“Hello Connie, this is Wayne Dyer.”
I sat up straight. My heart quickened.
“The Wayne Dyer?,” I excitedly asked.
My frail, terminally ill mother leaned in from the car seat beside me to eavesdrop.
“Yes, Connie, I got your touching letter, and I called to encourage you.”
“Wow, thank you so much for calling, Dr. Dyer!”
The mellifluous, unmistakable Dyer voice continued while my dying mother sat in the car, beaming.
“I wanted to tell you,” he said, “that you’re doing such a wonderful thing to stand by your mother at the end of her life.”
All this week, since finding out that bestselling author Dr. Wayne W. Dyer had died, I’ve been deeply sad, as I shared earlier this week.
But I’ve also been awed, comforted, and determined.
That’s because I keep thinking about the wonderful private phone conversation I had with Dr. Dyer three years ago, just a few weeks before my mother died.
This super busy self-help giant actually took time to call me personally—not even through an assistant—because he was touched by my letter.
Just imagine my delighted shock.
[shareable cite=Connie Bennett, Author of Beyond Sugar Shock, Endorsed by Dr. Dyer]The Wayne Dyer called me personally to encourage me while my Mom was dying![/shareable]
Actually, Dr. Dyer was responding to my second letter, because the first one I’d sent him had gone unanswered.
That should’ve come as no surprise.
My first letter was cool, business-like — in short, sanitized.
It didn’t reflect the compassionate Connie, who longs to educate, motivate and change the lives of sugar and carb addicts worldwide.The reason I was writing to Dr. Dyer was that I was longing to get an endorsement from him for my next book, Beyond Sugar Shock, which was to be published soon by our mutual publisher, Hay House.
Much to my delight, I’d already received endorsements from such amazing gurus as Dr. Christiane Northrup, Dr. Daniel Amen, Bernie Siegel, Ann Louise Gittleman, Marci Shimoff, John Assaraf, and many more.
But I felt that I had to have an endorsement from Wayne Dyer.
And I was determined.
I yearned to personally connect with Wayne Dyer although I’d already had the pleasure of meeting him several times at Hay House I Can Do It events.
So I wrote to Dr. Dyer a second time.
This time, I wrote from my heart.
I was genuine.
I was vulnerable.
And he replied. With a phone call no less!
In my letter, I told him about my dying mother, how I’d moved across 3,000 miles, from New York city to San Francisco, to be with her as she grappled with stage 4 lung cancer.
When he called and asked me how I was, I shared details on how my illness-saddled mother had been abusing me.
He listened and showed me so much kindness and compassion.
“Connie, you’ve done the right thing. This probably means so much to her,” he reassured me.
“But she’s not showing it,” I replied.
“Trust me,” he added, “she’s overjoyed that you’re there for her.”
Just remembering our short, but remarkable pep talk brings tears to my eyes.
A week or two after our conversation, I received an email out of the blue with Dr. Dyer’s endorsement for my upcoming book, Beyond Sugar Shock.
Now that I’ve finally risen above my long Dark Night of the Soul, recently, I eagerly made plans to spend an entire week next April soaking up wisdom from him and Deepak Chopra at a conference in Hawaii.
When I met Dr. Dyer again, I’d planned on telling him how much his phone call while my Mom was dying meant to me.
I’d planned on telling him how much his books have inspired me over the years, especially since losing my mother.
I’d planned on telling him how every single morning for the past year, I chant alongside him (well, his voice) to his “Meditations for Manifesting” CD while I make my nutritious Cacao-Chia-Flax Power Shake.
I wanted to tell him how that his marvelous CD always helps me yank back my power, focus on my goals, and set myself up for a great day and life.
Now that I can’t share these thoughts with him, I’m profoundly sad.
But I’m also determined to honor his legacy and his special gift to me.
I will continue to follow his guidance so I can help people around the world.
And of course, this morning, I chanted along with Dr. Dyer, grateful that he can still be with me, in this way, encouraging and motivating me every day.
Question: What special memories do you have of Dr. Wayne Dyer? How has he helped you?
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