Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Diane Abbott, Michelle Obama and Maya Angelou are women I greatly admire. But that said, I have opted for Louise Lynn Hay, author of self-help, motivational books and a speaker (died in 2017). In the main, due to reading her notable book ‘You Can Heal Your Life’, which fundamentally changed my perspective on life at age 29.
Though not in agreement with all of her beliefs, I was intrigued with the premise that unhealthy thought patterns and beliefs affect our life and the pointers in the book that resonated with me were:
- Life is really simple, what we give out, we get back
- Most of us have foolish ideas about who we are and many rigid rules about how life should be lived
- When we were children, we learn how to feel about ourselves and about life by the reactions of the adults around us.
- The point of power is always in the present moment
- Resentment, criticism, guilt and fear is the cause of most of our problems.
- The only thing we are ever dealing with is a thought and thoughts can be changed
- The need to examine our thoughts, because if we believe it, it seems true
- The only thing we ever have any control of is our current thought.
- We can change our attitude towards the past, but to release the past, we must be willing to forgive.
- Like our thoughts, we can change if we decide to change.
- Awareness is the first step to healing or change.
Taking on board the principles and some of the exercises in the book, proved beneficial and was a game changer to the betterment of my life in general. Undertaking exercises from her book successfully solved a particularly stressful work issue by changing my perspective. Thankfully arriving at the realisation I was handling the incident incorrectly; telling myself a story that proved untrue; having a hopeless outlook on the situation and exhibiting negative behaviour which further excaserbated the problem.
The book was a catalyst to broadening my mind, reading varied genres, looking into philosophies such as stoicism, the new age movement, Taoism, Buddhism, interest in yoga and its history and psychology.
Ideally, I would have loved to meet her.
