Paperback 256 Pages Publisher Harper Paperbacks Published July 1991
$13.99 USD
Or
ISBN-10: 0060919760
ISBN-13: 9780060919764
Rating:
From the author of the multimillion-copy bestseller Pulling Your Own Strings, positive and practical advice for breaking free from the trap of negative thinking and enjoying life to the fullest.If you’re plagued by guilt or worry and find yourself unwittingly falling into the same old self-destructive patterns, then you have “erroneous zones”–whole facets of your approach to life that act as barriers to your success and happiness.
If you believe that you have no control over your feelings and reactions, you give up the many choices that are available to you. Dyer shows how you can take charge of yourself and manage how much you will let difficult times–and people–affect you. If you spend more time worrying what others think than working on what you want and need, you will always be disappointed. Dyer shows that only you can make yourself happy and points the way to true self-reliance.
If you are still caught up in old labels for yourself and an out-of-date self-image, you cancel out your present potenti l. Dyer shows how you can break out of the patterns of the post to become fulfilled in the present. If you depend upon others for your well-being, you lose yourself. Dyer shows how to take control of your own needs and learn to give and receive love without limits.
Customer Reviews
How long are you going to be dead? by Andrew Olivo Parodi (Oregon, United States)
Customers Rating:
In YOUR ERRONEOUS ZONES, Wayne Dyer encourages his readers to ask themselves this question: “How long am I going to be dead?” Dyer suggests that taking such an “eternal perspective” will aid one in gaining a more “take charge” stance in life. Life is a risk, and we are all going to die anyway, so why not do what we want with our lives? This has been one of the most helpful self-help books I have ever found. In fact, I think it may be THE best self-help book I’ve ever read. This is one of the “classics,” and many others have taken its lead. I believe this is Wayne Dyer’s best work.
The other not-so-pretty reality of life that Dyer suggests we face is that things are not fair, and they never will be. In chapter 8, “The Justice Trap,” the author writes bluntly about the fact that injustice is committed every day and that if one has enough money one can get away with it. Poor people will rot in jail, while rich people get a slap on the wrist for the same crime. It is not an “erroneous zone” (self-defeating behavior) to notice the injustices of this world; the erroneous zone is the belief that becoming incapacitated with anger, guilt, worry, or indignation, by the injustices will change anything. Many heroic people try to change the injustices, and they are to be commended. But they often fail because they are against impossible odds. Year after year, century after century, the privileged few get away with what the rest of us do not. Is it fair? No! Should we convince ourselves that it is okay? No! Should we fool ourselves into believing incapacitating ourselves with worry and anger is going to change anything? No, again. If you can do something to end an injustice, then do it. If you can’t, don’t feel guilty.
I also enjoyed Dyer’s candor on the hypocrisy of educational institutions, and found it surprising considering that he himself is a professor. He notes that one of the greatest “erroneous zones” is the need for approval, and then he points out that schools are one of the main culprits in instilling the need for approval in people. From the moment you walk into a school, he says, you are told where to sit, how to talk, what to write, how to think, control, control, control, and then you are graded according to your willingness to hand your mind over to the authority figures. Students with high self-esteem, who are full of self-love, and who are not susceptible to guilt and worry, are systematically labeled “trouble makers” by the school faculty. The inference is clear: ridding oneself of guilt and erroneous zones often means going against the very fabric of this society.
This is a radical book! And it’s been a good friend for years. I had the honor of meeting Mr. Dyer a few years back at a book signing, and he seems to live what he preaches.
A great book that is still very useful after all these years by Patrick D. Goonan (Pleasanton, CA)
Customers Rating:
YOUR ERRONEOUS ZONES is deservedly a bestseller. It takes the fundamental insights of cognitive therapy and makes them accessible to a large and diverse audience. The chapters of this book each pertain to important domains of human experience such as approval seeking, guilt and worry and self esteem. However, this book also goes beyond cognitive therapy concepts and adds the inspirational insights of humanistic psychology. The book concludes with a chapter on what it looks like to overcome your erroneous zones (maladaptive beliefs) and achieve self-actualization.
When I first encountered this book, I read it at least a half dozen times. There is a wealth of excellent practical advice that can be immediately applied to whatever your life situation happens to be. Dr. Dyer also has a gift for putting his ideas across in a simple, straightforward manner without a lot of jargon.
At least one writer pointed out that this book was written prior to Wayne Dyer’s New Age phase. This is true and it does have a different tone from some of his later books. It is more likely to appeal to a wider audience than some of his later material which does have a stronger New Age flavor. PULLING YOUR OWN STRINGS, also from this earlier period is another excellent book and builds on the concepts developed in this one.
5th copy I’ve bought for myself, as I gave 4 away!!! by wntrbrln (Lakeshore, WI)
Customers Rating:
This book could also be considered lifes instruction book.
I sought counseling after my divorce and this book was given to me by my therapist. It was a true revelation(!!!), in ways I could not have imagined. My copy was tattered, marked up, and well loved.
As the years have passed I have given my personal and well-worn copy away four times to friends who have benefitted from its message.
Leave a Review of this book
