"Playing the Ball Where the Monkey Leaves It" is a necessary rule for anyone who wishes to find peace in life. For peace can come only with the acceptance of life, of the way things are in life. The suchness of life is the starting point in daily living and the beginning of the discovery of happiness and peace. The sage in the stories takes the reader along a path of apparent ordinariness and sudden depths. The stories are thematically arranged around issues of daily living such as relationships, suffering, helping and so on. They offer a treasure trove of wisdom regarding mindfulness in practical living. Reading them reflectively can be challenging and life-changing.

Dr. Francis Valloor is an author and international speaker. His life long quest brought him in contact with many wonderful spiritual teachers, friends and several masters and sages such as Anthony de Mello. It was he who set him on the path of Awareness. After de Mello's death, Francis worked as the director of Sadhana Institute in Lonavla, India for fourteen years before spending two years as a visiting scholar at the University of Notre Dame. Currently he lives in Dublin, Ireland where he works as a Clinical Psychologist in private practice and conducts Awareness workshops and retreats. He is the author of "A Dewdrop in the Ocean - Wisdom Stories for Turbulent Times" (2009) and "The Ocean in the Dewdrop - Awakening the Sage Within" (2010).

Francis Valloor's profile page