The Shift – Part 1 – His life’s meaning

I’ve mentioned the late Dr. Wayne Dyer more than once. In fact, the first time I mentioned him just happens to be in my very first post for this blog! How about that?

As I mentioned then, the first time I dipped my toe into the self-help genre pool (which OF COURSE is HUGE, given I’m now The (you know!) Self-Help Whisperer®) it was with Dyer’s first book called, Your Erroneous Zones. And even though I often say that books “changed my life” (and I am being honest, each and every time!) the book that started it all and TRULY changed my life was that one!

After reading it (in 1978 –I think! I was happily mired in the disco-drinking scene while pretending to go to college. Spandex and Boone’s Farm lit a real Disco Inferno in the Sheryl Universe, but I digress!)

My point is: I would never again believe that I didn’t have a voice because of what I read in Dyer’s book. Though I was – at times – afraid to use it.

His work is prolific. His seminars and conversations with healers and teachers all over the world have been life-changing for so many – and epic!

And, yet…

I have never highlighted a book of his for this blog.

WTAF?

How could I have *skipped* over Dyer in the 500 (give-or-take) books I’ve written about?

Well, first… I didn’t have his books anymore. Out of sight, out of mind, you know?

But also…

It’s complicated.

I loved that first book of his… as mentioned above.

The second book I read? Very much the same as the first. Third? Same story. And so on and so on… or at least, it seemed that way to me.

Still, I watched him on PBS and Oprah whenever possible. Always learned things. Enjoyed him.

Then, in 2009, he got leukemia and started saying kinda… *crazy* things… like how he was gonna heal himself from it.

He started sounding like Louise Hay. Heal yourself, blah, blah, blah. <<< Because see, I’ve gone back-and-forth on the believe-o-meter. Church years? It all sounded stupid. Therapy and guru years? I loved it.

Also remember, I have health anxiety – which was MUCH worse back then – and was scared to death to read anything that even mentioned health stuff. Especially killer-stuff like cancer.

Dyer was very upfront about his illness – at least it felt that way for this hypochondriac. And so, I stopped watching and reading and obviously got rid of any books I had.

And then…

On August 29, 2015, Wayne Dyer died.

His official cause of death was “coronary heart disease”. But here’s the thing. There was no trace of leukemia in his body. He told us he would heal from it – and HE DID. (Details taken from Dyer’s FB page)

Color me embarrassed, all by myself. It’s not like anyone else knew I was waffling back-and-forth between love and hate. Well, not hate… but unbelief.

All that preamble to say…

I saw this book in one of my thrift haunts and picked it up, thinking I would like to start a collection again.

Like many of my other thrift store finds, this one has an inscription in the front:

To David (with a heart) Happy Valentines Day!!! (yes, 3 !!!) xxxxoooo

Guess David didn’t like it cuz… he may have cracked it open but he sure didn’t read it. Some of the pages are still not cut (stuck together) and the whole thing has that “new book” smell.

The inscriber didn’t sign it. Not even an initial.

I wonder if they made it? I bet not.

Okay, well…

It’s time to talk about the book… except I’ve already written so much.

I think I’ll finish this up tomorrow. I don’t promise to stay on topic but I do promise to spend more time talking about the actual book.

In the meantime…

I’ll give you some stuff to look at. 🙂

Here’s the trailer to The Shift movie (available for purchase or also on YouTube):