Content
Skip to Main ContentAccessibility Help
Rewind

Help Yourself!

It's January. We are in the month of penance. The health clubs will be filled to capacity as we struggle to work off the extra pounds. Rewind looks at past efforts to make ourselves happier and more successful from the Power of Positive Thinking to Awaken the Giant Within. It's all about self help.
CBC Radio ·

(Thomas Anthony Harris)

The first piece comes from the dawn of the modern self-help era.  The 50's.  It was during this decade that Norman Vincent Peale released his self-help blockbuster, The Power of Positive Thinking. Peale was a minister who mixed preaching with psychoanalysis. The book provides strategies to overcome self-doubt, worry, stress and resentment. That combination hit a chord with the American middle class of the mid-century. Since its release in 1952, The Power of Positive Thinking has sold over 5 million copies and spent 186 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list.  It's still in print. Author Norman Vincent Peale was interviewed by Charles Templeton on CBC Radio's Assignment in February 1958.

(Norman Vincent Peale)

If you look at the history of self-help, sooner, rather than later, you're going to end up in the 70's.  In many ways, it was the golden age of self-help.  For the baby boomers, it was The Me Decade. A time of self-actualization.  Of I'm Okay, You're Okay.  Biofeedback.  Diet for a Small Planet.  And the growth of that scourge upon humanity known as jogging.

In 1974, CBC Radio created a documentary that in retrospect perfectly sums up this search for self-improvement and fulfillment. The documentary explored the philosophy and ideas of the Essalen Institute, a new age centre in Big Sur, California. It was, and still is, a mecca for self help seekers offering courses in meditation, Gestalt, yoga and organic food. In the 70's, it also explored self-improvement through a holistic philosophy that combined the physical, emotional and spiritual elements of life.

Our excerpt was from a 1974 Ideas documentary on Essalen and began with Bob Kriegel, the co-director of the Esalen Sports Centre. He talked about training ourselves to focus our physical energies. It also featured Dan Millman, a coach and former US trampoline champion explaining the wonders of our "mody" or "bind." However you look at it, Millman's body and mind-melding theories served him well. He went on to write more than a dozen self-help books including The Way of the Peaceful Warrior which was adapted into a film with Nick Nolte.

An instructor with Lemon Cree teaches two-hour fitness classes in the evening in the remote community of Webequie. (Simon van der Maaten)

Back in the late 80s early 90s, CBC host Jack Farr was a big self-help fan. On his Saturday afternoon show, he would often dip into the self-improvement well.  In 1990 he talked to Harvey McKay, author of "Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt."

McKay is still very active. To date, he's written four New York Times bestsellers and his books have sold more than 10-million copies. No wonder he's a member of the Minnesota Business Hall of Fame.

Just imagine... you've had a hard day, your teeth are killing you, you can barely stand up and no one can understand a word you are saying. Yes, life can be tough when you're a toddler. Sometimes you need a little help to make it through the day.

Back in the early 90's, a couple of California professors came out with a series of self-help tapes designed to mellow out the stressed out baby. Dr. Cynthia Johnson was one of the inventors. She's a professor of Education from Long Beach California. In 1993, she was interviewed by a sceptical host, a certain Michael Enright on the program As It Happens..

Self help - Anthony Robbins sized.jpgWe've now arrived at our ultimate destination: a look at a man who millions of people have looked to for improvement and inspiration. He is Tony Robbins, the man who is perhaps the greatest self-improvement guru in the history of modern civilization.


(CBC Still Collection)
 
His rise to the top of the self-help heap began in the 80's. Using late-night infomercials he turned millions of insomniacs on to his books. Books like "Personal Power" and "Awaken the Giant Within" sold like hotcakes. From there, he continued to expand his empire, targeting people in business and sales.

He's sold tens of millions of motivational audio and video tapes, as well as run seminars for millions the world over.

According to his website, his infomercials have aired on average every 30 minutes, 24 hours a day in North America since April 1989. The man is a giant. And in three easy payments, his wisdom can be yours.
 
In 1993, Tony Robbins was in Toronto presenting a motivational seminar. There, he came face to face with CBC radio's own master of media, Mr. Stuart McLean. McLean showed up at the event, microphone in hand, to capture the sounds of the occasion and to interview Tony Robbins himself. He told the story to Peter Gzowski on CBC Radio's Morningside.
 
In the nineteen years, since that Toronto seminar, Tony Robbins hasn't slowed down. His infomercials are still running. He still holds seminars. He still sells books and CDs. Half a million Facebook likes. Over two-million Twitter followers. Robbins is still influencing and inspiring people. And so is Stuart McLean.