Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

Do you avoid the supermarket line with the crabby clerk who is flinging the groceries across the scanner while scowling at the customers? Try this experiment which I love to practice. See if you can convert the cranky clerk, the surly waiter, or the rude, impatient public employee with a dose of kindness and courtesy. It makes a great chance to cultivate the third cardinal virtue spoken of by Lao-tzu: gentleness, which manifests as kindness and consideration for others. Gentleness means accepting life and people as they are—leading the way to peaceful relationships. Kindness is contagious. Modeling it opens the door for the cranky, the surly, the rude, and the crabby to let go of what really are uncomfortable, unhappy, and unrewarding feelings. Smiling and showing consideration for someone’s feelings, pointing out something positive to focus on are ways I like to use in my efforts to convert those who are clearly suffering in their appointed tasks and need help to feel better. Remember the calling of our Divine nature—“How may I serve?” We can serve by offering a helping of kindness to those who serve us and enjoy the pleasure of lifting them up to a more peaceful, joyful place.

Namaste,

Wayne

Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some of the great men and women who have inspired me with their work and their lives. In their presence I felt the radiant energy that living in-Spirit brings. In 1978, I was invited to go to Vienna to participate in a presentation to a group of young presidents of companies. I was assigned to be on a panel with a man who had been a huge source of inspiration to me: Viktor Frankl. Frankl was a medical doctor who had been herded off to die in a Nazi concentration camp in WW II; while imprisoned, he kept notes that ultimately became a book called Man’s Search for Meaning. This work, which touched me deeply, illustrated not only how Dr. Frankl survived the horrors of Auschwitz, but also how he helped other camp mates do the same. He taught them to be with his spirit and infuse it in others who were giving up on life. He even practiced sending love and peace to his captors, and refused to feel hatred and vengeance because he knew that this was foreign to his spirit, which he wouldn’t forsake. Viktor Frankl stayed true to his spiritual origins in the face of horrors that destroyed so many. When I met him, he exuded joy, peace, kindness, and love, and he wasn’t bitter. Instead, he felt that his experience taught him lessons he’d never have known otherwise. I spent a good part of that afternoon in Vienna listening and being in awe. Viktor Frankl had been one of the truly inspirational figures in my life, and being on the same panel—under the pretext of being a colleague of this master teacher—was overwhelming to me. It was an afternoon I’ve never forgotten, full of pure exhilaration and inspiration.

Namaste,

Wayne

Just as a candle spreads light in a darkened room, people who are living in-Spirit give off a higher energy that can bring light to our hearts and minds. In other words, we can be inspired just by being in their presence. How can we find people who are living their lives in-Spirit? One measure that has worked for me is the “joy index.” When we meet others who we think might be living in-Spirit, we can ask the following questions: Do they seem to have a rapturous heart, sending out signals that they love the world and everyone in it? Are they jubilant about the work they do? Do they see the world as a friendly place? Are they at peace with themselves? Do they appear to be kind rather than judgmental? Do they tend to be cheerful? Do they love to play? Are they willing to be students as well as teachers? Do they love nature? Are they in awe of the world? Are they approachable? Do they take great pleasure in serving others? Do they accept all people as equals? Are they open to new ideas? The answers to these questions will help us determine whether another person is potentially an inspiring influence in our lives. We can recognize them by how we feel in their presence. We recognize their high spiritual energy, which longs to be active in our lives. For me, it feels like a warm, soothing shower that’s running deep within me. I know I’m resonating with a higher energy that makes me feel incredibly good!

Namaste,

Wayne

In talking about my new movie The Shift, I’ve had a lot of questions about the nature of ambition. If the shift to a purposeful life is moving from ambition to meaning, why is it that we have to get away from ambition? What’s wrong with ambition? Isn’t that what we need to reach our goals and realize our dreams? I know it sounds contradictory—isn’t life full of seeming contradictions that we have to balance?—but in fact, we don’t have to give up ambition, only shift it toward the things we are here to achieve, the music we are here to play. You can be ambitious about having meaning in your life. I don’t think I’m not ambitious right now. I get more done now than I’ve ever gotten done in my life: creating books, writing all the time, living a very fulfilled life, making money, giving lectures, and doing all the kinds of things I do, but there’s a part of me that is so content and peaceful with who I am and what I’m doing that I know this is the music I came here to play. I’m ambitious, but I’m ambitious not so much about accumulation. It’s not the having but the being—the peace and the joy—that lets you know when your ambitions have meaning.

Namaste,

Wayne

I hope you’ll be taking a vacation this year—and I don’t necessarily mean a long journey to a distant land. The word vacation comes from a Latin root meaning “freedom or release from something.” On vacation, you are free from your regular routine; your time is empty or vacant and you can fill it with something new that will heal and inspire you. A great way to move forward in your life is to use your vacation or release time to practice facing your habitual fears and the limiting behaviors they create. You can take a vacation anywhere—to a new neighborhood, a new city, or a new country—and simply be a new you who is flexible and flowing and tries new things. Take a vacation without any guarantees—just go, and let yourself be guided by your instincts rather than a detailed itinerary. Eat at a restaurant that serves food you are unfamiliar with, attend a ballet or a soccer game, visit a mosque, take a yoga class, go on a nature hike, or do anything else that you may have been afraid of. Decide to outgrow the excuses you’ve employed, and adopt a philosophy of having a mind that’s open to everything and attached to nothing.

Affirm:

I choose the less-traveled path and resist seeking out familiarity and an illusion of security. 

Namaste,

Wayne