Searching for the center is a lifelong task

I was born about 50 years ago in the capital of Persia, Teheran, and aged 17 came to Vienna, where I had the rest of my life to go on. I had a happy and carefree childhood, which I took with me, I can say, with all its nice and unforgettable days, as far as I can remember today. When I realized that happiness doesn’t come on its own that was the start of the time, when I got the feeling, I am grown up and I am now mature enough. I studied medicine and became a physician, which I always wished to be, I was happy until Parkinson came to my life, when I was of the age of 40. Although I had ups and downs in my life like most, at this time actually. I was married and mother of two kids and was happy in my job and family. After I heard the diagnosis it was in the first years unbelievable for me, later then, as I began to write, it helped me accept it more easily. “There is always an answer for how, but not for why” was the start, as I stopped ignoring it and looked for a way to accept it with my art. And after a while, as I learnt not only to see the loss, but also the profit, I wrote “The dialog with the wave” at a time when I could deal with it. The disease might have signaled the biggest fight in my life, but I don’t say that it has already defeated me and that in a kind of suffering way. In both cases, whether you are at war, or peace seems to be there for you, I hope this book will be a companion in many cases, as you get your worldview. (Negin Schaller)