17 Lies That Are Holding You Back &
  The Truth That Will Set You Free
   Steve Chandler
  2000 Renaissance Books, Los Angeles USA
   ISBN: 1580631304


This one is hot off the presses & is an upbeat, engaging motivational read that will have us sweeping out from under our old familiar carpets where we've hidden our habit of lying to ourselves.

As we think about Steve Chandler's simple & insightful anecdotes & ideas on the old saws we trot out when confronted with change or effort: "I don't know anyone of consequence; I'm too old; I'm afraid; I'm worried; people are so upsetting; if only I had the money" & so on (I don't want to give away all of Steve Chandler's delightful titles), we'll need to give our recycle bins a good emptying because by the time we finish 17 Lies we'll have filled it up again!

Back at the tail end of the 1970s, I knew my life was pretty much a mess & I needed some discipline, direction & tools to live by. For a decade I'd observed a lemming-like stampede of folks to the ashrams of gurus, experiential clinics & gestalt retreats. One day I came across a training which emphasized using our minds, learning how our minds worked & didn't require my first born or my family's estate nor my cleaving unto them.

Rather they held seminars in hotel conference rooms so we would go back to our own homes, eager & curious to make our lives work again. One of the 13 week seminars was all about lying, so Steve Chandler's 17 Lies That Are Holding You Back & The Truth That Will Set You Free really clicked with me. By the way, Steve's delivery: the charm & humor of his language are very different from those seminars. For that I do not take him less seriously, it means I actually got a lot more of what he wrote because he emanates, templates how to be forgiving of one's self.

In fact, that's one of Steve's charms, I immediately felt I was worth it. That I am someone of consequence in my life - that's not as absurd as you might think! One of my lies, presaged by being told, often enough, that having been adopted I was "too much of a burden...love does not conquer all...you're a changeling."

Much of Steve's imagery resonates with my own, I relish his crisp, clean & careful writing. He writes like I'm sure he speaks, fluently & with flair, he also listens & listens & listens.

This is not a crowded or long book & there is much elegance in the quotations with which Steve prefaces each chapter. The stories he recounts, all drawn from his childhood & being a parent or as a man in line in a book store or giving a seminar, to illustrate a moment of "Aha!", epiphany, exaltation are topical, relevant & lively. His recounting of his transformation from resentful son to composing a memorial for his father is heartwarming & soul healing.

One of the slogans of the Women's Movement that got swept under a carpet was: "What If Society Is A Lie?" Steve Chandler presents us with seventeen of those soul-withering lies & then walks us right on into the meadows of our souls to make friends with the boss of our lives.

17 Lies That Are Holding You Back & The Truth That Will Set You Free is an energetic read, destined to remain beside my chair for re-readings for a long time as I work my way through my lies. Lovely, lovely stuff!

Also by Steve Chandler:
100 Ways to Motivate Yourself; Reinventing Yourself & the audiobook 35 Ways to Create Great Relationships & his newest book 50 Ways to Create Great Relationships

Steve Chandler may be reached at - 100Ways@Compuserve.com
(04/09/00)

Rebecca