The Shift
Wherever you are at whatever age, you’re only a thought away from changing your life.
Happy New Year! Sorry about the delay on this newsletter, but I have something very exciting I've been working on that has held this newsletter up. This is my first newsletter of 2024 and my first letter since my Christmas series. At first, I wasn't sure how I wanted to start this year, but then I remembered I had watched Wayne Dyer's The Shift in November and had planned on doing a newsletter on it. However, when the strikes ended, I decided to go back to big studio films and save The Shift for a later date. I didn't know when I would write about it, but I can't imagine a better time than the start of the new year.
Wayne Dyer is someone I've admired for a few years, but his teachings really impacted me this summer after reading his book Excuses BeGone! I think the excuses begone attitude is the perfect way to enter the new year, which is why I'm excited to start off with The Shift. I've seen a lot of shifts in my life already simply by changing the way I think about the world and the way I think about myself.
For 2024, I want to go full force into this mindset, and more than anything, I want to rid myself of the victim mentality that tells me that I can't do or have what I want or that I need someone or something outside of me to validate me in order for me to feel better. If you're also desiring this attitude for 2024, then join me in shifting into a new mindset and a better lifestyle.
What Is The Shift?
The Shift is Wayne's independent film, which shares a name with the companion book, The Shift: Taking Your Life From Ambition To Meaning. The film follows Wayne, playing himself and working with a film crew to make a documentary about his teachings. Intertwined are several other stories of characters who are all unhappy with their lives but unaware of how to make a positive change.
One of my favorite Wayne Dyer quotes, which I added to my 2024 vision board, is, "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." Wayne Dyer lived his life in the mindset of always looking for the positive in life and then having that reflected back to him. In The Shift, he preaches this message, and while some of the characters are initially hesitant to believe him, eventually, they realize how transformative his teachings are.
Who Are The Characters & What Is Their Purpose?
In order to tell his story, Wayne has to interact with various characters who are in need of his teachings, even though they don't know it yet. From a filmmaker who wishes for more to an ungrateful wealthy man who seems to have it all but is still unhappy, Wayne transforms each character so that by the end of The Shift, they have a new perspective on life and the world.
David
While Wayne is filming his documentary, we are introduced to his film crew, but mainly one of the crew members, David. David is incredibly ambitious, but not necessarily in a positive way. I see ambition as a very favorable trait. You have to have ambition in order to go after your goals and live the life of your dreams. However, growing up in New York, I also see how ambition can go hand in hand with hustle culture, and people end up working themselves to the bone, forgetting to implement things into their lives that actually make them happy. This seems to be David's issue in The Shift.
While Wayne is speaking his messages to the camera, the crew has a hard time understanding his teachings. David is especially uninterested and disconnected and prioritizes answering his phone over being present with Wayne and the rest of the crew. We later learn that David is unhappy because he isn't where he wants to be in his career. As a child, he dreamed of being a famous director like Martin Scorsese or Quentin Tarantino.
“Stop interfering in your own life and just let yourself be done. If you could get to that place, nothing will be left undone. Everything you need will be there for you.”-Wayne Dyer, The Shift.
This gives us an understanding of his behavior throughout the film. Instead of being grateful for the life he has and understanding that there are always ways for him to grow, he's harping on the life that he doesn't have. I am a firm believer that anyone can change their life and achieve any dreams that they set out to achieve, but I'm also learning that it's important to be grateful for where you are in the present moment instead of focusing on where you're going next.
However, as the rest of the film crew starts to take an interest in Wayne's teachings, David's perspective changes after having a conversation with a resort worker who has a passion for piano. Playing the piano comes easy to him but he shied away from it for years out of fear of letting other people down.
As he plays for David, he tells him, "Sometimes all you have to do is show up and pay attention, and music happens." This shifts David's perspective entirely, and the next time we see him, he's invested in the words Wayne is saying to the film crew instead of being stressed out and consumed with everything going wrong in his life.
Later, David excitedly tells Wayne how passionate he is about what they've created, but it wasn't until he allowed himself to be present and really hear what Wayne was teaching that he was able to tap into his own passions.
Quinn & Her Family
Wayne also acquaints himself with a family who is on vacation. The family consists of Quinn, her husband Jason, and their two sons. Throughout the vacation, Quinn seems very stressed out, and instead of enjoying herself, she's letting her son's wild behavior bring her down. One moment I really appreciated in the film is when Wayne tells Quinn to practice "non-interference." Obviously, most parents want to raise children who are well-behaved and respectful of others.
However, kids also need the freedom to have fun and express themselves. While Quinn is embarrassed that her sons sprayed Wayne with a water gun and thinks this behavior is rude, Wayne laughs it off because he understands that they're just kids having fun. He teaches Quinn that her children will be more receptive if she isn't trying to control them.
“Isn’t it interesting you had everything you needed for the first nine months? Why isn’t that true for the next 90 years? Because we interfere,” -Wayne Dyer, The Shift
In fact, I think this can be applied to all areas of life. We try so hard to control everything that we don't realize if we just let go and let things be that, they always work out the way we want them to anyway. However, there's more that Quinn has to learn throughout the film, and it's something a lot of mothers deal with. Of course, Quinn loves her family and wants to spend time with them, but it's always important to put ourselves first. I think this is something that a lot of people struggle with, especially mothers.
The Shift reveals Quinn has a real talent for painting, but she hasn't prioritized her passion since becoming a mother. She tells Jason that she wants him to go home with their kids when their vacation is over, but she wants to extend her trip so she can be alone to reignite her love for art. What I love is while Jason is initially hesitant about the idea, he ultimately supports her and does not shame her for wanting time away from her children.
Chad & Denise
The final characters in The Shift are a married couple named Chad and Denise. Like David, Chad is very preoccupied with his career, but in his case, he and Denise are very wealthy. While out to dinner, Denise reveals to Chad that she is pregnant, and he freaks out because he doesn't want kids. He ends up leaving the restaurant on his own after clarifying that he wants a divorce.
Chad's behavior is completely irrational and disrespectful to his wife, but this is the lesson that Chad has to learn throughout The Shift. He is an incredibly selfish man, and this is solidified in a scene where he ignores a homeless man who is begging for money. Despite his attitude toward him, the homeless man blesses him and then gives him the little money that he has when Chad reveals that he left his wallet with Denise.
“There’s a place deep within us that wants to feel fulfilled. It wants to know that my life has made a difference that I’ve left this place, this planet that I’ve lived on, better than when I arrived,”-Wayne Dyer, The Shift.
Even though the homeless man had nothing and Chad had everything, the homeless man was the one to help Chad out because he knows what it's like to have nothing, and he didn't want another person to have to experience those hardships. However, as Chad speaks with the homeless man, his perspective changes, and he ends up giving the homeless man back the money that he gave him. He realizes that even though the homeless man has nothing, he seems a lot happier and more grateful than Chad is with his life.
Chad later helps two people push a car that has broken down before returning to his hotel. In search of flowers to apologize to Denise, Chad encounters the same man David met and learns his own valuable lesson. The man, who reveals he's actually the owner of the resort, tells Chad "Plants need to be watered," and this seems like a metaphor for Chad's relationship with Denise. He soon returns to her with the flowers and ideas for baby names, letting her know he's sorry for what happened and ready to take on the responsibility of being a father.
What Is The Moral Of The Film & How Can We Apply It In 2024?
The Shift has a very clear message of how we all get lost in our lives and obsessed with things that don't really matter while we let what does matter slip into the background. There were moments throughout The Shift where Wayne encountered situations that would typically make other people incredibly frustrated, but he doesn't get upset at all. One scene is when David's cell phone starts ringing in the middle of the shooting. Instead of being annoyed that the phone call interrupted his shoot, he patiently waits for David to answer the call and then get back to work.
There are a lot of messages I took away from The Shift, and each one is present in a different character's story. From David, I learned we need to be present in our lives, and we need to find joy and excitement outside of our careers. We can not make our jobs our entire identity, and we can not find our self-worth in what we do for a living. There are plenty of stories of people feeling absolutely worthless after being laid off from their jobs because they believed their career was what made them worthy.
“As we move into the meaning phase of life it’s not as if you no longer are ambitious, it’s that you have ambition with meaning. You’re ambitious about other things. So now your ambition has transformed into purpose and you have to learn to become the observer and to step back,”-Wayne Dyer, The Shift.
This is never the case. We are all inherently worthy simply for existing in this world. I also learned from David that it is never beneficial to harp on where we wish we were in our lives and compare it to where we actually are. I still believe anyone can make their dreams come true at any point in their life, but they'll never get there by being miserable and unappreciative of where they are right now. The best thing to do is be present because we find our passions and the road to our dreams in the present moment.
In Quinn's story, I learned the importance of prioritizing oneself and leaning into our passions no matter what. Everyone says being a mother is the hardest job, and we see how difficult it is for Quinn. However, she knows that she can not be the best parent she can be if she's disregarding herself and putting the thing that lights her up on the back burner. Even though we all have responsibilities in life, we have to make time for what brings us joy because those are the things that make life worth living.
Finally, Chad's message might be the most important. For everyone who believes money will solve all their issues, Chad is the proof that this is not the case. In our society, we need money to live, and there are so many wonderful things that cost money, like vacations, nice clothes, and fancy restaurants. There is no shame in wanting money to be able to afford these things. However, happiness comes from within, not from the things we have in life.
I often hear the phrase "money amplifies," meaning if you are already a grateful, kind, happy person, having money will only increase this. Think of people like Taylor Swift, who, throughout her career, has always donated mass amounts of money to various causes to make the world a better place. On the other hand, if you are selfish, ungrateful, and miserable, having money will only increase these traits.
“Don’t die with your music still in you,”-Wayne Dyer, The Shift.
Overall, The Shift teaches us how to live a more peaceful and happy life by eliminating all the stress and just being. I think this is the perfect message to take into 2024 and the perfect way for everyone to change their lives in the new year and in all the years to come.