Eons: View message "Personal Development Guru " in The Deeper Thinkers Group

Message 974 of 1582

Personal Development Guru

A previous post by Quest asked what Gurus have influenced you. There are SO MANY Gurus in any one field, let's narrow it down a bit and start off with:
What Personal Development Guru has had the most significant impact on you and why?

Emile Coue, Jim Rohn, Zig Zigler, Tony Robbins, James Allen, Frederick Von Rensesselaer Day, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Depok Chopra, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Russell Conwell, Steven Covey, Theron Dumont, Arnold Bennett, P.T. Barnum, Benjamin Franklin, William Wattles, Thomas Troward, William Atkinson, Charles F. Haanel, Dale Carnagie, or whom?

If your choice is someone that none of us knows, please give us enough information to appreciate something about their contribution to your life experience, not simply "my dad", or "my Tai Chi instructor".

posted by rickydale

About 25 years ago or so, I listened to a series of self-help tapes produced by a woman whose name I no longer remember. And of 6 tapes, the only things I remember are two pieces of her wickedly pointed advice. She said:

Don't tell people your troubles. Half of them don't want to hear it, and the other half think you deserve it.

and

No matter what lip service and rhetoric you give to having a better life, you will only have what you expect to have.

Those two notions have colored and shaped my life.

posted by MartiInMexico
3 months ago

Thanks for breaking this topic down into pieces. Even personal development could be split into categories. But since you asked, here goes. The personal development guru that changed my life was Sheehan (George?) way back in the 70's. He was one of the leaders of the jogging/running craze. Everything that I knew about the running and living a healthy lifestyle, I learned from him. I made a deliberate decision to become a marathoner than sit around and become a sloth. I credit Sheehan for that. Sheehan later died of a heart attack at a relatively early age. That made me question his wisdom but I still live and now do things in moderation.

posted by QUEST2006
3 months ago

So many gurus in 56 years.... I noticed someone even mentioned George Sheehan -- he inspired me too in the 1980s when I was in my long-distance running phase (I even ran with George's then very much younger girl friend) ... let's see, Werner Erhard and EST in the 1970s (in my 20s) got me psyched for a couple of months, in the 1960s, the existentialists pretty much decimated any teenage joy there might have been, in the 80s I joined Unity Church, went to see the Sai Baba and eventually became a Roman Catholic officially (in my 30s)and lapsed within a year ..... read every self help book known to man and in my early 40s listened to Tony Robbins tapes before I decided it was all a scam for somebody, and that all my answers lay within -- for me, it meant accepting the fact that there are no answers, just eventual death and try to do no harm while I'm alive.

posted by Pipping
3 months ago

I have no idea what a "personal development guru" is. What I see are people out to make a buck off others who don't like themselves. "Gurus" they are not.

posted by searching1
3 months ago

I guess it is okay to make a buck if what you are selling is really worthwhile. No doubt, there are a lot of snake oil salesmen out there. The key is to recognize genius from foolishness. In addition to George Sheehan's teachings on running and a healthy lifestyle, I would place Dale Carnegie's teachings on interacting with other people high on the list.

posted by QUEST2006
3 months ago

Whatever personal development works for you at the time has significant impact. Sometimes in my life, different things sounded like the right thing for me. I was fortunate not to have run into anything that left me feeling ripped-off. Each new experience with groups espousing my fickle religious, spiritual, motivational interests left me with something I didn't have before I threw myself into them. At this stage in my life, it's simply reading books that gives me inner peace (or escape). Anyway, I'm grateful to all writers of books.

posted by Pipping
3 months ago

Lao Tzu (the Tao Te Ching) would be up there. As would Twelve-Step Programs.

Other than those, I have learned most, not from a person (or group of persons), but from a profession: actor. It taught me how to live; it's a great tool, which (if done well) promotes (in fact, demands) self-examination and reflection. It also benefits from research and (by walking a mile in another's shoes) teaches compassion.

posted by MsTick1
3 months ago

For me the greatest wisdom I have ever read comes from the wisest man who ever lived. Solomon was also the richest it is estimated that his net worth was by today’s standards, at 26-billon give or take a billion. And that was before gold hit its current value! The other is a descendant of his a guy named Jesus! He had the innate ability to look into the heart of a matter as well as into the soul or very nature of a person and give advise based on that. I am also a big fan of John Maxwell and Francis Schafer.