Dr. Dragos Bratasanu is an award-winning scientist, writer, and speaker who has presented on five continents, who is now based in New Zealand. He holds a Ph.D. Magna Cum Laude from the Center for Sensor Systems in Germany, and has received awards for his innovations in the field of satellite-based intelligence. He started from a humble beginning in Eastern Europe, and today he travels the world to empower people to heal their life and make their dreams a reality
Tell us a little about The Pursuit of Dreams
The Pursuit of Dreams is a book that combines science, spirituality and entrepreneurship to show you how to make your dreams a reality, anywhere you start. It transcends all cultures and is a must-read for everyone who want to realise their dreams.
I spent the last ten years traveling on five continents, from Antarctica to the North Pole, studying with NASA legends - including the father of Hubble Space Telescope, astronauts and space leaders; learning from celebrity entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley including one of the founders of Angry Birds, and also from monks in the remote monasteries of Romania, Russia, Greece and Ukraine. With every conversation, I had in the back of my mind only one question: "How do we make our dreams a reality?" Or in other words: "How do we fulfill our God-given destiny?" The answer, and everything I've discovered in my journeys around the world is in the book "The Pursuit of Dreams."
What inspired you to write this book?
Everything started in my early twenties. I grew up in Eastern Europe, and my parents worked very hard to put me through school. They could afford to give me only one hundred dollars a month during my university years. We weren't poor, but we weren't rich either. We had the basic things of life, and we've learned to make the best of what we had. I remember they spent a few years saving money to buy a guitar for me.
During my university years, I spent many hours each day in bookshops, reading. I couldn't afford to buy the books, and so I just sat there reading everything in the non-fiction section, from ancient spiritual texts to the modern day books on marketing, entrepreneurship, and leadership. These books opened my eyes to the question "What is my dream?" and when I turned 23 years old, I finally honored the answer: "My honest-to-God dream is to go to the North and the South Pole. I want to explore the coldest and the most remote regions on Earth." That's what was truly in my heart. I didn't believe I can make this dream work, but I gave myself one whole year to see if I can figure out the way to go the Antarctica and the North Pole.
You have to understand that for me, because I was living with only a few hundred dollars a month, to go to the North and the South Pole was probably similar to someone from the modern world going to the moon. I allowed myself to try, I gave my dreams a chance, and 13 months later I saw both of my dreams becoming a reality. That's where everything begun.
What research was involved?
Everything I put in the book has been tested and lived the hard way. I cannot write what I don't experience, because we can never give others what we do not have. I work on my books being accountable first and foremost to God for what I write, because words are the food of the spirit. Just as we eat food to nourish (or destroy) our bodies, the words we speak, hear and read are seeds we plant into our hearts, and eventually they will bare fruit in our lives. I am also accountable to the international scientific community. Therefore, the research presented in this book has been performed by NASA and M.I.T experts, neuroscientists and psychologists, and some of the best minds in the world.
What was your routine or process when writing this book?
It took ten years to gather the stories, the experiences, and the science presented in "The Pursuit of Dreams," but the writing process was, in itself, straightforward. By the grace of God, a couple of dear friends from the U.S. have offered me their homes in New Mexico and Hawaii to write. I blocked three months of my life and traveled to their remote properties to write the book.
I realise some readers who might dream of becoming authors might now be thinking: "That's great, but I cannot put my entire life on hold for three months to write a book." This is why I always tell my audiences that dreams are about your unique journey and your own life experience. They are not a formula, a systematic process, or a step-by-step technique that we can just learn and apply. We have our own circumstances and personal battles we must carry in order to fulfill our dreams and destiny.
You have been touring NZ to promote the book, what was your favourite event and why?
I am doing a 4-month tour of New Zealand to promote the book, from Whangarei down to Invercargill, and the audiences in New Zealand have been extraordinarily amazingly wonderful. I started the tour on August 1st and we plan to end on December 1st, but we're open to extending it if the requests keep coming. We have more than 80 events planned and invitations keep coming in.
Some events four people, some had hundreds of people. I enjoy them all. The secret to receive more in life is to be faithful with the little things so that you can receive the greater things, and so I always give my best to everyone. To come to my events, people give me time from their life which they will never get back, so I always honor them and give them my best, regardless of numbers, or age, or interest. Because I do believe everyone deserves to make their dreams a reality.
What do you hope people will take away from the book after reading it?
I often tell my audiences: "Dreams are not about what you get, what you achieve, about what you make happen. These are the side benefits of you following your dreams. The most important aspect of honoring your heart's calling is that your dreams give you the unique opportunity to fully express yourself in this world. Your dreams are the mechanism through which what you carry in your heart is revealed and expressed outward into the world. You get to witness and enjoy how the dreams you've carried in your heart are born into this world, grow with you and eventually get a life of their own." If there's only one idea that I'd love my readers to get from "The Pursuit of Dreams" is this: "When your pockets are empty, always go where your heart is full." On the long run, we don't get in life what we think we can get or what we believe we deserve, but what we deeply and truly and sincerely want in our hearts.
What did you enjoy the most about writing this book? This book has been my greatest dream since my early 20s. I carried it in my heart for almost ten years. Writing "The Pursuit of Dreams" and publishing it worldwide through Hay House (and soon available in multiple languages) was the confirmation that what I've learned in these ten years, and what I wrote in it actually works. I enjoyed to behold the fulfillment of my dream right in front of my eyes and under my fingers on the keyboard.
What is the favourite book you have read so far this year and why?
I've spent this entire year reading the Bible from the beginning to the end, for the first time, and it was fascinating. The wisdom of this book is unlike anything you'll find in all the books of the world combined. It had an extraordinary and profound impact in my life. There are as many opinions about God as there are people in the world, and for me, bypassing all those voices and going straight to the source, made me understand that the Bible is a love letter from God to each one of us. Simply extraordinary, and life changing.
What’s next on the agenda for you?
I started gathering material for another book about three years ago, and the time for me to sit down and write it is approaching. The topic of this new non-fiction book is explosive - something the world has never experienced at once - but I must keep a secret for the moment. I will let you know as soon as the book is out.