Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

Have you ever tried to pay someone a compliment and seen them embarrassed, confused, or even somewhat irked at your offering of kindness, love, and admiration? Or maybe, you have been on the receiving end and found yourself uncomfortable and unable to respond with gratitude and grace. This everyday example of the difficulties that can arise when we are offered a gift reveals one of the important principles of learning how to receive the abundance that the Universe holds for us. In order to manifest, to take part in the process of co-creating your life and attracting to yourself the objects of your heart’s desires, you must know that you are worthy of receiving. Manifesting involves using the power of your inner world to craft a fuller relationship with life. You can remind yourself all day long that the same power that brought anything into the physical world also brought you, but if you do not feel worthy, you will disrupt the natural flow of energy into your life and create a blockage that makes manifestation impossible. Remember that you are worthy of abundance. Feeling worthy of any blessings or desires is a feature of your inner life. Here are the major perceptions of those who know they are worthy and deserving of all of God’s blessings:

• My self-esteem comes from myself. (As a child of God, my worthiness is a given.)
• I accept myself without complaint and without conditions.
• I take full responsibility for my life and what it is and is not. (I blame no one.)
• I do not choose to accept guilt into my life. (I live in the present moment.)
• I understand the importance of having harmony between my thoughts, my feelings, and my behavior. (This harmony translates into peace and contentment.)

There is nothing your highest self wants more than peace. This peace makes you feel worthy of all of the richest blessings of the Universe, and when you radiate this out into the world, it is returned to you without fail.

“Lots of people hardly ever feel real soil under their feet, see plants grow except in flower pots, or get far enough beyond the street light to catch the enchantment of a night sky studded with stars. When people live far from scenes of the Great Spirit’s making, it’s easy for them to forget his laws.”

These are the words of Walking Buffalo, a chief of the Nakoda First Nation of Alberta, Canada, who in 1958 traveled the world on a mission of peace and understanding. He reminds us that harmony with the natural world connects us to Spirit—and the essence of who we really are. To have peace and understanding among ourselves and within our world, we need to be in touch with our common Source.

It’s all too easy to forget our connection to the natural world when we live surrounded by technology and the artificial constructions of our amazing modern life. Nature has a way of reminding us, however, when we have overstepped our bounds. The Native wisdom of Walking Buffalo asks us not to forget the sacredness of life and to pay attention to the natural laws at work around us. The air, water, trees, minerals, clouds, animals, birds, and insects are all essential to the sacred web of life which we too often take for granted.

Step closer to your essence by giving gratitude rather than taking for granted. Take a break from the city walls and spend time appreciating those “scenes of the Great Spirit’s making.”  Notice and appreciate your surroundings. Bless the gifts of sun, rain, ocean, lake, river, mountain, desert, and forest. Listen to the sounds of nature and walk barefoot on the earth to reconnect yourself to all that supports and sustains life. Promote ecological awareness in your life and live by example. Let a child see you care for the earth and pay forward the gifts of the Great Spirit that we were lucky enough to inherit.

Namaste

I was having dinner with my friend Ram Dass not long ago and talking about forgiveness, a subject I’m studying for my new book. He leaned over and said to me, “Wayne, I’ve never believed that it’s up to us to forgive anyone. That is not our role.” Let this profound statement sink in and think about how it might apply to your own experience. First, we have to face the notion that in order to consider forgiving someone we must have been blaming them for something. We must have anger, resentment, blame, even hatred going on in order to feel the need to forgive. Forgiveness is really an act of letting go, releasing the anger, the hatred, the bitterness, the thoughts of revenge that we have been carrying around. We can do this letting go without even encountering the person we want to forgive. It was one act of profound forgiveness toward my own father, whom I never saw or talked to, that turned my life around from one of ordinary awareness to one of higher consciousness, achievement, and success beyond anything I had ever dared to imagine.

We forgive by releasing all resentment, anger, and bitterness and thus set ourselves free from the negative feelings that weaken us. First we have to get past blame. Then we have to learn to send love to all. One of the great lessons of forgiveness is the report of Jesus’s words on the cross: “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” They really did not know the harm they were doing to themselves and to all of us. Meet hatred with love.

Taking all the anger and hatred that is standing in your way and replacing it with love is the most healing thing you can do. Fill your soul with love, rather than anger and so many things will change in your life. None of us needs revenge, but we all need love. It is all we really have to give away. I advised a recent caller to my radio show to contact the abusive father she hadn’t seen or spoken to in 30 years. Finding the courage to call the show was the signal to her that she needed to heal her painful past. Rather than saying, “I forgive you,” and opening old wounds, all she needs to do is say, “I’m here, I care about you, and I send you love.” She has the power to heal and set both of them free.

You may have seen the magazine photos of me that were taken last year. I’m sitting on a sandy beach, white clouds drifting above, palm trees reaching skyward, a peaceful ocean stretching to the horizon. I’ve lived on the Hawaiian island of Maui for some years now—after more years of visiting on a regular basis. If you’ve ever experienced the serene beauty of Hawaii, you’ll know how it feels to look out across the water and breathe in the warm, fragrant air. I am beyond grateful for the natural beauty that surrounds me here, the ocean where I swim every day (often with a posse of sea turtles), the opportunity to walk in dense green forests that are alive with birds and bright with flowers. Fellow Hawaii resident and inspirational author Alan Cohen says friends sometimes ask why he would want to live so far from the mainland. He replies by glancing around at this tropical paradise and joking, “Have you had your head examined lately?”

Maybe a cluster of islands in the middle of a vast ocean isn’t for everyone, but we all have an idea of paradise. As Melville said, “In the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy.” Our paradise is always waiting for us. Heaven is a state of mind, not a location, since Spirit is everywhere and in everything.

Walt Whitman said, “To me every cubic inch of space is a miracle.” If you are traveling this summer or if you are staying home, look for the miracles that are right before your eyes. This month I will be traveling and speaking in the Spirit-filled “Land Down Under” for Hay House’s first ever I Can Do It Conference Australia. As I like to say, paradise is wherever I am.

Namasté