On August 30, Wayne Dyer passed away peacefully in his sleep. He came from meager beginnings and lived in a series of foster homes for several years. He came to be known as the father of motivation. Wayne was a spiritual teacher, therapist, self-help author, speaker, and father of 8 children of his own. He wrote over 40 books.
I didn’t know much about him until about 10 years ago or so, when I happened to see him speaking on one of his PBS specials. I had been channel surfing, and caught a little of bit of what he was talking about and I was intrigued. The show was called, The Power of Intention. He described the word, “Intention”, as not meaning something that “I will make happen”. Instead, he said to consider that the word means not something that you are going “to do”, which is your ego but that intention is something that you connect to. That “something”, is what he referred to as Source energy; others refer to this as Spirit, God, Buddha, Jehovah, Shiva, Yahweh, Allah. It’s the “power greater than yourself” in the 12 step programs. I was drawn in and recognized that he was brilliant at synthesizing so much of what many great philosophers and spiritual teachers spoke about. He used quotes from Lao Tzu, Emerson, Maslow, Jung, Carlos Castaneda just to name a few and tied universal tenets together.
He was explaining my own beliefs but doing so in a way that was accessible and easy to understand. This universal source of energy, he said, is available to every single one of us, when we are ready and open to connecting to it.
Wayne taught that we can trust in and become in harmony with “source energy”. Wayne said that we have free will whether or not we choose to connect to spirit. The more you are able to suspend your ego which makes you think that who you are is separate from this, and this, and this; the more you will be “In spirit”, or Inspired. All of the problems we have with scarcity, our relationships, finances, etc.. are signs that we have become disconnected with this field of intention, or source energy. We begin to falsely believe that we are what we do, or we are what we have.
What comfort there is in knowing that we don’t have to do it alone, or go it alone! Intention is the creative process where you allow source in. This is pretty powerful stuff. Some people may have a difficult time accepting or allowing in some of his ideas. That’s okay. That’s one of his tenets. Allow others to be who they are. Don’t judge.
I continued to listen to that program that day, and listened again when it was re-run a few days later. In it, he detailed the 7 faces of intention: kindness, creativity, beauty, love, expansiveness, abundance, receptiveness. I recommend taking a look at it if you have never seen it before.
After that PBS special, I read his next two books, and subscribed to his newsletter. Wayne had a little contest on line. I responded to a question and he chose my response over thousands of other ones as the winning one! As a result, I won an entire library of the man’s work. There were CD’s, books, a movie he made, a calendar..lots of stuff. I read everything little by little and began to then give away each of the items to others who crossed my path and who I thought would be open to his teachings. It was a beautiful real life example of the power of intention, and allowing myself to be connected to that which inspired me.
Wayne was a light in this world, and he will be missed by many; myself included. According to his family’s message on his website, He always said he couldn’t wait for this next adventure to begin and had no fear of dying.
He was instrumental in my own spiritual growth and blessed the world with his wisdom and brilliance.
Rest in Peace, Wayne.
Here are a few quotes from Dr. Dyer that I resonate with. Which ones do you identify with? Feel free to add any quotes or teachings from Wayne that inspire you.
- Don’t die with your music still in you.
- When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
- When you judge another, you don’t define them, you define yourself.
- You choose yourself one choice at a time.
- You never regret what you do do; you only regret what you don’t do.
- You can’t control what happens to you, but you can control how you respond to what happens to you.
- Think from the end. Contemplate the conditions you wish the way you want them to be. Often we habitually think thoughts of why what we want can’t or won’t happen. While it’s good to be aware of obstacles, pros and cons, often we don’t spend anytime actually thinking about how it will feel when we are fulfilled, when that which you are is made manifest. Spend more time contemplating things aligning with the power of intention.
- You can’t get sick enough to help those who are sick; you can’t get poor enough to help those who are poor.
- If you don’t have love for yourself, you are not trusting in the wisdom of source energy, that which created you. (You are in fact, believing that you know better than source energy.)
- There will come a time when the last jacket you wear is one that doesn’t need pockets. Think about it!
Create your health by connecting to the Power of Intention by allowing source in.
Peace. Chris
To purchase the book I refer to, click here: The Power of Intention
