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What Do Y ou Really W ant for Y our Children? W isdom of the Ages
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Hay House India: www .hayhouse.co.inCopyright © 2001 by W ayne W . Dyer
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any
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written permission of the publisher . The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the
use of any tec hnique as a fo rm of treatment for physical or medical
problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly . The
intent of the author is only to of fer information of a general nature to help
you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you
use any of the  information in this book for yourself, which is your
constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility
for your actions. Library of Congr ess Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dyer , W ayne W . T en secrets for success and inner peace
  / W ayne W . Dyer . p. cm. ISBN 1-56170-875-5 (hardcover)
1. Success—Religious aspects. 2. Peace of mind—Religious aspects. I.
T itle. BL65.S84 D935 2001
  291.4’4—dc21                                                    2001039224
  ISBN 13: 978-1-56170-875-8
  ISBN 10: 1-56170-875-5
  12 11 10 09    18 17 16 15
  1st printing, December 2001
  15th printing, January 2009
  Printed in ChinaF o r  m y  d a u g h t e r
S t e p h a n i e  L o u i s e  D y e r —
y o u  m e a n  e v e r y t h i n g  t o  m e .C o n t e n t s
Introduction
T HE  F IRST  S ECRET
Have a Mind That Is Open to Everything and Attached to Nothing
T HE  S ECOND  S ECRET
Don’t Die with Y our Music Still in Y ou
T HE  T HIRD  S ECRET
Y ou Can’t Give A way What Y ou Don’t Have
T HE  F OUR TH  S ECRET
Embrace Silence
T HE  F IFTH  S ECRET
Give Up Y our Personal History
T HE  S IXTH  S ECRET
Y ou Can’t Solve a Pr oblem with the Same Mind That Cr eated It
T HE  S EVENTH  S ECRET
Ther e Ar e No Justified Resentments
T HE  E IGHTH  S ECRET
T r eat Y ourself As If Y ou Alr eady Ar e What Y ou’d Like to Be
T HE  N INTH  S ECRETT r easur e Y our Divinity
T HE  T ENTH  S ECRET
W isdom Is A voiding All Thoughts That W eaken Y ou
About the Author 
T ake sips of this pur e wine
being pour ed. Don’ t mind that
you’ve been given a dirty cup. — Rumi
Arrange whatever
pieces come your way . — V ir ginia W oolfI n t r o d u c t i o n
There’ s never a day that goes b y that I don’ t think about God. More than
thinking, I experience the presence of God in most of my waking moments. It’ s a feeling of contentment an d satisfaction that’ s beyond anything that I
might convey in a book. I’ve co me to know the peace of Spirit in my life,
and because of this knowing, all of my concerns, problems,
accomplishments, and accumulations diminish in importance. In this short
book, I will elaborate on ten principles to success and inner peac e, which, if
mastered and practiced on a daily basis, will also guide you t o this same
sense of tranquility . I’ve ofte n been asked to speak a t high schools and colleges over the past
three decades. Frequently , my readers encourage me to writ e to young
adults e mbarking on the journey of adulthood and provide them with my
“secrets” for being successful and happy . The ten secrets in this book are what I talk or write about when I have the
opportunity to speak to young people. However , they’re valuable for
anyone who has decided to consciously  be on their life path. Each of us
makes that choice depending on our individual time clock. Fo r some, it’ s
early in young adulthood; and fo r others, it happens in the middle or mature
years. The secrets apply whethe r you’re just beginning your li fe path, are
nearing the end of it, or are on the path in any way . Most bo oks of this sort, as well as graduation speeches, stress the
importance of hard work, dedication, financial planning, relationship
strategies, choosing the right career , listening to one’ s elders, being
respectful of the rules, setting realistic goals, living a healthy lifestyle, and
being in  a state of gratitude. This is good advice and certainly be nefits those
who choose to listen to and apply this wisdom. It is my experience,
however , both as a lifelong teacher and a father of eight childre n ranging in
age from 11 to 33, that this kind of advice by itself leads one to  wondering,
Is that all ther e is? So, I have no advice on goal setting, putting your nose to the grindstone,
planning your financial future, listening to us older folks, respecting your
culture, and so o n. In fact, I’ve almost always listened to my ow n impulses,paying the price for taking the road “least traveled” and resisting
enculturation, so  it would be somewhat hypocritical of me to now tell you
to d o what I say and follow my rules. Instead, what I of fer you are ten
secrets that allow your spirit to guide you. In my experience working with  a variety of people over several decades,
far t oo many in dividuals choose to be anonymous members o f the pack,
therefore suf fer ing from the inner remorse that makes them feel like
failures, filled with conflict and resentment and wondering what the
meaning of life is. So, I’ve written this book in th e hopes that it will help you avoid those
feelings of inadequacy and help you feel the peace of God that truly defines
success. Read these secrets with an open heart. Apply the ones that resonate
with you, and discard those that don’ t.
When you feel peaceful and su ccessful, you want to extend and export
that peace and love. The violen ce, hatred, prejudice, and judgment in our
world suggests that we have mil es to go to reach a world of inner and outer
peace. I send you love and all gr een lights. —  W ayne W . DyerT h e  F i r s t  S e c r e t
I wish to say what I think and feel
today , with the proviso that tomorrow
perhaps I shall cantradict it all. —Ralph W aldo Emerson
I always entertain
great hopes. —Robert Frost
H a v e  a  M i n d
T h a t  i s  O p e n  t o
E v e r y t h i n g  a n d
A t t a c h e d  t o
N o t h i n g1
T h e  F i r s t  S e c r e t
Have a Mind
That Is Open
to Everythin
and Attached
to Nothing
Having a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing sounds
easy until you think about how much conditioning has taken place in your
life, and how many of your current thoughts were influenced by  geography ,
the r eligious beliefs of your ancestors, the color of your skin, t he shape of
your eyes , t he political or ientation of your parents, your size, your gender ,
the schools that were selected for you, and the vocation of your great-
grandparents, to  list only some possibilities. Y ou showed up he re as a tiny
infant capable of an infinite number of potentialities. Many of your choices
remain unexplored because of a hopefully well-intentioned c onditioning
program design ed to make you fit the culture of your caretakers. Y ou
probably had next to no oppo rtunity to disagree with the c ultural and
societal arrangements made for your life. There may have been some adults who encouraged you to have an open
mind, but if you’re honest with yourself, you know that your philosophy of
life, you r religio us beliefs, your manner of dress, and your language are a
function of what your tribe (and it’ s heritage) determined was right for you. If you made any fuss about going against this preordained conditioning, you
probably heard even stronger vo ices insisting that you get back  in line and
do things the way they have “always been done.” Fitting in superseded
having a mind that was open to new ideas. If your parents were Jewish, it’ s unlikely that you were raised to honor
and resp ect the Muslim religion , and vice versa. If both your p arents were
Republicans, it’ s improbable th at you heard the virtues of the Democratic
Party extolled. Whatever the re asons our ancestors may have had for nothaving open minds, it’ s true that they inhabited a much less populated world
than we do. In today’ s overpopu lated world, we simply cannot continue to
live with  those old styles of cl osed-mindedness. I ur ge you to open your
mind to all  p ossibi lities, to resist any ef fo rts to be pigeonholed, and to
refuse to allow pessimism into your consciousness. Having a m ind that is
open to everything and attached to nothing seems to me to be one of the
most basic principles that you can adopt to contribute to ind ividual and
world peace. No One Knows
Enough to Be a
Pessimist
Find an opportunity to observe a tiny little green sprout emer ging from a
seed. When you do, allow yourself to feel the awe of what you’re seeing. A
famous poet named Rumi observed, “Sell your cleverness and purchase
bewilderment.” The scene of an emer ging sprout represents the beginning
of life. No one on this planet has even a tiny clue as to how  all of this
works. What is that creative spark that causes the life to sp rout? What
created the observer , the consciousness, the observation, and perception
itself? The questions are endless. A short while ago, Earthlings in the space program were moving a tiny
vehicle on Mars via remote control. Invisible signals took ten  minutes to
travel through space and arrived  to make right turns and instruct a scoop to
pick up some Martian real estate to examine. W e all marvel at such
technological fe ats. But think ab out it for a moment. In an endle ss universe,
Mars, o ur close st neighbor , is the equivalent of moving a billionth of an
inch across the p age you’re reading! W e move a little vehicle on a neighbor
next door and we’re so impressed with ourselves. There ar e billion s and billions o f planets, objects, and stars in our galaxy
alone, and there are uncountable billions of galaxies out there. W e are a
speck in an incomprehensibly vast universe that has no end to it. Think
about this: If we found the end, would there be a wall at the edge of theuniverse? If so, who built it? Even more perplexing, what’ s on the other
side of the wall, and how thick is it? How can  anyon e be a pessimist in a world where we know so little? A
heart starts beating inside a mother ’ s womb a few weeks after conception,
and it’ s a total m ystery to everyone on our planet. In compari son to what
there is to know , we are only e mbryos. Keep this in mind whenever you
encounter those who are absolu tely certain that there’ s only on e way to do
something. Resist being a pessimist. Resist with all your might, because we hardly
know anything at all in compar ison with what there is  to know . Can you
imagine what a pessimist who lived only 200 years ago would think about
the world we live in? Airplanes, electricity , automobiles, television, remote
controls, the Internet, fax machi nes, telephones, cellular phones , and so on. All bec ause of that spark of open-mindedness that allowed progress,
growth, and creativity to flourish. And what of the future and all of your  tomorrows? Can you picture faxing
yourself back to the 14th century , flying without machines, te lepathically
communicating, demolecularizi ng yourself and rearranging yourself on
another galaxy , or cloning a she ep from a photograph of a sheep? An open
mind allows you to explore and  create and grow . A closed mind seals of f
any such creative explanation. Remember that progress would be
impossible if we always did thin gs the way we always have. The ability to
participate in miracles—true mir acles in your life—happens when you open
your mind to your limitless potential. The Miracle
Mind-set
Refuse to allow yourself to have low expectations about what you’re
capable of creating. As Michelangelo suggested, the greater
danger is not that your hopes are too high and you fail to reach them; it’ s
that they’re too low and you do. Ha ve within y ou an imaginary candle
flame th at burns  brightly regardless of what goes before you. Let this innerflame represent for you the idea that you’re capable of manifesting miracles
in your life. In every  single case of a person experiencing a spontaneous healing or
overcoming som ething that was considered to be impossible, the individual
went thr ough a complete reversal of personality . They actually rewrote their
own agreement with reality . T o experience Godlike spontaneous miracles,
you mus t have a sense of your self as Godlike. The Scriptures say , “W ith
God all things ar e possible.” Now tell me, what does that leave out? A mind
that’ s open to everything means being peaceful, radiating love, practicing
for giveness, being generous, respecting all life, and most important,
visualizing yourself as capable of doing anything that you can conceive of
in yo ur mind an d heart. Whatever universal law that has ever b een utilized
to m anifest a miracle anywhere, any time, and in any person is  still on the
books. I t has never been repea led, and it never will be. Y ou possess the
same ener gy , the same God-consciousness, to be a miracle worker—but
only if you truly believe and know it within yourself. Understand that  what you think about expands (“As a man thinketh, so is
he”). If your tho ughts are filled w ith doubt and you have a closed mind, you
will of necessity act upon those closed-minded doubts, and you’ll see
evidence of your thinking virtually everywhere you are. On the  other hand,
should you decide (make no m istake about this, it is  a choice) to have a
mind that’ s open to everything, then you’ll act upon that inner ener gy , and
you’ll b e the creator as well as the recipient of miracles where ver you are. Y ou wil l experience what W alt Whitman meant when he wro te, “T o me,
every cubic inch of space is a miracle.”
What Being Open to Everything Means
Everything  me ans just what it says. No exceptions. When someone
suggests something to you that conflicts with your conditioning, rather than
responding with , “That’ s ridiculous; we all know that’ s impossible,” say ,
“I’ve ne ver cons idered that before. I’ll think about it.” Open yourself up to
the spiritual ideas of all people, and listen with an open mind to crazy
schemes and ideas that at first seem to be outrageous. If someone suggeststhat crystals can cure hemorrhoi ds, that natural herbs can lower cholesterol,
that peo ple will eventually be able to breathe underwater , or that levitation
is possible—listen, and be curious. Let go of your attachments to what you’ve been trained to believe. Open
your mi nd to all  p ossibilities, because whether you believe something is
possible or impossible, either way you’ll be right. How can that be true? Y our agreement  with reality and all that’ s possible determines what you’ll
become. If you’re convinced that you can’ t become wealthy , famous,
artistic, a professional athlete, a great singer , or whatever , you will act upon
that inne r conviction that prevents you from manifesting what you’d really
like. All that you’ll get from your ef fort is being right. When you need to be
right, yo u’re att ached to your co nditioned reflex of the way thi ngs are and
always have been; and you assume they will always be. Releasing Y our Attachments
This first secret has two components: (1) a mind that is open to
everything, and (2) a mind that is attached to nothing. Y our atta chments are
the s ource of all your problems. The need to be right, to possess someone or
something, to win at all costs, to  be viewed by others as superior—these are
all a ttachments. The open mind resists these attachments and consequently
experiences inner peace and success. T o r elease attachments, you h ave to make a shift in how you view
yourself. If your primary ide ntification is with your body and your
possessions, you r ego is the dominant force in your life. If you can tame
your ego  suf ficiently , you’ll call upon your spirit to be the guid ing force in
your life. As a spiritual being, you can observe your body and be a
compassionate w itness to your existence. Y our spiritual aspect sees the folly
of a ttachments because your spiritual self is an infinite soul. Nothing can
make you happy or successful. These are inner constructs that you bring to
your world, rather than what you receive from it. If you think pea ceful thoughts, you’ll feel peaceful emotions, and that’ s
what you’ll bring to every life situation. If you’re attached to be ing right orabsolutely need something in order to be at peace or to be successful, you’ll
live a life of striving yet never arriving. It’ s poss ible to have a burning desire yet not have attachments. Y ou can
have an inner vi sion of what you intend to manifest and still deta ch yourself
from the outcome. How? Consider this observation in A Course in
Miracles:  “ Infinit e patien ce produces immediate results.” It sounds like a
paradox, doesn’ t  it? Infinite patience implies an absolute certainty that what
you’d lik e to manifest will indeed show up, in perfect order , and  exactly on
time. The immediate result you receive from this inner knowing is a sense
of p eace. When you detach from the outcome, you’re at peace, and you’ll
ultimately see the fruits of your convictions. Suppose you had a choice between two magic wands. W ith W and A, you
can have  any physical thing you  desire by simply waving it. W ith W and B,
you can have a sense of peace for the rest of your life regardl ess of what
circumstances a rise. Which would you pick? A guarantee of st uf f, or inner
peace for the rem ainder of your life? If you opt for peace, then you already
have W a nd B. Simply have a mind that is open to everything but  attached to
nothing. Let it all come and go as it will. Enjoy it all, but never make your
happiness or success dependent  on an attachment to any thing, any place,
and particularly , any person. In all of your r elationships, if you can love someone enough to allow
them to be exactly what they choose to be—without any expecta- tions or
attachments from  you—you’ll know true peace in your lifetime. T rue love
means you love a person for what they ar e , not for what you think they
should be. This is an open mind— and  an absence of attachment.T h e  S e c o n d  S e c r e t
Ther e is just one life for
each of us: our own. — Euripides
A musician must make
music, an artist must
paint, a poet must write,
if he be at peace with
himself What a man
can be, he must be. — Abraham Maslow
D o n ’ t  D i e
w i t h  Y o u r
M u s i c  S t i l l
i n  Y o u2
T h e  S e c o n d  S e c r e t
Dont Die
with Y our Music
Still in Y ou
The world you l ive in is an intelligent system in which every mo ving part is
coordinated by every other mov ing part. There’ s a universal life force that
supports and orchestrates eve rything. It all works together in perfect
harmony . Y ou  a re one of thos e moving parts. Y ou showed up here in the
body yo u inhab it, precisely on time. Y our body will leave here with the
same pre cision. Y ou’re an essential piece of this complex system. Here you
are in this intelli gent system that has no beginning and no end, in which all
of the galaxies m ove in harmony with each other . Y ou must  hav e sh own up
here for a reason! Kahlil G ibran s aid, “When you are born, your work is placed in your
heart.” S o, what  is your work? Y our purpose? Are you living it out the way
your heart ur ges you to? Listening to Y our Heart
T ake a moment right now and p oint to yourself. Y our finger is very likely
pointing right at your heart. No t at your brain, but your heart. This is who
you are. The co nstant beating of your heart in and out, out and in, is a
symbol of your infinite connection to the always-present heartbeat of God,
or th e Universal Intelligence. Y our left brain calculates, figures things out,
analyzes, and comes up with the most logical choices for you. It thinks,
thinks, thinks! Y our right brain represents your intuitive side. This is the
part of you that goes beyond reason and analysis. It’ s the part of you that
feels thi ngs, that’ s sensitive to lo ve, that’ s emotional about what’ s important
to you. Y our rig ht brain allows you to tear up as you hold your babies, orbask in the beauty of a gloriou s day . Y our left brain can analyze  it, while
your right brain lets you feel  it. Pick a situation and ask yourse lf if what you know or what y ou feel is
most im portant to you. Generally , what you’ll take care of first depends on
the situa tion and  circumstances you’re in. Y our intellect can be figuring out
exactly how you’re supposed to act in a relationship when things are
collapsing (or when they’re rapt urous), and then there are times when what
you feel will supersede what you know . If you ar e  feeling fearful, scared,
lonely; or on the  other hand, thrilled, loving, and ecstatic, these  will be the
dominant forces  you’ll act upon . These are the times when your right brain
is right. Y our right brain will always lead you passionately to your purpose. Listening to Y our Right Brain
There’ s an intuitive, invisible p resence that’ s always with you. I picture
this presence as a nagging little creature who sits on your right s houlder and
reminds you when you’ve lost your sense of purpose. This little fellow is
your own death, ur ging you to get on with what you showed up here for
because you have only so many days to get it done, and then yo ur body will
be d eparting from this visit. Y o ur invisible companion will prod you when
you’re s pending another day doing what somebody else has dictated if it’ s
not a part of your passion in life. Y ou’ll m ost like ly always know when you’re of f purpose because of your
thoughts of frustration. Y ou m ight not always act on this knowledge,
though, because  your left brain has not mustered up the courage to do the
bidding that your right brain k nows is your destiny . Y our int uitive inner
voice keeps ur ging you to play  the music that you hear so tha t you won’ t
die w ith it inside you. But your left brain says, “W ait a minute. Be careful,
don’ t tak e risks, you might fail, you might disappoint all of thos e who have
a dif ferent view of what you should be doing.” Then your  right-brain
invisible companion (your death) speaks even louder . The volume gets
turned up and up, trying to get you to follow your dream. Listening exclusively to your left brain will turn you ultimat ely into a
pretender , or even worse, a commuter—getting up every morning goingwith the crowd, doing that job that brings in the money and pa ys the bills;
and getting up the next morning and doing it all over again, as a well-
known s ong imp lies. Meanwhile , the music inside of you fades almost to a
point of being inaudible. But your constant invisible compan ion always
hears the music and continues tapping you on your shoulder . The atte mpts to get your attention may take the form of an ulcer , or a fire
to b urn up you r resistance, or being fired from a stifling job, or being
brought to your knees with an a ccident. Usually these acciden ts, illnesses,
and form s of bad luck finally get your attention. But not alw ays. Some
people end up l ike T olstoy’ s character Ivan Ilyich, who angui shed on his
deathbed, “What if my whole life has been wrong?” A fearsome scene, I
must say . Y ou don’ t have to choose that fate. Listen to your invisible co mpanion,
express the music that you hear , and ignore what everyone else around you
thinks you should be doing. As Thoreau put it, “If a man does not keep pace
with his  companions, perhaps it is because he hears a dif ferent drummer . Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away .”
Be willi ng to accept that others may even see you as having  betrayed
them, but you h aven’ t betrayed  your music, your purpose. Lis ten to your
music, and do what you know you have to do to feel whole, to feel
complete, and to feel as if you’re fulfilling your destiny . Y ou’ll  never be at
peace if you do n’ t get that mus ic out and let it play . Let the world know
why you’re here, and do it with passion. Being Passionate Means T aking Risks
Y ou may indeed find yourself l iving a comfortable life when you don’ t
follow your instincts. Y ou pay your bills, fill out all of the right forms, and
live a life of fitting in and doing it by the book. But it’ s a book that was
written by somebody else. Y ou’ re aware of that nagging compa nion saying
to you, “This ma y look right, bu t does it feel right? Are you doing what you
came he re to do?” For many pe ople, the answer is, “How do I know what
my heroic mission is?”Y ou’ll find your passion in what  inspires you the most. And what does the
word inspir e  m ean? It deriv es from the wo rds “in spirit.” When you’re
inspired, you never have to ask about your purpose. Y ou’re living it. For
one of my children, it’ s about riding horses and being at the stables. She’ s in
heaven when on horseback or even cleaning out a stall filled with horse
manure. Another daughter is only inspired when she’ s singing, writing
music, or performing. She’ s felt that way since she was two. For another ,
it’ s her artwork and design that make her feel purposeful. For yet another ,
it’ s desig ning W ebsites and creating computer programs for others. For me,
it’ s writi ng and speaking and creating products to help people become self-
reliant. This has always been my passion, even as a young boy . What is your  p assion ? What stirs your sou l and makes you feel like
you’re to tally in  harmony with why you showed up here in the first place? Know th is for certain: Whateve r it may be, you can make a living doing it
and simultaneously provide a service for others. I guarantee it. The only  thing that will keep y ou from playing the music you hear and
marching to the unique drumbea t you experience within, is fear . According
to A Co urse in Mir acles , the re are only two basic emotions: one is fear , the
other is love. Y ou may fear the  disapproval of others. T ake th at risk and
you’ll di scover t hat you receive more approval when you don’ t seek it than
when yo u do. Y ou may fear the unknown. T ake that risk as well . W ander in
there, asking yourself, “What is the worst thing that can hap pen if this
doesn’ t work out?” The truth is that you will just move beyond it. Y ou’re
not g oing to star ve to death or be tortured if it doesn’ t work out. Y ou might
fear being successful. Y ou may have been conditioned to believe you’re
inadequate or limited. The only  way to challenge these absurdi ties is to go
toward w hat you  know you’re here for and let success chase aft er you, as it
most assuredly will. Or , you may fear the biggest one of all: Y ou may fear
failure. The Myth of Failure
This ma y come as a surprise to you, but failure is an illusion. No one ever
fails at anything . Everything you do produces a result. If you’re trying tolearn how to cat ch a football and someone throws it to you and you drop it,
you haven’ t failed. Y ou simply produced a result. The real question is what
you do with the  results that you produce. Do you leave, and moan about
being a football  failure, or do you say , “Throw it again,” until ultimately
you’re c atching footballs? Failure is a judgment. It’ s just an  opinion. It
comes fr om you r fears, which ca n be eliminated by love. Love for yourself. Love fo r what you do. Love fo r others. Love for your planet. When you
have lov e withi n you, fear can not survive. Think of the mes sage in this
ancient w isdom: “Fear knocked at the door . Love answered and  no one was
there.”
That mu sic that you hear inside of you ur ging you to take risks and follow
your dreams is your intuitive connection to the purpose in your heart since
birth. Be enthusiastic about all  that you do. Have that passion with the
awareness that the word enthusiasm  l iterally  means “the God ( enthos)
within (iasm).”  T he passion tha t you feel is God inside of you beckoning
you to take the risk and be your own person. I’ve found that perceived risks are not risky at all once you transcend your
fears and let lov e and self-respect in. When you produce a result that others
laugh at, you’re also stirred to laughter . When you respect yourself,
stumbling allows you to laugh at yourself as an occasional stumbler . When
you love and respect yourself, someone’ s disapproval is not something you
fear and  avoid. The poet Rud yard Kipling declared, “If you can meet
triumph and disaster , and treat th ose two imposters just the same  … yours is
the earth and e verything that’ s  in it.” The key word here is  imposters. They’re not real. They exist only in the minds of people. Follow your right brain, listeni ng to how you feel, and play your own
unique brand of music. Y ou won’ t have to fear anything or anyone, and
you’ll never experience that te rror of lying on your deathbe d someday ,
saying, “What if my whole life h as been wrong?” Y our invisible companion
on your right shoulder will prod you each and every time you’re moving
away fro m your  purpose. It mak es you aware of your music. So listen—and
don’ t die with that music still in you.T h e  T h i r d  s e c r e t
No man who is occupied in doing
a very difficult thing and doing it
very well, ever loses his self r espect. — Geor ge Bernard Shaw
As soon as you trust yourself ,
you will know how to live. — Johann W olfgang von Goethe
Y o u  C a n ’ t
G i v e  A w a y
W h a t  Y o u
D o n ’ t  H a v e3
T h e  T h i r d  S e c r e t
Y ou Can’t
Give A way What
Y ou Don’t Have
Of course you can’ t give away what you don’ t have! That seems  so obvious
that you  may be wondering why  I would make it one of my ten secrets for
inner pe ace and happiness. It’ s because I’ve found that most people who
don’ t en joy inner peace and suc cess in their lives have failed to master this
simple truth. Think o f the people you know who give love in response to  negative
ener gy that’ s directed their w ay . There aren’ t very many p eople who
respond lovingly  in that situation. The ones who do are able to because they
have love to giv e away . They k now that it’ s impossible to give away what
they don’ t have, and they’ve go ne that extra mile to acquire what it is that
they want to both attract and give away . If love and joy are wh at you want
to give and recei ve, then remember that you can’ t give away wh at you don’ t
have, bu t you can  c hange your li fe by changing what’ s inside if you’re
willing to go that extra mile. Changing What’ s Inside
Consider the following concept of your inner reality . Y our thoughts create
your reality because your though ts determine how you respond to situations
in your daily life. Those respons es are the ener gy you have inside of you to
give away . If yo u feel anger , it’ s because you have anger ener gy in your
body . Li ke every thing in our un iverse, your thoughts are a form  of ener gy . Everything that you feel and experience is the result of what I call attractor
ener gies. This means tha t you get back what you put out into the world. Thus, what you’ve attracted to you is what you have to give away to others.Low en er gy attracts low ener gy . Some of the low ener gy thoughts are
anger , h ate, shame, guilt, and fear . Not only do they weaken y ou, but they
attract more of the same! By changing your inner thoughts to the higher
frequencies of love, harmony , kindness, peace, and joy , you’ll attract more
of the same, and you’ll have those higher ener gies to give away . These
higher a nd faste r frequencies that empower you will automatically nullify
and diss ipate the lower ener gies in the same way that the prese nce of light
makes darkness disappear . Loving and Respecting Y ourself
By beco ming more loving toward yourself, you will attract more of the
higher , faster ener gies and begin to change what’ s inside you. In your
thoughts, cultivate an inner voice and attitude that’ s 100 percent of the time
for  you. Imagine an aspect of yourself that only supports and loves you. Y ou might schedule a certain time of the day when that’ s the only thought
that you allow yourself to pay  attention to! Gradually this a ttitude will
extend to other people even if you can only do it for a minute or two. Y ou’ll
begin to receive this ener gy back and ultimately be able to send thoughts of
love and joy to everyone and everything in your world. Notice when your
thoughts drift into the lower ene r gy of ridicule or hate or guilt, and change
the t hought at that very moment  if at all possible. If you’re unab le to change
the thought, then at least love yourself for what you did  d o—tha t is, for
noticing. Make a pact to remind yourself  often of this secret of not being able to
give away anything that you don’ t have. Then work on yo ur personal
program of self-love, self-respect, and self-empowerment, and create a huge
inventory of what you wish to give away . One of the lessons I continue to learn and practice is that the universe
responds with the same ener gy that we send out. If you attr act a lot of
people who wish to take advantage of you, you need to co nsider what
you’re d oing to attract victimizers into your life. If you run into  anger a lot,
explore the angry thoughts you have inside you. If your consciousness is a“Gimme! Gimm e! Gimme!” ener gy , you’ll attract all manner of demanding
ener gies into your life. Y ou know if this is true by the number of deadlines
not being met, demanding bosses or customers you encounter , and the
feeling o f being a victim. Send out “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! ” ener gy to
the universe, and it will do the same in return. If w hat you gi ve is self-respect and self-love, the universe , via the
attractor ener gy ,  will return the love and respect you’ve been radiating. It’ s
really so simple. Y ou can’ t give away what you don’ t have. The Irony of Giving
If you wanted to give a dozen o ranges to your neighbor as an expression
of love, you obviously would ne ed to be in possession of 12 ora nges. If you
intended to purchase a new automobile for your parents to show your
gratitude to them for putting yo u through medical school, naturally you’d
need to have the funds to do s o. Likewise, you can’ t give lo ve away to
others if  you don’ t have any for yourself Y ou can’ t show respect for others
if you  l ack  self-respect. Y ou can’ t give  happiness away if you feel unhappy . And of course, the reverse is true. Y ou can only g ive away what you do  have, and all that you’re giving
away each and every day are items from your own personal inventory . If
you give away h atred, it’ s because you’ve stored up hatred insid e of you to
give aw ay . If you give away misery , it’ s because you have a r eady supply
available from which to select and distribute. This concept is simplified by a d escription of squeezing an orange. When
you sque eze an orange, you’ll a lways get orange juice to come  out. This is
true rega rdless o f who does the  squeezing, what time of day you squeeze,
what instrument  you use to squeeze, or what circumstances s urround the
orange-squeezing. What comes out is what’ s inside. The same l ogic applies
to you. When so meone squeezes you, in some way puts pressure on you, or says
something unflattering or critical; and out of you comes anger , hatred,bitterness, tension, depression, or anxiety , it’ s because that is what’ s inside. The irony is that you can’ t give away what you don’ t  hav e be cause y ou’re
always giving what you do  have. If you want to move into the realm of
purpose by giving and serving others, ask yourself, “What do I have
inside?” and “Why have I chosen to store these kinds of ener gies in me to
give to others?”
Finding Y our Purpose
Y ou most likely yearn to know your purpose in life. “How can I find my
purpose?” is the question that I am asked most often. The ques tioner often
elaborates on his or her dilemm a by saying, “I would be happier if I could
be on purpose, but I just don’ t know what my purpose in life is.” My
response is that you come into this world with absolutely nothing. Y ou will
leave this physical world with exactly the same. All of your acquisitions
and achi evements can’ t go with you. Therefore, the only thing  you can do
with you r life is give it away . Y ou’ll find yourself feeling purposeful if you
can find a way to always be in the service of others. Purpose is about serving. It’ s about taking the focus of f of you  and your
self-interest, and serving others in some way . Y ou build because you love to
build. B ut you build to make ot hers happy . Y ou design because your heart
directs you to. But those designs are in the service of others. Y ou write
because you love to express yourself in words. But those words will help
and insp ire read ers. If you don’ t yet know your purpose, you’ll  continue to
seek it throughout the various stages of your life. There are many dif ferent
models that describe the stages of life. Here, I’m using the fou r archetypal
stages of athlete, warrior , statesman, and spirit to briefly show  what your
purpose is in each stage. In the athlete archetype, the focus is exclusively on the physical body and
how it looks and performs. The warrior archetype wants to compete, defeat,
and coll ect the rewards. The statesman archetype emphasizes fulfilling the
desires of others by asking, “How may I serve?” At the final stage (and thehighest that we know) is the archetype of spirit. At this stage, you realize
what is meant by being in  this world, but not of this  w orld. The spir it part of
you kno ws that neither the body nor this world is it’ s exclusiv e domicile. This spi rit archetype invites you to minimize your material-world concerns
and to put more of your ener gy  into the essence of life, which is love and
service. As you progress through these four archetypes, you’ll find yourself
thinking less and less of your o wn self-interest and more and more about
how you  can make the world a b etter place for all. In this way , you discover
a great truth. The more you ch ase after your own goals and pursue your
self-interest, the  more these aim s will elude you. But when you turn your
thoughts and then your activities, regardless of what they are , to serving
others, those things that you used to chase after will follow you wherever
you go. When y ou get yourself out of the picture completely , t he forces of
the u niverse will seem to conspire to provide all that you previo usly sought
for your self. And then, because you’re not attached to them any longer ,
they’ll flow in and out of your life freely . In essen ce, I’m ur ging you to st op taking your life so personally . Y ou can
end any and all suf fering by rem inding yourself that nothing in the universe
is personal. Of course you’ve been taught to take life very personally , but
this is an illusion. T ame your e go, and absolutely free yourself from ever
taking anything personally . Keep these thoughts in mind, particularly when you feel lost or are unsure
of y our purpose: “My purpose is about giving. I’ll direct my tho ughts of f of
me, and spend the next few hours looking for a way to be o f service to
anyone o r any creature on our en dangered planet.” This will bring you back
to a realization t hat it doesn’ t m atter what you do, as long as you’re able to
give. In order to  fully give and be of service and ultimately feel purposeful,
you mus t be able to say , “Y es,” when you ask yourself, “Do I really possess
what it is that I wish to give away?”T h e  F o u r t h  S e c r e t
Solitude, in the sense of being often alone, is
essential to any depth of meditation or of
Character , and solitude in the pr esence of
natural beauty and grandeur is the cradle of
thought and aspirations which ar e not only
good for the individual but which society could
ill do without. — John S. Mill
Per haps one of the gr eatest
r ewar ds of meditation
and prayer is the sense of
belonging that comes to us. — Bill W . E m b r a c e
S i l e n c e4
T h e  F o u r t h  S e c r e t
Embrace Silence
Y ou live  in a noisy world, constantly bombarded with loud m usic, sirens,
construction equipment, jet airplanes, rumbling trucks, leaf blowers, lawn
mowers, and tree cutters. These human-made, unnatural sounds invade your
senses and keep silence at bay . In fact, you’ve been raised in a culture that
not only eschews silence but is terrified of it. The car radio must always be
on, a nd any pau se in conversation is a moment of embarrassment that most
people q uickly f ill with chatter . For many , being alone is a nig htmare, and
being alone in silence is pure torture. The famous scientist Blaise Pascal
observed, “All man’ s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a
room alone.”
The V alue of Silence
There’ s a momentary silence in the space between your thought s that you
can become aware of with practice. In this silent space, you’ll find the
peace that you c rave in your dai ly life. Y ou’ll never know that peace if you
have no spaces between your thoughts. The average person is said to have
60,000 separate  thoughts every day . W ith so many thoughts, there are
almost n o gaps. If you could reduce that number by half, you would open
up a n entire wo rld of possibilities for yourself. For it is when you mer ge
into the silence and become one with it that you reconnect to your source
and know the pe acefulness that some call God. “Be still and know that I am
God,” says it so  beautifully in the Psalms of the Old T estament. The key
words are still  and know . Be still  a ctually  means  silence. Mother  T eresa described silenc e and it’ s
relationship to God by saying, “ God is the friend of silence. See how nature
—trees, grass, grow in silence;  see the stars, the moon and the sun, howthey move in si lence…. W e need silence to be able to touch souls.” This
includes your soul! It’ s really the sp ace between the notes that makes the music you enjoy so
much. W ithout t he spaces, all yo u would have is one continuous  noisy note. Everything that’ s created comes out of silence. Y our thoughts e mer ge from
the noth ingness of silence. Y our words come out of this void. Y our very
essence emer ged  from emptiness. Those who will supersede us are waiting
in th e va st void. All creativity r equires some stillness. Y our sense of inner
peace de pends o n spending some of your life ener gy in silence to rechar ge
your battery , remove tension an d anxiety , reacquaint you with the joy of
knowing God, and feel closer to all of humanity . Silence reduces fatigue
and allows you to experience your own creative juices. The second word in the Old T estament observation, know , refers to
making your personal and consc ious contact with God. T o kno w God is to
banish doubt and become indep endent of others’ definition and description
of God. Instead, you have your own personal knowing. And as Melville
reminded us so poignantly , “God’ s one and only voice is silence.”
Accessing More Silence in Y our Life
I ur g e yo u to demand more and more time for silence in your li fe. One of
the m ost ef fective ways to bring this about is to make meditation a daily
practice. And remember , there’ s no such thing as a bad meditation. Give
yourself time to sit quietly alone. At first your thoughts will take of f trying
to co nvince you that this is a w aste of time, that you should be out there
being pr oductive, and that you’ve got so many other things to d o. Hundreds
of other unrelated thoughts will pop in and out of your mind. But you can we ather this thunderstorm of mental protestations by sitting
quietly and becoming the obser ver to all of this inner chatter . Eventually
you’ll be able to  move to the gaps between your thoughts and notice how
peaceful you felt in that silent gap when you emer ge from it. T ry it right
now . Use the L ord’ s Prayer . First, concentrate on the word Our , and then
Father . T ry to go into the gap between the two words, Our  and Father . Thendo it again with Who  and art  and in Heaven. Just slip momentarily into the
gap, and notice how peaceful and exquisite you feel in that gap. I teach a meditation, which I describe in detail and guide you through
with my  voice, in a CD/cassett e called Meditations for Manifesting. This
meditation uses the sound of “ahhhh” as a mantra to keep yo ur thoughts
from wandering  during the morning meditation. This mantra sound is in
virtually all names of the Divine. Listen for it, for example, in God,
Y ahweh, Allah, Krishna, Jehovah, Ra , and Ptah. By repeating this mantra
sound, y ou make conscious contact with God. The evening meditation uses
the s ound of om , the sound of g ratitude for all t hat has manifested in your
life. Repeating the sound of ahhhh  in the morning and om  in the evening for
approximately 2 0 minutes creates an opportunity for you to experience
inner peace and success, in a way you may have never known before. There ar e many opportunities to  access silence. I try to meditate each time
I sto p at a red light. W ith the car stopped and my body inactive , frequently
the only  thing still moving are the thoughts in my mind. I us e those two
minutes or so at  the stoplight to bring my mind into harmony w ith my inert
car and body . I get a wonderful bonus of silence. I probably s top at a red
light 20 or 30 ti mes a day , crea ting 40 minutes to an hour of silence. And
there’ s a lways s omeone behind me to let me know that my tim e is up by
breaking the silence with a honking horn! Meditation Not Only Af fects  Y ou,
It Impacts Everyone Around Y ou
When y ou’re at  peace, you radi ate a dif ferent kind of ener gy than when
you’re s tressed or depressed. The more peaceful you become, th e easier you
can defl ect the negative ener gies  of those you encounter . This is like having
an invisible shield around you that nothing can penetrate unless it’ s at a
higher spiritual ener gy than your shield. A hostile current is greeted with a
smile and an inner knowing that this is not your stuf f. A person who
attempts to bring you into th eir misery cannot succeed without your
agreement. Y our meditation practice keeps you immune.Not only  can you deflect the n egativity of those around you, but your
sense of peace will bring others into harmony with you. Studies have been
done to measure the serotoni n (a neurotransmitter in your brain that
indicates how peaceful and ha rmonious you feel) levels of those in the
vicinity of a lar g e group of med itators. Amazingly , just being in the ener gy
field of those w ho meditate raises the serotonin levels of the observers. These implications are startling. The more you achieve peacefulness
through meditation, the more your peaceful state impacts those around you. I fin d th at my meditating not only calms me, but has a soothing  ef fect on
my family and those around me. But the primary benefit is that after a
meditation, I find it almost impossible to be annoyed or negatively
impacted by anything. Meditati on seems to bring me into contact with a
source of soothing ener gy that makes me feel deeply connected to God. Making Conscious Contact with God
Most or ganized religions have taken on the task of explaining God to their
congregations, including all of the rules that God supposedly has laid out
for h umankind. Y ou cannot come to know God through the experiences or
testimony of others. This must be done by you. I ur ge you to meditate
because it will bring you m ore peace, remove stress, improve your
surroundings, and deflect negativity . All of this and more will definitely
show up  when you meditate regularly . I include the embracing of silence as
one of my top ten secrets for inn er peace and success, primarily because it’ s
the only vehicle I know of for making conscious contact with God. God is that whi ch is indivisible. There’ s only one omnipresent presence
called G od. Thi s presence is e verywhere and is a force that creates and
sustains life. It c an never be div ided or cut up into pieces. There’ s only one
power in  the universe, not two. Everything in your experience as a human
being appears to be in duality , h owever . Up  exists because of it’ s opposite,
down. Light  exists because of dark; right  exists because of wr ong. Y ou’ve
never seen a person with a fr ont  wh o doesn’ t h ave a back;  an outside
without an inside;  a north pole  of a magnet without a south pole. Ourphysical world is a world of dichotomies and combinations of opposites,
always divisible. Silence, however , is the one ex perience you can have that’ s indivisible. Y ou cut  silence in half, and all  you get is more silence. There’ s only one
silence. Therefo re, silence is your one way to experience the oneness and
the indiv isibility of God. This is why you want to meditate. This  is how you
know God  rather than having to settle for knowing about God. Y ou will find your answers in the silence. Remember: It’ s out of the void,  the emptiness, that everything is created. When you write a musical note , the silence from which it comes is just as
much a part of the note as is th e sound. So it is with healing a ny thing or
any relationship. Going into the quiet and listening will inspire you. I can’ t
imagine speaking or writing without first going to God in silence. I seek
alone time and space to allow my inspiration to emer ge. The W ilderness Is Therapy
Anytime in your life when you’re feeling out of sorts in any way , go to
nature a nd find your peace. Sending troubled teens to the wilderness to care
for animals and commune with nature almost always brings them  peace and
serenity . Drug addictions disapp ear when young people are confronted with
climbing a mountain or canoeing across a lake. People who  have been
diagnosed with terminal illnesses often find that months in a c abin in the
isolated wildern ess, meditating  and communing with God, i s the exact
therapy they need, and sometim es the source of miraculous s pontaneous
remissions. If y ou ever suf fer from insomnia, walk barefoot on the grass for ten
minutes before getting into bed. Nature has a marvelous way  of healing
many maladies. T ry spending a day in an isolated spot, listening only to the
sounds of nature—the birds, the insects, the rustling of leaves, the wind. These are the sounds of healin g that can of fset the painful sounds of 18-
wheelers, cement mixers, boom boxes, and the like.Give yo urself o pportunities to be in the wilderness as a regular part of
your life routine. T ake a day each month or week or two to be alone and commune with
God. This is the ultimate therapy , and it’ s much less expensive than paying
someone to listen! Keep Y our Silent Communion
with God to Y ourself
Everything that  you wish to manifest emer ges from Spirit, from the
silence. Y ou don’ t use your ego to manifest. In fact, ego can  inhibit the
creative process . For this reaso n, I ur ge you not to divulge y our private
insights, what you intend to create. As St. Paul said, “That which is seen,
hath not come from that which doth appear .” When you talk about your
emer ging manife sting ideas and relate your insights to others, you often feel
the need to explain and defend them. What happens is that ego has entered. Once the ego is present, the manifesting stops. Silence is where manifesting occurs, so keep your potential miracles in
the treasured silence that you embrace as often as possible. Y ou can rely
upon it and enjoy basking in th e serenity and inner peace that silence and
meditation always bring.T h e  F i f t h  S e c r e t
Flor ence Farr once said to me, “If we could
say to ourselves, with sincerity , ‘The passing
moment is as good as any I shall ever
know ,’ we could die upon the instant
and be united with God.”
— W illiam Butler Y eats
Her e lies my past
Goodbye I have kissed it;
Thank you kids,
I wouldn’ t have missed it. — Ogden Nash
G i v e  U p
Y o u r
P e r s o n a l
H i s t o r y5
T h e  F i f t h  S e c r e t
Give Up Y our
Personal History
When a speedboat zooms across the surface of the water , there’ s a white
foamy froth behind it that’ s called the wake  of the boat. The wake is nothing
more than the tr ail that’ s left behind. The answer to, “What is driving the
boat?” is  that the boat moves because of present-moment ener g y generated
by the engine. This is what mak es the boat move forward acros s the water . Do you think it’ s  possible for the  wake to drive the boat? Can the trail that’ s
left behind make a boat go for ward? These are rhetorical questions with
obvious answers. I’m sure you agree that the wake is only the trail left
behind, and that it’ s not what drives the boat forward. I’m suggesting that you apply this idea to your life. The wake of your life
is nothing more than a trail that ’ s left behind you. Thought of in this way ,
it’ s a bsolutely impossible for th at wake to drive you forward. The wake is
not in any logic al way responsible for what you’re experiencin g or failing
to ex perience today . The wake is just what it is, and nothing more—a trail
that you’ve left behind. But have you? Being a V ictim of Y our Personal History
For wel l over a quarter century now , I’ve worked with people to help
them access higher levels of awareness. It’ s my experience that most people
live thei r life in the wake by han ging on to personal histories to justify their
self-defeating behaviors, and th e scarcity in their lives. They hang on to
past pain s, abuses, and shortcomings as calling cards to annou nce a “poor
me” stat us to everyone they meet, within minutes of their introduction. “I
was aba ndoned as a child,” I’m  an alcoholic,” “I’m an incest survivor ,”“My parents were divorced and I’ve never gotten over it.” The list could go
on for hundreds of pages. Y our past is over! By bonding to your past, you not only ensure that
you’ll b e immobilized today , but you prevent yourself from healing. By
referring to past struggles and using them as the reasons for no t getting on
with you r life today , you’re doing the equivalent of attributing to the wake
the abili ty to drive the boat. Thi s also works in reverse. Many people refer
to th e good old days that are gone forever as the reason why they can’ t be
happy and fulfilled today . “Ev erything has changed,” “No one respects
anyone else like they used to,” “A dollar used to be worth a dollar , now
everything is so overpriced,” “P eople don’ t seem to want to help out like
they did  in the p ast,” “When we were kids, we respected autho rity; today’ s
kids walk all over their parents.” This is also living in the  wake and
assigning responsibility to the past for why you can’ t be successful or happy
today . Getting Out of the W ake
Imagine a pencil with the ability  to only write your past history It has no
use otherwise. All of your past is in that pencil. Are you going to keep it? What for? Are y ou going to give it up? Perhaps Omar Khayyam will inspire
you with his poem:
The moving finger writes and having
          writ moves on. Nor all thy piety nor wit can lur e it
          back to cancel half a line,
   Nor all thy tears wash out one wor d
          of it. Y ou can cry all night about the history in that pencil, all that it contains,
and all you wis h you could erase—or bring back again— but all of yourtears can’ t wash out one word of the past, as the poet/philosopher reminds
you. Y ou wa nt to let go of your personal history that’ s symbolize d by that
pencil, but when you walk away  from it, no matter how far yo u walk, you
look back and there it is. Y ou’re ready to be rid of your personal  history and
to more fully li ve in the present moment. But the pencil is a lways there
when you look back. I suggest that you pick up the penci l, and with
compassion, allo w the words, w ounds, and pain of the past to be written,
embraced, exam ined, understood, accepted, and loved for all that you’ve
learned and experienced. The act of picking it up and embracing it will give
you the strength  to transform the past into song, poem, paint, or ritual if you
feel called to do those things, or to throw it away in your unique way . Embracing Y our Personal History
In a  universe that’ s an intellig ent system with a divine crea tive force
supporting it, there simply can be no accidents. As tough as it is to
acknowledge, yo u had to go through what you went through in order to get
to where you ar e today , and the evidence is that you did. Eve ry spiritual
advance that you will make in  your life will very likely be preceded by
some kind of fall or seeming disaster . Those dark times, accid ents, tough
episodes, periods of impoverishment, illnesses, abuses, and broken dreams
were all in orde r . They happened, so you can assume they had  t o and you
can’ t unhappen them. Embrace them from that perspective, with help if you need it, and then
understand them , accept them, honor them, and finally retire and/or
transform them in your own wa y . (I know someone who gives them a new
job description.) Become free to immerse yourself in this moment—the now
that’ s called the pr esent —because it’ s simply that—a present to open,
relish, nurture, play with, and enjoy and explore. All Y ou Get Is NowThe 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 bo ok, notice w here your thoughts are. While on vacation, be t here 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 having your mind drift to other  times and
other pla ces. Y ou can only drift of f in the now , because now is all you ever
get. So drifting of f is a way of using up your present mome nts. Y ou do
indeed h ave a past, but not now! And yes, you have a future, b ut not now! And you can consume your now with thoughts of “then” and “maybe,” but
that will keep you from the inner peace and success you could experience. It’ s d oubtful that the other creatures waste the present in thoughts of past
and future. A be aver 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 received more attention, or
his fathe r beaver ran of f with a younger beaver when he was g rowing up. He’ s alw ays in the now . W e ca n learn much from God’ s crea tures about
enjoying the present moment rather than using it up consumed with guilt
over the  past or worry about the  future. Practice living in the moment, and
refuse to allow any thoughts based on your past to define you. Stop and  take notice of all that’ s in your immediate space—th e people,
creatures, vegeta tion, cloud formations, building designs, every thing. Stay
in the present by meditating and getting closer to the ultimate now … God. God Is Only Here Now
Think ab out this . God will not be doing anything dif ferent one hour from
now than God i s doing now . An d God is not doing anything dif ferent now
from what God was doing a tho usand years ago. The truth is that you can
only com e to know God if you’re willing to be at peace in the present
moment.In th e Fourth S ecret, I discussed how meditation is a way o f making
conscious conta ct with God. He re, I would like to let you in on a sublime
secret that I learned from one of my most influential teachers: Y ou will only
come to  truly know God when you give up the past and the fu tur e in your
mind and mer ge totally into the now , because God is always her e now . V ery few  people understand and live this principle, lar gely because of
their conditioning and unwilling ness to train their minds in present-moment
living. That’ s one of the reasons why I sometimes say that “it’ s never
crowded along the extra mile.” On the extra mile, choosing inner peace and
attracting success into your life while living in the present moment becomes
a wa y of  being. Y ou can begin by releasing your personal histor y from your
repertoire of available excuses for why you’re not living in peace. No Longer Relying on Y our Personal History
Make an ef fort to remove all labels that you’ve placed on yourself. Labels
serve to  negate you. Y ou must ultimately live up to the label rather than
being the limitless spirit that is your true essence. Y ou’re not an American,
an Italian, or an African. Y ou’re a member of one race, the human race. Y ou’re not a ma le or a female,  a Democrat or a Republican. Y ou are one
with the  true oneness, God. Y ou are not athletic or magical, math ematical or
literary , or any o ther label. T ranscending labels, particularly tho se that have
been placed on you by others in your past, opens you to the opportunity of
soaring in the now in any way that you desire. Y ou can be all things at any
present moment in your life. I recommend that you find a way to transform your personal history and
remind yourself as you do that you’re transforming any and all beliefs that
you’ve u sed as labels or indicators of your limitations. Replace all that with
a kn owing that y ou’re not what you’ve done, what you’ve been, how others
have tau ght you, or what has been done to you. Y ou’re a part of the
beloved, connec ted always to your source, and therefore connected to the
unlimited power of the beloved. Y our past history and all of your hurts are no longer here in your physical
reality . D on’ t al low them to be here in your mind, muddying your presentmoments. Y our life is like a pla y with several acts. Some of the characters
who ent er have short roles to p lay , others, much lar ger . Some are villains
and others are good guys. But all of them are necessary , otherwise they
wouldn’ t be in the play . Embrace them all, and move on to the next act.T h e  S i x t h  S e c r e t
Any path is only a path, and ther e is no
affr ont to oneself or to other , in dr opping
it if that is what your heart tells you. — Carlos Castaneda
Any man can make
mistakes, but only an
idiot persists in his err or . — Cicero
Y o u  C a n ’ t
S o l v e  a
P r o b l e m  w i t h
t h e  S a m e
M i n d  T h a t
C r e a t e d  I t6
T h e  S i x t h  S e c r e t
Y ou Can’t Solve a
Pr oblem with the
Same Mind That
Cr eated It
Any problem can be resolved with a spiritual solution. One of the most
intriguing passages in A Course in Miracles  s ug gests that yo u don’ t have a
problem; you only think  you do. The opening lines of the T orah, as well as
Genesis in the Bible, state, “God created Heaven and Earth, ” and later ,
“And all that God created was good.” If you interpret those words literally ,
it’ s quite  clear that problems are impossible. If God created everything and
all that God created was good, bad does not exist.
_OceanofPDF.com_10_Secret_for_Success_and_Inner_Peace_-_Dr_Wayne_W_Dyer.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        A l s o  b y
D r. W a y n e  W. D y e r
BOOKS
Everyday W isdom
Change Y our Thoughts-Change Y our Life
Gifts from Eykis
Inspiration
Manifest Y our Destiny
No More Holiday Blues
The Power of Intention
A Promise Is a Promise (with Marcelene Dyer)
The Power of Intention
Pulling Y our Own Strings
Real Magic
The Sky’ s the Limit
Staying on the Path
There Is a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem
What Do Y ou Really W ant for Y our Children. W isdom of the Ages
Y ou’ll See It When Y ou Believe It
Y our Erroneous Zones
Y our Sacred Self
AUDIO PROGRAMS
The A wakened Life
Choosing Y our Own Greatness
Counseling Ef fectively in Groups
Counseling T echniques That W ork
Everyday W isdom (audio book)
Freedom Through Higher A wareness
Group Counseling for Personal Mastery
How to Be a No-Limit PersonHow to Get What Y ou Really,
Really, Really, Really W ant
The Keys to Higher A wareness
101 W ays to T ransform Y our Life (audio book)
The Power of Intention (audio book)
A Promise Is a Promise (audio book)
There Is a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem
T ransformation
The Universe W ithin Y ou
Y our Journey to Enlightenment (six-tape program)
MEDIT A TION AUDIO/CD
Meditations for Manifesting: Morning and Evening
Meditations to Literally Create Y our Heart’ s Desire
VIDEOCASSETTES
Creating Real Magic in Y our Life
How to Be a No-Limit Person
The Miracle Mindset
What Do Y ou Really W ant for Y our Children. CARD DECK
Inner Peace Cards
All of the above are available at your local bookstore,
or may be ordered by visiting:
Hay House USA: www. hayhouse. com®
Hay House Australia: www.
Having a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing.
What is the first secret to inner peace and success, according to the author?
The author's message is to help readers avoid feelings of inadequacy and find inner peace, and the purpose of the book is to provide his "secrets" for being successful and happy.
What is the author's message to his readers, and what is the purpose of this book?
The author suggests that people should not chase after their own goals and desires, but rather focus on serving others and giving to the universe.
What is the author's approach to helping people find their purpose in life?
The author believes that failure is an illusion, and that one should not give up or get discouraged by setbacks.
What is the author's view on the concept of failure?
The author recommends letting go of the past and not dwelling on negative experiences, and instead, focus on the present moment and the future.
What is the author's advice on how to deal with past experiences and emotions?