant. And the TV going on, and the music [28:24] into our ears and of course we don’t have time to really look within and realize, “Wait a minute, why did I do that?” A lot of times we regret things and we feel guilty about stuff, but just sitting down with ourselves and recalling, “All right, did I really have another choice at that time? Could I have done differently?” The answer is always no. You did the only thing you could at that moment, whatever it was that makes you feel guilty now, at that moment you were just seeking to fulfill one of five needs, one of five existential needs and you were looking for happiness and you just didn’t know a better way.
CHUCK: It’s interesting that you say that because that really is true. I think two things that really jump up is no. 1, in so many cases we’re so quick to judge ourselves and judge others for the choices they make when at the moment the choice is made, you made the best choice that you thought you could make, given all the facts and circumstances. Now, I’m going to be the first to tell you, I made some really, really, I’m putting it in quotes, “bad” choices. In fact, in my case, and Daniel, you may not know this, not an issue, but the people listening to the show do, the choices that I made landed me in federal prison. It’s fascinating that people ask me the question, “If you had to do it over, would you do it?” Well, no, because it wasn’t any fun, but at the same time, you said there’s so much noise. Well, there really is. When you can find at the time, however that time comes into your life, to be still and to go within, it is incredible the amount of information that we can find that will be uncovered or discovered or bubbled to the top. So, while I had no desire to be in prison or want to be in prison, the fact of the matter is it was one of the best, most productive times in my life because it gave me that opportunity to go within.
You talk in your book about laws. There are certain laws in your book, and one of the first ones you list is the law of pain and pleasure. So, tell me about that.
DANIEL: Sure. The law of pain and pleasure is pain and pleasure are the driving forces that drive each and every one of our actions and decisions. We always desire pleasure, we always want to avoid pain. It is universal, it is what keeps us from driving to the wrong side of the road against oncoming traffic. It is what keeps us always seeking to improve how we feel, always looking to heal ourselves. Our body operates this way. Our minds and our spirit are driven by this just as well. Every time you come to a decision or to a choice or are about to do an action, subconsciously or consciously we ask the same four questions.
CHUCK: Okay.
DANIEL: The first one is, “What would be least painful?” If you have several alternatives, which one is least painful if they’re all painful? “Should I end this relationship or should I continue being miserable? Should I get operated or should I live with the pain I have right now?” That’s the first possible question.
The other question, “What would be most pleasurable? Which of the 31 flavors of ice-cream should I get?”
[Chuck laughs]DANIEL: “Where should we go on vacation?” Next question, and this is a little bit more complex, “Does the immediate pleasure justify the potential future pain? Should I hit that snooze button one more time and blow off the morning workout? Should I have that extra slice of pizza and then live with the guilt later on?”
Finally, the other question we ask is, “Does the immediate pain justify the potential future pleasure?” That comes into play when we’re training for a marathon or we’re trying to quit smoking, things like that. Immediate sacrifice for future pleasure, but no matter what the circumstance, we’re always trying to maximize our wellbeing in terms of pain and pleasure doing whatever makes the most sense to us in terms of overall pain and pleasure. This is what drives us and there is no way to get away from it. We cannot desire pain for its own sake, we cannot reject pleasure for its own sake. You can see that, even masochist, you would think, “Well, what about masochist? Why are they inviting pain? Don’t they want pain?” Well, they’re looking for physical pain because it gives them mental pleasure. If there’s no payoff in terms of pain and pleasure, we just don’t do anything. Even when we help others; we do it because it makes us feel better in some way, otherwise we wouldn’t do it.
So, what does this do? This puts us all in the same playfield. This means that there are no better or worse people out there. We all have different ideas of what it takes to find happiness. That’s the only difference between two human beings. There is no difference in quality between people and this is huge when you start seeing this. Then you enable compassion, you stop criticizing yourself and you stop criticizing others.
CHUCK: You’ve said so many things that have just been actually quite profound. One of the things toward the end, as you said, I’m paraphrasing a little bit, Daniel, we do something and we expect a payoff. I think it’s really interesting when you look at that because in reality you can see people that do certain things and you sitting there and it’s like, “What in the world would they do that for?” but the answer at a deeper level is, “Whatever it is they’re doing, they’re still looking for some payoff.”
DANIEL: Yes, absolutely.
CHUCK: Through my eyes or through your eyes, we might look and say, “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard!” But just like you were talking about the masochist, you hurt yourself and you ask, “What’s the payoff of that?” Well, yeah, but if you get enough of a mental high from it, there’s a payoff.
I think it’s also interesting, I don’t know if you’ve said those in a specific order, if there was intention behind that, but you started with what is least painful versus most pleasurable, and at least from my end, before we go to break, one of the things that I’ve been told so many times is people are motivated more by the avoidance of pain than the potential for gain. I think that’s kind of fascinating, but we’ve already gone through another segment here on Straight Talk Radio. We’re going to be back with my guest today, Daniel Parmeggiani, and his wonderful book called The Magnificent Truths of Our Existence. I would encourage you, go to amazon.com, look up “Magnificent Truths”, it will be the first book that you’ll see and pick up a copy, but for right now, stick with us. This is Chuck Gallagher and Straight Talk Radio. I’ll be right back!
[Commercial break]CHUCK: This is Chuck Gallagher with Straight Talk Radio on the Transformation Talk Radio network and I am so excited to be with you here today. Boy, this has been a great show. I get so caught up in the shows and the quickness at which they take place. It’s amazing to me.
My guest today on Straight Talk Radio is Daniel Parmeggiani, author of the new book, The Magnificent Truths of Our Existence. Daniel in this interview has shared his incredible story, but more importantly, Daniel has taken the time, eight years I might add, to explore the truth that he is actively sharing with others. I encourage you to pick up a copy of Daniel’s book. You can find it on Amazon. Just search for “Magnificent Truths” or visit mtruths.com, M-T-R-U-T-H-S.com or if you want to email Daniel and ask him a question, that is in**@mt*****.com.
We have talked a bit about choices and pain, and pleasure, and so forth, but let me ask you this question. You say, Daniel, in your book that happiness is, I’m going to quote, this is not a choice. It requires and depends on specific conditions to be present.” Tell me what you mean by that.
DANIEL: The thing is happiness is our natural state.
CHUCK: I agree.
DANIEL: You can see this, this is not a mystery. You can see it in little kids. Little kids haven’t yet learned to be unhappy. They don’t have that baggage that we all carry. They don’t have this negative beliefs, negative labels about ourselves, about the world. They don’t have all this. They have a clean slate and they experience natural joy there, excited about life, they’re curious, they’re full of energy. And they sleep well at night, right? You sleep like a baby when you are a baby?
[Chuck laughs]DANIEL: What does that tell you? That that is our natural state. So what happens next? We start learning to judge. We start labeling everything. We learn that we can be either good or bad, successful or a failure, worthy or unworthy, and all these things start weighing us down. Then we start having to prove ourselves, prove ourselves, because when you [39:42] trying to prove yourself, you’re trying to prove yourself to the world so that you can love yourself because if others love you, that doesn’t matter. It’s whether you love yourself, that’s the only feeling you feel. It’s the feeling that you’re creating.
Happiness is a perception. When you perceive yourself as an innocent child, when you don’t have all these labels, then you feel the natural happiness that we’re all entitled to, that we’re all born with. And I say we’re entitled to it because we’re born with it, but then later on we have to recapture it. We have to unlearn all these labels and judgments and beliefs that we have about ourselves and about each other. We have to replace this negativity with beliefs that empower us, beliefs that create that happiness.
It all starts with yourself. The first existential need: self-acceptance, loving yourself, having that inner harmony because that is the top of the five existential needs in my opinion. That is the number one. If you have that, you can live without the others, but if you don’t have self-acceptance, then they can put you in the most glorious castle, they could take you to Hawaii and leave you there and you would not be happy. You would have no chance. So it all starts how you perceive yourself. Forgiving yourself for the mistakes you’ve made and forgiving yourself for not being any different than you are right now, embracing what you are right now, knowing that having the faith and this is what I call real faith, having faith that who you are right now is exactly who you need to be. This is not a mistake. Your life is not a mistake, your past was not a mistake. Everything leads to a better tomorrow. Everything leads you closer to our common goal of happiness because we’re always learning. And this is our common goal, remember. This is what we’re all looking for. So everything, since we’re pushing in that direction, eventually, we will get there. It may take many lives, but we’re always heading in that direction so everything is good, everything is part of the curriculum.
When you can accept these beliefs and embrace these beliefs, which are empowering, I can even say never mind if they’re real or not. Would you rather has disempowering beliefs or empowering beliefs that open doors, that make you feel good and make you be unafraid to take on the world? Because when you accept yourself, you no longer fear a failure, you no longer fear the judgment of others. You just do things because of the pleasure of doing them. I think I went a little bit off topic here.
CHUCK: Remember, [laughs] there are no mistakes and everything leads us to be where we need to be. Daniel, I do have two questions.
DANIEL: Yes?
CHUCK: I know that you worked on this book for a number of years and you can tell anybody that picks up a copy of Daniel’s book, The Magnificent Truths of Our Existence, will be able to see clearly that depth of connectivity you have with these truths, but I have to ask you the question. Obviously, when you were younger, there were labels and there were judgments and there were fears. How did you go about unlearning the stuff, the gunk to get to where you are today?
DANIEL: The catalyst for me was simply understanding why I do the things I do at a deeper level because that alone allowed me to accept my past actions, accept my faith, accept that I am exactly the only way I could be right now because I’m always traveling that path. I call it the path of least resistance to our happiness.
When you’re only motivated by one thing, your whole being is pushing in that direction and that’s the reality of us. It’s like we’re all trying to climb the same mountain, get to the same mountain top, and at the top of that mountain are those feelings that we’re all longing for, that mental state, that inner heaven that we all seek. So every single little step we take is an attempt to get closer to there. Our best attempt at that moment is what we know at that moment. It’s like at the bottom of the mountain it appears like we all want different things. Half the time we don’t know which way is up or down. Plus, we get closer to the top, we can see, “Wow, we’re all after the same mountain top.” That is what empowered me to change those beliefs about myself and embrace myself, know that I am the only way I can be and that is fine, that is part of my path.
CHUCK: Daniel, obviously, from when you were 17 to where you are today, life has changed. You are now a published author and certainly a lot of people want to talk to you about the insighst that you found. In the brief time that we have left, tell us a little bit about how your life has changed.
DANIEL: Well, my life has opened up before me, I overcame my phobias, I overcame my obsessive personality. There’s a little trace left. Nothing’s ever perfect, but still, I really came a long way in that department. It allowed me to be at peace with myself and to not judge other people, to understand even when I see horrible things on the news. I can always say, “I can see myself doing that if I had that vision of reality that that person has. If that was my perception.” I can see myself doing all these things so who am I to judge? Why should I judge this?
Also, it allowed me to be successful in life because I no longer fear failure, I don’t fear judgment of others. I quit my career, I started day trading in the stock market and I’m doing that very successfully for 15 years now. I attribute that success and that freedom to just dealing life as a playground, the world as a learning school rather than a place that you need to go prove yourself, prove who you are, prove yourself worthy of your own love. And that is just huge. It’s just so empowering to take that pressure off yourself and just embrace yourself.
CHUCK: Daniel, I would agree with that, and before we end up, and we’re rapidly running out of time, I know this may be strange to some, but I see so many people who say, “You know, I’ve got a book inside me,” but yet few people take the time to write it to let that out. In a minute or so, tell the audience a bit about what writing this book was like.
DANIEL: Oh, yes. It’s not an easy task. It’s the longest thing I’ve written before a 10-page essay for college. It’s really an undertaking and it’s a whole journey; a journey of growth and learning. You’ve got to stick with it, do a little bit every day. Take time off when you don’t feel inspired and that’s what I did. I only wrote when I felt inspired and I had no rush. I knew it would happen when it needed to happen.
CHUCK: I don’t know that you know how profound in the sense it was, but Zig Ziglar used to say, “I’ve never written a book. I just write a few pages every day and after about four or five months I’ve got a little something I can put together.” Let me do this as we close out. My guest today on Straight Talk Radio had been Daniel Parmeggiani. He’s the author of the new book, The Magnificent Truths of Our Existence, and I strongly encourage you go to amazon.com, search for “Magnificent Truths” and pick up a copy of Daniel’s book.
Daniel, thank you so much for joining me. It’s been a true joy and to all of our listeners, join us next week for more of Straight Talk, transformational talk radio to live by. This is Chuck Gallagher, and remember, every choice has a consequence. So here’s to the power of positive choices and the magnificent truths of our existence.
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