A caller to my radio show told me the following story: she had survived a terrible earthquake in her native country, lost her husband in that quake, emigrated to the U.S. with her surviving child, and worked to put that child through college. Now she was trying to follow her dream of establishing a charitable organization to help disaster victims, but she was becoming discouraged because her vision wasn’t materializing as quickly as she’d hoped.
Could someone who had come so far through so much really afford to be discouraged?
I told her in no uncertain terms to hang on to her dream. Be willing to hold the vision!
All of us are here for a purpose; when you find that purpose, hold the vision regardless of what difficulties or obstacles may surface. Holding the vision involves an unwillingness to compromise what you’re visualizing. It means being willing to face setbacks and what appears to be an uncooperative universe. Continue Reading
If you’re presently evaluating your level of achievement based on how much you’ve accumulated, here’s a way to make a major shift in your state of personal satisfaction and contentment. Verse 46 of the Tao Te Ching invites you to discover a more peaceful and self-satisfying way of knowing success. “Contentment alone is enough,” says Lao-tzu. “Indeed, the bliss of eternity can be found in contentment.” As you let go of the determination to acquire more, your new views will change the world you’ve known. You’ll find that the experience of inner peace becomes your true gauge of accomplishment.
The “disease of more” has created an environment that personifies Lao-tzu’s observation that there is “no greater tragedy than discontentment.” When you truly understand what it means to live peacefully, satisfaction will begin to replace your desire for more. Your world will begin to become tranquil as you change your own life and then touch the lives of your immediate family, your neighbors, your co-workers, and ultimately your nation and the entire planet. Begin by simply thinking of the opening line of the famous Prayer of Saint Francis when you notice that you’re demanding more of anything.
Silently say, Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace. As that instrument of peace, Continue Reading
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
Dr. Wayne W Dyer spent 2006 immersed in the ancient teachings of Lao-tzu, studying his monumental tome, the Tao Te Ching. He read, meditated, lived, and then wrote an essay on each of the 81 verses of the Tao, which many have called the wisest book ever written. That collection of essays is titled Change Your Thoughts–Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao. He learned, and to this day practices, what to think through all that Lao-tzu taught him in that year.
Excuses Begone, was also influenced by that eminent master Lao-tzu. Since the Tao Te Ching taught him what kind of thinking harmonized with our higher selves, he asked Lao-tzu for advice on how to change long established habits of thought. Wayne realized that knowing what to think does not necessarily clarify how to go about changing a lifetime of habitual thinking. He has drawn on Lao-tzu’s wisdom by contemplating his teachings and asking for his guidance on what it takes to bring about a change in the long held habits of thought that manifest as excuses.
In this tour, Wayne will take you through the seven questions that constitute the Excuses Begone paradigm and show you how this paradigm worked on himself and how it can work for you. By examining the support system that a person has erected over a long period of time, often going back to early childhood, and putting these time worn thoughts through the seven steps in this paradigm, excuses begin to fade away, and are replaced with thoughts that speak fervently, almost shouting, Yes, you can change any excuse pattern, no matter how long or how pervasive has been the conditioning process.
Wayne has seen people give up a lifetime of being overweight or addicted to all manner of substances by simply applying the principles that are inherent in the Excuses Begone approach to life.
If you are truly serious about changing any long established habits of thought that have led you to use excuses as your rationale for staying the same, then I encourage you to follow the principles and practices presented in this lecture!
Dr. Wayne W. Dyer presents live lectures in major cities across the US. Please click here for locations and details.