Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

You’ve often heard me say that the Tao is filled with paradox. In the 59th verse of the Tao Te Ching, for example, we find what looks like the paradoxical idea that a no-limits life begins with self-control, moderation, and thrift. Living in thrift and moderation means being in harmony with the world through your generous nature. Be one who accumulates a warehouse full of virtue by living in accordance with the Tao. When virtue is what you have to give away, you’ll naturally be more moderate, humble, and less demanding. Feel joyful knowing that the example you’re setting is helping others make the right choices, too. Practice living without limits by gathering virtue.

For years I practiced gathering virtue without realizing it. I sent hundreds of thousands of books to individuals and organizations at my own expense, getting into the habit of beginning each day with this act of love. I spent a great deal of time giving away much of what I earned, almost all of it anonymously. I didn’t realize it at the time, but what I was doing was accumulating virtue, or what I facetiously call “God points.”

I then found that not all of my life was to be peaks and mountaintops. Yet when I succeeded in getting out from under what felt like a mountain, I was virtually unscathed. This is because I was so deeply rooted and firmly planted in the Tao that my original vision was to be a lasting one, impervious to external circumstances.

Change the way you look at your life by moderating your ego. See yourself as a being who gives rather than collects, and live on what you need rather than practicing conspicuous consumption. You’ll begin to see that your purpose has more to do with Tao consciousness than ego directives. When you moderate your demands and use only what you and your family require, you’ll gather virtue points by serving rather than accumulating. Lao-tzu reminds us that this is “the secret of long life and lasting vision.”

Make a commitment to gather five virtue points today. Imagine how the Divine Source must be operating in order to maintain the creation cycles of life, and do five things that match up to it. Pick up a piece of someone else’s trash, which is an example of excess; anonymously give a gift to someone in need; or perform any other actions that help you accumulate virtue and remain deeply rooted in the Tao.

I have observed that society in general always seems to honor its living conformists and its dead troublemakers. All those who have ever made a difference in any profession have listened to the inner music they heard and proceeded independent of the opinions of others. That was certainly true of one of my favorite nonconformists, Henry David Thoreau, who walked to the beat of a different drum and followed the beliefs of his conscience. He knew that the beat you hear within yourself is your connection to your soul’s purpose.

My own eight children all march to the beat of their inner music, and in some cases it is definitely far away from what I hear. I’ve had to honor their instincts and their choices, and merely guided them out of harm’s way until they could be their own guides. I have always marched to my own beat, and most frequently it was inconsistent not only with my own immediate family, but with my culture as well. I could never find it in my heart to preach to my listeners to do it my way, when I’ve always pretty much ignored what was being preached to me.

An important teacher of mine, Abraham Maslow, always counseled that it was necessary for the self-actualized individual to be “independent of the good opinion of others.” Walk with Thoreau in your own mind. Listen to the voice you hear, and the drumbeat only you can feel, and honor it, while honoring it in those you love as well. It is the ultimate act of unconditional love. In being true to your inner calling, you may ruffle some feathers but you’ll have the peace and satisfaction of knowing that you fulfilled your divine purpose and encouraged others to do the same. Another brilliant nonconformist, Dr. Seuss, is credited with saying, “Be what you are and say what you feel, because those who will mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” 

The willingness and ability to live fully in the now eludes many people. While eating your appetizer, don’t be concerned with dessert. While reading a book, notice where your thoughts are. While on vacation, be there instead of thinking about what should have been done and what has to be done when returning home. Don’t let the elusive present moment get used up by thoughts that aren’t in the here and now.

There’s an irony to this habit of letting your mind drift to other times and other places. You can only drift off in the now, because now is all you ever get. So drifting off is a way of using up your present moments. You do indeed have a past, but not now! And, yes, you have a future, but not now! You can consume your now with thoughts of “then” and “maybe,” but that will keep you from the inner peace you could experience.

Do God’s other creatures waste the present in thoughts of the past and future? A beaver only does beaver, and he does it right in the moment. He doesn’t spend his days wishing he were a young beaver again, or ruminating over the fact that his beaver siblings receive more attention, or his father beaver ran off with a younger beaver when he was growing up. He’s always in the now. Here are lessons for us about enjoying the present moment rather than using it up consumed with guilt over the past or worry about the future.

To practice living in the moment, stop and take notice of all that’s in your immediate space—the people, animals, plants, the sky, buildings, everything. Stay in the present by meditating and getting closer to the ultimate now…God. The truth is that you can only come to know God when you give up the past and the future in your mind and merge totally into the now, because God is always here now.

A recent caller to my radio show began by telling me what a terrible guy he was— addicted to procrastination. He said he was paralyzed and couldn’t do any of the things he wanted to do. Of course, I immediately thought, don’t believe everything you think! Isn’t procrastination really just an illusion? You can stop putting pressure on yourself. You don’t have to do any of those things you’re worried about. The evidence is that you haven’t done them and you’re still here, aren’t you?  If you really wanted to do something, wouldn’t you simply do it? Procrastination is one of those excuses, born of fear, that we use to keep ourselves stuck.     

Let’s say that you now want to push past the illusion and get started. First, forgive yourself for doubting that you can achieve whatever you set out to accomplish. Give thanks for the wonderful gifts you are now ready to share with the world. According to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, acknowledged as one of the true giants of creativity, the way to get something done is to start it. The act of beginning an enterprise, no matter how small a beginning it is, ignites power. We’ve all had a brush or two with procrastination, but the story doesn’t end there. I have used such helpful tactics as putting a date on the calendar when my task will be completed, “assigning” myself to sit at my desk until the job is done, even checking myself into a hotel room and not allowing myself to leave until I’ve made the progress I need to make. Just getting started generates an energy and excitement that helps push you forward.

It also helps to surround yourself with people who are doers. Being around people who are active and engaged and willing to boldly begin generates energy, too. Stop the excuses you have come to rely on to explain why you don’t get the really important things accomplished in your life. The main reason you haven’t completed what you say you would like to is that you have refused to begin. All the excuses are just that, excuses. In your heart you know this is true.

Today is my 70th birthday and I’m going to Disneyland! Actually, I’ve been invited to a special preview at Pixar Studios—to see a short film based on a program I did some years ago and featuring an animated version of myself. The film will be shown as an introduction to Toy Story 3, and it will be as thrilling for me at 70 as it would have been for the boy I was at 7. We never outgrow our need for dreams.

You are the age you are—period. Yet those thoughts swirling around inside and outside of your head are ageless. You’re the perfect age right here in this moment, and your body can be no other age than what it is. Identify yourself in what Lao-tzu calls “the subtle realm,” or the invisible domain of Spirit, with thoughts like these: I am ageless, and I can train my body to work with me in achieving anything I can conceive of in my mind. There’s nothing about my age today that prohibits me from fulfilling my dreams.

I’ve had two very persuasive callings in my life. One occurred when I knew I’d be pursuing a college education regardless of being the oldest freshman on campus. Age was of no consequence to me. In fact, the eight years I spent as a student on several college campuses to earn my three academic degrees were accomplished in part because I was so unconcerned about my age. I was living my passion, and everything else took a backseat to that vision.

My second huge calling came at the age of 65 years and one day. Compelled to detach myself from worldly possessions accumulated over many decades, I disposed of clothes, furniture, books, records, awards, photographs, and memorabilia of all description. Studying and living the Tao Te Ching, I wrote an essay on each of the 81 verses in a book titled Change Your Thoughts—Change Your Life. That I might be too old simply never occurred to me.

As I look back on my life, I realize that I’ve made many smaller decisions where I refused to consider age as a factor. At the age of 42, I decided to become a long-distance runner and ran the original Greek marathon. At the age of 17, I decided to write my first novel; and at the age of 9, I faked my age to get a paper route (10 was the “required” age).

Now, at the age of 70, I can’t conceive of thinking that I’m too old to do what I love. I continue to live life by activating my particular dharma or destiny and invite my ageless mind to keep on participating in my life.

It’s my contention that the universe not only will, but must provide you with what you conceive of. So if you complain about what’s missing from your life—including the money that you believe to be in short supply—you’ll be offered experiences that match that energy. When you say, “I love my job, but I’ll never get rich at it,” you’re aligning with a frequency that will give you what you think. This is why, I believe, the rich often get richer . . . it’s certainly been true for me since I left poverty behind me some 60 years ago.

By staying focused on what I intend to create, by believing that the universe is all-providing, and by knowing that I’m worthy of the unlimited beneficence of the Source of being, I just keep attracting prosperity to me. And by being unattached to what shows up, which means that I have no desire for more and more, I’m able to let it go easily. What remains a mystery to so many remains a simple truth to me.     

Stay in a state of gratitude, and let the awesome yet unexplainable Tao proceed to do nothing and yet leave nothing undone. Rather than asking for more—which implies shortages and, therefore, creates a vibrational match to more shortages—focus on what you have and how thankful you are for everything that has shown up in your life.

To that end, keep in mind a “happiness index” that was recently taken for different countries around the world. It turns out that Nigeria, which is one of the poorest of nations, with the least modern of conveniences, came in at number one for reports of happiness among the people there. The U.S. ranked 46 out of 50, despite having one of the highest standards of living in the world. Apparently, the emphasis in Nigeria isn’t on the mantra of the ego, which demands more, more, more. Emphasizing needing more has built within it the idea of shortage, lack, and I don’t have enough. Consequently, when you think more, you become a vibrational match to experiencing more shortage in your life . . . like it or not!

Affirm: I am aligned with my Source in all of my thoughts, and with God, all things are possible.