A Story
of Self Discovery
It's the story of one man’s gradual awakening. But it’s not just about him. It’s also an invitation for others to discover the eternal truths hidden within us and in plain sight all around us.
Tom Pedulla’s odyssey begins in the 1980s, when he walks away from a successful career in advertising to seek a more meaningful life. But first, he has to undo the conditioning he received growing up in an ambitious Italian American family and the money-driven culture of capitalism. This isn’t easy. Finally, after volunteering on a suicide prevention hotline, getting divorced and remarried, and spending countless hours on a meditation cushion and in the offices of some very good psychotherapists, he goes back to school and becomes a therapist himself.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Along the way, he has to deal with his skeptical parents, a harsh inner critic named Brutus, and an unscrupulous guru who tries to turn him into one of her followers. He also comes to terms with his misguided attempts to find love and his struggles with anxiety, depression, and self-doubt.
With humor and heartfelt emotion, Waking Up Is Hard to Do will take you on a journey of self-discovery you won’t soon forget.
About the Author
After spending 23 years as an award-winning copywriter and creative director in the advertising business, Thomas Pedulla went back to school, got a Master’s in Social Work, and spent the next 23 years as a psychotherapist working at the interface between Buddhist meditation and Western psychology. Tom is the author of Waking Up Is Hard To Do: How a long lost, former altar boy found his way home on the Buddha’s Eightfold Path, co-author of Sitting Together: Essential Skills for Mindfulness Based Psychotherapy, and a contributing author of Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, Second Edition. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Christine Aquilino, and their dog Luca.
Meet the Author Events • Readings & Signings
Thanks to all who attended Tom’s book talk and book signing event at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center on May 31st. For those who missed it, here’s a link to a recording of the talk. Just scroll down to 05/31/23:
​
https://cambridgeinsight.org/what-we-offer/wednesday-evening-programs/dharma-talks-archive-2023/
​
Praise • Reviews
Link to Review of Waking Up Is Hard to Do
https://www.gazettenet.com/Pedulla-Waking-Up-Is-Hard-To-Do-50348460
