Milo Adorno was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and has a bachelor’s degree in Communications from the University of Puerto Rico. He studied drama (even played a small part in the 2008 Spanish-American feature film, The Argentine, starring Benicio del Toro) and creative writing (his debut poetry collection titled “33” is available on Amazon) at the Tish School of the Arts at New York University. He’s even been a radio journalist. Milo currently resides in New York City. While his roots are and will always be in Puerto Rico - most of my acting career was work produced in Puerto Rico in theatre, film and TV – his influence as an inspirational poet here in America seems to grow by the day. His quote: “Love is the message. The rest is only grammar,” is at the heart of all the work he does.

CC: Milo, you seem a man driven to inspire others through the use of your talents. Can you tell us about the man behind the poetry? What’s a day in the life like as Milo Adorno?

MA: My pleasure. The first one is a very comprehensive question. I will try to focus on my journey to become the writer who writes about inspirational themes.

I am a man who thinks the way that I do after having been in some ways the antithesis of what I am today.  I studied at a Franciscan school, which emphasized heavily in the development of critical thinking. Later, in my student years in both New York University and the University of Puerto Rico, this trend of criticism and questioning became more pronounced. And although it was a wonderful skill to my academic life and later for my work as a journalist, the truth is that this way of seeing life (noticing only the negative, and judging everything) just brought uneasiness to my life. At that time I would have laughed at any of my writings today. I would have classified my work as kindergarten poetry, with no literary value, based on a philosophy totally absurd.

Fortunately after a series of events, I decided to quit my job as a reporter and to focus on one of my biggest passions, acting. Still, I was not happy, because I was still obsessed with my fears. I was negative about almost everything. I did many things, during that period of my life, that now I’m not necessarily proud of. A year and a half after returning to live in New York, I got depressed because my personal life and my acting career was not going as I wanted. I had too much free time, and I was not auditioning for projects as often as I expected. So I started using those hours to read in a very famous library of the city, where today you can buy my book. I love to read and I think the best thing I got from the kind of education that I had was my love for reading.  I began to reread self help/inspirational/spiritual books. I say re-read because I had previously flirted briefly with them. But at that moment it was only a passing fancy; the soil was not fertile so I didn’t accomplish a real transformation. Perhaps the fact that I was passing through a difficult time predisposed me to this kind of reading. Gradually I began noticing some changes in the way I viewed my world. There were many books that touched me deeply. I can tell you that “The Abraham Teachings” by Esther and Jerry Hicks transformed my life. Most of my philosophy is based on their work, and I have to thank them for the changes that their teachings brought to the way I see my world. I’m also a devoted fan of Miguel Ruiz and Deepak Chopra. I love the emphasis that Ruiz puts on overcoming your fears, while I’m fascinated by the combination of quantum physics and spirituality that Chopra talks about in his work. But there is a book that started it all. This book “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron is the reason I began writing.

Basically this book teaches that we are all creators and artists and that through us runs the creative energy that has created worlds. We just have to contact her and let her create. For this, the book proposes a series of exercises, among which stands out the morning pages. People are encouraged to write three full pages in a journal for this purpose. The trick is to not think about what to write and let the stream of consciousness, your creative energy, to take the lead. This pure consciousness that is flowing is non-judgmental, and it is pure divine creativity in motion.

And so my first poems were born. I prefer to call them “Short Reflections with melody.” This flow of consciousness’ vocabulary was simple, but I liked what it had to say. It was a message that was loud and clear. Love in all its forms is the most important thing in the universe. Everything else is secondary. From there I came up with the phrase that was later included in one of my poems and that sums up my personal philosophy and writing style: “Love is the message. The rest is only the program.”

I started posting my reflections on my Facebook wall, and my friends started to comment favorably. Little by little I started getting friend request from friends of my friends who had seen my shared reflections on the walls of their friends. Suddenly I had more than 1200 Facebook friends who I did not know personally and who had come to me interested in the writing that I created through such flow of consciousness.

Then something interesting happened. In February 2010, I met the woman who later became my other half. She is a well known fashion blogger in Mexico. When she learned about these reflections, she encouraged me to post them instead in a blog. I had no idea about blogging. Within minutes she had recommended me “Blogging for Dummies.”

Motivated by the advice she gave me, I started taking my writing more seriously, and in less than three months, I already had a fan page on Facebook  and a Twitter account. Thanks to this angel, from being a bored and unemployed actor, I became a writer with readers around the world. My Anthology “33″ was published because of the demands of my readers to have in print many of my poems. To these were added 54 poems that had never been published.

Answering your second question, a typical day in my life starts with a shower followed by breakfast. Then I read the messages and comments left by my followers on Twitter and Facebook. Fortunately I already have a team that helps me with my social media work. Because of the increasing number of readers, the more the feedback to deal with.

After finishing breakfast and social media, I meditate and do my workout. The rest of the day I dedicate it to write my columns for my blogs. Both the English and Spanish version of them. I’m also working on a series of short stories that I plan to publish later on and also with so other many aspects of my writing that includes the development of a new book in English, this time in the self-help prose style.

I also dedicate a good part of the day to reading. Both traditional and spiritual literature. I think a writer should always keep abreast of the latest trends in his field, like any other professional in his area.

Besides writing I’m active in other areas. For example I’m an ESL tutor, I do freelance translations and also I’m developing a custom-designed tours business in the New York City area.

CC: Your poetry is accessible to all and easy to read. In some creative writing programs this “accessibility” is frowned upon because it often means the product is not pushing poetry in a new and fresh direction. However, your poems, precisely because they are accessible, resonate with and inspire many readers who otherwise might not have read poetry. That said, what do you see as the current state of poetry in Puerto Rico? In America?

MA: When I write, I do not think that I’m writing poetry, nor take into account any artistic or aesthetic values. I let my creativity flow so to speak, it is sort of a trance. Perhaps because it is an organic work, without any artistic pretension, my readers identify with it. At the same time, I believe that traditional poetry wins. Many of my readers have told me that after reading my writing, they have become interested in this literary genre. And for me that’s great.

For reasons of my own personal philosophy, I prefer not to give thought or to expand on current situations, that I think they could be different. I can tell you I envision a future where literary agents and publishers understand that there is a market for poetry and that people actually enjoy it.

CC: What poets inspire you? Which poet that you’ve studied do you believe has taught you the most about (1) poetry on the page and (2) life itself?

MA: Gibran. Both in its style and its message. His work totally resonates with the core of my being. Gibran once said “You are my brother and I love you, I love you when you prostrate yourself in your mosque, and kneel in your church and pray in your synagogue. You and I are sons of one faith.” I also admire the aesthetics of the poetry of Pablo Neruda.

CC: We’ve got violent uprisings and war around the world. We’ve got perhaps the ugliest and most devisive political debates we’ve had in years. Times are tough. What keeps you inspired to inspire others? What keeps you yourself inspired? What tips would you give to others to help them cultivate and then maintain positivity in times of such stress?

MA: Life, the universe, everything keeps me inspired. Every day I make a mental list of the things that I love about my life and why I should be grateful for them. I only pay attention to the things that I want to continue happening. If there is something in my life that is not on my frequency, I ignore it completely. I stay focused on the good things that are happening, and in the good things that I want to happen. When there are “problems” I do not think about THEM. Thinking about them will only bring more problems. Instead I focus on the antithesis of my problem, what many call the solution, and I let life take its course.

You ask me for advice for our readers. I can only talk of what has worked for me so far:

I don’t watch news, I do not let myself to be influenced by what many call the “reality.” In other words, I don’t let “current affairs” take part of my decisions, or my way of seeing the world. I am a firm believer that we are the builders of our own reality. The negative things that may be occurring in the world occur because our attention is obsessively focused on them. When watching the news, especially negative news, people focus their energies on unpleasant subjects. With so much attention on these events, the law of attraction, generates more and more of these events that are essentially the same, but with different characters playing. We cannot blame the Media for broadcasting more of the same. The fault lies not with the news or the media. I was a journalist once and every time I tried to report something positive, my superiors told me that positive news does not sell. What we see on the news and media, “current events” will change the day that we change our focus of our attention to what we want, and not be so obsessed with what we don’t want.

I do not associate with people who are constantly generating negativity, because I know that only by being exposed to this negativity I could get contaminated. There are times when perhaps our closest people are those that generate this kind of negativity. What I do in this case is to divert the conversation to a pleasant subject or simply I retire temporarily.

I’m always in a constant search for feeling good. I do things that produce happiness. Many call it selfishness, but I think a person who is not truly happy is not able to truly give love and joy to others. We must begin at home, otherwise what you give to others will not be your best.

I look for the positive in everything. Including when there is an unpleasant situation that for the time may be unavoidable. And this is not conformity. When we focus our energies on the positive aspects of everything that surrounds us, life responds by giving us an improved version of our current reality. And this applies to people, circumstances and events.

I am indifferent to the opinion of others. Of course, I love when there is harmony between my views and those of others. But I do not let someone’s opinion rule over me and my actions, they are not a decisive factor in what I do or what I fail to do. Everyone is responsible for their own life and nobody has the responsibility to make you happy, only yourself. As long as I feel aligned with my inner self, there will be no criticism that could affect me.

Finally I decree constantly. Even when circumstances tell me otherwise. When I desire and want something with all my heart, there is no plan B. Plan A is the only one in my reality. Having plan B opens the door to alternate realities to mix in. I focus on what I want and I leave the details to the universe. I never think of how things are going to happen to get me a result. That’s not my business, I leave it to God. My job is to define specifically what I want, and be aware of opportunities. As Napoleon Hill said in his book “Think and Grow Rich.”

This way of seeing life is more than often classified as living estranged from reality. Some of my relatives and friends believe that I live inside a bubble. But I know that the most extraordinary things, events and people I’ve ever had in life, I have never gotten them through the use of conventional thinking. Those who have the courage and discipline to live under the philosophy of love will be very well rewarded.

CC: Lastly, what’s next for Milo Adorno? Where can our readers stay up-to-date with you?

MA: The next thing is to keep enjoying life and to be filled with more and more experiences that could be translated into interesting work for my readers. I’m working on a book of short stories in Spanish and a new book in English. People who want to keep up with my work could do so through www.miloadorno.com, my Facebook page and my Twitter:

It has been a blessing to share with you. Much love!