Q1. Hello, can you please introduce yourself? Readers would love to know more about you.
A1. Hello. Yes, I trained as a doctor in England then worked in hospitals and as a GP in New Zealand and Australia before training to be a psychiatrist. After returning to the UK, I became a Consultant Psychiatrist in the NHS in Brighton for almost 20 years, retiring so I could write more, publishing a long-time blog on Psychology Today and several books about happiness, wellbeing, spirituality and wisdom. My wife Sarah and I live in a beautiful small town in Sussex close to the South Downs National Park. I keep fit, go to the gym once a week, play golf, and enjoy things like reading, going to the theatre, watching films and documentaries. I think of myself as an ordinary kind of person, just like everybody else.
Q2. What’s your favourite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?
A2. One of my favourite spots is the golf club near Pulborough where I am a member. It is special for several reasons. Firstly, it is a beautiful, tranquil place. The scenery and wildlife are exceptional. Secondly, it is a friendly club with a welcoming atmosphere where I have many friends. Thirdly, the golf course is fair but challenging, requiring players like me to focus on each shot and deploy a testing range of skills; very satisfying when things go well, and character building when they don’t. They also serve excellent food and liquid refreshment.
Q3. What inspired you to write the book ‘Happy as Larry’?
A3. My friend Matt and I often share stories about our lives when on the golf course. One day, he suggested I write it all down, including some of the lessons I had learned along the way. That’s how the idea for my spiritual autobiography was born. My motive is not self-aggrandisement. Far from it. I simply want to share my experiences and thoughts about good mental health, and how I came to develop them into a coherent scheme (called the Kairos Theory of Emotional Healing and Personal Growth). If I am confident that this will help many people, it’s because it already has done. My aim now is to spread the hopeful message to a much wider audience.
Q4. How long did it take you to write your book ‘Happy as Larry’?
A4. I wrote the 28 chapter first draft at a steady rate. It took 14 months, so two weeks per chapter. This needed editing, to make it shorter and more readable, so I employed Susan Watt from ‘The Writing Coach’ to help me. The final version took about another six months to complete.
Q5. In your book, you say people can mature towards wellbeing and wisdom throughout life. What do you mean by wisdom?
A5. Wisdom can be thought of as a form of knowledge. It’s not like scientific knowledge, the knowledge of facts. It is, rather, the knowledge of how to be and behave for the best, both for yourself and for other people, in various situations. It is immediate, intuitive, on-the-spot knowledge, and depends on what I call our ‘wisdom minds’, which people can train themselves to access in simple ways. I should add that wisdom, kindness and compassion go together.
Q6. How can people develop their capacity for wisdom and compassion?
A6. There are several ways, as for example outlined in the World Wide Wave of Wisdom website (www.wwwow.net). One of these is to spend time reading wisdom literature, such as religious scriptures, philosophy, classical literature and poetry. Another is to spend quiet time every day in reflection, meditation or silent prayer.
Q7. What is the secret of wisdom?
A7. The secret of wisdom depends on people thinking for themselves and taking responsibility for their thoughts, words and actions. It also depends on such a person experiencing a feeling of unity, of a deeply personal connection with every other person, despite apparent differences of age, gender, nationality, faith tradition, political affiliation, favourite sports team, or anything else; and the same seamless degree of connection to nature and the planet, so that you always want to help, and cannot possibly do harm to anything or anyone, knowing intuitively that somehow you would reap the consequences, beneficial or otherwise. Your relationship to others, to all living things and to the wider cosmos develops a sacred quality of inviolability,. This is what it can mean to be a spiritual person, whether you happen to be religious or not.
Q8. Tell us about the process of coming up with the book cover and the title ‘Happy as Larry’?
A8. The expression ‘Happy as Larry’ refers to Larry the Lark, a nickname for the bird with a bright cheery song that we hear in the summer months. My name is Larry (not Lawrence), and I have been interested in the subject of human happiness and wellbeing since the 1970s, when I was a trainee psychiatrist and there did not seem to be an overview available to help us understand what supreme mental health might entail. Looking into this, as the book describes, helped me grow in terms of happiness and tranquillity I was carrying a lot of anger following a traumatic childhood and adolescence. Nowadays, I am a happy person, and I am also happy… in the sense of ‘content’… to be Larry, to be the person I have become. ‘Happy as Larry’ was the obvious title for the book. It then made sense to put my photo on the cover, and to put a photo from 1975, taken on the day I received my medical degree in Cambridge, on the back cover. The subtitle, ‘A Psychiatrist’s Quest for Mental health and Wellbeing’, summarises what the book is about, and hints that my personal journey could be interpreted universally; that I have been professionally interested in, and have discovered truths about, wellbeing for everyone else.
Q9. What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing?
A9. It may sound arrogant, but I consider myself to have been blessed with the gift of writing ability. It was there when I was at school. My teachers remarked on it. So I have never felt the need to seek advice about writing.
Q10. What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
A10. a) Read a lot; b) develop your vocabulary, learn new words every day; c)hone your work, revise everything multiple times; d) keep descriptions short, avoid repetition except occasionally for emphasis, less is usually more; e) write with confidence, especially non-fiction, avoiding words like ‘maybe’ or ‘perhaps’; f) try reading your work aloud, ideally to a sympathetic listener, make sure it sounds good, almost like poetry; g) persevere, become resilient, do not give up on your dreams and ambitions; h) writing is a form of self-development, use challenges and setbacks as opportunities for growth. I had five books rejected before my first successful publication. Finally, i) believe in yourself, and good luck!
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