James R. Doty, MD Takes Us

I really can’t say enough about our guest today, Dr. James R. Doty, MD and his book “Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart.” The story leads us from Doty’s impoverished childhood, with an alcoholic father and extremely ill mother, to his current role as director of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE.) A few points along the way:

At age 12, Doty stumbled into a local magic shop where he met Ruth, the mother of the owner. She took him under her wing and taught him the basic techniques to quiet his mind, open his heart, and control his destiny that he used to fabulous effect to escape the legacy of poverty.

He lost $70 million dollars in the dot.com crash, which virtually bankrupted him, but refused an invitation to go on the Oprah show to talk about it, saying “How could I complain? On my worst day, I was a neurosurgeon, paid more than 99.9% of the people in the world.” In fact, this loss taught him the true meaning (and benefit) of opening his heart.

He wrote this book after prodding by a new friend who turned out to be Desmond Tutu’s literary agent.

The Dalai Lama helped to fund the launch of CCARE and remains a personal friend to Dr. Doty.

Listen in if you could use some inspiration!