Description
I used to believe I was a pretty big deal. I had achieved fame and a level of power that allowed me access to people I considered important. As a broadcast journalist, I was recognized and admired. It was seducing, and I became swept up in all things that were me and no-one else.
Then suddenly it all ended when I was diagnosed with a deadly disease.
My awakening happened the night my doctor told me I had throat cancer, my daughter told me she didn’t care if I lived or died, and I didn’t blame her.
Suddenly isolated in a world that only contained my imminent death I realized the kind of man I had become was exactly the kind of man I would not want to be near.
Surgeries, Chemotherapy, and radiation were painful but paled in comparison to the internal savagery of my own mind, as I started on the journey to heal myself and salvage my soul. To do that, I had to change just about everything I believed in. I traveled around the world looking for answers and trying to find out who I was. But the global exploration wasn’t as intense as the internal journey that led me back through the darkness and then eventually into a place of reconciliation.
Kul Mahay – Motivational Speaker and Coach, United Kingdom –
Firstly, I just have to say that I was initially deeply honored when you asked me to review your book.
However, my ego kicked in pretty quickly when I told myself it was likely to take several hours out of ‘my busy life’. I justified this excuse by supporting it with the knowledge that my daughter’s wedding was coming up, that I had a business that I was growing and that I had so many important meetings I needed to hold.
Even this morning, when you sent me a message asking if I had made any progress, I was telling myself that I hadn’t really got the time and I felt inconvenienced. Such is the ego. Always thinking from a singular standpoint and with limited perspective.
However, thankfully my inner voice also stepped and said, ‘I owe Jonathan this much at least. Perhaps I can read a couple of chapters and give him some feedback at least.”
Here I am some 6 hours later, having sat in my office, transfixed by this masterpiece. Your book, your story has such a raw beauty to it that I simply could not put it down! The emotions, the internal conflict, and the growth through the realization of the simple truth took me along on the journey with you. It had me reflecting on my own life and my constant search for the truth. My own battles with my well-disguised arrogance and selfishness.
I reflected upon so many occasions where I too have looked outwardly for the answers by immersing myself in the teachings of others, such as Tony Robbins, and become disaffected or angered when I don’t find the ultimate ‘solution’. I now realize that all of these are just small parts of the whole.
This book will transform lives more than you even realize. It has certainly provoked thoughts and feelings in me today that I did not expect. I have chuckled, I have smiled and I have shed a tear or two whilst reading this masterpiece.
Robert Gordon – Journalist – Halifax NS Canada –
“The Other Side of Ego explores a mans attempt to confront not only his mortality but also the kind of lies we tell ourselves about what is really precious in life. This television journalist seemed to have everything, until that everything included cancer. Jonathan writes about his intimate journey with a deadly disease. But he also tells a bigger story about how the disease launched him on a pilgrimage to become a better man. He uses his remarkable gifts, as a raconteur to show how some of the answers about how to survive his cancer were revealed in his quest for redemption.”
Sandi Allan (verified owner) –
Jonathan’s book, The Other Side of Ego not only celebrates triumphing over his battle with surviving Cancer but also generously deals with his inner fighting in a raw, honest confronting way to become a better person. His story takes you on many journeys crossing continents in search of himself. You will laugh, you will cry, and be filled with inspiration and, admiration. It is indeed a page-turner.