Book Review of “Excuses Be Gone” by Wayne Dwyer
June 17th, 2011 by Diane Conklin under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Wayne Dwyer has always been an author I have enjoyed reading and I have read 2 of his recent books in the last year for the first time in a long time.
Excuses Be Gone, as the title would indicate, is all about living an excuse free life in every way. The book goes through a variety of excuses/reasons we might let get in our way of living an excuse free life. There are too many to go into in this review so if you have an interest in this topic, I’d recommend you read the book.
As is true to most Wayne Dwyer books I’ve read, he is very spiritually based.
One of the things that most stuck out to me is his discussion about mind viruses, which we all have. The thing that most resonated with me is how we take singular situations and make them apply to our whole loves and existence. For example, when we get a mind virus, we tell ourselves that if we don’t succeed at something, even a little thing, then we’re a failure as a person. While we know this is total BS and wrong, we do it all the time and it really takes a shift in our mindset to move from fear to love to overcome this mind virus.
I also was especially moved by Dwyer’s discussion of the concept of now-now-now and staying in the moment. This has been a theme in a lot of the books I have read in the past 18 months or so and a lesson I particularly need to keep at the forefront of my mind. This one small thing keeps us in the present, allows us to be more grateful and keeps us from worrying.
It also lets us be a human being instead of a human doing. I have learned over the years that there is a major difference and most of the time when we are human doings we are hiding from the human being for some reason. It has helped me to remember that this moment is the only one I have, and the only one I know for sure I’m going to get, so I better make the most of it.
This reminds me of a mentor of mine from many years ago who talked about learning to be a great procrastinator so you can always be living in the moment. In other words if you can put things off that you aren’t currently doing it allows you to be 100% with the person you are currently with or with the current thing you are currently working on.
Another way to say this, which Dwyer does in the book, is to do things now, because it’s the only moment you have, do it with the person you’re with in the moment, and do good because that’s why we’re all here. So love that. Living this way will significantly increase the affect you have on others.
I was also moved by Dwyer’s discussion of allowing. If we allow and don’t resist, we are able to stay fully present and that’s really the only way to stay present. In my life I have had a tendency to push and go after what I wanted (which got me to a certain point) and have really had to learn the lesson of pulling things toward me instead of always feeling like I had to fight for what I wanted. Allowing things to come to me is a much better way to live – and it makes living with me easier too!
Here is one of my most favorite quotes from the book:
“By believing passionately in something that does not yet exist we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.”
This book was a bit of a slow read for me mostly because I wanted to sit with things and let them really sink in, so it took me about a month to get through it and I did intersperse other reading while I was reading this book.
Even if you don’t think you are a person who uses a lot of excuses, like I was, or it you are a person who is all about taking self-responsibility, like I am, you will still get a lot out of reading Excuses Be Gone if for no other reason than it will explain a lot and it will help you be better.
Excuses Begone!: How to Change Lifelong, Self-Defeating Thinking Habits
