Day 40 of 50 ideas in 50 days is Your Erroneous Zones by Dr. Wayne Dyer. This was Wayne’s first book and it is packed full of wisdom for taking control of your life and not letting negative thinking dominate it. The main idea of Your Erroneous Zones is self-reliance, in other words, we don’t need approval from outside to know that what we feel inside is right. Wayne says, “using yourself as a guide and not needing the approval of an outside force is the most religious experience you can have.” Wayne has certainly learned this from life experience, growing up in an orphanage after his father left and his mother couldn’t afford to care for him and his siblings. Self-reliance was a matter of survival for him. If he had settled on the viewpoint of being a victim of his circumstance and sought his value from an outside source, his life would have been a completely different story.
Wayne says, “if you believe in yourself fully, no activity is beyond your potential. The entire gamut of human experience is yours to enjoy, once you decide to venture into territory where you don’t have guarantees.” If you set limitations and truly believe that you can’t go beyond them (consciously or unconsciously) then you won’t. Change and transformation happens when we venture outwith our comfort zone. The belief you have about what is happening and what lies ahead will shape that transformation. Wayne stresses the importance of having a fountain of strength that comes from inner security. He says, “this is the only lasting security, the only real security. Things can break down, a depression can wipe out your money, your house can be repossessed but you, you can be a rock of self-esteem.” Wise words from someone who knows because he has lived it.
Wayne urges us to take action and begin the process of what we wish to achieve by doing it now. No procrastination necessary here. He says, “the only thing holding you back is you and the neurotic choices you have made because you don’t believe you are as strong as you really are. How simple…just do it.” Advice that echoes many self-development authors, action cures all worries, doubts and negativity about your abilities. For the vast majority of the time that we worry about doing something causes far greater internal suffering than actually doing it. Trust in your guidance and inner resources, they are a source of never-ending strength.
