Poetry | Life Lessons | Spirituality
EGO — Edges God Out
A Dr Wayne Dyer inspired acrostic sonnet
Eric believes he has special powers Gloria thinks he is a complete tool “Oh, who does he think he is?” she glowers “Even the paper boy says he’s a fool.” Devoted to himself and no other Gets high on his supreme self-importance Erupts and spews out satanic lava ‘Sorry’, used only for convenience Gloria knows it’s all pretense and prays “Oh, Father, why doesn’t he let you in? Dear Lord, can’t he see it’s you he should praise? Open his chained heart, may healing begin.” Until his ego’s power is downtrod There’ll be no bond between Eric and God.
© Carolyn Hastings 2022
The title of my sonnet (also the embedded vertical message of the acrostic) comes from the acronym coined by the late Dr Wayne Dyer —
EGO — Edge God Out
Sheri Jacobs referred to the acronym in a recent story, What’s Your Problem? —
It was the first time I’d come across the acronym. Plus it was the first time I’d ever heard of Dr Wayne Dyer.
Now after having ‘done the Google’ on him, I’m feeling somewhat of a dumbass. I know I live in the place ‘downunder’ but I’m now thinking I’ve been living down under a rock! Maybe one the size of Uluru!
How is it that I’ve never heard of either the man or his teachings — or his books for that matter? He’s written children’s books for goodness sake — something my bio claims I’m practicing to do. I’m no Eric but I do feel like a fool. 🙄
In case you’re wondering, Eric — and Gloria too for that matter — are fictional characters. I chose their names only because I needed names that fitted the ‘E’ and ‘G’ part of the acrostic as well as having the iambic (da-DUM) rhythm needed for sonnets.
Anyway, that’s enough about me and da-DUMS, otherwise I will sound like Eric and that would never do! 😜
Dr Wayne Dyer, His Ego Acronym and My Meme Magnet
As I said, I’d never heard of Dr Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) or his ego acronym until I read Sheri Jacobs’ story. I did what most of us do when curiosity gets the better of us — I consulted the repository of all-knowing, Google!
Google did what Google does best and tossed up heaps of links about Dr Dyer and his achievements. In amongst it were several YouTube clips including this one. The visuals are poor but the audio is fine and the message is even better. Please have a listen:
In this video, Dr Dyer mentions his book, Change Your Thoughts — Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao (2007).
When I heard the title, my ears pricked up like a…I was going to say donkey, but let’s go with a long-eared jerboa — I’ve had enough of being an ass! 😝
I’d heard the catchcry, Change your thoughts, change your life, or a version of it, before. My ‘jerboa moment’ came when I connected the title of Dr Dyer’s book with the meme magnet I have on my desk – Change your thoughts and you’ll change your world.
‘Change your thoughts and you change your world’ — Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993)
Norman Vincent Peale, by the way, is recognised as the ‘father of positive thinking’ and wrote the international best seller, The Power of Positive Thinking. His spiritual and religious teachings have been hugely influential. I don’t know for sure but I suspect they influenced Dr Wayne Dyer.
The meme’s ‘change your thoughts’ messaging is phenomenally powerful — that’s why I bought the magnet. I hoped the person I bought it for would think so, too, and begin to re-think their ego-driven approach to life and their self-defeating sense of entitlement that often manifested in negativity and criticism.
I later found the magnet in the trash. 😢
I made no comment.
There was no need to.
Their actions spoke volumes.
I quietly retrieved the magnet from the bin and gave it a new (permanent) home on my desk. It’s more than a meme — it’s my mantra. 🎇
It’s not the first time I’ve photographed and written about the meme magnet. It featured in a story I wrote last year, Gratitude in a Sonnet —
It would seem Sheri Jacobs and I are on a similar wavelength. Yesterday, her story, Want to Break that Habit? was published. In it, she refers to Dr Wayne Dyer’s, change your thoughts, change your life quote —
Sheri and I are talking the same language but coming at it from different directions. Sheri has a great story to tell about a friend she calls Mike who overcame his maladaptive nail-biting habit by training himself to practice positive thinking. We can only hope ego-Eric is taking notes. 🙏
Thank you and welcome back to Liberty Forrest, and her publication, Hope*Healing*Humour. The idea for my story was already forming in my head when Liberty announced that she was reopening her publication after what has been a drama-filled hiatus worthy of a documentary. Knowing I was writing this piece with her publication in mind gave me the orientation I needed to pull it all together. I hope I’ve pulled it off. 🙏 🌼
Thank you all for reading. 🙏 💕
✨ If you like what you’ve read, please consider — 👉 Subscribing to my email list 📩 👉 Becoming a Medium member using my affiliate referral link ✨