Writer Mo Issa helps me wrap up the week by
chatting about his new personal development book, The Shift: How to Awaken to the Aliveness Within.
Bio:
Mo Issa is an entrepreneur who has started a second career as a
writer. He has also finally realized that he is indeed a spiritual being having
an earthly experience, and that understanding has changed his life.
Mo awakens every day at six, and he writes for at least an hour.
This discipline has made him very productive and alive. This spiritual
discipline has resulted in his self-help guide, The Shift; his book
of poetry, The Dense Mistiness of the Ordinary; his many blog posts
at mo-issa.com;
and other publications.
When he isn’t writing, Mo enjoys meditating and
running in the rain.
Welcome, Mo. Please tell us about your
current release.
I used to
feel emotionally and spiritually lost—I felt
that within me something was missing and things didn’t feel right. I then
started a self-discovery journey that helped me first understand that I was a
spiritual being having a human experience. The Shift follows the journey that
marked the beginning of how this shift in my thinking changed my life for the
better. I discuss how I sought my passion and purpose and how I am using it to
impact the lives of people. I believe and hope that this guide will make a
change in the lives of others as my experiences transformed mine.
What inspired you to write this book?
The Shift is a book inspired by six crucial
things I refer to as gifts; Leo Tolstoy’s Ivan Ilyich, A seminar on Personal
Growth, Running and Brené Brown’s landmark TED Talk The Power of
Vulnerability, Public Speaking, Getting Published and Giving Back. These
were catalysts that I experienced at various points of my life. Sharing my
story through these events was the beginning of a transformation that led me to
get closer to my soul, shed my ego and seek to be authentic. This book for me is
an evidence that there is no adversity in life that can hit me and I will fail
to find a silver lining or lesson within it.
What exciting story are you working on
next?
During my
self-discovery journey I realized that many people were also living listless
lives and needed to be aware that they could
live fearless authentic lives while following their passion and their purpose.
I therefore started an initiative The Authenticity Project for this
reason. For my next book I will be sharing stories of
people from all walks of life; those who found their passion and fueled it with
hard work despite challenges and those who were in other fields and made the
conscious effort to shift to where their heart lies. I believe many people need
to be inspired to courageously rise and pursue their passion; enabling people
to truly light up the world with their skills, creativity and grit.
When did you first consider yourself a
writer?
My interest in writing emerged almost five years ago when I began
writing “Morning Pages” as heralded by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way.
Do you write full-time? If so, what's
your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find
time to write?
I write
part-time as I am entrepreneur and I manage my company. I write for an hour a day, usually after coming home from work in the
early evening. This daily hour of writing adds up after a week, and if I add
some extra ones on the weekend, I can total 10 hours a week.
What would you say is your interesting
writing quirk?
I put an
unlit cigar in my mouth and rarely light up during my writing. Until the end
then I sometimes do actually smoke.
As a child, what did you want to be when
you grew up?
I wanted
to become a lawyer.
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