Then I
moved into ballads and things like that, and I had very little to do with rock
’n’ roll. Now , of  course, I compose classical music.” Then he said, “I don’ t
like to put down any type of mu sic. I know that I needed to be at each one
of th e places I was along the path in order to be here.” This ta lented artist
was trying to explain that there  is no need to think of someon e as wrong,
improper , or uncivilized just because they make a particular choice such as
playing the kind of music you don’ t like. Judgment is the mark of the ego, and you must work to get it out of you
completely . After all, when you judge another person, you don’ t define
them; you define yourself . I f you’re going to try to understand others in
your life, you have to understan d that wherever they are on the path of lifeis where they ha ve to be in order to get to the next place. See them not so
much as where you think they s hould be but where they are, knowing that
where they are is absolutely necessary . Don’ t judge any of it; work on
accepting it. Not only is this very sensible when relating to other people, it also
applies to yourself. When it comes to the things you’re doing that aren’ t
working for you—the constant seeking of approval, the depression you may
be g oing through, the controllin g relationships you’re drawn to, the pursuit
of stuf f in order  to simply have it, and so forth—don’ t judge y ourself and
say , “I shouldn’ t be doing this.” There’ s no room for judgment in a person
who is truly awake and aware. Once yo u get to that point, you’ll catch yourself all the time. I k now I do:
I’ll be talking to someone and say , “W ell, not to be judgmental, but . . . ,”
and then I proceed to be judgmental about this thing that I don’ t like in the
news or whatever it is. When that happens, I don’ t stop myself and say , “I
shouldn’ t be doing this.” Instead , I accept that I still have some  judgmental
stuf f in me. I know that as long  as I’m judging other people, I’m defining
me, not them. T hen the next tim e I’m less inclined to do that, and the next
time I’m even less inclined, and so on. Eventually you get to the point where you can see people’ s beh avior for
what it is. Y ou don’ t have to like it, you don’ t have to tell yourself that they
have a right to hurt others, or anything like that. Y ou just stop judging it. Y ou see them for where they are on the path, and then you do the same
thing to yourself. Y ou see where you are, and then you realize that
everything you’re doing is necessary to get you to the next step and beyond. Y ou’ll see yourself as having to go through all this in order to get past it, to
get to the point where your higher self is in char ge rather than your ego. EVER YONE IS A TEACHER
I t ravel all over the world, and I know that every person I encounter has
something to teach me—it may  be to be a little more generous and give a
little mo re, or it may be to just give a smile or to be loving, but there is a
lesson there.In fact, I have a very strong b elief that everyone who comes into our
lives, from the stranger sitting next to us on the bus to our family members,
is a teacher . The key is to take the point of view of the student, eager to
learn what they have to teach us . When you look at it that way , taking away
some of your snobby attitudes, and your holier -than-thou, better -than-
somebody-else, ego-driven kind of thinking, you open yourself up to
frequent guidance from the universe. T ake tha t little old lady who’ s d riving in front of you at 20 mile s an hour
in her 1976 cream-colored Cad illac, of which she can hardly see over the
steering wheel. W ell, she signed an oath that she will drive around
aimlessly , testin g your ability to  ef fectively deal with her . She is a gift from
God. Y ou need to stop being mad at her for being who she is and what she’ s
about and understand that she’ s  exactly where she’ s supposed to be. She’ s
there to teach yo u a very importa nt lesson. In that moment that you’re about
to get angry and  speed around her (and maybe even have a ca r accident),
that’ s the moment she teaches you the lesson: Y ou have to slow down. Relax. There’ s an old s aying that you will not be punished for  you r an ger; you
will be punished by  your anger . That makes a lot of  sense to me. It isn’ t like
there’ s going to be a Judgment Day in which somebody’ s going  to tally up
how many times you were angry and give you points or whatever . Instead,
what happens is that you find yourself living with that anger . When y ou expect the world to be the way you want it to be instead of
honoring it and celebrating it the way it is, you will be punished by your
anger . Anger , hatred, and bitterness—as well as all the stuf f that comes out
of you in the name of getting som ebody else to change or not liking the way
the world is—becomes what  you’re constantly marinating in. It is
something that you live with a ll the time, so that’ s all you h ave to give
away . It intensifies the stress tha t you’re living with, and it raises your heart
rate and creates all kinds of physical maladies. So don’ t give anyone else control over the Divine part of you, the
intelligence that  suf fuses your form and constitutes your entire humanity . Think of yourself as connected  to and part of it all, rather than someone
who is being victimized. Remem ber , everything that happens is part of the
perfection of the Divine plan. That’ s a  very nice place to get  to. It doesn’ t take away your ability to
make choices; it takes away your wanting the world to be as you think itshould be instead of as it is. It’ s all in how you perceive things  and choose
to proce ss them. If you see everybody as a teacher , then you’ll always be
open to the universe’ s education. Even those who cause us deep anger and frustration and might be termed
“petty ty rants” c an bring us inv aluable lessons. Society has handed us this
idea that they ar e bad, so we should have hatred toward them or , at the very
least, ignore them. As we’ve lea rned, however , everyone or everything that
comes o ur way has some kind of purpose. W e can’ t be awake beings with
heightened spiritual awareness or be authentically free if we believe that
only the things that we like and approve of are part of the Divin e plan. No,
everything  is part of the Divine plan, pe riod. W e don’ t have to like or
understand it in order for it to be part of Divinity . My fath er was a petty tyrant, y et he influenced me in dramatic ways. I
call him my gre atest teacher , as it was the act of for giving him that brought
me to a higher level of awareness. I can also think of many of the people
whose lives I have touched as a therapist and as a friend, and see that the
person t hey hav e a great deal of enmity and anger toward was  one of the
greatest teachers of their  lives. If you look at the times when yo u have moved to a higher spiritual place
in your life, you’ll often find that it was preceded by some kin d of a fall,
such as a divorc e, a bankruptcy , or an unexplained illness. This is true not
only for each on e of us individually but also for us collectively . V ery often
the dif f iculties and conflicts that nations go through teach us how to
transcend that level of thinking for resolving our disputes. Every single fall of your life, an d every single petty tyrant that has ever
showed up, has really been an opportunity for you to advance  spiritually . Believe it or not, the ego is terr ified of your fall—it would rath er that you
have a nice, steady stream of misery . It doesn’ t want you to have a major
crisis. It doesn’ t want you to have a heart attack. It doesn’ t want  you to have
a divorc e. Y our ego knows that when you fall, that’ s when you tend to find
God. That’ s when you go to t he higher part of yourself, and the ego is
terrified of either the higher self or of God being a part of your life. W ith this new p erspective, I’m sure that if you look back you can see
how every fall y ou’ve experienced has actually been an ener gy propeller to
get y ou to a higher level of awa reness. Therefore, I suggest that when you
encounter a petty tyrant in your life now , instead of viewing them as
someone to be ignored or angry at, ask, What is this doing for me now sothat I generate ener gy to move me along spiritually? That’ s a great ancient
teaching, and it applies in all of our lives. All of the beliefs that I’ve talked about in this chapter are huge. The
notions that you are separate, you are important, you are distinct, you need
to be of fended, y ou have to cons ume, you have to be in comparison to other
people, are all ideas that the false self has used. Such message s have been
absorbed collectively in our society as well: The world ego keeps people
from knowing the celestial light  by focusing whole cultures on what makes
us separate from each other , so we can build weapons to destroy  each other
and therefore stay in constant  states of confli ct. It’ s done at the collective
level; it’ s done on the individua l level. But these are things that we can all
transcend. When y ou shift to a mind-set th at we are all one—and know the peace,
bliss, an d joy of harmony that c omes with this—you will perform at higher
and higher levels. Again, the iro ny is that you’ll have all you ne ed, coming
to you in the amount that is suf ficient to take care of you, yet you will not
be a ttached to a nything considered valuable in the world of f orm. When
you’re unconcerned about being  special and separate, genuine success will
be yours. CHAPTER 8
SURRENDER AND GO WITH
THE FLOW
There is  a fundamental understa nding that comes with awakening, which
is th at th ere is an order to thing s and each of us is part of this o rder . In the
Hindu tradition, this is known as dharma. It refers to our duty , or how we fit
into this perfect order , the Divine plan. Here’ s a great story that illustrates this concept. A sage was seated beside
a river and noticed a scorpion that had fallen in. He reached  down and
rescued it, only to be stung. Som etime later , he saw the scorpio n thrashing
about in the wat er again. Once more, he reached down and rescued it, and
once more he was stung. A bystan der observing all this exclaimed, “Holy one, why do you keep
doing that?! Don’ t you see that the wretched creature will only sting you in
return?”
“Of cou rse,” the  sage replied. “It is the dharma of a scorpion to sting. But
it is the dharma of a human being to save.”
Understanding t he order of things means that you don’ t susp end your
own dha rma—your place in this order , or your purpose as a hum an being—
in o rder to fit in with somebody or s omething else’ s behavior or  dharma. Y ou alw ays know what you’re about, that this fundamental or der is there,
and that  who you are and everything that happens to you is all part of the
Divine plan of the universe. THE PLACE OF TRUST AND SERENITYBefore I speak to an audience,  I like to take the time to get centered
rather th an thinking about whether people are going to like what I have to
say . I’ve  shifted to visualizing them loving what I’m doing and knowing
that it’ s going to work. I trust i n the Divineness that I am, not concerned
with this package I’m in that is wearing away . I know that I am  in harmony
with the  intellig ence that is suf f using me, which some call God , some call
spirit, some call soul, and some call consciousness. It really doesn’ t matter
what we label it. This concept of understanding that universal intelligence is
a part of our consciousness is n ot only for mystics; it’ s not something for
people to go con template in caves. It’ s for every one of us in the practice of
our daily lives, in whatever business we’re in. I k now that things are going to  work out for me and that the power of
who I am is not in this body . Once I started putting myself in this place of
trust, all  I can s ay is that my speaking to audiences has never been better . I’m as relaxed and authentic and enthusiastic about what I’m doing as I ever
was, but I tend to have fewer notes in front of me. In fact, I often  don’ t have
any . I’ve  surrendered to an unde rstanding that as long as what I’m about is
helping to improve the quality of life for others, then universal intelligence
will tak e over and protect me from walking onstage and going blank. I
know I won’ t st umble and mumble, get lost and not know what I’m doing,
fall down, or w hatever one fears might happen when speaking in public. That faith has paid of f, as I’ve had some incredible audience experiences. Once you have this knowing that you are on tar get in your life, in the
service of others, you’ll understand the serenity that I’m talking  about. This
serenity isn’ t solely in you; it’ s in the whole universe. That’ s what you
surrender to. Any anxiety , wor ry , or fear—that you’re not go ing to have
“success,” you’re not going to perform, you’re not going to achieve, or
you’re not going to accumulate —are not the operating values in your life
anymore. I’m not saying that those things won’ t be in your life at all, but
they simply won’ t be the primary motivators for you any longer . All the things I do, from writing  and speaking to the appearances I make
in the media, are motivated by a  genuine internal desire to bring about more
stability and peace and harmony in the world for people in some way . W ith
that knowing, life just seems to  flow , and everything seems to work a lot
better for me than it once did. Y ou might be sa ying, “Y eah, okay . Y ou’re W ayne Dyer , and y ou’ve got
all th is v alidation and prosperity , so it’ s easy for you to say . But what aboutme? I’m trying to sell shoes for a living.” W ell, I believe th at the same
principle applies, no matter what position you find yourself in. Surrendering
to the Divine within you is going to help, no matter what. THE PEOPLE BUSINESS
T ake a second to  ask yourself , What am I doin g? What am I about? Is my
life focu sed on trying to accumulate a lot of stuff? I f it is, you’re going to
feel a strong se nse of frustration almost all the time because you’ll be
suf fering from the ego’ s disease of having to get more. If you think about what you’re doing in your life, the ultimat e bottom
line is: Are you  or are you not helping to improve the quality of life for
another human being? If you’re  selling shoes, then look to see how those
shoes are improving the quality of your customers’ lives in some way—
how the y think about themselve s, how their feet are protected, or what have
you. Whatever it is that we’re doing, all of us are in the people business in
one way  or another . So it really helps to have this knowing of The focus of
my l ife isn’ t how much money I’m going to get, or what kind of  awar ds I’m
going to r eceive, or how I’m goi ng to climb this ladder of success within my
corporation. My motivation is simply to serve others. I get hundreds of letters every week, and I try to answer as many as I can. I remem ber a lady wrote me yea rs ago to say: “At a speech you gave before
the American Association of Co unseling and Development in Los Angeles,
you men tioned an essay by Ab raham Maslow called ‘The Whole Man.’ I
have searched high and low for that. Can you tell me where I can get it?”
Keep in mind that this was before widespread access to the Inte rnet or e-
mail. After I read her letter , I thought, Sur e, I could send her a little n ote
and say , “This i s wher e you can  find it,” but I’d rather send her the article. I knew this particular article wa s in a book in my library , but I wasn’ t quite
sure where. I looked all over the place until I finally found it. T hen I asked
my s ecretary to copy the article, which was about 70 pages. Aga in, this was
years ago, so it was a bit of an undertaking. I wrote back to the lady and
said, “Instead of telling you where to find it, I am sending you a copy of the
article.” I sent it along with one of my own books.Now , I had no  idea who this  woman was other than some one who
worked for a me ntal health institution in New Y ork. After I put the package
in th e mail, I had a brief moment of doubt. But then I stopped myself and
remembered that I was on the right path, that I wasn’ t doing this to sell her
anything, persuade her that I was this wonderful altruistic person, or
anything like that. I had surrendered to what I am about. Rather than
thinking about what this gesture  would do for me, I did it because I felt it
was the right thing to do. I did i t simply for the reason that it w ould help to
improve her quality of life in so me way . I believed it to be a loving, decent,
kind thing to do, and hopefully it made things easier for her . Having said that, I also knew that many terrific things would come about
as a result of that one act. She  would tell other people about it, and they
would go out and do kind things for others. The goodwill would keep
circulating, on and on, until the  kindness returned back to me. I feel this is
how we create a better world. I consider my own life, as I live it every day ,
to be a work of art in progress. Furthermore, the work of art that is my life
is one of serving more, giving more, making more of a dif ference, and
being more in harmony . The state of the world is really n othing more than a reflection of our state
of mind. So my state of mind ab out my world reflects my belief that there is
a higher consciousness that is a part of who I am. That God force, or love
force, is what I am about, what I’m here for . The more I find myself acting
in accordance with the Divine, the more wonderful things happen to me. For exam ple, I’v e released my attachment to money in favor of trusting
in abundance. It is now unusual for me to go to my mailbox and not  find
money that somebody has sent me. Oftentimes, it’ s from people who
believe in the principle of tithing, or seed money; that is, if they read or hear
something that they find bene fit or value in, they send support to that
person. These folks seem to live by a code of generosity and supporting
people a nd causes they believe in. So I get checks like this in the mail all
the time. As I discussed earlier in the bo ok, my mind-set has shifted fr om being
surprised by abundance or miracles to expecting them. I’ve noticed as well
that in releasing my attachment to money , I’ve let go of my need to have a
bar gain. That’ s a real growth for me, because I used to believe that if I
couldn’ t get a bar gain, then I shouldn’ t buy something at all.While I certainly never ask to be sent money like this, I am sure to
recirculate the funds I receive. Every time I get a check, I think, W ow ,
somebody sent me some money , but it isn’ t for me. It’ s for the w ork that I’m
doing, s o what can I do with it? I might give it to Amnesty International to
help free  prison ers of conscience around the world. Or I’ll buy books and
audio programs to donate to libraries, prisons, or other centers that need the
material. Somet imes I’ll see a story in the news about somebody who’ s
struggling in some way or another , and I’ll take that money and channel it
toward them. It becomes like this magnificent circle, facilitated by a bunch
of us helping each other . Again, I’d like to stress that every one of us is in the people business. Somehow , in some way , the bas ic bottom line for each of us is  to improve
the qual ity of life for some other human being. So if we know th at that’ s the
business we’re in, then we can apply this concept globally . W orld peace
comes about through inner pe ace within each individual. Therefore, if
we’ve got a wh ole world full of people who are peaceful, then we’ve got
world peace. But if we’ve got a world full of some individu als who are
peaceful and a whole bunch more who are full of anger , dissension, fear ,
mistrust, and so on, then we’ve got world disorder . The sam e is true in any or ganiz ation—it all starts with getting your own
act together . T rying to get ahead of the next guy should never be your focus,
because that’ s not what the people business is about. It’ s about improving
life for all people. W hen you improve your own life first, all you’ll have to
give away is qu ality of life. If you do that, and you’re giving a way quality
in every interaction that you ha ve, you will be the kind of pe rson whom
other people want to be around. When you become this type of person, you’ll be more ef fective at your
job because people want to be around you. W alk into any automobile
dealership, for instance, and you can easily find somebody wh om no one
wants to  be around. That per son usually doesn’ t sell very many cars,
whereas the person you want to be around tends to be very successful. If you’re feeling uninspired in your or ganization, however , the universe
is sending you a message: Move along. Don ’ t te ll yours elf that you’re s tuck. Don’ t become consumed with the posturing and the awards t hat go withyour pos ition, th e opinions of ot her people, and other hallmarks of the ego. If yo ur sole and total focus is on  living the life you’ve imagined, wonderful
things will happen. Y ou’ve got to tr ust that you’ll k now when it’ s time to make a change. If
you don ’ t, the universe will tell you—you’ll get the signal in some way , and
you will indeed move along. If you continue to stay where you don’ t
belong, the universe will start making you deteriorate: Y ou might get sick or
have an acciden t. Whatever the signal is, it will indicate that t hings aren’ t
working right for you, and you’ll know it. But you have got to pay attention
to the messages of the universe. Let me remind you that one of  the hallmarks of ego is fear . Y ou must
trust in the wisd om of your hig her self, which knows that you can’ t ever
make a mistake—there ar e  no mistakes, as this is a perfect place. Everything is all working perfectly , and so are you. KEEP IT FLOWING
In a soc iety that has become almost obsessed with upward mob ility , our
possessions, and  the accumulation of mor e , it’ s  imp ortant t o ask why: Wha t
are we planning to do with all this stuf f? Remember , you can’ t own anything—ever . Y ou show up on this planet
with nothing, and you leave the same way . I have a suit in which I have cut
out all the pockets, and every time I open my closet, I see this funny-
looking suit there with its holes  and slashes. If anyone else sees it, they’ll
ask, “W hat in the world is that?” I’ll respond, “That’ s to remind me that the
last suit you wear doesn’ t need a ny pockets.” It’ s a reminder tha t none of us
is taking anything with us from the world of form. As you’ ve learn ed, the relationships you’re in can only be experienced or
processed throug h thought. Y ou can’ t be your spouse or your children, and
they can’ t be y ou. Y ou can o nly process the experience of each other
through thought . Y ou can never get hold of them; they can never  get hold of
you. The illusion is that you h ave them, or that they have you, and you
don’ t at all. It’ s the same wi th your stuf f: you don’ t own it; it owns you. As long as
you “need” possessions and feel  incomplete if you don’ t—if you  don’ t havethe fancy car , if you don’ t have the right house in the right part of town, if
you don’ t have jewels on your fingers, and so on—that’ s a sign that you feel
something must  be lacking in your life. In this position of I’m incomplete ,
you’re sure that your completen ess will be fulfilled through mat erial things. Y ou get some di amonds, and then you say to yourself, That sho uld mak e me
happy , but  it doesn’ t b ecause possessio ns are just an illusion. Y et you think,
Maybe if I get bigger diamonds,  or a better car , or . . . Y ou ’re constantly at
the mercy of the  ego’ s disease o f more. Needing to have all the th ings that
you accu mulate and collect and hang on to and so on makes you a victim of
those things. The irony is that the less you need, the more you’ll get. The totally awake person operates with heightened spiritual awareness,
understanding t hat more is less and less is more. All of u s are here
temporarily . W e ’re part of thi s dream, and for a very short time. W e
accumulate a certain amount of  things while we’re here, but we have no
need for  them when we leave this world of form. So fiercely  clinging to
things makes no sense. What does make sense is relaxing that grip, letting
go of what we know we don’ t need so that we can make room for what we
do  need. Everything in the universe flows, but the strongest things are those that
flow the best. If you take water a nd a rock and put them together , which one
is going to triumph over the other? The water will always we ar away the
rock. Y et if you try to reach in and get a handful of this stuf f that is so
powerful that it can wear away  rock in practically no time at a ll, you will
find that the tigh ter you squeeze, the less you get in your hand. Y ou have to
put your hand in the water and relax it, and only then can you experience
the water . Y ou can never hold on to it. “Go with the f low” might be a clichéd saying, but there’ s a lot of
meaning to that. It means you’re not fighting anything; you’re allowing it to
happen. Allowing  i s anoth er word  for surr ender . Y ou  must allow  yourself to
trust the  Divine. Surrender and become unattached to how things turn out,
even though this can be very dif ficult. A go od analogy for being detached from the things that we think are so
important to us is to think of a s ymphony . W e’re li stening to the music, bu t
we c an never he ar the whole symphony at one time. W e can on ly hear it amoment at a tim e—we hear one note, then we hear another note, and then
we h ear another . That whole in dividual, step-by-step process, the flowing
with it, the goin g with just one note, with whatever is happening, is what
constitutes the experience called “symphony” and the appreciation of
music. W e don’ t sit back and say , “No, this note doesn’ t count. None of that
counts. I want to hear the whole thing at once.” W e take each moment that
comes and experience it, and we experience the next one, and so on. It’ s silly  to think of being able t o appreciate music without being able to
hear each individual note as it comes along. That’ s also how  life is. It’ s
absurd t o becom e attached to the notion that we have to consu me it all or
have so many things. Here’ s a  great exercise in not be ing attached: Go through your h ouse and
the closets, gather up all the toys that your children don’ t use an ymore, and
give them away . Have the kids participate in this as well. Next, gather all
the clothes that y ou haven’ t worn in the last 18 months. If you haven’ t worn
it for a year and a half, it’ s no longer yours. W e’ve already established that
you can’ t own a nything anyway—you come in naked and yo u leave that
way . So send these clothes on to somebody else. Then go out to your
garage, and collect everything t hat you’ve been so busy holdin g on to but
not usin g. Give it away too. There’ s somebody else out there w ho can use
all that stuf f. Get it recirculating. Keep it flowing. Keep it moving. Know th at every thing you feel y ou have to have owns you, which means
you don ’ t own yourself. T o that end, many people can’ t leave w here they’re
living right now because they don’ t know what to do with all the stuf f
they’re h anging on to. They say , “I have too much here. I can’ t l eave!” This
causes them to m iss opportunities because they can’ t hear the m essages the
universe is sending them. When yo u’re no t attached to thin gs, they can’ t own you any longer . Then
you’ll find that y ou’re less attached to ideas that no longer work in your life
either . In the process, you’ll open yourself up to so ma ny positive
experiences. What you once viewed as just happenstance or a coincidence
shows up in your life in numerous ways now that you’re really experiencing
the a wakened life. Again, the less attached you are, the more t he universe
will send your w ay . If you give away more of whatever you’re g etting, it all
keeps moving and flowing, and your life improves beyond measure.STRIVING VS. ARRIVING
Acceptance and  being happy wi th where you are in life is not something
W estern society tends to teach. In fact, it can seem like you’re programmed
to g o after some thing else from day one. It’ s like you’re trained to think,
When I get out of this playpen, I’ll have the whole r oom. Oh, get me out of
her e.  The n yo u get out of the playpen  and into the room, and you thi nk, I’d
like to go into the next r oom, but they’ve got one of those barriers acr oss
the hall. I’ve got to get past that gate that they put ther e. Then maybe I can
get into the cupb oar ds and have fun with the pots and pans. That’ll be when
I arrive. Then it’ s like, Maybe I can go  out into the yar d , so  the yard
becomes the goal. Then you ge t out of the yard, and the goal is the block. Then there’ s a street to cross. There is always a “next.”
Y ou fina lly get into school, and  all you can think about is getting out. What I remember about elementary school is lines. I hated lines and seeking
permission. For five years, you’ ve peed whenever you felt like  it but now ,
all o f a sudden, you have to ask  permission. It’ s like, Let m e out of her e. I
don’ t want to ask permission to pee anymor e.  Then you’re going to
geography class, and you have to stand in line. Why in the world do they do
this? Th e lines don’ t move; you just stand there waiting. I guess if it moved,
it wouldn’ t be a line—it would be a parade, wouldn’ t it? Anyway , all you can think about is junior high—you know that w hen you
get there, you’ll get out of lines. But then you find out that this is not the
place to be either . Y ou realize, They do n’ t tr eat us like adults at  all. W e have
to ta ke whatever courses they  give us, and we’r e always told to stop
touching each other . Or , “Sit up.” Or , “Quiet. No talking.”
Then your goal shifts again. It’ s like, When I get to high school, that will
be  it. Life will  be complete. Y ou get to high school, but then you realize
you’re a  lowly little freshman. Even the word sounds yucky , so you bypass
it. Y ou think, All righ t, I’ll put up with this because next year I’ll be a
senior under classman. ( Y ou call you rself this as a euphemism for a
sophomore.) Y ou’re telling yourself, I want to get in the 10th grade because
then I can learn  to drive. N othing in the world counts now except getting a
driver ’ s license. Life is about nothing else when you’re 14 and 15, just
striving toward getting a driver ’ s license. That’ s all there is . . . until you
start thinking about dating. W ow . W hen I can date, boy , tha t’ s when my life
will be complete.Then it’ s  like, When I get out of high school, it ’ll be so gr eat that I won’ t
have to be told what to do. F inally , you work hard and g et out of high
school, but there’ s no marchin g band. There’ s a ceremony an d maybe a
little pa rty—but then you’ve got to face life. Y ou say to you rself, W ell,
maybe m y life will start when I  go to college. Sur ely that will be it. Then
you go through college, thinking, No. This is not it at all. It’ s mor e of the
same—just studying. Sur e, I get to pick the classes I want, but it’ s the same
old stuff. Y ou get out of c ollege. They tell me when you get married, that’ s when
your life  r eally begins. That’ s when it’ s gr eat, so I’ll get married . Then you
find out  that the partner you pic ked out makes funny noises th at he or she
never made before. It’ s just too  much. Y ou think, All r ight. Marriage may
not b e it, but they tell me when you have a child, that makes yo u complete
with the universe. I guess I’m not r eally a person yet—I’m  sort of an
appr entice person. But when I have that child, that’ s when I’ll be complete. Then maybe you think, They tell me tha t life gets going when you finally
get that divor ce . They say that divor ce is the thing that r eally makes your
life. My spouse drags me down all the time, so as soon as I get marriage out
of my life, that’l l do it. Or maybe you focus on geography: How did I get
her e any way? M y gr eat-gr eat-g randpar ents landed in this town, and I’m
still her e. What the hell am I doing her e? That’ s it. I’ll go to Hawaii. By the
time I get to Hawaii , then I’ll be complete. It’ s kind of endless: Maybe w hen I get a new job, that’ll be it. Or , They
tell me when you get the pr omotion, that’ s the thing that r eally makes your
life start. Or , What I’ve hear d is that as soon as you r etir e, that’ s when life
r eally gets going. T hen you retire , and you hear  people talking about the
good old days. But they never had a “good old day” in their  whole life,
because they were always postponing and had an aversion to now . There aren’ t many people who understand what Carly Simon said, that
these  are the good old  days. That’ s because everything you do is done  in the
present moment. A person who’ s always goal setting, thinking about the
future, and concerned with what things are going to be like is doomed to
eternal frustration rather than an appreciation of anything. They’re
constantly striving, never arriving.LET GO OF BEING BEST—SIMPL Y BE
V irtually everyo ne we’ve ever known has told us that in ord er to be
successful, we must have goals . This is one of those aphorisms that guide
our live s, the whole idea that if we don’ t know where we’re going, then
how will we know when we get there? There are, in fact, other ways of learning other than to have goals. There’ s a word in Sanskrit, satori , and it speaks to the idea that when the
student is ready , the teachers wil l appear . So in moments of insight, you can
shift around things that you’ve s pent a lifetime accumulating. Y ou just have
to be ready . I can hear the doubts, because the importance of goals has been pounded
into your head for your whole life. I’m not here to get in an ar gument nor to
make an ybody wrong who believes in these things strongly . All I’m
suggesting is that you can have satori, an instant moment of shifting around,
when you are ready and willing. Also, God works in very mysterious ways. If yo u have this  readiness, you say , “I’m going to turn this whole problem
or strugg le over , and I know that the universe knows what it’ s doing. I’m
going to surrender and allow the or ganizing Divinity that i s a part of
everything to work through me. I know that I’ll be guided, a nd I’m not
alone.” The moment that you have that awareness, then goals don’ t seem to
be nearly as significant or as important. If you feel like you have to hav e everything all planned out in your life,
with go als set up all along the way , you’ll miss countless op portunities. There’ s an old s aying that says, “If you really want to make Go d laugh, tell
Him yo ur plan s.” When you let go and let God, when you stop this
insistence that you have to ha ve everything planned out, then you will
experience heightened spiritual awareness. Again, shift your focus from
striving to arriving. Another belief that most of us have hung on to for most of our lives—
because, as you’ll recall, it’ s be en handed to us by well-meanin g folks—is
that we always have to do our best. I hear this almost every sing le day , from
motivational speakers to athletes: “I have to do my best.” I’d like to
challenge that. Y ou don’ t have to be perpetually performing and doing
things at the top level. As a mat ter of fact, the idea that things a lways have
to b e done per fectly is very o ften what will keep you from  achieving
anything at all.I was a doctoral advisor after I received my own doctorate, a nd I can
remember having many students who would go through all the coursework
but then couldn’ t write their dissertation because they “cou ldn’ t get it
right.” I’d say , “Look, you don’ t have to do your best at this thing. But
you’ve got to get it done if you ever want to be able to have your
doctorate.” Like those students, if you’re preoccupied with perfectionism, it
will turn into pa ralysis in the en d, because you won’ t be able to accomplish
anything. Get rid of that whole idea of best and just do. I s uggest that you replace the idea that you always have to do your best at
everything with this: Ther e’ s going to be a few things that I do very well—it
may eve n be my best. But when it comes to the r est of the things I do in my
life, I’m not goi ng to worry about my best and instead simply enjoy them. Remember to take that pressure of f of your children as well, because it’ s far
more im portant for them to do and enjoy and be at peace and in harmony
than it is to live with all of the illness-producing stress that comes from
constantly being told that you always have to do your best. Y our “best” is r eally a notion t hat the ego keeps promoting in order to
keep you away from the higher part of yourself, which says, “Y ou don’ t
have to beat an ybody . Y ou don’ t have to do achieve. Y ou don’ t have to
perform. Y ou simply have to be:  B e at p eace. Be at joy . Be at bliss.” When
you operate from this place, you will be unattached to the outcome of
whatever it is you do. Y ou’ll be in process. Y ou’ll be enjoying  the whole
journey , rather than seeking o ut all these destinations that others have
imposed on you. One of the fundamental proble ms is that people want the world to be
dif ferent than it is. Contrary to what you’ve heard, the world is a perfect
place. There’ s no anxiety in it. T here’ s no depression in it. There’ s no stress
in it. There’ s only anxious thinking. There’ s only stressful thinking. There’ s
only angry thoughts. There’ s no anger in the world. Y ou are also pa rt of that perfec t world; your perfection is in your own
creation. Y ou could never be a mistake. So once you surrender to your
higher self and replace the ego’ s messages with the serenity and peace I’ve
been tal king about, you won’ t e ven know how to be victimized anymore.Y ou will be in the universe’ s flow . Y ou won’ t need to get there; you’ll be
living it. CHAPTER 9
HARNESS THE POWER OF
VISUALIZA TION
When yo u are imbued with inne r peace or serenity and are on th e side of
order , disorder is impossible for you. Y ou no longer see yourself as a
hapless victim. Y ou see the intelligence behind everything, and this
motivates you to seek solution s where others can only see  impossible
problems. Here’ s an example of what I’m  talking about. A while ago, I caught a
flight fro m Fort Lauderdale to Chicago. I got on the airplane at one o’clock
in the afternoon, we took of f and flew for 30 minutes, and then we were
informed that we were going to have to land in Miami. Appa rently , they
couldn’ t retract the landing gear , which was stuck in the down position. The
airline s taf f was  trying to conv ince us that there was no emer gency , that
those ambulances we saw in M iami were standing by in ca se anybody
fainted w hile they watched us la nd, that the foam out there on the runways
was so they could see if their foam equipment worked. There was, in fa ct, some emer gency . And there were lots of in teresting
reactions from the people around me on the plane. There were a lot of ashen
looks, a nd a lot of very scared  people—one couple even jumped up and
screamed. But I didn’ t feel any of that. I saw myself being oka y . It wasn’ t
that I tried hard not to be fearfu l; it was that inside of me, som ething had
replaced that fear . The serenity within assured me that everything was all
right, and I was fine. I c hose to be ef fective, using my mind in a situation where oth er people
might choose to panic. I calmed  down the guy next to me. I looked around
to se e where th e emer gency exits were. I elected to be conscious, to be
intelligent, and to think of survival. I wasn’ t the least bit afraid, yet I know Iwould h ave bee n in such a circumstance at an earlier time in my life. That
potential for fear has been replaced now by peace and fulfillment as well as
the knowing that when it’ s my turn, it’ s my turn, and that’ s okay . I know
I’m not my form, so I’m not afraid of leaving it when the time comes. Everything turn ed out to be fine on my flight, except now 19 2 people
who were on this plane had to figure out what to do next. Y ou see, the first
thing they did once we landed safely was announce the following: No one
would be getting a seat out of Florida because all the airline s were full. W e’d pr obably h ave to be stuck in the airport while they figured  out what to
do. And no, they weren’ t going to put us up in a hotel. Again, I  watched  the people arou nd me. A minute ago, they were worried
about w hether or not they were going to live. Now they were relieved that
they we re alive, but they we re also angry because of this additional
information. It was like the airl ine was throwing every negative thing they
could think of at us! I be lieve in looking for solutio ns, never problems. So when the plane
landed a nd they gave us that negative message, I knew they weren’ t ta lking
to me. I saw myself in Chicago. I had a speech to give the next morning,
and there were a lot of people depending on me to be there. I knew I’d be
there, as  oppose d to the 191 other people who didn’ t believe they would be
in Chica go and were acting that way . They were angry , they were upset,
they were yelling at the airline personnel, they were letting their blood
pressure get out of control—but they weren’ t actually doing  anything. As soon as we deplaned, I called my secretary in Fort Lauderdale and
said, “Please make sure I have a seat on a plane. No matter what it costs or
the inconvenien ce may be, get me a seat.” When I called her back in 15
minutes, she told me that she was able to get me a seat on another airline. It
turned o ut that somebody had canceled right before she called , and I was
able to get that seat. Out of 192 people, I believe I was the only one who
made it to Chicago that day . It didn’ t happen because I’m smarter or better
than everybody else. Instead, I looked for solutions rather than problems
because I refused to be victimized by the ego’ s need to be angry and right. What th is examp le shows is tha t when you are able to visualize yourself
doing so mething, it becomes automatic for you to act on that v isualization,
or that image. Y ou are then able to make the most incredible things happen.TURNING YOUR VISION INT O REALITY
When yo u get an image in your mind of something you want, an d you act
on that image, i t becomes what you are. An image is nothing more than a
thought, and you know that as you think, so shall you be. The image is
something that you will begin acting on, treating yourself as if you already
are what you’re seeing in your mind. Think o f it this way: If you go out and hit a thousand forehands and a
thousand serves  in tennis every  day for the next year , you would get to a
point where you’d really know how to serve a tennis ball and hit a forehand. Y ou may  not be Serena W illiam s or Roger Federer , but you would be very
competent at hitting forehands a nd serving if you did it one tho usand times
a day for 365 st raight days—that’ s a third of a million strokes. It would be
quite a lot of physical practice  that would pay of f in the realm of form. W ell, imagery , or visualization, is the equivalent of doing this but on the
mental s ide. If you were to practice a thought a thousand times  a day for a
year , that image would become  you and you would become that image. V isualization works because once you get the image, it gets stored away
inside you exactly the same as a practice or behavior . Let’ s sa y you want to lose 30 pounds, lower your resting hear t rate, or
quit smoking. Y ou do nothing but have this image of yourself that you
practice one thousand times a day: I am not the po ison. I am health. I am
healing. I am no t sickness. This is the pictur e I have of myself looking the
way I want to look. Y ou draw that picture in your mind, and perhaps you
even dra w it on paper . Y ou see  this image everywhere, countless times a
day , so you begin to internalize this message: This is the way I look. This is
the way I see m yself. I’m not go ing to try to do anything differ ently . I just
see myself as looking this way . I see myself as the pictur e of health. Y ou do n’ t think about quitting or losing, because those terms are
negative. Understand that whenever you fight something, you  violate the
principle that holds the universe together . Y ou are always weak er after you
fight—always. Fighting anything is the surest way to set yourself up to fail. It’ s why  the war on drugs doesn't work, for instance. A war by its very
nature means that there must be winners and losers. Y ou can reshape your thinking so that you don’ t ever have to think in
negatives again; instead, put things in terms of what you’re for  rather than
what you’re against. No w , rather th an being against drugs and all theterrible things that they do, wha t if we could raise young people to be for
something? Afte r all, as a society , we’re for an enlightened youth who are
capable of getting themselves a s high as they want to in their mind and in
their consciousn ess. That seems like a much more ef fective m essage than
fighting a war on drugs. The more you fight, the more dif ficult you make it for yo urself to
understand that you’re a human being and not a human doing. It ’ s the being
that you  are. Let’ s say you wan t to stop eating so much chocolate. Y ou see
yourself as being someone who  easily resists sweets, not telli ng yourself
how dif ficult it will be or dwelling on how much you’ll need t o fight your
cravings. Realis tically , when you think about it, which is easier to do: eat
chocolate or not eat chocolate? Think about what it takes to eat chocolate:
Y ou have to go  to the store. Y ou have to pay for it. Y ou have  to bring it
home. Y ou have to unwrap it. Y ou have to put it in your mouth. Y ou have to
chew it. On the other hand, if you don’ t eat chocolate, all you have to do is
not eat chocolate. That’ s all you have to do. So not eating chocolate is really
a lot easier than eating chocolate, isn’ t it? If yo u want to improve your tennis game, you don’ t tell yourself that this
is a hard process. Y ou see yourself the way you want to be, and you practice
enough so that w hen you go out  on the court and want to hit your forehand,
you don’ t have to think about it anymore. I don’ t ever think about what I’m
going to  do with my racket. If I were thinking, Wher e d o I hold it? How do
I hit  the ball back? Am I going to step in? I ’d quic kly lose three sets. I hav e
practiced enoug h that I don’ t have to give my tennis game any thought—it
has become instantaneous, au tomatic. Now I go out on the courts,
somebody serve s me a ball, and I hit a forehand. Somebody hits me a
backhand, and I step into it and hit it back. I don’ t ever give it any thought. I
learned how to do it through imagery , by seeing myself. Do y ou know th at every great g olfer does the same thing? Jack  Nicklaus
has often  talked about this. Y ou see the shot going the way you want to see
it. Y ou see your swing the way you want to see it, and you practice the
imagery over and over again. Before long, it’ s automatic. Y ou see it, and
then you just do it. What if I were  to ask you, “Are you a determined person?” Y ou’d
probably think of some obstacle  you encountered and say , “Y ea h, I gave it
my best. I worked really hard. I sure did try , but it didn’ t work out. It wasn’ t
my fate. I wasn’ t supposed to get it. I guess God doesn’ t want that for me.”
Most of us believe we’re persistent even if we try something only once. W e say , “Y eah, I gave it my best.” For how many days? “Oh, I only did it
this morning, but I gave it a real shot.” A single attempt is not a good test of
determination, n or can it possibly prove whether visualization works. W e
have to try or practice repeatedly , and be willing to do whatever it takes  to
bring our image into form. In fact, your willingness to do whatever it takes is the most important
thing yo u can bring to the visu alization process. If it takes m oving, you
move. If  it takes leaving a relat ionship, then you do so. If it tak es working
18 h ours a day for 10 years, then  you grind away , knowing that great things
have no sense of time. Y ou must be willing to act on what you imagine for
yourself, understanding that wh at counts isn’ t being persistent but rather
doing w hatever it takes minute by minute, day in and day out . If you are
willing to do that, you’ll make what you’re envisioning a reality . I have
seen this play out in my own life, time and time again. I’ve fou nd that most of the people I’ve met who don’ t have what they
want for themselves, or whose l ife isn’ t at the level they would like it to go,
are not willing to do what it takes. They’re willing to go only  so far , and
then the y throw up their hands and say , “No, I can’ t do that. Y o u mean you
want me to leave here? I’ve been here all my life. Y ou want me to go back
to schoo l and change careers? Y ou want me to run eight miles? Y ou want
me to give up chocolate? Y ou want me to keep doing that every day? ”
Again, it’ s a qu estion of how w illing you are. If you are willing to do
whatever it takes to turn your v ision into reality , then you will be able to
manifest that vision in myriad ways. WHA TEVER YOU W ANT IS ALREADY HERE
There’ s an old story about a person who went to his guru and listed all
the t hings that he wanted from life, such as wealth and happines s. The guru
said, “I’ve got it for you.” He gave the man a cup, which had nothing in it,and added, “Y ou already have everything you need to be all those things. Y ou already are that.”
Once you get what the guru was saying, then you can apprecia te it. Y ou
think about what you want for yourself, and you realize that what you’re
visualizing is already here. If you already know that whatever you have is
what yo u created, then all you have to do is understand that whatever you
want to create from this point on is entirely up to you. It’ s all done through
something called “thought.”
This is a crucial point: Everything you could ever want is alr eady her e.
All t he w ealth a nd abundance that you could possibly ever want is already
here. Y ou’ve just got to tune in. If you’re willing and know that it’ s here, it
can’ t miss you. That’ s the way the universe works. Let’ s say  you want to sell five m illion books. W ell, what would that take? It w ould take fi ve million people to buy one book, one million people to
buy five  books, or what have you, but the people who are going  to buy your
books ar e already here. In other  words, the ener gy that is going to generate
the wealth that you want is already here. Y ou just haven’ t tuned in to it yet. If you want wealth in your life, that wealth doesn’ t have to somehow
materialize from another dimension. W ealth is her e.  Aga in, everything that
you could possibly ever need or want for yourself is already here—you
must know that and live that. If you believe that you ne ed to have
something else in order to be fu lly happy , then all you’ll do is be in another
place to not app reciate what you don’ t have. Like the man visiting his guru,
you must know that you already are it all. Of c ourse, it’ s n ot like you can simply visualize yourself as wealthy , and
then poof— you’ll be wealthy . There are two things that go along with the
endeavor . First, you visualize yourself as having wealth, enjoying
abundance inste ad of scarcity . T hen you see the abundance in your life and
connect to that. Y ou don’ t just tell yourself, All r ight, now I ’ve got that
pictur e; now I’ll sit ar ound and wait for abundance to walk into  my life. W e
always have to act on  whatever image we have. So now  you’re  beginning to act on a new image, which is one of
abundance. Y ou  af firm: I a m entitled to  have things impr ove in my life. Ther e ar e no mistakes in the perfection that is this universe. I am  part of the
perfection of this whole universe. I am not separated out fr om humanity; I
am a part of it all. Whatever God is, that is within me as well. I am Divineenough to ask, and I am important enough to r eceive. These thoughts
augment your image of abundance. When you start acting on that positive, abundant, wealthy image you
have, it won’ t b e long until you r actions take over . But again, what you’re
visualizing is here already . It’ s not going to arrive from Mars or  someplace. If it wasn’ t here, you wouldn’ t be capable of visualizing it. How could you
visualize what it would be like t o be able to do something that is impossible
for y ou to do? How could you visualize yourself being an enti ty that lives
on N eptune when you hardly kn ow anything about Neptune and have never
been there? Y ou wouldn’ t visua lize yourself as some creature m ade out of
gases or  vapors. However , it is important to remember not to p ut limits on
yourself when it comes to what you are capable of realizing here on planet
Earth. I read a very interesting study done with unemployed people who were
asked to visualize themselves ge tting a job. One of the people had had a job
that paid  $25,00 0 a year . Anothe r person’ s previous job had pai d $50,000 a
year . An other w as an executive whose job had paid $250,000  a year . All
three were told to practice this visualization technique: See your self wit h a
job, see yoursel f working again, and then act on that visualization. Each
one of them did so, and as they saw themselves working again, that thought
began to manifest itself and they began to act on it. Three months later , all of the s ubjects were employed again. The first
person, who’d had a $25,000 job, now had another $25,000 job. The
$50,000-a-year p erson had a job  paying that same salary . And the executive
had a job payi ng $250,000. It wasn’ t because these individuals lacked
special training or abilities that would keep them from having higher -paying
jobs. Th ey got the jobs that the y saw themselves having; that’ s what they
imagined for themselves. A jo b is n’ t going to arrive from another planet; a job is already here. Y ou
just have to tune in to it now and connect to it. So if you imagine yourself
working as a cle rk and tell yourself, That’ s all I’m capable of doing  and I
can’ t go beyond that , the n you look for and act on clerk kinds of images. W ithout the thought, you can’ t get the job. The job is a thought. Every day
you get up and think, and then y ou get into your formation and  go do your
job. The $50 ,000-a-year guy was a salesperson who saw himself c ontinuing
to make  that salary , so that’ s what he went after . His vision wa s not one ofabundance; it was of scarcity . I t’ s like he told himself, Ther e’ s a limit o n
how muc h mone y I can make because of my history , because of my training,
because of whatever it is that I’ve convinced myself of. The executive went
for anot her executive position and matched his previous salary as well. Everyone in the study essentially stayed at the same level they were before. Examples like these preclude anybody from saying, “Y eah, all of this
fancy higher -consciousness, spirituality , transformational kind of talk, it’ s
very interesting and nice. If I’ve got time and all that, I’ll get in to it.” Such
people are missing the message that James Allen talked about:
circumstances do not make a man; they reveal him. WHERE ARE YOU PUTTING YOUR FOCUS? Many o f us find ourselves looking at our life backward, which is what
the e go encourages us to do. It doesn’ t want us to face inward and contact
the h igher self, which encourages us to be present. W e need to stop looking
in a rear view mirror and turn toward the now , to see how our li fe can work
in a new and authentically free way . Y ou can start by asking yourself this question: What do  I want to expand
in my life? If you want positive things to expand, for example, then keep
thinking positiv e thoughts as much as possible. Y ou’ll act on that vision,
and positivity will expand for you. I o nce saw a wonderful story on TV about Mary Thomas, the m other of
Isiah Th omas, th e great basketball star of the Detroit Pistons. At one point
she said, “I’m not poor . I’ve been broke, I’ve been without money , but I’m
not poor . I’ve never been poor , and I never will be poor .” This is the kind of
consciousness th at I’m talking about. If you focus on what y ou want to
expand in your l ife instead of w hat you don’ t have, then what you focus on
is going to expand. When I was doing a radio show some years back, a man calle d in who
was now  a medical doctor . He h ad been one of 14 children growing up in a
very poor part of Jamaica, but his grandmother always told him, “Y our
mind is more powerful than anything else.” He was calling the show to
validate some of the things I was saying on the air , because I was getting
resistance from some of the people out there who were saying, “How canyou say the kinds of things that you’re saying to people who are in such
poor circumstances? Don’ t you have any pity for them?” and so on. I r eplied, “The whole focus of  what I’m saying is that these are the
people who need to hear what I’ve got to say the most. And that if you get
yourself focused on what you want and never let your mind detract from
that, then you’ll act on that and eventually move out of those
circumstances.”
This fellow who called in shared how he had always wanted  to be a
doctor , and everybody laughed at the idea of this poverty-stricken boy , in
this little village in Jamaica, ever becoming a doctor . “But my g randmother
always said, ‘Never get the idea out of your mind. Never , ever let that idea
go. Just keep that thought there, no matter what.’”
He adde d, “I never did let it go ; I always thought it. The more I thought
it, the more I began to act on it. As I acted on it, I began to do two jobs
instead o f one, and then three jobs, and then I sent away for medical books,
and I studied hard. I saved all my money , and I applied for scholarships.”
This man proved that the ancestor to every action is a thought. All his
actions c ame fro m one thought, which was, I am  go ing to be a doctor . At
the time  of this radio show , he  had a big practice in W ashington, D.C.,
where he was a well-renowned heart sur geon. He had become a person of
means, b ut he was also incredibl y happy in his dream profession. And all of
this had happened because he never got rid of the thought. So w hen it comes to what you want to expand in your own life, keep
focused on that thought, couple d with a strong image, and be w illing to do
whatever it takes to make it happen. When you do, you’ll embody one of
my favorite quotes of all time b y Henry David Thoreau, which has been a
guiding force my whole life: “I f one advances confidently in the direction
of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will
meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
CHAPTER 10
LEARN T O MEDIT A TE AND
TRAIN YOUR MIND
It’ s n ot a n accid ent that all the great spiritual masters have encouraged a
kind of meditation practice of o ne kind or another . While most spiritually
advanced people do it on a regular basis, I highly recommend  meditation
for everyone. Y ou might have the false notion that meditation isn’ t for you;
it’ s t he k ind of thing made up by  some Far Eastern guru with a loincloth. If
so, I want you  to reframe that concept and know that it i s a way to
understand that there is another world available to us when we do it. I’m
talking about the world of the mind. When we go into that world, we discover many things about ourselves. For exam ple, w e become conscious of the thoughts that we have all the
time and how m uch “disasterizing” we do—and how what we  occupy our
minds with is often so unnecessary , silly , foolish, and even destructive. Recall th at one of the keys to h igher awareness is “shut down the inner
dialogue.” Y ou want to be able to have an open, clear , and calm  mind, not
have a thousand thoughts rampaging throu gh. Meditation will help you
quiet your mind and hear your Divine wisdom. THE IMPOR TANCE OF TRAINING
Many of  us seem to believe tha t whatever we think just sort of happens,
and we can’ t help it. There’ s a thought, and it’ s simply there. It’ s  what I call
the pop- in theor y of thinking: Y ou’re walking along and all o f a sudden,
W ow . What was that? W ell, now a thought popped in. I don’ t know how thathappened. I was happy , but now I’m thinking r eally unhappy things. I guess
I’ll have to wait for them to pop out. But remember that every thought you
have is yours— it is your creat ion. Y ou are the creator of your thoughts,
which m eans that you are also the creator of your life. Y ou can absolutely
train your mind. W e spend so much of our ener gy training ourselves in all kinds of areas. W e train  ourselv es or others how to work at myriad jobs, for instance. Or if
we want to become good at golf or swimming or tennis or backgammon, we
know w e have to practice and train ourselves. Y et we ignore our mind,
which is 99 perc ent of who we are. W e completely ignore it, as if there’ s no
training available for our minds. Of course there is, and we can all do it. T o that end, years ago, I taught at a university in Berlin for a semester ,
and I used a very ef fective technique for training the mind in memory
retention. One the first day , I h ad a student introduce himself to me at the
start of class. Th en I had the second student introduce the pers on who had
just introduced himself, then she introduced herself. Then each time I would
repeat it. I had the third student introduce the two previous students, plus
himself. W e went along in this fashion for the whole class. By the time we
got to the 70th student, that person had to introduce everybody  in the class
by name, and I  then repeated each one of them. It was a very simple
technique, a concentrated ef fort  in making my mind remember 70 people’ s
names in an hour and a half. This was a class on how to ide ntify neurotic behavior , and I wanted to
teach the  students that they could do things with their minds tha t they never
dreamed they could. The name exercise was one simple yet ef fective way to
show the m what was possible fo r them: T wo or three weeks later , the class
would h ave 80 or 90 percent recall. By the end of the fourth or  fifth week,
everybody knew everybody el se’ s name in the class, and they had all
trained themselves. I find it funny that when many people are introduced to somebody new ,
they immediatel y say , “What was your name again?” They can’ t remember
one pers on’ s name in one minut e. They think it’ s because they have a poor
memory , but it’ s really because they haven’ t trained. Meditating is a perfect
way to do that. As you can see, learning to improve memory is very helpful. What’ s even
more impactful,  though, is keep ing our minds free from worry , anxiety , or
other stressful kinds of things. W e can do this when we get focused andkeep ou rselves from creating those kinds of thoughts that are always
impeding our consciousness. Miracles are available when we train our
brains. BE IN THE MOMENT
If you’re the kind of person whose thoughts are filled with 10 dif ferent
things you have to do, which i s producing anxiety and stress throughout
your body , then how can you possibly get a blank, quiet mi nd? Y ou’re
thinking, I’ve got to get to work. I have this r eport I need to do. I have to
get my taxes done. I need to get some diapers on the way home. The kids
need bananas. They’ve got dance lessons I’ve got to get them to. By s imply going into your mind and looking around, you’ll soon see how
slimy it is and realize that occupying your mind with an endless catalog of
activities is ridiculous and unnecessary . If you’re the kind of person who
takes ca re of things, they’re going to get handled regardless of how much
you wor ry . The  question is: Ho w do you use your present moments? Do
you und erstand that anytime you are thinking anxious thoughts, you’re
denying the now? Instead of using up the present moment in a productive,
serene, c alm wa y , you are choo sing to believe that you can’ t get through
this day without being anxious. The fact  is everything is going to get taken care of. Y our taxes are going
to ge t do ne. Y ou ’re not the kind  of person who’ s simply going to opt out of
doing your taxes. Y ou’re going to get the report done. Y ou’re going to get
the diap ers. Y ou’re going to get  everything done; otherwise, you wouldn’ t
be in the position that you’re in. Y ou would be doing something else. So if you know that things are g oing to get done, then what would be the
most ef ficient, ef fective, and peaceful way to do so? It’ s certainly not when
you’re i n a hurry—that’ s when you’re least ef fective. Y ou’ll feel anxious,
which makes you feel more ups et, and you’ll for get something. Y ou’ll walk
out the door and lock your keys inside. Suppose you only have five minutes to take a shower .
_OceanofPDF.com_The_Power_of_Awakening_-_Dr_Wayne_W_Dyer.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Then I
moved into ballads and things like that, and I had very little to do with rock
’n’ roll. Now, of  course, I compose classical music. ” Then he said, “I don’ t
like to put down any type of mu sic. I know that I needed to be at each one
of th e places I was along the path in order to be here. ” This ta lented artist
was trying to explain that there  is no need to think of someon e as wrong,
improper, or uncivilized just because they make a particular choice such as
playing the kind of music you don’ t like. Judgment is the mark of the ego, and you must work to get it out of you
completely. After all, when you judge another person, you don’ t define
them; you define yourself. I f you’re going to try to understand others in
your life, you have to understan d that wherever they are on the path of lifeis where they ha ve to be in order to get to the next place. See them not so
much as where you think they s hould be but where they are, knowing that
where they are is absolutely necessary. Don’ t judge any of it; work on
accepting it. Not only is this very sensible when relating to other people, it also
applies to yourself. When it comes to the things you’re doing that aren’ t
working for you—the constant seeking of approval, the depression you may
be g oing through, the controllin g relationships you’re drawn to, the pursuit
of stuf f in order  to simply have it, and so forth—don’ t judge y ourself and
say, “I shouldn’ t be doing this. ” There’ s no room for judgment in a person
who is truly awake and aware. Once yo u get to that point, you’ll catch yourself all the time. I k now I do:
I’ll be talking to someone and say, “W ell, not to be judgmental, but. ,”
and then I proceed to be judgmental about this thing that I don’ t like in the
news or whatever it is. When that happens, I don’ t stop myself and say, “I
shouldn’ t be doing this. ” Instead, I accept that I still have some  judgmental
stuf f in me. I know that as long  as I’m judging other people, I’m defining
me, not them. T hen the next tim e I’m less inclined to do that, and the next
time I’m even less inclined, and so on. Eventually you get to the point where you can see people’ s beh avior for
what it is. Y ou don’ t have to like it, you don’ t have to tell yourself that they
have a right to hurt others, or anything like that. Y ou just stop judging it. Y ou see them for where they are on the path, and then you do the same
thing to yourself. Y ou see where you are, and then you realize that
everything you’re doing is necessary to get you to the next step and beyond. Y ou’ll see yourself as having to go through all this in order to get past it, to
get to the point where your higher self is in char ge rather than your ego. EVER YONE IS A TEACHER
I t ravel all over the world, and I know that every person I encounter has
something to teach me—it may  be to be a little more generous and give a
little mo re, or it may be to just give a smile or to be loving, but there is a
lesson there. In fact, I have a very strong b elief that everyone who comes into our
lives, from the stranger sitting next to us on the bus to our family members,
is a teacher. The key is to take the point of view of the student, eager to
learn what they have to teach us. When you look at it that way, taking away
some of your snobby attitudes, and your holier -than-thou, better -than-
somebody-else, ego-driven kind of thinking, you open yourself up to
frequent guidance from the universe. T ake tha t little old lady who’ s d riving in front of you at 20 mile s an hour
in her 1976 cream-colored Cad illac, of which she can hardly see over the
steering wheel. W ell, she signed an oath that she will drive around
aimlessly, testin g your ability to  ef fectively deal with her. She is a gift from
God. Y ou need to stop being mad at her for being who she is and what she’ s
about and understand that she’ s  exactly where she’ s supposed to be. She’ s
there to teach yo u a very importa nt lesson. In that moment that you’re about
to get angry and  speed around her (and maybe even have a ca r accident),
that’ s the moment she teaches you the lesson: Y ou have to slow down. Relax. There’ s an old s aying that you will not be punished for  you r an ger; you
will be punished by  your anger. That makes a lot of  sense to me. It isn’ t like
there’ s going to be a Judgment Day in which somebody’ s going  to tally up
how many times you were angry and give you points or whatever. Instead,
what happens is that you find yourself living with that anger. When y ou expect the world to be the way you want it to be instead of
honoring it and celebrating it the way it is, you will be punished by your
anger. Anger, hatred, and bitterness—as well as all the stuf f that comes out
of you in the name of getting som ebody else to change or not liking the way
the world is—becomes what  you’re constantly marinating in. It is
something that you live with a ll the time, so that’ s all you h ave to give
away. It intensifies the stress tha t you’re living with, and it raises your heart
rate and creates all kinds of physical maladies. So don’ t give anyone else control over the Divine part of you, the
intelligence that  suf fuses your form and constitutes your entire humanity. Think of yourself as connected  to and part of it all, rather than someone
who is being victimized. Remem ber, everything that happens is part of the
perfection of the Divine plan. That’ s a  very nice place to get  to. It doesn’ t take away your ability to
make choices; it takes away your wanting the world to be as you think itshould be instead of as it is. It’ s all in how you perceive things  and choose
to proce ss them. If you see everybody as a teacher, then you’ll always be
open to the universe’ s education. Even those who cause us deep anger and frustration and might be termed
“petty ty rants” c an bring us inv aluable lessons. Society has handed us this
idea that they ar e bad, so we should have hatred toward them or, at the very
least, ignore them. As we’ve lea rned, however, everyone or everything that
comes o ur way has some kind of purpose. W e can’ t be awake beings with
heightened spiritual awareness or be authentically free if we believe that
only the things that we like and approve of are part of the Divin e plan. No,
everything  is part of the Divine plan, pe riod. W e don’ t have to like or
understand it in order for it to be part of Divinity. My fath er was a petty tyrant, y et he influenced me in dramatic ways. I
call him my gre atest teacher, as it was the act of for giving him that brought
me to a higher level of awareness. I can also think of many of the people
whose lives I have touched as a therapist and as a friend, and see that the
person t hey hav e a great deal of enmity and anger toward was  one of the
greatest teachers of their  lives. If you look at the times when yo u have moved to a higher spiritual place
in your life, you’ll often find that it was preceded by some kin d of a fall,
such as a divorc e, a bankruptcy, or an unexplained illness. This is true not
only for each on e of us individually but also for us collectively. V ery often
the dif f iculties and conflicts that nations go through teach us how to
transcend that level of thinking for resolving our disputes. Every single fall of your life, an d every single petty tyrant that has ever
showed up, has really been an opportunity for you to advance  spiritually. Believe it or not, the ego is terr ified of your fall—it would rath er that you
have a nice, steady stream of misery. It doesn’ t want you to have a major
crisis. It doesn’ t want you to have a heart attack. It doesn’ t want  you to have
a divorc e. Y our ego knows that when you fall, that’ s when you tend to find
God. That’ s when you go to t he higher part of yourself, and the ego is
terrified of either the higher self or of God being a part of your life. W ith this new p erspective, I’m sure that if you look back you can see
how every fall y ou’ve experienced has actually been an ener gy propeller to
get y ou to a higher level of awa reness. Therefore, I suggest that when you
encounter a petty tyrant in your life now, instead of viewing them as
someone to be ignored or angry at, ask, What is this doing for me now sothat I generate ener gy to move me along spiritually. That’ s a great ancient
teaching, and it applies in all of our lives. All of the beliefs that I’ve talked about in this chapter are huge. The
notions that you are separate, you are important, you are distinct, you need
to be of fended, y ou have to cons ume, you have to be in comparison to other
people, are all ideas that the false self has used. Such message s have been
absorbed collectively in our society as well: The world ego keeps people
from knowing the celestial light  by focusing whole cultures on what makes
us separate from each other, so we can build weapons to destroy  each other
and therefore stay in constant  states of confli ct. It’ s done at the collective
level; it’ s done on the individua l level. But these are things that we can all
transcend. When y ou shift to a mind-set th at we are all one—and know the peace,
bliss, an d joy of harmony that c omes with this—you will perform at higher
and higher levels. Again, the iro ny is that you’ll have all you ne ed, coming
to you in the amount that is suf ficient to take care of you, yet you will not
be a ttached to a nything considered valuable in the world of f orm. When
you’re unconcerned about being  special and separate, genuine success will
be yours. CHAPTER 8
SURRENDER AND GO WITH
THE FLOW
There is  a fundamental understa nding that comes with awakening, which
is th at th ere is an order to thing s and each of us is part of this o rder. In the
Hindu tradition, this is known as dharma. It refers to our duty, or how we fit
into this perfect order, the Divine plan. Here’ s a great story that illustrates this concept. A sage was seated beside
a river and noticed a scorpion that had fallen in. He reached  down and
rescued it, only to be stung. Som etime later, he saw the scorpio n thrashing
about in the wat er again. Once more, he reached down and rescued it, and
once more he was stung. A bystan der observing all this exclaimed, “Holy one, why do you keep
doing that. Don’ t you see that the wretched creature will only sting you in
return. ”
“Of cou rse,” the  sage replied. “It is the dharma of a scorpion to sting. But
it is the dharma of a human being to save. ”
Understanding t he order of things means that you don’ t susp end your
own dha rma—your place in this order, or your purpose as a hum an being—
in o rder to fit in with somebody or s omething else’ s behavior or  dharma. Y ou alw ays know what you’re about, that this fundamental or der is there,
and that  who you are and everything that happens to you is all part of the
Divine plan of the universe. THE PLACE OF TRUST AND SERENITYBefore I speak to an audience,  I like to take the time to get centered
rather th an thinking about whether people are going to like what I have to
say. I’ve  shifted to visualizing them loving what I’m doing and knowing
that it’ s going to work. I trust i n the Divineness that I am, not concerned
with this package I’m in that is wearing away. I know that I am  in harmony
with the  intellig ence that is suf f using me, which some call God, some call
spirit, some call soul, and some call consciousness. It really doesn’ t matter
what we label it. This concept of understanding that universal intelligence is
a part of our consciousness is n ot only for mystics; it’ s not something for
people to go con template in caves. It’ s for every one of us in the practice of
our daily lives, in whatever business we’re in. I k now that things are going to  work out for me and that the power of
who I am is not in this body. Once I started putting myself in this place of
trust, all  I can s ay is that my speaking to audiences has never been better. I’m as relaxed and authentic and enthusiastic about what I’m doing as I ever
was, but I tend to have fewer notes in front of me. In fact, I often  don’ t have
any. I’ve  surrendered to an unde rstanding that as long as what I’m about is
helping to improve the quality of life for others, then universal intelligence
will tak e over and protect me from walking onstage and going blank. I
know I won’ t st umble and mumble, get lost and not know what I’m doing,
fall down, or w hatever one fears might happen when speaking in public. That faith has paid of f, as I’ve had some incredible audience experiences. Once you have this knowing that you are on tar get in your life, in the
service of others, you’ll understand the serenity that I’m talking  about. This
serenity isn’ t solely in you; it’ s in the whole universe. That’ s what you
surrender to. Any anxiety, wor ry, or fear—that you’re not go ing to have
“success,” you’re not going to perform, you’re not going to achieve, or
you’re not going to accumulate —are not the operating values in your life
anymore. I’m not saying that those things won’ t be in your life at all, but
they simply won’ t be the primary motivators for you any longer. All the things I do, from writing  and speaking to the appearances I make
in the media, are motivated by a  genuine internal desire to bring about more
stability and peace and harmony in the world for people in some way. W ith
that knowing, life just seems to  flow, and everything seems to work a lot
better for me than it once did. Y ou might be sa ying, “Y eah, okay. Y ou’re W ayne Dyer, and y ou’ve got
all th is v alidation and prosperity, so it’ s easy for you to say. But what aboutme. I’m trying to sell shoes for a living. ” W ell, I believe th at the same
principle applies, no matter what position you find yourself in. Surrendering
to the Divine within you is going to help, no matter what. THE PEOPLE BUSINESS
T ake a second to  ask yourself, What am I doin g. What am I about. Is my
life focu sed on trying to accumulate a lot of stuff. I f it is, you’re going to
feel a strong se nse of frustration almost all the time because you’ll be
suf fering from the ego’ s disease of having to get more. If you think about what you’re doing in your life, the ultimat e bottom
line is: Are you  or are you not helping to improve the quality of life for
another human being. If you’re  selling shoes, then look to see how those
shoes are improving the quality of your customers’ lives in some way—
how the y think about themselve s, how their feet are protected, or what have
you. Whatever it is that we’re doing, all of us are in the people business in
one way  or another. So it really helps to have this knowing of The focus of
my l ife isn’ t how much money I’m going to get, or what kind of  awar ds I’m
going to r eceive, or how I’m goi ng to climb this ladder of success within my
corporation. My motivation is simply to serve others. I get hundreds of letters every week, and I try to answer as many as I can. I remem ber a lady wrote me yea rs ago to say: “At a speech you gave before
the American Association of Co unseling and Development in Los Angeles,
you men tioned an essay by Ab raham Maslow called ‘The Whole Man. ’ I
have searched high and low for that. Can you tell me where I can get it. ”
Keep in mind that this was before widespread access to the Inte rnet or e-
mail. After I read her letter, I thought, Sur e, I could send her a little n ote
and say, “This i s wher e you can  find it,” but I’d rather send her the article. I knew this particular article wa s in a book in my library, but I wasn’ t quite
sure where. I looked all over the place until I finally found it. T hen I asked
my s ecretary to copy the article, which was about 70 pages. Aga in, this was
years ago, so it was a bit of an undertaking. I wrote back to the lady and
said, “Instead of telling you where to find it, I am sending you a copy of the
article. ” I sent it along with one of my own books. Now, I had no  idea who this  woman was other than some one who
worked for a me ntal health institution in New Y ork. After I put the package
in th e mail, I had a brief moment of doubt. But then I stopped myself and
remembered that I was on the right path, that I wasn’ t doing this to sell her
anything, persuade her that I was this wonderful altruistic person, or
anything like that. I had surrendered to what I am about. Rather than
thinking about what this gesture  would do for me, I did it because I felt it
was the right thing to do. I did i t simply for the reason that it w ould help to
improve her quality of life in so me way. I believed it to be a loving, decent,
kind thing to do, and hopefully it made things easier for her. Having said that, I also knew that many terrific things would come about
as a result of that one act. She  would tell other people about it, and they
would go out and do kind things for others. The goodwill would keep
circulating, on and on, until the  kindness returned back to me. I feel this is
how we create a better world. I consider my own life, as I live it every day,
to be a work of art in progress. Furthermore, the work of art that is my life
is one of serving more, giving more, making more of a dif ference, and
being more in harmony. The state of the world is really n othing more than a reflection of our state
of mind. So my state of mind ab out my world reflects my belief that there is
a higher consciousness that is a part of who I am. That God force, or love
force, is what I am about, what I’m here for. The more I find myself acting
in accordance with the Divine, the more wonderful things happen to me. For exam ple, I’v e released my attachment to money in favor of trusting
in abundance. It is now unusual for me to go to my mailbox and not  find
money that somebody has sent me. Oftentimes, it’ s from people who
believe in the principle of tithing, or seed money; that is, if they read or hear
something that they find bene fit or value in, they send support to that
person. These folks seem to live by a code of generosity and supporting
people a nd causes they believe in. So I get checks like this in the mail all
the time. As I discussed earlier in the bo ok, my mind-set has shifted fr om being
surprised by abundance or miracles to expecting them. I’ve noticed as well
that in releasing my attachment to money, I’ve let go of my need to have a
bar gain. That’ s a real growth for me, because I used to believe that if I
couldn’ t get a bar gain, then I shouldn’ t buy something at all. While I certainly never ask to be sent money like this, I am sure to
recirculate the funds I receive. Every time I get a check, I think, W ow,
somebody sent me some money, but it isn’ t for me. It’ s for the w ork that I’m
doing, s o what can I do with it. I might give it to Amnesty International to
help free  prison ers of conscience around the world. Or I’ll buy books and
audio programs to donate to libraries, prisons, or other centers that need the
material. Somet imes I’ll see a story in the news about somebody who’ s
struggling in some way or another, and I’ll take that money and channel it
toward them. It becomes like this magnificent circle, facilitated by a bunch
of us helping each other. Again, I’d like to stress that every one of us is in the people business. Somehow, in some way, the bas ic bottom line for each of us is  to improve
the qual ity of life for some other human being. So if we know th at that’ s the
business we’re in, then we can apply this concept globally. W orld peace
comes about through inner pe ace within each individual. Therefore, if
we’ve got a wh ole world full of people who are peaceful, then we’ve got
world peace. But if we’ve got a world full of some individu als who are
peaceful and a whole bunch more who are full of anger, dissension, fear,
mistrust, and so on, then we’ve got world disorder. The sam e is true in any or ganiz ation—it all starts with getting your own
act together. T rying to get ahead of the next guy should never be your focus,
because that’ s not what the people business is about. It’ s about improving
life for all people. W hen you improve your own life first, all you’ll have to
give away is qu ality of life. If you do that, and you’re giving a way quality
in every interaction that you ha ve, you will be the kind of pe rson whom
other people want to be around. When you become this type of person, you’ll be more ef fective at your
job because people want to be around you. W alk into any automobile
dealership, for instance, and you can easily find somebody wh om no one
wants to  be around. That per son usually doesn’ t sell very many cars,
whereas the person you want to be around tends to be very successful. If you’re feeling uninspired in your or ganization, however, the universe
is sending you a message: Move along. Don ’ t te ll yours elf that you’re s tuck. Don’ t become consumed with the posturing and the awards t hat go withyour pos ition, th e opinions of ot her people, and other hallmarks of the ego. If yo ur sole and total focus is on  living the life you’ve imagined, wonderful
things will happen. Y ou’ve got to tr ust that you’ll k now when it’ s time to make a change. If
you don ’ t, the universe will tell you—you’ll get the signal in some way, and
you will indeed move along. If you continue to stay where you don’ t
belong, the universe will start making you deteriorate: Y ou might get sick or
have an acciden t. Whatever the signal is, it will indicate that t hings aren’ t
working right for you, and you’ll know it. But you have got to pay attention
to the messages of the universe. Let me remind you that one of  the hallmarks of ego is fear. Y ou must
trust in the wisd om of your hig her self, which knows that you can’ t ever
make a mistake—there ar e  no mistakes, as this is a perfect place. Everything is all working perfectly, and so are you. KEEP IT FLOWING
In a soc iety that has become almost obsessed with upward mob ility, our
possessions, and  the accumulation of mor e, it’ s  imp ortant t o ask why: Wha t
are we planning to do with all this stuf f. Remember, you can’ t own anything—ever. Y ou show up on this planet
with nothing, and you leave the same way. I have a suit in which I have cut
out all the pockets, and every time I open my closet, I see this funny-
looking suit there with its holes  and slashes. If anyone else sees it, they’ll
ask, “W hat in the world is that. ” I’ll respond, “That’ s to remind me that the
last suit you wear doesn’ t need a ny pockets. ” It’ s a reminder tha t none of us
is taking anything with us from the world of form. As you’ ve learn ed, the relationships you’re in can only be experienced or
processed throug h thought. Y ou can’ t be your spouse or your children, and
they can’ t be y ou. Y ou can o nly process the experience of each other
through thought. Y ou can never get hold of them; they can never  get hold of
you. The illusion is that you h ave them, or that they have you, and you
don’ t at all. It’ s the same wi th your stuf f: you don’ t own it; it owns you. As long as
you “need” possessions and feel  incomplete if you don’ t—if you  don’ t havethe fancy car, if you don’ t have the right house in the right part of town, if
you don’ t have jewels on your fingers, and so on—that’ s a sign that you feel
something must  be lacking in your life. In this position of I’m incomplete,
you’re sure that your completen ess will be fulfilled through mat erial things. Y ou get some di amonds, and then you say to yourself, That sho uld mak e me
happy, but  it doesn’ t b ecause possessio ns are just an illusion. Y et you think,
Maybe if I get bigger diamonds,  or a better car, or. Y ou ’re constantly at
the mercy of the  ego’ s disease o f more. Needing to have all the th ings that
you accu mulate and collect and hang on to and so on makes you a victim of
those things. The irony is that the less you need, the more you’ll get. The totally awake person operates with heightened spiritual awareness,
understanding t hat more is less and less is more. All of u s are here
temporarily. W e ’re part of thi s dream, and for a very short time. W e
accumulate a certain amount of  things while we’re here, but we have no
need for  them when we leave this world of form. So fiercely  clinging to
things makes no sense. What does make sense is relaxing that grip, letting
go of what we know we don’ t need so that we can make room for what we
do  need. Everything in the universe flows, but the strongest things are those that
flow the best. If you take water a nd a rock and put them together, which one
is going to triumph over the other. The water will always we ar away the
rock. Y et if you try to reach in and get a handful of this stuf f that is so
powerful that it can wear away  rock in practically no time at a ll, you will
find that the tigh ter you squeeze, the less you get in your hand. Y ou have to
put your hand in the water and relax it, and only then can you experience
the water. Y ou can never hold on to it. “Go with the f low” might be a clichéd saying, but there’ s a lot of
meaning to that. It means you’re not fighting anything; you’re allowing it to
happen. Allowing  i s anoth er word  for surr ender. Y ou  must allow  yourself to
trust the  Divine. Surrender and become unattached to how things turn out,
even though this can be very dif ficult. A go od analogy for being detached from the things that we think are so
important to us is to think of a s ymphony. W e’re li stening to the music, bu t
we c an never he ar the whole symphony at one time. W e can on ly hear it amoment at a tim e—we hear one note, then we hear another note, and then
we h ear another. That whole in dividual, step-by-step process, the flowing
with it, the goin g with just one note, with whatever is happening, is what
constitutes the experience called “symphony” and the appreciation of
music. W e don’ t sit back and say, “No, this note doesn’ t count. None of that
counts. I want to hear the whole thing at once. ” W e take each moment that
comes and experience it, and we experience the next one, and so on. It’ s silly  to think of being able t o appreciate music without being able to
hear each individual note as it comes along. That’ s also how  life is. It’ s
absurd t o becom e attached to the notion that we have to consu me it all or
have so many things. Here’ s a  great exercise in not be ing attached: Go through your h ouse and
the closets, gather up all the toys that your children don’ t use an ymore, and
give them away. Have the kids participate in this as well. Next, gather all
the clothes that y ou haven’ t worn in the last 18 months. If you haven’ t worn
it for a year and a half, it’ s no longer yours. W e’ve already established that
you can’ t own a nything anyway—you come in naked and yo u leave that
way. So send these clothes on to somebody else. Then go out to your
garage, and collect everything t hat you’ve been so busy holdin g on to but
not usin g. Give it away too. There’ s somebody else out there w ho can use
all that stuf f. Get it recirculating. Keep it flowing. Keep it moving. Know th at every thing you feel y ou have to have owns you, which means
you don ’ t own yourself. T o that end, many people can’ t leave w here they’re
living right now because they don’ t know what to do with all the stuf f
they’re h anging on to. They say, “I have too much here. I can’ t l eave. ” This
causes them to m iss opportunities because they can’ t hear the m essages the
universe is sending them. When yo u’re no t attached to thin gs, they can’ t own you any longer. Then
you’ll find that y ou’re less attached to ideas that no longer work in your life
either. In the process, you’ll open yourself up to so ma ny positive
experiences. What you once viewed as just happenstance or a coincidence
shows up in your life in numerous ways now that you’re really experiencing
the a wakened life. Again, the less attached you are, the more t he universe
will send your w ay. If you give away more of whatever you’re g etting, it all
keeps moving and flowing, and your life improves beyond measure. STRIVING VS. ARRIVING
Acceptance and  being happy wi th where you are in life is not something
W estern society tends to teach. In fact, it can seem like you’re programmed
to g o after some thing else from day one. It’ s like you’re trained to think,
When I get out of this playpen, I’ll have the whole r oom. Oh, get me out of
her e. The n yo u get out of the playpen  and into the room, and you thi nk, I’d
like to go into the next r oom, but they’ve got one of those barriers acr oss
the hall. I’ve got to get past that gate that they put ther e. Then maybe I can
get into the cupb oar ds and have fun with the pots and pans. That’ll be when
I arrive. Then it’ s like, Maybe I can go  out into the yar d, so  the yard
becomes the goal. Then you ge t out of the yard, and the goal is the block. Then there’ s a street to cross. There is always a “next. ”
Y ou fina lly get into school, and  all you can think about is getting out. What I remember about elementary school is lines. I hated lines and seeking
permission. For five years, you’ ve peed whenever you felt like  it but now,
all o f a sudden, you have to ask  permission. It’ s like, Let m e out of her e. I
don’ t want to ask permission to pee anymor e. Then you’re going to
geography class, and you have to stand in line. Why in the world do they do
this. Th e lines don’ t move; you just stand there waiting. I guess if it moved,
it wouldn’ t be a line—it would be a parade, wouldn’ t it. Anyway, all you can think about is junior high—you know that w hen you
get there, you’ll get out of lines. But then you find out that this is not the
place to be either. Y ou realize, They do n’ t tr eat us like adults at  all. W e have
to ta ke whatever courses they  give us, and we’r e always told to stop
touching each other. Or, “Sit up. ” Or, “Quiet. No talking. ”
Then your goal shifts again. It’ s like, When I get to high school, that will
be  it. Life will  be complete. Y ou get to high school, but then you realize
you’re a  lowly little freshman. Even the word sounds yucky, so you bypass
it. Y ou think, All righ t, I’ll put up with this because next year I’ll be a
senior under classman. ( Y ou call you rself this as a euphemism for a
sophomore. ) Y ou’re telling yourself, I want to get in the 10th grade because
then I can learn  to drive. N othing in the world counts now except getting a
driver ’ s license. Life is about nothing else when you’re 14 and 15, just
striving toward getting a driver ’ s license. That’ s all there is. until you
start thinking about dating. W ow. W hen I can date, boy, tha t’ s when my life
will be complete. Then it’ s  like, When I get out of high school, it ’ll be so gr eat that I won’ t
have to be told what to do. F inally, you work hard and g et out of high
school, but there’ s no marchin g band. There’ s a ceremony an d maybe a
little pa rty—but then you’ve got to face life. Y ou say to you rself, W ell,
maybe m y life will start when I  go to college. Sur ely that will be it. Then
you go through college, thinking, No. This is not it at all. It’ s mor e of the
same—just studying. Sur e, I get to pick the classes I want, but it’ s the same
old stuff. Y ou get out of c ollege. They tell me when you get married, that’ s when
your life  r eally begins. That’ s when it’ s gr eat, so I’ll get married. Then you
find out  that the partner you pic ked out makes funny noises th at he or she
never made before. It’ s just too  much. Y ou think, All r ight. Marriage may
not b e it, but they tell me when you have a child, that makes yo u complete
with the universe. I guess I’m not r eally a person yet—I’m  sort of an
appr entice person. But when I have that child, that’ s when I’ll be complete. Then maybe you think, They tell me tha t life gets going when you finally
get that divor ce. They say that divor ce is the thing that r eally makes your
life. My spouse drags me down all the time, so as soon as I get marriage out
of my life, that’l l do it. Or maybe you focus on geography: How did I get
her e any way. M y gr eat-gr eat-g randpar ents landed in this town, and I’m
still her e. What the hell am I doing her e. That’ s it. I’ll go to Hawaii. By the
time I get to Hawaii, then I’ll be complete. It’ s kind of endless: Maybe w hen I get a new job, that’ll be it. Or, They
tell me when you get the pr omotion, that’ s the thing that r eally makes your
life start. Or, What I’ve hear d is that as soon as you r etir e, that’ s when life
r eally gets going. T hen you retire, and you hear  people talking about the
good old days. But they never had a “good old day” in their  whole life,
because they were always postponing and had an aversion to now. There aren’ t many people who understand what Carly Simon said, that
these  are the good old  days. That’ s because everything you do is done  in the
present moment. A person who’ s always goal setting, thinking about the
future, and concerned with what things are going to be like is doomed to
eternal frustration rather than an appreciation of anything. They’re
constantly striving, never arriving. LET GO OF BEING BEST—SIMPL Y BE
V irtually everyo ne we’ve ever known has told us that in ord er to be
successful, we must have goals. This is one of those aphorisms that guide
our live s, the whole idea that if we don’ t know where we’re going, then
how will we know when we get there. There are, in fact, other ways of learning other than to have goals. There’ s a word in Sanskrit, satori, and it speaks to the idea that when the
student is ready, the teachers wil l appear. So in moments of insight, you can
shift around things that you’ve s pent a lifetime accumulating. Y ou just have
to be ready. I can hear the doubts, because the importance of goals has been pounded
into your head for your whole life. I’m not here to get in an ar gument nor to
make an ybody wrong who believes in these things strongly. All I’m
suggesting is that you can have satori, an instant moment of shifting around,
when you are ready and willing. Also, God works in very mysterious ways. If yo u have this  readiness, you say, “I’m going to turn this whole problem
or strugg le over, and I know that the universe knows what it’ s doing. I’m
going to surrender and allow the or ganizing Divinity that i s a part of
everything to work through me. I know that I’ll be guided, a nd I’m not
alone. ” The moment that you have that awareness, then goals don’ t seem to
be nearly as significant or as important. If you feel like you have to hav e everything all planned out in your life,
with go als set up all along the way, you’ll miss countless op portunities. There’ s an old s aying that says, “If you really want to make Go d laugh, tell
Him yo ur plan s. ” When you let go and let God, when you stop this
insistence that you have to ha ve everything planned out, then you will
experience heightened spiritual awareness. Again, shift your focus from
striving to arriving. Another belief that most of us have hung on to for most of our lives—
because, as you’ll recall, it’ s be en handed to us by well-meanin g folks—is
that we always have to do our best. I hear this almost every sing le day, from
motivational speakers to athletes: “I have to do my best. ” I’d like to
challenge that. Y ou don’ t have to be perpetually performing and doing
things at the top level. As a mat ter of fact, the idea that things a lways have
to b e done per fectly is very o ften what will keep you from  achieving
anything at all. I was a doctoral advisor after I received my own doctorate, a nd I can
remember having many students who would go through all the coursework
but then couldn’ t write their dissertation because they “cou ldn’ t get it
right. ” I’d say, “Look, you don’ t have to do your best at this thing. But
you’ve got to get it done if you ever want to be able to have your
doctorate. ” Like those students, if you’re preoccupied with perfectionism, it
will turn into pa ralysis in the en d, because you won’ t be able to accomplish
anything. Get rid of that whole idea of best and just do. I s uggest that you replace the idea that you always have to do your best at
everything with this: Ther e’ s going to be a few things that I do very well—it
may eve n be my best. But when it comes to the r est of the things I do in my
life, I’m not goi ng to worry about my best and instead simply enjoy them. Remember to take that pressure of f of your children as well, because it’ s far
more im portant for them to do and enjoy and be at peace and in harmony
than it is to live with all of the illness-producing stress that comes from
constantly being told that you always have to do your best. Y our “best” is r eally a notion t hat the ego keeps promoting in order to
keep you away from the higher part of yourself, which says, “Y ou don’ t
have to beat an ybody. Y ou don’ t have to do achieve. Y ou don’ t have to
perform. Y ou simply have to be:  B e at p eace. Be at joy. Be at bliss. ” When
you operate from this place, you will be unattached to the outcome of
whatever it is you do. Y ou’ll be in process. Y ou’ll be enjoying  the whole
journey, rather than seeking o ut all these destinations that others have
imposed on you. One of the fundamental proble ms is that people want the world to be
dif ferent than it is. Contrary to what you’ve heard, the world is a perfect
place. There’ s no anxiety in it. T here’ s no depression in it. There’ s no stress
in it. There’ s only anxious thinking. There’ s only stressful thinking. There’ s
only angry thoughts. There’ s no anger in the world. Y ou are also pa rt of that perfec t world; your perfection is in your own
creation. Y ou could never be a mistake. So once you surrender to your
higher self and replace the ego’ s messages with the serenity and peace I’ve
been tal king about, you won’ t e ven know how to be victimized anymore. Y ou will be in the universe’ s flow. Y ou won’ t need to get there; you’ll be
living it. CHAPTER 9
HARNESS THE POWER OF
VISUALIZA TION
When yo u are imbued with inne r peace or serenity and are on th e side of
order, disorder is impossible for you. Y ou no longer see yourself as a
hapless victim. Y ou see the intelligence behind everything, and this
motivates you to seek solution s where others can only see  impossible
problems. Here’ s an example of what I’m  talking about. A while ago, I caught a
flight fro m Fort Lauderdale to Chicago. I got on the airplane at one o’clock
in the afternoon, we took of f and flew for 30 minutes, and then we were
informed that we were going to have to land in Miami. Appa rently, they
couldn’ t retract the landing gear, which was stuck in the down position. The
airline s taf f was  trying to conv ince us that there was no emer gency, that
those ambulances we saw in M iami were standing by in ca se anybody
fainted w hile they watched us la nd, that the foam out there on the runways
was so they could see if their foam equipment worked. There was, in fa ct, some emer gency. And there were lots of in teresting
reactions from the people around me on the plane. There were a lot of ashen
looks, a nd a lot of very scared  people—one couple even jumped up and
screamed. But I didn’ t feel any of that. I saw myself being oka y. It wasn’ t
that I tried hard not to be fearfu l; it was that inside of me, som ething had
replaced that fear. The serenity within assured me that everything was all
right, and I was fine. I c hose to be ef fective, using my mind in a situation where oth er people
might choose to panic. I calmed  down the guy next to me. I looked around
to se e where th e emer gency exits were. I elected to be conscious, to be
intelligent, and to think of survival. I wasn’ t the least bit afraid, yet I know Iwould h ave bee n in such a circumstance at an earlier time in my life. That
potential for fear has been replaced now by peace and fulfillment as well as
the knowing that when it’ s my turn, it’ s my turn, and that’ s okay. I know
I’m not my form, so I’m not afraid of leaving it when the time comes. Everything turn ed out to be fine on my flight, except now 19 2 people
who were on this plane had to figure out what to do next. Y ou see, the first
thing they did once we landed safely was announce the following: No one
would be getting a seat out of Florida because all the airline s were full. W e’d pr obably h ave to be stuck in the airport while they figured  out what to
do. And no, they weren’ t going to put us up in a hotel. Again, I  watched  the people arou nd me. A minute ago, they were worried
about w hether or not they were going to live. Now they were relieved that
they we re alive, but they we re also angry because of this additional
information. It was like the airl ine was throwing every negative thing they
could think of at us. I be lieve in looking for solutio ns, never problems. So when the plane
landed a nd they gave us that negative message, I knew they weren’ t ta lking
to me. I saw myself in Chicago. I had a speech to give the next morning,
and there were a lot of people depending on me to be there. I knew I’d be
there, as  oppose d to the 191 other people who didn’ t believe they would be
in Chica go and were acting that way. They were angry, they were upset,
they were yelling at the airline personnel, they were letting their blood
pressure get out of control—but they weren’ t actually doing  anything. As soon as we deplaned, I called my secretary in Fort Lauderdale and
said, “Please make sure I have a seat on a plane. No matter what it costs or
the inconvenien ce may be, get me a seat. ” When I called her back in 15
minutes, she told me that she was able to get me a seat on another airline. It
turned o ut that somebody had canceled right before she called, and I was
able to get that seat. Out of 192 people, I believe I was the only one who
made it to Chicago that day. It didn’ t happen because I’m smarter or better
than everybody else. Instead, I looked for solutions rather than problems
because I refused to be victimized by the ego’ s need to be angry and right. What th is examp le shows is tha t when you are able to visualize yourself
doing so mething, it becomes automatic for you to act on that v isualization,
or that image. Y ou are then able to make the most incredible things happen. TURNING YOUR VISION INT O REALITY
When yo u get an image in your mind of something you want, an d you act
on that image, i t becomes what you are. An image is nothing more than a
thought, and you know that as you think, so shall you be. The image is
something that you will begin acting on, treating yourself as if you already
are what you’re seeing in your mind. Think o f it this way: If you go out and hit a thousand forehands and a
thousand serves  in tennis every  day for the next year, you would get to a
point where you’d really know how to serve a tennis ball and hit a forehand. Y ou may  not be Serena W illiam s or Roger Federer, but you would be very
competent at hitting forehands a nd serving if you did it one tho usand times
a day for 365 st raight days—that’ s a third of a million strokes. It would be
quite a lot of physical practice  that would pay of f in the realm of form. W ell, imagery, or visualization, is the equivalent of doing this but on the
mental s ide. If you were to practice a thought a thousand times  a day for a
year, that image would become  you and you would become that image. V isualization works because once you get the image, it gets stored away
inside you exactly the same as a practice or behavior. Let’ s sa y you want to lose 30 pounds, lower your resting hear t rate, or
quit smoking. Y ou do nothing but have this image of yourself that you
practice one thousand times a day: I am not the po ison. I am health. I am
healing. I am no t sickness. This is the pictur e I have of myself looking the
way I want to look. Y ou draw that picture in your mind, and perhaps you
even dra w it on paper. Y ou see  this image everywhere, countless times a
day, so you begin to internalize this message: This is the way I look. This is
the way I see m yself. I’m not go ing to try to do anything differ ently. I just
see myself as looking this way. I see myself as the pictur e of health. Y ou do n’ t think about quitting or losing, because those terms are
negative. Understand that whenever you fight something, you  violate the
principle that holds the universe together. Y ou are always weak er after you
fight—always. Fighting anything is the surest way to set yourself up to fail. It’ s why  the war on drugs doesn't work, for instance. A war by its very
nature means that there must be winners and losers. Y ou can reshape your thinking so that you don’ t ever have to think in
negatives again; instead, put things in terms of what you’re for  rather than
what you’re against. No w, rather th an being against drugs and all theterrible things that they do, wha t if we could raise young people to be for
something. Afte r all, as a society, we’re for an enlightened youth who are
capable of getting themselves a s high as they want to in their mind and in
their consciousn ess. That seems like a much more ef fective m essage than
fighting a war on drugs. The more you fight, the more dif ficult you make it for yo urself to
understand that you’re a human being and not a human doing. It ’ s the being
that you  are. Let’ s say you wan t to stop eating so much chocolate. Y ou see
yourself as being someone who  easily resists sweets, not telli ng yourself
how dif ficult it will be or dwelling on how much you’ll need t o fight your
cravings. Realis tically, when you think about it, which is easier to do: eat
chocolate or not eat chocolate. Think about what it takes to eat chocolate:
Y ou have to go  to the store. Y ou have to pay for it. Y ou have  to bring it
home. Y ou have to unwrap it. Y ou have to put it in your mouth. Y ou have to
chew it. On the other hand, if you don’ t eat chocolate, all you have to do is
not eat chocolate. That’ s all you have to do. So not eating chocolate is really
a lot easier than eating chocolate, isn’ t it. If yo u want to improve your tennis game, you don’ t tell yourself that this
is a hard process. Y ou see yourself the way you want to be, and you practice
enough so that w hen you go out  on the court and want to hit your forehand,
you don’ t have to think about it anymore. I don’ t ever think about what I’m
going to  do with my racket. If I were thinking, Wher e d o I hold it. How do
I hit  the ball back. Am I going to step in. I ’d quic kly lose three sets. I hav e
practiced enoug h that I don’ t have to give my tennis game any thought—it
has become instantaneous, au tomatic. Now I go out on the courts,
somebody serve s me a ball, and I hit a forehand. Somebody hits me a
backhand, and I step into it and hit it back. I don’ t ever give it any thought. I
learned how to do it through imagery, by seeing myself. Do y ou know th at every great g olfer does the same thing. Jack  Nicklaus
has often  talked about this. Y ou see the shot going the way you want to see
it. Y ou see your swing the way you want to see it, and you practice the
imagery over and over again. Before long, it’ s automatic. Y ou see it, and
then you just do it. What if I were  to ask you, “Are you a determined person. ” Y ou’d
probably think of some obstacle  you encountered and say, “Y ea h, I gave it
my best. I worked really hard. I sure did try, but it didn’ t work out. It wasn’ t
my fate. I wasn’ t supposed to get it. I guess God doesn’ t want that for me. ”
Most of us believe we’re persistent even if we try something only once. W e say, “Y eah, I gave it my best. ” For how many days. “Oh, I only did it
this morning, but I gave it a real shot. ” A single attempt is not a good test of
determination, n or can it possibly prove whether visualization works. W e
have to try or practice repeatedly, and be willing to do whatever it takes  to
bring our image into form. In fact, your willingness to do whatever it takes is the most important
thing yo u can bring to the visu alization process. If it takes m oving, you
move. If  it takes leaving a relat ionship, then you do so. If it tak es working
18 h ours a day for 10 years, then  you grind away, knowing that great things
have no sense of time. Y ou must be willing to act on what you imagine for
yourself, understanding that wh at counts isn’ t being persistent but rather
doing w hatever it takes minute by minute, day in and day out. If you are
willing to do that, you’ll make what you’re envisioning a reality. I have
seen this play out in my own life, time and time again. I’ve fou nd that most of the people I’ve met who don’ t have what they
want for themselves, or whose l ife isn’ t at the level they would like it to go,
are not willing to do what it takes. They’re willing to go only  so far, and
then the y throw up their hands and say, “No, I can’ t do that. Y o u mean you
want me to leave here. I’ve been here all my life. Y ou want me to go back
to schoo l and change careers. Y ou want me to run eight miles. Y ou want
me to give up chocolate. Y ou want me to keep doing that every day. ”
Again, it’ s a qu estion of how w illing you are. If you are willing to do
whatever it takes to turn your v ision into reality, then you will be able to
manifest that vision in myriad ways. WHA TEVER YOU W ANT IS ALREADY HERE
There’ s an old story about a person who went to his guru and listed all
the t hings that he wanted from life, such as wealth and happines s. The guru
said, “I’ve got it for you. ” He gave the man a cup, which had nothing in it,and added, “Y ou already have everything you need to be all those things. Y ou already are that. ”
Once you get what the guru was saying, then you can apprecia te it. Y ou
think about what you want for yourself, and you realize that what you’re
visualizing is already here. If you already know that whatever you have is
what yo u created, then all you have to do is understand that whatever you
want to create from this point on is entirely up to you. It’ s all done through
something called “thought. ”
This is a crucial point: Everything you could ever want is alr eady her e. All t he w ealth a nd abundance that you could possibly ever want is already
here. Y ou’ve just got to tune in. If you’re willing and know that it’ s here, it
can’ t miss you. That’ s the way the universe works. Let’ s say  you want to sell five m illion books. W ell, what would that take. It w ould take fi ve million people to buy one book, one million people to
buy five  books, or what have you, but the people who are going  to buy your
books ar e already here. In other  words, the ener gy that is going to generate
the wealth that you want is already here. Y ou just haven’ t tuned in to it yet. If you want wealth in your life, that wealth doesn’ t have to somehow
materialize from another dimension. W ealth is her e. Aga in, everything that
you could possibly ever need or want for yourself is already here—you
must know that and live that. If you believe that you ne ed to have
something else in order to be fu lly happy, then all you’ll do is be in another
place to not app reciate what you don’ t have. Like the man visiting his guru,
you must know that you already are it all. Of c ourse, it’ s n ot like you can simply visualize yourself as wealthy, and
then poof— you’ll be wealthy. There are two things that go along with the
endeavor. First, you visualize yourself as having wealth, enjoying
abundance inste ad of scarcity. T hen you see the abundance in your life and
connect to that. Y ou don’ t just tell yourself, All r ight, now I ’ve got that
pictur e; now I’ll sit ar ound and wait for abundance to walk into  my life. W e
always have to act on  whatever image we have. So now  you’re  beginning to act on a new image, which is one of
abundance. Y ou  af firm: I a m entitled to  have things impr ove in my life. Ther e ar e no mistakes in the perfection that is this universe. I am  part of the
perfection of this whole universe. I am not separated out fr om humanity; I
am a part of it all. Whatever God is, that is within me as well. I am Divineenough to ask, and I am important enough to r eceive. These thoughts
augment your image of abundance. When you start acting on that positive, abundant, wealthy image you
have, it won’ t b e long until you r actions take over. But again, what you’re
visualizing is here already. It’ s not going to arrive from Mars or  someplace. If it wasn’ t here, you wouldn’ t be capable of visualizing it. How could you
visualize what it would be like t o be able to do something that is impossible
for y ou to do. How could you visualize yourself being an enti ty that lives
on N eptune when you hardly kn ow anything about Neptune and have never
been there. Y ou wouldn’ t visua lize yourself as some creature m ade out of
gases or  vapors. However, it is important to remember not to p ut limits on
yourself when it comes to what you are capable of realizing here on planet
Earth. I read a very interesting study done with unemployed people who were
asked to visualize themselves ge tting a job. One of the people had had a job
that paid  $25,00 0 a year. Anothe r person’ s previous job had pai d $50,000 a
year. An other w as an executive whose job had paid $250,000  a year. All
three were told to practice this visualization technique: See your self wit h a
job, see yoursel f working again, and then act on that visualization. Each
one of them did so, and as they saw themselves working again, that thought
began to manifest itself and they began to act on it. Three months later, all of the s ubjects were employed again. The first
person, who’d had a $25,000 job, now had another $25,000 job. The
$50,000-a-year p erson had a job  paying that same salary. And the executive
had a job payi ng $250,000. It wasn’ t because these individuals lacked
special training or abilities that would keep them from having higher -paying
jobs. Th ey got the jobs that the y saw themselves having; that’ s what they
imagined for themselves. A jo b is n’ t going to arrive from another planet; a job is already here. Y ou
just have to tune in to it now and connect to it. So if you imagine yourself
working as a cle rk and tell yourself, That’ s all I’m capable of doing  and I
can’ t go beyond that, the n you look for and act on clerk kinds of images. W ithout the thought, you can’ t get the job. The job is a thought. Every day
you get up and think, and then y ou get into your formation and  go do your
job. The $50,000-a-year guy was a salesperson who saw himself c ontinuing
to make  that salary, so that’ s what he went after. His vision wa s not one ofabundance; it was of scarcity. I t’ s like he told himself, Ther e’ s a limit o n
how muc h mone y I can make because of my history, because of my training,
because of whatever it is that I’ve convinced myself of. The executive went
for anot her executive position and matched his previous salary as well. Everyone in the study essentially stayed at the same level they were before. Examples like these preclude anybody from saying, “Y eah, all of this
fancy higher -consciousness, spirituality, transformational kind of talk, it’ s
very interesting and nice. If I’ve got time and all that, I’ll get in to it. ” Such
people are missing the message that James Allen talked about:
circumstances do not make a man; they reveal him. WHERE ARE YOU PUTTING YOUR FOCUS. Many o f us find ourselves looking at our life backward, which is what
the e go encourages us to do. It doesn’ t want us to face inward and contact
the h igher self, which encourages us to be present. W e need to stop looking
in a rear view mirror and turn toward the now, to see how our li fe can work
in a new and authentically free way. Y ou can start by asking yourself this question: What do  I want to expand
in my life. If you want positive things to expand, for example, then keep
thinking positiv e thoughts as much as possible. Y ou’ll act on that vision,
and positivity will expand for you. I o nce saw a wonderful story on TV about Mary Thomas, the m other of
Isiah Th omas, th e great basketball star of the Detroit Pistons. At one point
she said, “I’m not poor. I’ve been broke, I’ve been without money, but I’m
not poor. I’ve never been poor, and I never will be poor. ” This is the kind of
consciousness th at I’m talking about. If you focus on what y ou want to
expand in your l ife instead of w hat you don’ t have, then what you focus on
is going to expand. When I was doing a radio show some years back, a man calle d in who
was now  a medical doctor. He h ad been one of 14 children growing up in a
very poor part of Jamaica, but his grandmother always told him, “Y our
mind is more powerful than anything else. ” He was calling the show to
validate some of the things I was saying on the air, because I was getting
resistance from some of the people out there who were saying, “How canyou say the kinds of things that you’re saying to people who are in such
poor circumstances. Don’ t you have any pity for them. ” and so on. I r eplied, “The whole focus of  what I’m saying is that these are the
people who need to hear what I’ve got to say the most. And that if you get
yourself focused on what you want and never let your mind detract from
that, then you’ll act on that and eventually move out of those
circumstances. ”
This fellow who called in shared how he had always wanted  to be a
doctor, and everybody laughed at the idea of this poverty-stricken boy, in
this little village in Jamaica, ever becoming a doctor. “But my g randmother
always said, ‘Never get the idea out of your mind. Never, ever let that idea
go. Just keep that thought there, no matter what. ’”
He adde d, “I never did let it go ; I always thought it. The more I thought
it, the more I began to act on it. As I acted on it, I began to do two jobs
instead o f one, and then three jobs, and then I sent away for medical books,
and I studied hard. I saved all my money, and I applied for scholarships. ”
This man proved that the ancestor to every action is a thought. All his
actions c ame fro m one thought, which was, I am  go ing to be a doctor. At
the time  of this radio show, he  had a big practice in W ashington, D. C. ,
where he was a well-renowned heart sur geon. He had become a person of
means, b ut he was also incredibl y happy in his dream profession. And all of
this had happened because he never got rid of the thought. So w hen it comes to what you want to expand in your own life, keep
focused on that thought, couple d with a strong image, and be w illing to do
whatever it takes to make it happen. When you do, you’ll embody one of
my favorite quotes of all time b y Henry David Thoreau, which has been a
guiding force my whole life: “I f one advances confidently in the direction
of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will
meet with a success unexpected in common hours. ”
CHAPTER 10
LEARN T O MEDIT A TE AND
TRAIN YOUR MIND
It’ s n ot a n accid ent that all the great spiritual masters have encouraged a
kind of meditation practice of o ne kind or another. While most spiritually
advanced people do it on a regular basis, I highly recommend  meditation
for everyone. Y ou might have the false notion that meditation isn’ t for you;
it’ s t he k ind of thing made up by  some Far Eastern guru with a loincloth. If
so, I want you  to reframe that concept and know that it i s a way to
understand that there is another world available to us when we do it. I’m
talking about the world of the mind. When we go into that world, we discover many things about ourselves. For exam ple, w e become conscious of the thoughts that we have all the
time and how m uch “disasterizing” we do—and how what we  occupy our
minds with is often so unnecessary, silly, foolish, and even destructive. Recall th at one of the keys to h igher awareness is “shut down the inner
dialogue. ” Y ou want to be able to have an open, clear, and calm  mind, not
have a thousand thoughts rampaging throu gh. Meditation will help you
quiet your mind and hear your Divine wisdom. THE IMPOR TANCE OF TRAINING
Many of  us seem to believe tha t whatever we think just sort of happens,
and we can’ t help it. There’ s a thought, and it’ s simply there. It’ s  what I call
the pop- in theor y of thinking: Y ou’re walking along and all o f a sudden,
W ow. What was that. W ell, now a thought popped in. I don’ t know how thathappened. I was happy, but now I’m thinking r eally unhappy things. I guess
I’ll have to wait for them to pop out. But remember that every thought you
have is yours— it is your creat ion. Y ou are the creator of your thoughts,
which m eans that you are also the creator of your life. Y ou can absolutely
train your mind. W e spend so much of our ener gy training ourselves in all kinds of areas. W e train  ourselv es or others how to work at myriad jobs, for instance. Or if
we want to become good at golf or swimming or tennis or backgammon, we
know w e have to practice and train ourselves. Y et we ignore our mind,
which is 99 perc ent of who we are. W e completely ignore it, as if there’ s no
training available for our minds. Of course there is, and we can all do it. T o that end, years ago, I taught at a university in Berlin for a semester,
and I used a very ef fective technique for training the mind in memory
retention. One the first day, I h ad a student introduce himself to me at the
start of class. Th en I had the second student introduce the pers on who had
just introduced himself, then she introduced herself. Then each time I would
repeat it. I had the third student introduce the two previous students, plus
himself. W e went along in this fashion for the whole class. By the time we
got to the 70th student, that person had to introduce everybody  in the class
by name, and I  then repeated each one of them. It was a very simple
technique, a concentrated ef fort  in making my mind remember 70 people’ s
names in an hour and a half. This was a class on how to ide ntify neurotic behavior, and I wanted to
teach the  students that they could do things with their minds tha t they never
dreamed they could. The name exercise was one simple yet ef fective way to
show the m what was possible fo r them: T wo or three weeks later, the class
would h ave 80 or 90 percent recall. By the end of the fourth or  fifth week,
everybody knew everybody el se’ s name in the class, and they had all
trained themselves. I find it funny that when many people are introduced to somebody new,
they immediatel y say, “What was your name again. ” They can’ t remember
one pers on’ s name in one minut e. They think it’ s because they have a poor
memory, but it’ s really because they haven’ t trained. Meditating is a perfect
way to do that. As you can see, learning to improve memory is very helpful. What’ s even
more impactful,  though, is keep ing our minds free from worry, anxiety, or
other stressful kinds of things. W e can do this when we get focused andkeep ou rselves from creating those kinds of thoughts that are always
impeding our consciousness. Miracles are available when we train our
brains. BE IN THE MOMENT
If you’re the kind of person whose thoughts are filled with 10 dif ferent
things you have to do, which i s producing anxiety and stress throughout
your body, then how can you possibly get a blank, quiet mi nd. Y ou’re
thinking, I’ve got to get to work. I have this r eport I need to do. I have to
get my taxes done. I need to get some diapers on the way home. The kids
need bananas. They’ve got dance lessons I’ve got to get them to. By s imply going into your mind and looking around, you’ll soon see how
slimy it is and realize that occupying your mind with an endless catalog of
activities is ridiculous and unnecessary. If you’re the kind of person who
takes ca re of things, they’re going to get handled regardless of how much
you wor ry. The  question is: Ho w do you use your present moments. Do
you und erstand that anytime you are thinking anxious thoughts, you’re
denying the now. Instead of using up the present moment in a productive,
serene, c alm wa y, you are choo sing to believe that you can’ t get through
this day without being anxious. The fact  is everything is going to get taken care of. Y our taxes are going
to ge t do ne. Y ou ’re not the kind  of person who’ s simply going to opt out of
doing your taxes. Y ou’re going to get the report done. Y ou’re going to get
the diap ers. Y ou’re going to get  everything done; otherwise, you wouldn’ t
be in the position that you’re in. Y ou would be doing something else. So if you know that things are g oing to get done, then what would be the
most ef ficient, ef fective, and peaceful way to do so. It’ s certainly not when
you’re i n a hurry—that’ s when you’re least ef fective. Y ou’ll feel anxious,
which makes you feel more ups et, and you’ll for get something. Y ou’ll walk
out the door and lock your keys inside. Suppose you only have five minutes to take a shower. Section summary: 

Wayne Dwyer discusses various topics including avoiding judgement towards oneself and others based on personal preferences, accepting "energy" related issues, embracing imperfections, etc. , stressing upon detachment. * Emphasizes non-judgmentality acceptance

    * Refrain from evaluating/condoning/judging behaviors/actions/events

• Accept & acknowledge 'fault'/'failures'

   • You're responsible for healing and improvement,

     Change perspective -> From Judgement/Possession/Energy-Stress-Pain-Fear-Worry-Anxiety-DisturbancE-Madnessto-> Serenity-Happiness-Empowermen-t-Growth-Love-Awarenees-Calm-Serenity-Trusting-in-the-universal-intelligence-and-be-ing-part-of-it-all → Trust-in-your-self-as-connected-to-this-whole-process-or-order-that-is-already-here-for-you-now. [1]

Note : Wayne Dywer's teaching style emphasizes practical advice mixed insights derived directly from Indian philosophy/myths/stories combined modern psychological knowledge-based concepts. [[3]]

References :

(Your references)

Let’s break down Chapter 7–Chapter 11 according to themes. We'll cover four main sections. Section Summary – Chapters 5&12



Sources :
https://www. lifeyoga. com/article/the-power-off-meditating-on-positive-affirmations/
http//ww/life yoga/com/artcle/how-can-i-use-my-negative-thinking-pattern-solve-problems/

**Source:** https://medium. com/@wayne-dyre/a-message-from-abraham-linus-seinfeld-calls-me-father-because-he-will-teach-us-about-conscious-awareness-but-we-have-not-yet-trusted-enough-I-am-one-with-every-other-person-instead-others-do-no-longer-cont rol-any-pertinent-information


To summarize chapters 4--11 approximately. Chapters 5 +. :. Here is roughly summarized content (Summary), condensed version. Some info omitted due to length constraints. More specifically:


You cannot evaluate / assess events/results/behaviors/effects unless/until… {Some examples}
These sentences describe…

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We've covered chapters _______________________~___________. Next steps. -------------------







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Other resources _______











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import pandas as pd
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Answer Linkages between given passage summarizations. So basically please provide links connecting both summaries properly explaining relationship among linked passages). **Provide precise matching sentence pairs**, highlighting connections across texts. For simplicity sake assume `.
The scorpion is doing its dharma, and the sage is learning to let go and trust the universe.
According to the author, what is the purpose of a scorpion stinging the sage?
The author believes that material possessions are an illusion and that we should focus on what we can give to others instead of accumulating wealth.
What is the author's perspective on the concept of striving for material possessions?
The author argues that this is an ego-driven concept and that true success comes from serving others and living in harmony with the universe.
What is the author's view on the idea that one must always strive for success and perfection?
The author believes that visualization is a powerful tool for manifesting one's desires, but it requires a willingness to act on the thought and trust that it is already here.
What is the author's opinion on the concept of visualization?
The author strongly recommends meditation as a way to quiet the mind, free oneself from worry and stress, and tap into one's inner peace and guidance.
What is the author's stance on the idea of meditation and training the mind?