Conversations On Living Lecture Series: Receiving Prosperity; Conversations On Living Lecture Series: Your Thoughts Create Your Life; Doors Opening: A Positive Approach To AIDS

Louise L. Hay, author of the best-selling inspirational book You Can Heal Your Life is the lecturer in these three self-help/motivational programs. In Receiving Prosperity, Ms. Hay counsels the audience on the power of thinking to bring about the positive changes people want in their lives. Dismissing completely the whole system of economics, she notes that there is "so much money" around already (as if the physical paper were the thing itself), and that all one needs to do is to allow oneself to "accept prosperity." (We kept waiting for the punch line--"You're as wealthy as you feel," -- but it didn't come.) Apparently a holdover from the '60s, Ms. Hay's speech is liberally peppered with the usual inanities of the period: "your space", "your stuff". In fact, "stuff", which as near as we can tell is about as devoid of specific meaning as a word can get, is one of the speaker's much-used buzzwords. Besides changing your thinking so as to allow that green stuff to freely flow into your bank account, Ms. Hay also places strong emphasis on mirror work (as in look in the mirror and love yourself). There are some choice laughs in the program ("Welcome bills with love" s our personal favorite), but this will hardly make anyone prosperous. Not surprisingly, Your Thoughts Create Your Life is basically the same material recycled: same examples, same philosophy, same mirrors. Doors Opening: A Positive Approach to AIDS is actually the best of the tiles, primarily because much of the program consists of interviews with AIDS victims. Ms. Hay's weekly group meetings began in January of 1985, and grew over the year. Not to belabor the point, Ms. Hay's approach here is the same: right thinking can conquer AIDS, and right thinking begins with loving oneself--preferably with the aid of mirrors. None of the three titles are recommended. (Available from: Tapeworm Video, 12229 Montague St., Arleta, CA 91331.)