Many people are searching for spirituality and ways to transform their lives. They purchase every self-help book that sits on the bookshelves of Barnes and Noble and the local bookstore such as Changing Hands Bookstore.
Please be cautious when reading books by people such as Dr. Dyer, Ekchart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, and other “spiritual, transformation gurus.” They offer good advice, but take it with a grain of salt! Meaning: do not take the information too seriously. These people are not God and do not know everything there is to know about life. What works for some people may not work for all people. It’s not a “one-size fits all” transformation process.
Taking the words of someone, no matter how many degrees they hold, lectures they give, and radio shows they do can be dangerous. Those who buy into these self-help books with their “heart and soul” are in danger of losing their identity and could make their life worse.
For example, those who are people-pleasers may be working on identifying why they are people-pleasers and how to stop. Dr. Dyer, who is often heard quoting Lao Tzu and the Wisdom of the Tao, is famous for telling people that the only thing that matters is service to others. People-pleasers may interpret his information as “I don’t matter, it’s not about me, it’s about doing for other people and not myself.” How healthy are these messages being sent to people who may be people-pleasers? Of course, Dr. Dyer has no idea what types of people are reading his books or does he?
Too bad self-help books do not come with warning labels like the ones found on CDs. Some CDs have parental warnings stating that the lyrics are explicit. Self-help books could have warning labels such as the “words in this book are the opinions of the author.” For further information on the topic, see the bibliography, research, and draw your own conclusion.