If you rush
through, you’ll find yourself sweating soon after you dry yourself of f.
Y ou’ll f ind you needn’ t have b othered with that shower because you’re
already dirty again. Y ou can take the same five minutes and instead make ita p eaceful experience. Y ou can push all the other stuf f out of your mind and
just relax. Rather than rushing through the five minutes, you can experience
the water . Y ou c an wash your bo dy . Y ou can dry it all of f. When you finish,
you won’ t be sweating, even though you had the same amount of time. In the physical world, you unde rstand that if you hurry and rush and are
filled with a thousand dif ferent activities, you have decreased your
ef ficiency . W ell, the same thing is true in the mental world. If you are filling
your mi nd with  all the things you have to do, becoming consumed with
your worries, your cluttered mind is not going to be very ef ficient or
ef fective. What if you’re i n the car at a moment like that? Y ou can’ t simultaneously
pick up the bananas and the diapers while typing out your report as you take
care of the IRS—while you’re driving. What you can  do is take a deep
breath and focus on the present. Put on some music and quiet your mind
right there. Don’ t close your eyes, of course, but push all the negativity out. T ell yourself, I’m going to enjoy this drive. One of my regul ar commutes is 17 miles. I love those 17 miles. There are
a million things to see, and I can take note of them all. I can open the
windows and feel the breeze. I c an enjoy being present. Then when I get to
where I’m going, if I’ve got to g et the report done, I’ll be fully prepared to
do it. I won’ t be  working on the report while thinking about m y taxes, or
getting the bananas, or whatever it may be. I’ll be here now in the moment. That’ s w hat meditation teaches  you—how to be in the moment, quiet,
peaceful, and joyful. When you  train your mind, it isn’ t something you do
for 1 5 minutes a  day just to give you something to do for that 15 minutes. No, it carries ov er into everything that you do. The more peaceful you are,
the mor e ef ficient you are. The  more you’re in a hurry , the m ore you’re
always t rying to  get someplace fast, the chances of having an accident are
greater , the chances of getting there all ruf fled are much greater , the chances
of your heart rate going up or y our stomach being upset are much greater . None of that is useful or worth it. Meditation teach es you that you  have the capacity to use your mind any
way that you w ant to. Y ou suddenly see that you don’ t have to join
everybody else out there who is  in a frenzy and all upset and worked up. It
doesn’ t have to be that way for you.KEEP ON PURPOSE
One day I was in a tennis matc h and not playing nearly at the level that
I’m capa ble of. I had been med itating on a daily basis for quite a while at
that point, and I decided right then to use tennis as a meditation. I was going
to for get  about winning or losin g, for get about the score, and see if I could
get out of my b ody . Or , I shoul d say , get out of the way  of my body , and
allow it to do what it knows how to do, which is hit a tennis ball. I sta rted meditating right there on the court. I got really peace ful inside
and beg an to put myself into that state where I get very light and don’ t
notice d istractions. It was absolutely incredible what I was able to
accomplish in the next 45 min utes or so, when I had complete and total
concentration on  what I was doing. My body was incapable of making an
error . I felt loos e and easy , and  it was so powerful. It was such a moving
experience that I found myself doing this before I would speak, resulting in
very happy , contented audiences. Sometime after this tennis match, I had to have an unco mfortable
conversation wi th someone. I c hose to meditate my way throu gh it, and it
was an easy and harmonious experience. I realized that what I was saying to
this pers on was both for their benefit as well as mine. It went we ll because I
wasn’ t a ttached to any outcome at all. I was just allowing ev erything to
flow . Meditation has helped me gain p eacefulness, serenity , and ener gy . One of
the thing s I’ve discovered in the  process is that my purpose is to love and to
serve and to give, and I must ev aluate every behavior , action, and thought I
have in those terms: Am I loving, ser ving, or giving? I  believ e that all of us
are actua lly here  to give; we’re not here to get. Meditation help s us tap into
the Divi ne ener gy that shows us we are all here to serve each other and be
in harmony . In as little as 15 minutes a day , you too can get to the place where you’re
only lett ing harm ony into your life. Y ou won’ t even let anybody into your
consciousness unless they co me there with harmony . That’ s like a
commitment you can make to yourself and others: If y ou come with
disharmony , dis cor dance, anger , str ess, or tension, you’ll onl y get to my
form. Un less you  come with love , harmony , ser enity , or peace, y ou won’ t get
to who I r eally am. Y ou won’ t ge t ther e because I’m beyond the need to have
conflict and confr ontation occupying my soul. I don’ t need that any longer;I’m past that. I no longer need t o pr ove that I can deal with it or handle it. That’ s gone. This rem inds me of an experience I had once while flying from Miami to
San Fran cisco. The plane had just taxied out to the runway wh en the pilot
announced that we wouldn’ t be able to take of f. W e’d have to go back to the
gate bec ause the  stabilizer that takes care of the wing flaps o r something
wasn’ t registering as working properly . W e were going to be delayed for a
few hours while they fixed it. My immediate attitude when s omething like that happens is, I guess
you’r e n ot supposed to get to San Francisco in five hours. Aft er a ll, when
my ance stors wanted to get to San Francisco from Miami, if they left in
September and got there in Ma rch, they considered that on time. It was a
good trip if half the people were still alive. So if it’ s going to take me three
more ho urs or whatever , that’ s okay . Plus, if the stabilizer isn’ t working on
my aircr aft—or in anything that stabilizes anything—I want to go back to
the gate. I’m not interested in being angry about that. It’ s a part of
surrendering and being at peace. The flight attendant and I had been talking when the pilot made his
announcement. She told me, “Oh, this is what I dread.”
“What’ s the matter?”
“Look a t all these people. Ever y one of them is going to say something
nasty to me whe n they get of f the plane. They’re going to blame  the airline,
and they’re going to blame me.”
I said, “But you don’ t have to let that in.”
“What are you talking about?”
“W ell, you’ve got two package s that are protecting you from  anybody
coming to you with that disharmony ,” I told her . “Y ou’ve got your uniform,
which is one package. That’ s over the other package, which is your body . Both of those are covering, or protecting, who you really are, w hich is how
you choose to think and process all of this. “Every t ime som eone says something negative to you, you can let that be
a message only to your uniform , to your package. That’ s not me , you can
remind yourself. They’r e not talking to me. They can’ t get to me with that
stuff. They can’ t have that. I don ’ t let anybody r each who I r eally am unless
they com e with love or harmon y . As you’re telling the person you’re very
sorry , you can tell yourself, They didn’ t get to me. They’r e not r eaching me
with that. ”Sure enough, she stood there and watched as scores of people got of f, and
many of them did say something nasty to her on the way out. Each time, she
sort of smiled and gave them instructions on where to get help from the
airline. I stayed  behin d to see how it went for her . As the last person
disembarked, sh e told me, “Th at was fantastic. This is the first time that
we’ve ever had a circumstance like this where I didn’ t let it bother me.”
I sai d, “Y ou don’ t ever have to let stuf f like that into your life. The more
you keep it awa y from you, the  more you allow yourself the right to have
only wh at you want to enter yo ur consciousness. I make this choice all the
time. W hen I’m  driving, for ins tance, and somebody gives me the finger , I
don’ t take any o f that inside. Instead, I think, Oh, that’ s them, and that’ s
how the y’r e r eacting to my for m.  If som ebody comes to me with love,
serenity , peace, joy , ease, or the like, then they can have all of me. I will
respond back with that. Y ou let in whatever you want.”
That’ s w hat a quiet mind does for you. Meditation allows you to select
what you allow into who you r eally are without having to be beholden to
every sin gle person and action o ut there that doesn’ t fit in with t he way you
want it to be. Having a quiet mind, in a practical sens e, is truly
understanding th at what I’m tal king about here is not just for discussion—
it’ s for application. EVER YDAY BENEFITS OF MEDIT ATION
Please know that meditation doesn’ t require somebody teaching you
exactly how to do it; in fact, that would defeat the purpose. I have meditated
for a long time, but no one ever taught me how . I learned how to train my
mind on  my own, yet I’ve created miracles in that space for my self, as well
as in the world that I came back to when I left the meditation. I fin d it interesting that we crea te a light with our eyes closed in a dark
room. W e don’ t really need our  eyes to create light, but we definitely need
our minds. If you doubt that your mind is capable of creating illumination—
or colors, smells, and sounds—remember that we do this all the time in our
dreams, which is a state of pure  thought. When you meditate, you want to
get your mind to a similar place.A self-h ypnotic state is the first  thing that you want to train yo urself to
get to. Here, yo u go into what is called an “alpha state.” Like  I said, you
don’ t need to be taught exac tly how to get here, but you may find
inspiration in what I do: I use a  24-second shot clock, which i s what they
use at NBA gam es. It’ s got thes e little lights, starting at 24, then it counts
down to 23, 22, and so on, to 1. If a thought of any kind enters my mind
anytime between 24 and 1 (other than the picture of the number), I need to
start over at 24 . If I get to 16 and think, Oh, I can’ t for g et my dentist
appointment tomorr ow morning , that’ s followed by the thought, Back to 24
I go. Be p atient with yourself as you practice meditating this way . Y ou can use
any sort of cloc k or timer that  counts down, but you don’ t want to give
yourself too much or too little time, so consider beginning with the number
24, like I do. It w ill take you a few days to get to 1 but keep at it. When you
go from  24 to 1  without having an intervening thought, you will be in an
alpha state. Y ou’ll know that you’ve reach ed an alpha state when you raise your
hands an d your arms feel very light. Or your head will suddenly  feel almost
weightless, like you’re starting to leave your form. Then after a few days or
weeks, y ou’ll be  able to go into alpha without the 24-second clock. Y ou’ll
be able to do it just through your breathing. Once yo u feel comfortable getti ng into this alpha state, you can bring up
topics to your higher self. Y ou might ask questions that you have about your
life, abo ut strugg les that you ma y be having with your children , about your
relationships, about where you ought to be going, what kinds of decisions
you’re not sure about making, anything like that. As you go into a meditative st ate, what happens is that you leave this
world of  form and enter into the formless, dimensionless world  of thought. Y ou then  realize that you’re the w itness, watching yourself t hink and then
react to the thought. Y ou can ask yourself, What’ s t he solution to this? Wha t
can I do? Why is this a pr oblem  for me? Why am I cr eating this in my life? Why am I having such a difficult time with my partner? Why am I
consistently cla shing with this particular person on the job? What is it
about me wher e I always set u p myself to fail? Answers begin to come,
floating right into your consciousness from your higher self, from the
Divine.Now , ho w you apply this in you r own day-to-day life becomes the very
essence of awakening. Y ou can meditate before a client meet ing and see
how you want it to work out. While you cannot control how other people
are going to ac t or react, beca use that’ s for them, you are in control of
yourself. Y ou can certainly ma ke an impact on how that other person is
going to react t o you with how  at peace you are with yourself and how
unattached you are to the outcome. Y ou’re focusing on How I can serve this
other person? rather than What is going to come to me? Y ou can do this in
all o f yo ur relationships: look fo r the beauty and joy in your ow n mind, and
see how you want those relationships to be. When I first got into a regular meditation practice, I would feel so
blissful toward everybody I saw I could hardly stand myself. I would just
look at them an d think, Ah, ar en ’ t they terrific? I had this connectedness
with everyone I came face-to -face with, from my family m embers to
complete strang ers. Blaise Pascal once said that “All of humanity’ s
problems stem from man’ s inabi lity to sit quietly in a room alone,” and that
makes sense to me. I could never imagine wanting to hurt anybody after
coming out of that state. When talking about meditation, I also like to use the example of having
two selves: one self is a thought and the other self is in form. I f you say to
yourself, Y ou jerk , you shouldn’ t have done that , you’ve got two people
there. Y ou’ve got the person who is doing the name-calling— that is, the
thought who is saying “you jerk”—and then you’ve got the jerk, who is the
body that has to react to what kind of thoughts you have. So  if you call
yourself a jerk, you have a thought of jerk and you have the jerk who has to
react. M editation can help you to bring those two selves into harmony so
that self one, the thought, and self two, the body , are in unity . Y ou are only
calling yourself what you want y ourself to be, and you are only seeing what
it is that you want in your mind for your body to do. Y ou can start to apply this by c losing your eyes and getting in to a very
quiet space. In fact, all you have to do if you don’ t have time to meditate is
take the last hour before you go to sleep and use it in this way , because it
will give  you a strong sense of total rest and relaxation, like y ou’ve never
experienced before. An hour of meditation will give you eig ht hours of
deep, restorative sleep. It’ s that powerful. It’ s said that this practice can ev en alter our own chemistry . Y o u can use
meditation to reach an ecstatic, b eautiful, exquisite high state that people sodesperately look  for in chemica ls. I think it would be especially beneficial
to teach young p eople about the power of their mind, so that they wouldn’ t
be temp ted to chase counterfeit freedom. Personally , meditation  has always
filled me with the most wonderful sense of peace and harmony . It’ s a
magnificent feeling, like you really are in touch with God. THE LA WNMOWER MANTRA
There’ s a nice story of a man w ho was bothered by a car honking for his
neighbors next door . He said to his wife, “If I had magical powers, I would
be able to give that car four flat tires every time he comes here. Or I’d be
able to put a silencer on that h orn and wouldn’ t even be able  to hear it. That’ s w hat I would do if I had magical powers.” She replied, “No. If you
had magical powers, you wouldn’ t be disturbed by that horn at all.”
Quieting your mind means that you’re no longer susceptible to all of the
external influences that are around you. For an example of this, you can
watch the US O pen T ennis Championships, which are played in  New Y ork,
right ne ar LaGuardia Airport. I’m always amazed when I s ee how the
players are able to play with the distraction and noise of jets flying
overhead. Y et when I’ve been really involved in a tennis match myself, I’ve
had jackhammers going next to me and not noticed them. My opponent
could be  going crazy from the n oise, but all my concentration is  on the ball. The people who are really good at a game, or any activity that requires
concentration, know how to do that. This makes me think of something that happened when I was on vacation
in Hawaii with my family some years ago. For seven days in a row , I got up
at 5:30 every single morning an d went out to meditate in a gras sy area next
to our hotel. One day I was sitting on my m at, and I was in a blissful stat e. I felt a
Divine e ner gy g oing up and do wn my spine, and it felt so go od. All of a
sudden, I heard this noise. V rrm vrrm. V rrm vrrm vrrm vr rm vrrm vrrm
vrrm. I  looked  up, and there was a mean-looking guy with a cigarette in his
mouth and tattoos covering his a rms. I realized that even though it was very
early in the mor ning, he was go ing to cut the grass. My first thought was,
Oh, no. I stood up, gathered my mat, and started to leave. Then all of asudden, my intuition came to m e and said, “Go back. Go back a nd use this. This is a metaphysical experien ce.” It’ s not that I was hearing voices; this
was an internal thing. I thought, Huh? But I put the mat back down, and within about two
minutes I went r ight back into m y meditative state. My intuition said, “Use
the l awnmower for a mantra.” So e very time I heard, V rrm vrr m vrrm  vrrm ,
I’d think to myself, Oh yes. I got back into that blissful state. The guy cutting the grass came by my mat, and the sound was incredibly
loud. I thought, God, I’m her e and I’m listening, but why would Y ou send
this person to me at six in the morning? I see, this is a test. After about 10 minutes, he finally finished, and I was happy he was done. I wa s ge tting back into that very peaceful place when I heard  the loudest
noise I have ever heard in my life. My friend was back, and he had an edger
this time. As G od is my witness, this guy decided to edge my mat. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr . I thought, Okay , God. I’m going to use the edger for a mantra. I’m
staying her e. I’ve got to turn this into something. He wen t right by my mat,
Brrrrrrrrrrrrr . I  stayed with it. I didn’ t let the distraction get to me. It was
about half an hour of this, but the louder the edger got, the easier it got for
me. He f inished his yard work, and I finished meditating. I’ll bet he  thought,
Boy , this  guy is in some kind of trance, or he’ s dead. One or the other . It
really felt as if I had come out of a trance. When you end such a meditation,
it’ s like you can fly . Y ou can do anything, and all you have is love, all you
have is harmony , all you have  is peace for yourself and for the world. Nobody and nothing can get to you, no matter what. As I  wal ked tow ard this guy , I could see he was very tense. Now keep in
mind that I was  about a foot taller than him. He probably thou ght, This is
what I’m her e for . This guy’ s going to fight me. I reached into my pocket,
where I found about eight dollar s, and gave them to him. I said, “Thank you
so much  for being here. I really needed you today .” He looked at me like, I
don’ t know what’ s going on her e , but I smiled and walked away . It w as th e greate st evidence I’ve ever experienced to prove that when life
hands you lemons, you can make lemonade. I was taught that day that
everything that comes to you, y ou have the power in your mind to turn it
into whatever you want. W e a ll get lawnmowers coming into our livesevery da y . What  we do with them and how we handle them, well, that is the
way to our personal transformation. CHAPTER 1 1
LIVE IN THE LIGHT
Ram Da ss tells one of my favorite stories of all time. It’ s about  his guru,
with whom he lived and worked  for years in India, a man he considered to
be the most spiritually advanced person he’d ever met in his life. At that time Ram Dass was doing some experimenting with T imothy
Leary and the li ke, so he had three capsules of LSD with him. “ That would
be enough,” he said, “to put a horse into a tranquilized state  for several
days.” H e had planned to use this LSD for a number of months , just one or
two micrograms at a time. His guru said to him, “Y ou have funny medicine . . . let me see it.” Ram
Dass showed him the capsules b ut warned, “Y ou don’ t want to take all three
of these. Y ou should only take a few micrograms from one of t he capsules,
and that will give you the desired ef fect.”
His guru took all three capsules, put them in his mouth, and swallowed. He went under his blanket, and then came out and did all these funny
things. Then he smiled and said, “Do you have any more? It doesn’ t seem to
be working.”
Ram Dass realized that the drugs had no ef fect on his guru at all. This
was his conclusi on, which is one of the greatest lines I’ve ever heard on this
subject: “If you’re already in Detroit, you don’ t have to take a bus to get
there.” In other words, when someone is already in the spiritual world, they
don’ t need anything to get them there. Learning how to “get to Detroit” for us means achieving what we’ve
been tal king about in this book. It’ s when we are comfortably in the place
that is powerfully ours. It’ s when we understand that thought originates
with us, which means that life is our own creation. W e know th at our form
will sim ply pass  along, but we can’ t kill thought, so who we really are can
never die.When you are truly awake, w ith heightened spiritual awareness, you
know th at if you’re always looking for something, it will always elude you. That’ s tr ue of anything in life. T ake success: Making a lot of money is not
what makes a pe rson successful. Rather , a successful person brings success
to everything that they do, and money is most likely only one of the benefits
that they get as a result. Enlightenment is the same thing. Enlightenment is something  that you
bring to all of your interactions, all of your thought processes, all of your
life experiences. It’ s really an attitude or an approach to life. That attitude or
approach is literally one of “living in the light,” and that means you’re
moving toward yourself. Y ou’re  not ever moving away from yourself, and
you see the perfection in yourself and who you are. Y ou don’ t question the
universe. Y ou see everything a nd everyone in it as exactly where they’re
supposed to be. Y ou have an a bsence of judgment and negativity . Y ou’re
balanced as a human being. Enlightenment i s a state of mind in which, once you have it, once you
accept y ourself and your perfection, then there’ s no more trying. Y ou are
already in Detroit. IT ALL WORKS PERFECTL Y
Think about this: If you take a b ite of food and start to chew , y ou’ve got
to do a lot of things with that food in order to make it apply to  you. Let’ s
say you just had  a bite of salad, and now you’ve got lettuce and tomato in
your mouth. W ell, you’ve got to get some saliva into your mouth as well to
help you with that. Y ou’re not trying to salivate; your body knows exactly
what it’ s supposed to do. When you swallow , you don’ t have to monitor the
peristaltic reactions in your throat and esophagus to make sur e that food
goes do wn inste ad of up. It never goes up into your nose—well, maybe
once in a while , if you’re doin g something really silly . But you don’ t eat
your food and say , “Oh, wait a minute, I put it into my no se. It’ s not
supposed to go there.” It goes where it’ s supposed to, and then it breaks
down. Y ou don ’ t have tomatoes and a great big piece of lettuce floatin g around
through your body , saying, “Where are we supposed to go?”  Y ou chewthem up , and dif ferent kinds o f enzymes attack the pieces of food. It all
goes exa ctly wh ere it’ s supposed to, through the digestive system and then
to all dif ferent parts of your b ody—your pancreas needs a little lettuce
today , perhaps. W ithout some co mponent of the tomatoes, maybe your toes
are going to fall of f. Every place in your body gets the proper nutrients
without your having to do anything. Y ou’re n ot going around saying, “Oh my , I’ve got to get all this done. I’ve got so much to do with th is digestion. I’ve got to make sure that my
pancreas and duodenum work. Ugh, how do I turn this lettuce into waste? How am I going to get that out?” Y ou’re not busy doing any of that. It all
works in harmony and perfect ion. Y our heart is beating, and  it does so
thousands of times every single  day . Y ou don’ t need to tell your hea rt to
pump blood for it to do so perfe ctly . Y ou don’ t have to do any of it, yet you
are controlling it all. Enlightenment is like that: Y ou get in harmony , and you start fu nctioning
optimally . Who you are as a hu man being just happens. It all works. Y ou
don’ t have to go around thinking every minute, Is this an enlightened
r esponse? Am I using higher consciousness her e? I don’ t know if I’m being
spiritual enough . Do I need to a djust? Y ou don’ t have to do that any more
than you  have to beat your heart or operate your digestive system. It all
works perfectly when you’re in harmony . If you’re not, then it’ s as if you
were trying to d irect the tomato and lettuce to the right places. Y ou would
get so mixed up and puzzled by it. If yo u tried to beat your own heart, you couldn’ t. Y ou natura lly let it
work. This is the same way you must see yourself within the universe—
allow yo urself to  work perfectly . The way you do so is to focus on yourself
while al so havin g respect and lo ve for everyone. These universal laws that
we’re ta lking ab out here are the very same ones that are in place for your
digestion or your cardiopulmonary system. The necessary enzymes are
released instantaneously , and i t all happens in a perfect way . There are
certain r ules and laws that apply  to everything we do, from how we relate to
each other to how our bodies function. Sometimes after hearing me speak or reading my books, people will
come up to me and say , “I’m a seeker too.” They assume that I ’m this way
because I talk about the higher truths, principles, and laws that are universal
yet elud e so many people. This k ind of amuses me, so I’ll respond, “I’m not
a seeker . I’m n ot looking for a nything. I’m evolving, going through thedream, and enjoying it all. I am  bringing this mind-set to everything that I
do.”
When you’re in harmony wit h these transcendent laws, you are in
enlightenment. Y ou’re not seeking it. Y ou don’ t have to unders tand it, and
you don’ t have to agree with  it. Y ou simply know that it is. In fact,
enlightenment is nothing more than the quiet acceptance of what is. Y our desire to m ake things better is also part of what is, so you learn to
go w ith that. W hen you are focused on making things bette r—helping,
serving, extending love—and are able to send that out into the world, you
are now a part of the spiritually aware, awakened consciousness. THE THREE ST AGES OF ENLIGHTENMENT
I’ve fou nd that there are three specific stages of enlightenment. The first
stage is learning  by hindsight. As an example, I think about this woman
who told me: “T en years ago, my husband came home from work, said,
‘I’m lea ving yo u,’ and walked out. I was devastated. For years, I couldn’ t
get over it. Bu t now I can look back on his leaving me as the most
important turning point in my l ife. I see the blessing in it.” Af ter years of
suf fering, she was able to come to the realization that his leaving her was a
blessing, not a tragedy . In oth er words, this stage of enligh tenment is
reached through  a lot of understanding of the past. Y ou do not immediately
embody the present-based know ledge that there’ s an opportunity in every
obstacle. In the next stage, you do: you understand in your heart that e verything
that com es your way is a blessing. Y ou see that this is more  than just a
hokey p hrase used in self-help. In fact, what I’ve been talking a bout in this
book is not self-help but self-r ealization , which is way beyond self-help. When you begin to realize yourself—when you discover your
magnificent potential—you see that everything that’ s coming at you has an
opportunity in it, even though it may look lik e an obstacle. Y ou think, I
wonder why I cr eated this. I wonder what lesson is in this for m e.  Y ou may
still hav e the suf fering, but it’ s minimal and doesn’ t last. Rather than 10
years, for example, you might move through a challenging situation in 10
weeks, 10 days, 10 minutes maybe.Suf fering is always played ou t in form because it comes from your
thoughts. Becau se you know tha t what you think about expands, you learn
not to focus on the negative. L et’ s say you’re going through a divorce, a
tough time financially , an illnes s, or a death in the family , whatever it is. Now you’re looking at it as , I  can g et something out of this. I can gr ow fr om
this. I can transc end and go pas t it. Y our mind is focused on that instead of
on, Why is this happening to me? S omeday I’ll know why , but I don’ t know
why toda y . It’ s so terrible that I’ m going to be depr essed for six mor e years. Y ou don’ t go t here anymore. Thinking like this belongs back there in
another time in your life. Y ou’re solidly in the second stage. People ask, “If t hat’ s the second stage, what else is there?” W ell, the third
stage of  enlightenment happens  when you are able to get out  in front of
things. Y ou see them coming an d play them all out in thought, a nd then you
decide which of these is going to be brought into form. For example, let’ s say you’re in a relationship and your par tner says
something upset ting to you. Y ou know that if you respond in a certain way ,
then she ’ s going to respond in kind. Then you’re going to say th is, and she’ s
going to say tha t—you can play that all out in thought, and you’re out in
front of it already . Y ou can even see how this could devolve into an absolute
blowout, with both of you really upset for two or three days, maybe not
talking, maybe storming out, or  doing any number of things that people do
to avoid being intimate. Again, you play that all out and  know you don’ t have to make it happen. Y ou don’ t have to make her wrong, which is a grea t step. Y ou don’ t have t o
make yo u right, an even higher  step. There’ s no right or wrong here. Y ou
play everything out, and as you do, you decide that you don’ t have to bring
this altercation into form. Y ou g ot out in front of it; it’ s gone. It’ s all been
played out in yo ur mind. Y ou use your mind to not  bring into form, into
your life , into action that which you know is not beneficial for e ither one of
you. In relatio nships, this means letting go of your need to be right and instead
celebrating the dif ferences in t he other person, and agreeing to disagree
about them for the rest of your life if necessary . I tell people that this is a
wonderful stage  to get to, because once you and your partner are both there,
you can still express your perspective. Y ou don’ t have to be a certain age to
get to this point—you can learn it at any time in your life.As you move across the levels of enlightenment, you go from being an
actor in the firs t stage, being directed by events, circumstance s, and other
people, to being the director you rself in the second stage. Then  in the third
stage, you become the producer too. Y ou are now the actor , the director , and
the producer of your entire life, and you’re doing it all with your mind. If
it’ s a career move that you onc e would have agonized over , y ou can see
how it’ s going to go. If you’re l iving in Atlanta but need to go to Houston,
you can  see yourself selling your home and driving to T exas to start this
new job or enterprise. When yo u play all this out, you can actually see how everything  is going
to w ork, because what you think about expands. Then you can d ecide. Y our
decision isn’ t based upon, My boss  is going to do this to me, and the world
is going to do this, and if these things don’ t work out . . . It’ s based upon
your pro jecting in your mind how you want things to be. If the picture
doesn’ t come out exactly the wa y you want it to be, then you’re  out in front
of it already , and you don’ t go to Houston after all. Or perhaps you do
choose t o move because you see it as an exciting, wonderful ad venture and
a t ime to do something new . And you can do these steps with anything that
you perceive to be coming at yo u but is really what you’re creating through
all the choices that you’re making. Y ou can  use your mind in exciting ways, as I said. On the job , you can
see how , if you react in a certai n way toward your boss or co-worker , you
know that If I say or do this, that that’ s going to set them off. I don’ t have to
go ther e  anymor e. Instead of behaving like A, B, C, or D, I’ve a lr eady done
it all in my mind, and I’ve seen the r esult. I don’ t want to go th er e. I don’ t
want my form to  have to follow  that anymor e, so I’m in fr ont of it. It’ s like
you’re producing your life through your mind. WIN-WIN SOLUTIONS
The totally awake and aware pe rson has almost moved beyond success. Success in W estern society tends to mean accumulation or winning rather
than achievement. It almost always means you have to outper form or get
more than the ot her guy . This is very much a part of our culture, and there’ s
nothing wrong with it. But now  you understand that success, a chievement,and performance all have built into them the notion that somebody else has
to lose in order  for you to win. When you are enlightened, y ou learn to
approach conflict from a win-win position. While this has become a popular
slogan and philosophy in business, it can also be used in any type of
interpersonal situation. I t hink very strongly that when you are in a romantic relation ship, you
fall in love with the things in another person that you don’ t have in yourself. After al l, to fall in love with somebody who has everything exactly the
same as  you is to  have a redundant relations hip. Y ou’ve already got that;
what do you need more of it for? Y et peop le will say , “Oh, we have so much in common. He says  this, and
I s ay the same thing; he likes to do this, and I like to do it t oo. He’ s an
athlete, and I lik e athletes.” They think it’ s such a wonderful thing that they
have all these th ings in common. I always think, Uh-oh, this one’ s doomed. W e’ve got some r eal pr oblems h er e.  But  wh en someone says, “Ah, she’ s the
exact op posite o f me,” I think that’ s almost always where the most intensity
is found. When this couple looks at each other , they realize, They ar e many
things that I am not and can’ t be, and I like that. I like having that ar ound
me. I need that passion ar oun d me. I need that person who talks a lot
ar ound me, because I’m very quiet. This is what endears them to each other . What of ten happ ens, though, is that as time passes in a relation ship, you
for get that the dif ferences are what give it spice. Then you turn those
dif ferences, whi ch are the very thing that attracted you to the p erson in the
first plac e, into areas of conflict or confrontation. Y ou begin to try to alter
the p erson you love. This does not make them think that you lov e them, but
rather that you want them to be dif ferent. Y ou have to remember to go back
to what you fell in love with. All relationship s are about an opposite. Y ou don’ t need a mirror of
yourself—you’ve already got th at. Even with your children, the things that
usually endear you the most to them are the things they do that are not like
you. Those are often the things you respect the most. Y ou admire, for
example, your child who will st and up for what she thinks is rig ht and take
the sling s and arrows that go al ong with such fearlessness. Of course you
don’ t want her t o be contrary an d disobedient, but there’ s a part of you that
says, “Y ou know , I never had the courage to do that myself. I don’ t want her
to ever not  do that.” When you ad mire such qualities, you can le arn from
them, and they become your teachers.Y ou can make something very positive and beautiful out of those
dif ferences. When you make conflict something to honor , to da nce with, to
celebrate, you become instant ly focused on solutions. Most often, the
solution to the d if ferences in any relationship lies in respecting, honoring,
and cele brating the very things t hat are dif ferent in the other person. Again,
you bring a win-win attitude to it. So when conflict crops up at wo rk, you have to take the same a pproach. Resist th e ur ge to be problem-oriented—that is, I’m going to make this
person wr ong, and I’m going to make myself right —or turn it into a contest. Y ou do not need  to feel threaten ed by the dif ferences in other people. Y ou
see t hat others a re on a dif ferent  part of the path than you are. Some people
are very ef ficient at getting things done, while others are slower . Instead of
making them wrong, you can refrain from being ego-involved in this at all. I think this one of the hardest things for us in the try-to-get-ahead-of-the-
other -guy , comp etitive-oriented W est to grasp. Y et we must try to get to the
point wh ere the dif ferences in other people are to be respected a nd honored,
accepted for what they are rather than treated as contests. Bringing in a
spiritual, right-brained, intuitive kind of approach isn’ t going t o make you
wimpy , weak, or less profitab le; in fact, it will bring you peace and
harmony . It will give you a sense of knowing what you’re about and why
you’re here, and that lack of the need to be right or to win or to put
somebody else down frees you up to do better . I hav e moved m uch more in this direction in my own life. I don’ t need to
make a contest out of every dif ference I have with others; instead, I
recognize those variations and look toward solutions. I dance with, even
enjoy , th e disco rd rather than tr eat it as something that shouldn ’ t be there. Since I’ ve given up some of my attachments to having to be right and
embarked upon a path of sending out love and peace and ha rmony and
contentment, I’v e never had more “success” come into my life. My books
and audio programs are very popular . The demand for my lectures has
increased, and people are inviting me to do things that never even came to
me before, such as create my own television shows and write plays. Success
as v iewed in an external fashion , as an achievement, has certai nly gone up
for me. Y et I’m talking about going beyond all of that. Again, the great irony is that wh en we get focused on following our bliss
and being in the service of others, all those things that w e seek so
desperately—the success, the achievement, the performance—seem toarrive in our lives in great amounts. But as long as we fin d ourselves
pushing for , demanding, chasing after , and striving for them, they will never
arrive. T he only  vehicle that’ s a vailable to take us from striving  to arriving
is detachment and acceptance. A NEW KIND OF APPROACH
When yo u are enlightened, you no longer see yourself as separated from
higher c onsciousness. Instead, y ou see it as what you are. The n you start
having dramatic new changes in your life. That old focus on accumulatio n and having to get things done is no
longer th ere, so  you become m uch more peaceful. Then after a while you
realize that Everything that I’m doing is all right. Even when I mess up,
even wh en the deal doesn’ t go t hr ough, ther e’ s something to learn. Ther e’ s
an opportunity in that obstacle or in that failur e.  Y ou get this incredible
peace with all the things that you’re doing. Y ou see that this world of form is all an illusion and that  you are
destroying yourself with things that aren’ t even real. Why should you
concern yourself  with whether this person likes you or doesn’ t, whether you
get that money o r not, and all that? Y ou can’ t do anything with t hat anyway . Y ou tell yourself, I’m going to sto p messing myself up. I won’ t even think
like that any longer . Be fore long, instead of being full of anger and
disharmony , yo u become full of acceptance. Y ou have a n ew kind of
approach to all that you’re doing  in your life, and the only thing that matters
is love. Deep inside you—in that special place where you know that you are
thought and thought is you, and you are a higher consciousness—you feel
more productive  and less consumed with what other people a re thinking. Y ou find  yourse lf moving away from all the stuf f that used to  be such an
important part of your life, trying to get this one to like you a nd trying to
please that one, or being in an overbearing or controlling relati onship. Y ou
leave tha t all behind. Y ou avoid confrontation and conflict becau se that isn’ t
you any longer . Y ou’re much more peaceful with everything. After a while, you look for the beauty in what others do, and you see it in
everybody . Somebody will cut you of f on the freeway , somebo dy will yellat you, somebod y will be obnoxious toward you, somebody w ill not pay
their debt toward you—any number of things that at one time would have
driven you absolutely insane—and you understand, That’ s w her e the y ar e
on the path. Y ou know that everything that happens to you and everybody
you run into in your life are gifts. They teach you something abo ut yourself. Y ou think, All t hose people ar e just tests for me to see whether I can, in
fact, send them something positive and useful and not let them get to me. The minute a n egative person starts getting to you, what you’ve really
done is given up control of your life to them. Y ou’ve communicated that
their opinions of you are more i mportant than your own are. If you see that
person for where they are on the path, recognizing that the way they behave
has nothing to do with you, then you’re not going to ma ke yourself
miserable becau se they choose to act toward you in that way . Before long,
you can turn those kinds of people around. T ake three people looking at a given situation: one of them sees the
anger , an other one sees the hostility , and another one sees the lo ve behind it
all. The person who sees the lov e behind the encounter , wherever it may be,
has a much better chance of not only getting what they wa nt but also
helping to turn others around. For example, think of an airport, where there
are a lot of people fighting over how they’re going to get seated on a plane. I have found myself in a similar  situation to this many times. There will be
several people acting aggressively toward a clerk who is trying to do her
best and  be as polite as she can. But the person who is antagonistic can only
see the antagonism in another person. I’ll be admiring how well the attendant is handling all of th e people
giving her a hard  time. I recognize what a kind person she is and how she’ s
trying to  do her absolute best. When it’ s my turn to get up the re, I’ll say ,
“W ow , y ou’re re ally having to struggle. Y ou sure have to put u p with a lot
when you do a job like this, but you handle it so well and don’ t lose your
cool.” Y ou know what? She will often go out of her way for me. I might get
moved up to firs t class, get the very seat that I want, or simply b e rewarded
with a genuine smile. When y ou’re looking for the g ood, you can make almost any situation
turn arou nd for you. After a whi le, this becomes a habit, and you don’ t even
see the negative because you don’ t have that in you. On freeways, you wave
to people and thank them for letting you in. Y ou expect that somebody will
let y ou in, but even if they do n’ t, you don’ t internalize that action. Y oudon’ t rant, “These people, who  do they think they are?” Y ou let it all go. Y ou let them go right by , and you look to the next person. Before long,
someone will put their hand ou t and let you in. Y ou smile an d say thank
you, and  you get what you want for yourself without having to be attached
or hang on to all the negativity that most people see. Y ou are living in the
light. Swami M ukundananda had a wonderful line. He said, “Enlightenment is
your ego ’ s great est disappointm ent.” This is certainly the truth , as it is the
language of the higher self, all the way . It is a sign that you  are totally
awake and aware, in touch with the Divine nature of who you really are. Y ou no longer need to try; you are. Y ou have arrived. CHAPTER 12
ENJOY HEA VEN ON EARTH
As we finish this book’ s journey , let’ s return to the course we charted at
the begi nning. If  you were able to suspend your disbelief and keep an open
mind, you may feel a kind of e xpansiveness as you pushed past the limits
you prev iously felt comfortable  with. Things that were once unavailable to
you, bas ed on the consciousness  you had when you first started reading this
book, pr obably feel within your grasp now . As we wrap things up now , I’d
like to illuminate some of the benefits you can expect once you are in tune
with the higher part of yourself, telling the ego to take a back seat. BLESSINGS OF THE HIGHER SELF
When you are t otally awake, aware, and enlightened, you receive some
of th e m ost pow erful blessings of the universe. These come via your higher
self, which is the Divine speaking through you. — Y ou exp erience a drastic r eduction in the amount of str ess you
have. Thi s is one of th e most important things that happen. Y ou realize that
being strongly self-centered is actually what brings on stress. The more
stress you have, the more the ego is controlling you. When you’re not
insisting on having what you want, in this particular way , in th is particular
timeline—all the while ur ging others to jump through hoops in order for
you to have it—you are much more peaceful. Anyone with stress is subject to rigid likes and dislikes. Such strict
adherence mean s an absence of freedom for you, which can in tu rn manifest
as countless stress-related illnesses. Why should any part of your life be atthe mercy of the ego? It’ s like turning control over to something outside of
yourself, and of course the moment you do that you’re no longer free. If you don’ t hav e the inflexible need to have things go the way you want
them to—if you’re able to go within and allow the peace ful, loving,
centered part of yourself to take over—you find that those strong likes and
dislikes turn into mild preferences. After a while they aren’ t even
preferences any more, because you’re not attached to how things turn out. Not being attached to the outcome is really your higher self at work. When yo u are calm, patient, and compassionate, you respond to life with
that very calmness, patience, an d compassion. This gives you a n enormous
benefit, such as reducing the physiological reactions that come from being
an angry , irritated, easily annoy ed individual. Y ou find yourself less at the
mercy of the eg o, which really likes to keep you out of balance and of f
center . It wants to keep you in a state of conflict because whe n you have
dif ficulty and struggle, then yo u won’ t turn to your higher self, which is
what the ego always fears the most. Of c ourse life has its storms, but you are able to keep calm rig ht in the
middle of any turbulence. This isn’ t even something you have to do
deliberately: As you become more serene and reliant on your higher self,
you’ll naturally find yourself less and less irritated. Y our blood pressure
won’ t be af fected by an insult, your heart isn’ t going to have to  race when
you’re contradi cted, and all th e vital parts of your body are going to
function optimally . What a powerful idea that is for you—every single
aspect of your whole body wo rking not because you are healthier , but
because you’re no longer at the  mercy of all of these external stimuli that
are controlling you. Y ou have achieved authentic fr eedom. — Y ou have an ab sence of r esentment. Y ou realize that the ego tries
mightily to keep you focused on yourself and all the things that are
seemingly very important to yo u. When you let go of that an d allow the
Divine within you to rule, when you embrace higher awareness, what
happens is that resentment seems to go out the window . A re sentful person is someone w ho finds occasions for of fense a lmost all
the time, tending to see it jus t about everywhere they go. In this way ,
driving o n the freeway can be an  occasion for resentment. Family members
not doin g things how they should is another occasion for resentment. The
cat scrat ching on the furniture in stead of on the post, or the refr igerator nothaving any beer in it at the moment, can be occasions for resentment. Reading the news and finding out that one political party said this, and
another one said that—there’ s another occasion for resentment. On and on it
goes, until pretty soon they become someone who’ s looking for resentment
in v irtually everything they see , which just means that the control of their
life isn’ t theirs. Authentic freedom comes when  you can go through your days and see
such thin gs not as occasions for  resentment, but as the way they are. As for
those thi ngs that you’d like to see changed, you can work at changing them
without being self-absorbed. Th e more you meditate, the more peaceful you
get, and the more you get to kno w the God force that is within all of us. Y ou
discover that the universe is on purpose, and all the things that are
happening are part of God’ s plan, even though you don’ t understand them. I
think one of the greatest insights  you can have is that the Divine plan works
and yours doesn’ t. If it did, you wouldn’ t be having any of the se kinds of
resentments or be so self-absorbed. — Y ou bec ome mo r e pr oductive and have mor e energy . The less you
are attac hed to outcome and self-absorption, the more ener gy y ou have left
over for  what you’re here for in  the first place. The ego says, “Y ou must be
concerned with everything.” Th e higher self says, “If you surrender , serve,
go w ith the flow , have an overri ding spiritual objective, and know that you
are here for a purpose, there will not be time for what of fends you.”
As y ou go throu gh the process of moving from your ego to the higher
part of yourself, you open up an  ener getic gateway . Y ou can then try a very
powerful thing called “recapitulation,” which is a whole process  that I truly
believe i n. I’ve read some work s by people who have done it, a nd they said
that every experience you’ve ever had in your life is there. The process
helps you remove the negative e ner gy from your life, and when you do, you
open up a space for new , positive ener gy . It’ s as if removing something
from this place inside of you opens up an opportunity for God to come in. I did  this recapi tulation process myself through meditation. I went back
to my fourth-grade class and saw Fred there next to me. In front of Fred
was Jani ce, and then there was Earlene, and then Mrs. Engel w as sitting at
the head of the class. I said, “My G od, I was able to get the entire fourth-
grade class! They are all there.”This was the year my mother had taken my brothers and me o ut of the
orphanage. I found that I could move the ener gy of that time—all this stuf f
that I had stored, the anguish I w as feeling, the anticipation that things were
going to get better but then they didn’ t. My mother remarried somebody
who wa s just like my father—she hadn’ t learned her lessons yet, so she
went through another cycle wit h another abusive, alcoholic man until she
got it. Through recapitulation, I was able to let all that ener gy go. Y ou can  go back and send out o f your own life any negative ener gy that
has accumulated , which will also help to open yourself up. Returning to
what we  learned earlier in the book, cultivating the witness doesn’ t only
mean that you watch yourself;  it’ s a process of detaching yourself from
your problems and understandin g that you are not whatever troubles you. Y ou get  to a po int where you can understand that nothing in your life is
going or  has ever gone wrong; everything is and always has be en the way
it’ s supposed to be. When yo u allow  the higher part of yourself to focus on what’ s right with
the world instead of what’ s wrong, you become more productive. Releasing
negativity from your life, and n ot allowing the ego or your sel f-absorption
to ge t in  the way , helps you fee l more powerful, in control, and  at peace. I
know re capitulation changed m y entire outlook, and I had much more
ener gy after experiencing that. — Y ou disc over what your deep, driving desir e is. Pers onally , it se ems
that the reason I showed up on this planet has something to do with
teaching self-reliance. I haven’ t been able to escape it at any time in my life. When I was a l ittle boy living in the orphanage and various f oster homes
and the  new children would come in, the folks in char ge would ask,
“Where’ s W ayne?” Some littl e girl would be crying, and they’d say ,
“W ayne, why don’ t you come t alk to her .” I’d take my new fr iend by the
hand and say , “It’ s a great place, and you’re going to have such a good time. There ar e no parents here or anyone telling you what to do all t he time. It’ s
fantastic.” This was when I was six or seven years of age, and I’ve been
doing it ever since. When I was in high school, I wrote essays and even novels ab out these
kinds of issues o f self-reliance. When I was in the military , I gave courses
on e pistemology and self-direc tedness on my own time. I’d get 30 guys
coming to my “classes,” and we’d discuss these kinds of things. I alsohelped people who were havin g to deal with the system there, all the
bureaucracy and  regimented rules. Then I got out and went to college, and
when I started teaching, I would have after -school seminars about the
subjects that we’ve talked about in this book. I’ve been living t his stuf f for
as long as I can remember . This deeper , more purposeful part  of my life
seems to be what I showed up on earth for . When you get tuned in to what your purpose is and that beco mes your
primary motivat or , you have an overriding spiritual objective. Y ou know
that all the petty things you en counter on a daily basis are simply minor
distractions from your deep desire. Y ou don’ t need anyone’ s approval, nor
will you feel the need to dominate others. As you tame your eg o and leave
behind y our self-importance, yo u become focused on what you’re here for . Y our en er gy is placed only o n that, nothing more, and anything that
anybody else says that’ s in opposition to that will be seen as just where they
are on the path. Y ou won’ t disagree or feel annoyed with them; as a matter
of fact, you won’ t even notice it because your ener gy will be concentrated
solely on what you’re here for . — Y ou won’t ever be lonely . The  ego  promo tes loneliness because the
more alo ne you feel, the more you try to fill the void with external pursuits. When you don’ t feel any void within you, it’ s easy to love whom you’re
alone with, which is your higher self. Loneliness is impossible for you. Y ou also  know that we’re all one and we’re all connected. There’ s a
Divine ener gy that flows throug h all of us, so there’ s no possib ility of ever
experiencing alienation. Y ou n ow have the ability to love much more
powerfully , wh ich reduces the possibility of your living with broken
relationships. Y o u live according to your higher self, which prom otes peace,
fulfillment, integrity , and joy . The very ener gy that you are, the force that
holds every cell together , the glue that holds the universe together , is
something that we call love. Th is glue is who you are. Once you discover
and experience that, then you see only through the eyes of love and
acceptance. The ego  wants you to live with fear , which is the opposite of love. It
ur ges yo u to feel that you’re incomplete or there’ s something wrong with
you, which comes from that fear . But you know that you don’ t have to make
anyone wrong, and you don’ t h ave to make yourself right, because you’renot s eparate from them. Y ou see  the fullness of God in them, an d you allow
and love that Divine part of them. I r emem ber my  friend Deepak Chopra once telling me a story about a
famous Indian saint who was being escorted into some very fancy place. Right as he was about to step on to the red carpet that had been prepared for
him, a beggar appeared. One of the people who was with the  saint said,
“Get out of the way! Can’ t you s ee that we have a master coming through?”
The beggar looked up and asked, “Who is it that you’re asking to get out of
his way? Is it this body , or is it the god that is within me?” And the saint
bent over , kissed the man, and s aid, “Y ou don’ t have to move aside; we are
both one.”
That kind of awareness becomes something you consistently practice, for
it’ s a  wa y to take your relationships and imbue them with harm ony . Since
you know that we’re all connected, there is an absence of discord. — Y ou become a mor e powerful human being . Y ou are more powerful
than you’ve ever even considered before, but not in the sense that most
people t hink of  it. As Gandhi once said, “Strength does not come from
physical capacit y . It comes from  an indomitable will.” Y ou will create that
strength of your indomitable will, which really means that you ’re going to
stop associating  who you are with your form. Many peop le identify
themselves with who they are based upon their bodies; they say that if their
bodies are not working the way they think they should, then that’ s an
excuse to become impatient, less loving and caring, and so on. If your power comes from your physical prowess, then when your
physical prowess leaves, that means you’re no longer a powerful human
being. Of course you know that your power doesn’ t come from that; it
won’ t dissipate when your form  dissipates. Y ou know not to  give in to
every sin gle plea sure or selfish desire that comes along; you only ever treat
your body in a healthy way . Y ou have changed the identification of yourself
away from your embodiment to your higher self, and you are free. — Y ou discover the ultimate security . It’ s as if someone once told you
that tree s were glued to the ground, and you believed it. Then an expert
came al ong and told you that was false; there are roots under trees. The
expert helped you dig a bit ben eath the soil, and sure enough you saw the
truth.This whole process of finding security is like discovering that you have
roots be neath th e surface too. Y o u have unearthed parts of yours elf that you
never kn ew wer e there, and you  enjoy a security that you never experienced
before when you identified so closely with your form. — Y ou kno w that any pr oblem y ou have is to be solved in the mind. That’ s a  very powerful insight, and it’ s a freeing one as well . When you
have a struggle or conflict, when you are provoked or contradicted and it
manifests itself physically , you know it’ s really a problem to b e solved in
thought. Y ou know that what your body is reacting to is nothing more than
how you  are choosing to process something. Recognizing that it’ s your own
reaction causing  you stress, anxiety , tension, fear , and pain is  liberating. Y ou understand: No one else ha s to change in or der for my pain or
struggles to go away . My ego te lls me that others have to change in or der
for m e to feel successful, happy , fulfilled, or whatever , but I know it comes
down to how I pr ocess everything. So d o yo u process it through the lower identity of your ego and your self-
absorption, which allows you to be of fended because other peop le aren’ t the
way you  are? Or do you do it through your higher self, which wants you to
have peace, feel no turmoil, and experience love? This is an intelligent system that we are part of; there’ s an intelligence
flowing through us all. Even though it’ s invisible, you can’ t get hold of it,
and it’ s impervious to the senses, you just know that this is who you are. Y ou kno w that you are not your packaging. Y ou can’ t weigh your life; it
doesn’ t have any form, substan ce, boundaries, or dimensions beyond the
senses. It’ s beyond the physical—it’ s metaphysical. Y ou have reached the point where you know you are that which is
changeless and eternal, rather than that which is always changing and
shifting. Y ou’ve  learned to stand  up to your desires. Y ou won’ t b e repressed
. . . you’re going to be free. When you live i n the light, you experience a sense of peace and  bliss, an
absence of turmoil. It’ s really all about love. And when you exp erience this
kind of love, fabulous things happen all the time.DAIL Y PRACTICES
Finally , I’d like to of fer you a series of suggestions, specific things that
you can do on a daily basis to h elp you enjoy the totally awake, aware, and
enlightened life:
— Remind yourself that you ar e her e to fulfill a Divine her oic
mission. Att empt to ser ve others in so me small way , and do it without
telling anyone or looking for any credit. Let go of your own self, and
simply ask, “How may I serve others?” Keep in mind that it is in the
serving of others that we feel the God within. Think o f some positive, loving thing that you can do without a sking for
anything back. Practice it sometime today , even if it’ s just letting someone
go a head of you in line at the  grocery store, smiling at those  you come
across th roughout your day , or giving a few dollars to someone in need. Sharing with your fellow huma n beings brings a sense of joy to everyone
involved. Here is a quot ation that I rea d every single day: “When you seek
happiness for yourself, it will always elude you. When you seek happiness
for o thers, you w ill find it yours elf.” Remember that the secret o f happiness
is to stop looking for it yourself and instead try to find it for others. — Have a clear p ictur e of something that you would like t o see
materialize in your life. Maybe it’ s attracting the perfect job, finding your
soul mate, or a chieving optimal health—whatever it may be , keep your
inner focus on this picture, a nd extend love outward as frequently as
possible with it in mind. The d etails will get handled if you can keep the
picture i n your mind with a knowing; just put love around that  picture and
don’ t doubt it. Understand the importance of training your m ind, and be
sure to have the willingness to d o whatever it takes to bring that image into
form. Ev en if you don’ t see it m anifesting for yourself right away , keep the
picture there. Before long, you will see what you’ve been envisioning
showing up in your life in the most amazing ways. — Have co nversations with God in a private and special way . In these
conversations, r ather than soliciting favors, af firm your willingness to useall th at y ou are to create solutions. Ask for the inner strength to accomplish
something, and then be willing to do what is necessary to make it happen. As y ou create this new relatio nship with the higher part of yourself,
you’ll se e that the strength is t here because that’ s where you place your
attention. Reme mber , where you place your attention is what y ou’re going
to create. — Remove the concept of “enemy” fr om your thoughts completely . The who le idea that there are p eople on the planet that are our enemies is
what the  ego has trained us to believe. W e have some of th ese ancient
enmities, hatreds, and angers being passed down from generation to
generation just on the basis of having whole new souls who come through
being taught that “this is whom you’re supposed to hate.”
Remember , ther e are no choosing up sides on our own planet. W e are all
in this thing together . The idea that somehow there are some people who are
more sp ecial than others is the  ego talking again. It’ s that whole idea of
separateness and  specialness. Once you have that awareness, the  ego is now
subsided—you h ave tamed the ego when you have accepted that there are
no enemies. In m y sp eeches over the years, I’ve often asked, “How many p eople are
there in Russia?” The audience will give me an answer . Then I’ll ask, “Can
you think of anybody in Russia  whom you hate? Is there anybody in this
room who hates someone in Russia? Is there some grandmothe r over there
or one of those little Russian children whom you hate?” There’ s never a
hand that goes up. Y et during the whole Cold W ar period, we sp ent billions
of dollar s creati ng weapons to kill those very people over there whom no
one hates. The problem isn’ t so much that we hate others; it’ s that we haven’ t
learned t o love them enough. Once we’ve learned to love each o ther enough
and completely transcend that i dea of having enemies—and when enough
of us do it—then we will create peace and foster enlightenment  all over the
world. W e can d o that not only with people who are living on the other side
of th e gl obe but  also with the folks in our own neighborhoods, workplaces,
and fam ilies.
_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:

        If you rush
through, you’ll find yourself sweating soon after you dry yourself of f. Y ou’ll f ind you needn’ t have b othered with that shower because you’re
already dirty again. Y ou can take the same five minutes and instead make ita p eaceful experience. Y ou can push all the other stuf f out of your mind and
just relax. Rather than rushing through the five minutes, you can experience
the water. Y ou c an wash your bo dy. Y ou can dry it all of f. When you finish,
you won’ t be sweating, even though you had the same amount of time. In the physical world, you unde rstand that if you hurry and rush and are
filled with a thousand dif ferent activities, you have decreased your
ef ficiency. W ell, the same thing is true in the mental world. If you are filling
your mi nd with  all the things you have to do, becoming consumed with
your worries, your cluttered mind is not going to be very ef ficient or
ef fective. What if you’re i n the car at a moment like that. Y ou can’ t simultaneously
pick up the bananas and the diapers while typing out your report as you take
care of the IRS—while you’re driving. What you can  do is take a deep
breath and focus on the present. Put on some music and quiet your mind
right there. Don’ t close your eyes, of course, but push all the negativity out. T ell yourself, I’m going to enjoy this drive. One of my regul ar commutes is 17 miles. I love those 17 miles. There are
a million things to see, and I can take note of them all. I can open the
windows and feel the breeze. I c an enjoy being present. Then when I get to
where I’m going, if I’ve got to g et the report done, I’ll be fully prepared to
do it. I won’ t be  working on the report while thinking about m y taxes, or
getting the bananas, or whatever it may be. I’ll be here now in the moment. That’ s w hat meditation teaches  you—how to be in the moment, quiet,
peaceful, and joyful. When you  train your mind, it isn’ t something you do
for 1 5 minutes a  day just to give you something to do for that 15 minutes. No, it carries ov er into everything that you do. The more peaceful you are,
the mor e ef ficient you are. The  more you’re in a hurry, the m ore you’re
always t rying to  get someplace fast, the chances of having an accident are
greater, the chances of getting there all ruf fled are much greater, the chances
of your heart rate going up or y our stomach being upset are much greater. None of that is useful or worth it. Meditation teach es you that you  have the capacity to use your mind any
way that you w ant to. Y ou suddenly see that you don’ t have to join
everybody else out there who is  in a frenzy and all upset and worked up. It
doesn’ t have to be that way for you. KEEP ON PURPOSE
One day I was in a tennis matc h and not playing nearly at the level that
I’m capa ble of. I had been med itating on a daily basis for quite a while at
that point, and I decided right then to use tennis as a meditation. I was going
to for get  about winning or losin g, for get about the score, and see if I could
get out of my b ody. Or, I shoul d say, get out of the way  of my body, and
allow it to do what it knows how to do, which is hit a tennis ball. I sta rted meditating right there on the court. I got really peace ful inside
and beg an to put myself into that state where I get very light and don’ t
notice d istractions. It was absolutely incredible what I was able to
accomplish in the next 45 min utes or so, when I had complete and total
concentration on  what I was doing. My body was incapable of making an
error. I felt loos e and easy, and  it was so powerful. It was such a moving
experience that I found myself doing this before I would speak, resulting in
very happy, contented audiences. Sometime after this tennis match, I had to have an unco mfortable
conversation wi th someone. I c hose to meditate my way throu gh it, and it
was an easy and harmonious experience. I realized that what I was saying to
this pers on was both for their benefit as well as mine. It went we ll because I
wasn’ t a ttached to any outcome at all. I was just allowing ev erything to
flow. Meditation has helped me gain p eacefulness, serenity, and ener gy. One of
the thing s I’ve discovered in the  process is that my purpose is to love and to
serve and to give, and I must ev aluate every behavior, action, and thought I
have in those terms: Am I loving, ser ving, or giving. I  believ e that all of us
are actua lly here  to give; we’re not here to get. Meditation help s us tap into
the Divi ne ener gy that shows us we are all here to serve each other and be
in harmony. In as little as 15 minutes a day, you too can get to the place where you’re
only lett ing harm ony into your life. Y ou won’ t even let anybody into your
consciousness unless they co me there with harmony. That’ s like a
commitment you can make to yourself and others: If y ou come with
disharmony, dis cor dance, anger, str ess, or tension, you’ll onl y get to my
form. Un less you  come with love, harmony, ser enity, or peace, y ou won’ t get
to who I r eally am. Y ou won’ t ge t ther e because I’m beyond the need to have
conflict and confr ontation occupying my soul. I don’ t need that any longer;I’m past that. I no longer need t o pr ove that I can deal with it or handle it. That’ s gone. This rem inds me of an experience I had once while flying from Miami to
San Fran cisco. The plane had just taxied out to the runway wh en the pilot
announced that we wouldn’ t be able to take of f. W e’d have to go back to the
gate bec ause the  stabilizer that takes care of the wing flaps o r something
wasn’ t registering as working properly. W e were going to be delayed for a
few hours while they fixed it. My immediate attitude when s omething like that happens is, I guess
you’r e n ot supposed to get to San Francisco in five hours. Aft er a ll, when
my ance stors wanted to get to San Francisco from Miami, if they left in
September and got there in Ma rch, they considered that on time. It was a
good trip if half the people were still alive. So if it’ s going to take me three
more ho urs or whatever, that’ s okay. Plus, if the stabilizer isn’ t working on
my aircr aft—or in anything that stabilizes anything—I want to go back to
the gate. I’m not interested in being angry about that. It’ s a part of
surrendering and being at peace. The flight attendant and I had been talking when the pilot made his
announcement. She told me, “Oh, this is what I dread. ”
“What’ s the matter. ”
“Look a t all these people. Ever y one of them is going to say something
nasty to me whe n they get of f the plane. They’re going to blame  the airline,
and they’re going to blame me. ”
I said, “But you don’ t have to let that in. ”
“What are you talking about. ”
“W ell, you’ve got two package s that are protecting you from  anybody
coming to you with that disharmony,” I told her. “Y ou’ve got your uniform,
which is one package. That’ s over the other package, which is your body. Both of those are covering, or protecting, who you really are, w hich is how
you choose to think and process all of this. “Every t ime som eone says something negative to you, you can let that be
a message only to your uniform, to your package. That’ s not me, you can
remind yourself. They’r e not talking to me. They can’ t get to me with that
stuff. They can’ t have that. I don ’ t let anybody r each who I r eally am unless
they com e with love or harmon y. As you’re telling the person you’re very
sorry, you can tell yourself, They didn’ t get to me. They’r e not r eaching me
with that. ”Sure enough, she stood there and watched as scores of people got of f, and
many of them did say something nasty to her on the way out. Each time, she
sort of smiled and gave them instructions on where to get help from the
airline. I stayed  behin d to see how it went for her. As the last person
disembarked, sh e told me, “Th at was fantastic. This is the first time that
we’ve ever had a circumstance like this where I didn’ t let it bother me. ”
I sai d, “Y ou don’ t ever have to let stuf f like that into your life. The more
you keep it awa y from you, the  more you allow yourself the right to have
only wh at you want to enter yo ur consciousness. I make this choice all the
time. W hen I’m  driving, for ins tance, and somebody gives me the finger, I
don’ t take any o f that inside. Instead, I think, Oh, that’ s them, and that’ s
how the y’r e r eacting to my for m. If som ebody comes to me with love,
serenity, peace, joy, ease, or the like, then they can have all of me. I will
respond back with that. Y ou let in whatever you want. ”
That’ s w hat a quiet mind does for you. Meditation allows you to select
what you allow into who you r eally are without having to be beholden to
every sin gle person and action o ut there that doesn’ t fit in with t he way you
want it to be. Having a quiet mind, in a practical sens e, is truly
understanding th at what I’m tal king about here is not just for discussion—
it’ s for application. EVER YDAY BENEFITS OF MEDIT ATION
Please know that meditation doesn’ t require somebody teaching you
exactly how to do it; in fact, that would defeat the purpose. I have meditated
for a long time, but no one ever taught me how. I learned how to train my
mind on  my own, yet I’ve created miracles in that space for my self, as well
as in the world that I came back to when I left the meditation. I fin d it interesting that we crea te a light with our eyes closed in a dark
room. W e don’ t really need our  eyes to create light, but we definitely need
our minds. If you doubt that your mind is capable of creating illumination—
or colors, smells, and sounds—remember that we do this all the time in our
dreams, which is a state of pure  thought. When you meditate, you want to
get your mind to a similar place. A self-h ypnotic state is the first  thing that you want to train yo urself to
get to. Here, yo u go into what is called an “alpha state. ” Like  I said, you
don’ t need to be taught exac tly how to get here, but you may find
inspiration in what I do: I use a  24-second shot clock, which i s what they
use at NBA gam es. It’ s got thes e little lights, starting at 24, then it counts
down to 23, 22, and so on, to 1. If a thought of any kind enters my mind
anytime between 24 and 1 (other than the picture of the number), I need to
start over at 24. If I get to 16 and think, Oh, I can’ t for g et my dentist
appointment tomorr ow morning, that’ s followed by the thought, Back to 24
I go. Be p atient with yourself as you practice meditating this way. Y ou can use
any sort of cloc k or timer that  counts down, but you don’ t want to give
yourself too much or too little time, so consider beginning with the number
24, like I do. It w ill take you a few days to get to 1 but keep at it. When you
go from  24 to 1  without having an intervening thought, you will be in an
alpha state. Y ou’ll know that you’ve reach ed an alpha state when you raise your
hands an d your arms feel very light. Or your head will suddenly  feel almost
weightless, like you’re starting to leave your form. Then after a few days or
weeks, y ou’ll be  able to go into alpha without the 24-second clock. Y ou’ll
be able to do it just through your breathing. Once yo u feel comfortable getti ng into this alpha state, you can bring up
topics to your higher self. Y ou might ask questions that you have about your
life, abo ut strugg les that you ma y be having with your children, about your
relationships, about where you ought to be going, what kinds of decisions
you’re not sure about making, anything like that. As you go into a meditative st ate, what happens is that you leave this
world of  form and enter into the formless, dimensionless world  of thought. Y ou then  realize that you’re the w itness, watching yourself t hink and then
react to the thought. Y ou can ask yourself, What’ s t he solution to this. Wha t
can I do. Why is this a pr oblem  for me. Why am I cr eating this in my life. Why am I having such a difficult time with my partner. Why am I
consistently cla shing with this particular person on the job. What is it
about me wher e I always set u p myself to fail. Answers begin to come,
floating right into your consciousness from your higher self, from the
Divine. Now, ho w you apply this in you r own day-to-day life becomes the very
essence of awakening. Y ou can meditate before a client meet ing and see
how you want it to work out. While you cannot control how other people
are going to ac t or react, beca use that’ s for them, you are in control of
yourself. Y ou can certainly ma ke an impact on how that other person is
going to react t o you with how  at peace you are with yourself and how
unattached you are to the outcome. Y ou’re focusing on How I can serve this
other person. rather than What is going to come to me. Y ou can do this in
all o f yo ur relationships: look fo r the beauty and joy in your ow n mind, and
see how you want those relationships to be. When I first got into a regular meditation practice, I would feel so
blissful toward everybody I saw I could hardly stand myself. I would just
look at them an d think, Ah, ar en ’ t they terrific. I had this connectedness
with everyone I came face-to -face with, from my family m embers to
complete strang ers. Blaise Pascal once said that “All of humanity’ s
problems stem from man’ s inabi lity to sit quietly in a room alone,” and that
makes sense to me. I could never imagine wanting to hurt anybody after
coming out of that state. When talking about meditation, I also like to use the example of having
two selves: one self is a thought and the other self is in form. I f you say to
yourself, Y ou jerk, you shouldn’ t have done that, you’ve got two people
there. Y ou’ve got the person who is doing the name-calling— that is, the
thought who is saying “you jerk”—and then you’ve got the jerk, who is the
body that has to react to what kind of thoughts you have. So  if you call
yourself a jerk, you have a thought of jerk and you have the jerk who has to
react. M editation can help you to bring those two selves into harmony so
that self one, the thought, and self two, the body, are in unity. Y ou are only
calling yourself what you want y ourself to be, and you are only seeing what
it is that you want in your mind for your body to do. Y ou can start to apply this by c losing your eyes and getting in to a very
quiet space. In fact, all you have to do if you don’ t have time to meditate is
take the last hour before you go to sleep and use it in this way, because it
will give  you a strong sense of total rest and relaxation, like y ou’ve never
experienced before. An hour of meditation will give you eig ht hours of
deep, restorative sleep. It’ s that powerful. It’ s said that this practice can ev en alter our own chemistry. Y o u can use
meditation to reach an ecstatic, b eautiful, exquisite high state that people sodesperately look  for in chemica ls. I think it would be especially beneficial
to teach young p eople about the power of their mind, so that they wouldn’ t
be temp ted to chase counterfeit freedom. Personally, meditation  has always
filled me with the most wonderful sense of peace and harmony. It’ s a
magnificent feeling, like you really are in touch with God. THE LA WNMOWER MANTRA
There’ s a nice story of a man w ho was bothered by a car honking for his
neighbors next door. He said to his wife, “If I had magical powers, I would
be able to give that car four flat tires every time he comes here. Or I’d be
able to put a silencer on that h orn and wouldn’ t even be able  to hear it. That’ s w hat I would do if I had magical powers. ” She replied, “No. If you
had magical powers, you wouldn’ t be disturbed by that horn at all. ”
Quieting your mind means that you’re no longer susceptible to all of the
external influences that are around you. For an example of this, you can
watch the US O pen T ennis Championships, which are played in  New Y ork,
right ne ar LaGuardia Airport. I’m always amazed when I s ee how the
players are able to play with the distraction and noise of jets flying
overhead. Y et when I’ve been really involved in a tennis match myself, I’ve
had jackhammers going next to me and not noticed them. My opponent
could be  going crazy from the n oise, but all my concentration is  on the ball. The people who are really good at a game, or any activity that requires
concentration, know how to do that. This makes me think of something that happened when I was on vacation
in Hawaii with my family some years ago. For seven days in a row, I got up
at 5:30 every single morning an d went out to meditate in a gras sy area next
to our hotel. One day I was sitting on my m at, and I was in a blissful stat e. I felt a
Divine e ner gy g oing up and do wn my spine, and it felt so go od. All of a
sudden, I heard this noise. V rrm vrrm. V rrm vrrm vrrm vr rm vrrm vrrm
vrrm. I  looked  up, and there was a mean-looking guy with a cigarette in his
mouth and tattoos covering his a rms. I realized that even though it was very
early in the mor ning, he was go ing to cut the grass. My first thought was,
Oh, no. I stood up, gathered my mat, and started to leave. Then all of asudden, my intuition came to m e and said, “Go back. Go back a nd use this. This is a metaphysical experien ce. ” It’ s not that I was hearing voices; this
was an internal thing. I thought, Huh. But I put the mat back down, and within about two
minutes I went r ight back into m y meditative state. My intuition said, “Use
the l awnmower for a mantra. ” So e very time I heard, V rrm vrr m vrrm  vrrm,
I’d think to myself, Oh yes. I got back into that blissful state. The guy cutting the grass came by my mat, and the sound was incredibly
loud. I thought, God, I’m her e and I’m listening, but why would Y ou send
this person to me at six in the morning. I see, this is a test. After about 10 minutes, he finally finished, and I was happy he was done. I wa s ge tting back into that very peaceful place when I heard  the loudest
noise I have ever heard in my life. My friend was back, and he had an edger
this time. As G od is my witness, this guy decided to edge my mat. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I thought, Okay, God. I’m going to use the edger for a mantra. I’m
staying her e. I’ve got to turn this into something. He wen t right by my mat,
Brrrrrrrrrrrrr. I  stayed with it. I didn’ t let the distraction get to me. It was
about half an hour of this, but the louder the edger got, the easier it got for
me. He f inished his yard work, and I finished meditating. I’ll bet he  thought,
Boy, this  guy is in some kind of trance, or he’ s dead. One or the other. It
really felt as if I had come out of a trance. When you end such a meditation,
it’ s like you can fly. Y ou can do anything, and all you have is love, all you
have is harmony, all you have  is peace for yourself and for the world. Nobody and nothing can get to you, no matter what. As I  wal ked tow ard this guy, I could see he was very tense. Now keep in
mind that I was  about a foot taller than him. He probably thou ght, This is
what I’m her e for. This guy’ s going to fight me. I reached into my pocket,
where I found about eight dollar s, and gave them to him. I said, “Thank you
so much  for being here. I really needed you today. ” He looked at me like, I
don’ t know what’ s going on her e, but I smiled and walked away. It w as th e greate st evidence I’ve ever experienced to prove that when life
hands you lemons, you can make lemonade. I was taught that day that
everything that comes to you, y ou have the power in your mind to turn it
into whatever you want. W e a ll get lawnmowers coming into our livesevery da y. What  we do with them and how we handle them, well, that is the
way to our personal transformation. CHAPTER 1 1
LIVE IN THE LIGHT
Ram Da ss tells one of my favorite stories of all time. It’ s about  his guru,
with whom he lived and worked  for years in India, a man he considered to
be the most spiritually advanced person he’d ever met in his life. At that time Ram Dass was doing some experimenting with T imothy
Leary and the li ke, so he had three capsules of LSD with him. “ That would
be enough,” he said, “to put a horse into a tranquilized state  for several
days. ” H e had planned to use this LSD for a number of months, just one or
two micrograms at a time. His guru said to him, “Y ou have funny medicine. let me see it. ” Ram
Dass showed him the capsules b ut warned, “Y ou don’ t want to take all three
of these. Y ou should only take a few micrograms from one of t he capsules,
and that will give you the desired ef fect. ”
His guru took all three capsules, put them in his mouth, and swallowed. He went under his blanket, and then came out and did all these funny
things. Then he smiled and said, “Do you have any more. It doesn’ t seem to
be working. ”
Ram Dass realized that the drugs had no ef fect on his guru at all. This
was his conclusi on, which is one of the greatest lines I’ve ever heard on this
subject: “If you’re already in Detroit, you don’ t have to take a bus to get
there. ” In other words, when someone is already in the spiritual world, they
don’ t need anything to get them there. Learning how to “get to Detroit” for us means achieving what we’ve
been tal king about in this book. It’ s when we are comfortably in the place
that is powerfully ours. It’ s when we understand that thought originates
with us, which means that life is our own creation. W e know th at our form
will sim ply pass  along, but we can’ t kill thought, so who we really are can
never die. When you are truly awake, w ith heightened spiritual awareness, you
know th at if you’re always looking for something, it will always elude you. That’ s tr ue of anything in life. T ake success: Making a lot of money is not
what makes a pe rson successful. Rather, a successful person brings success
to everything that they do, and money is most likely only one of the benefits
that they get as a result. Enlightenment is the same thing. Enlightenment is something  that you
bring to all of your interactions, all of your thought processes, all of your
life experiences. It’ s really an attitude or an approach to life. That attitude or
approach is literally one of “living in the light,” and that means you’re
moving toward yourself. Y ou’re  not ever moving away from yourself, and
you see the perfection in yourself and who you are. Y ou don’ t question the
universe. Y ou see everything a nd everyone in it as exactly where they’re
supposed to be. Y ou have an a bsence of judgment and negativity. Y ou’re
balanced as a human being. Enlightenment i s a state of mind in which, once you have it, once you
accept y ourself and your perfection, then there’ s no more trying. Y ou are
already in Detroit. IT ALL WORKS PERFECTL Y
Think about this: If you take a b ite of food and start to chew, y ou’ve got
to do a lot of things with that food in order to make it apply to  you. Let’ s
say you just had  a bite of salad, and now you’ve got lettuce and tomato in
your mouth. W ell, you’ve got to get some saliva into your mouth as well to
help you with that. Y ou’re not trying to salivate; your body knows exactly
what it’ s supposed to do. When you swallow, you don’ t have to monitor the
peristaltic reactions in your throat and esophagus to make sur e that food
goes do wn inste ad of up. It never goes up into your nose—well, maybe
once in a while, if you’re doin g something really silly. But you don’ t eat
your food and say, “Oh, wait a minute, I put it into my no se. It’ s not
supposed to go there. ” It goes where it’ s supposed to, and then it breaks
down. Y ou don ’ t have tomatoes and a great big piece of lettuce floatin g around
through your body, saying, “Where are we supposed to go. ”  Y ou chewthem up, and dif ferent kinds o f enzymes attack the pieces of food. It all
goes exa ctly wh ere it’ s supposed to, through the digestive system and then
to all dif ferent parts of your b ody—your pancreas needs a little lettuce
today, perhaps. W ithout some co mponent of the tomatoes, maybe your toes
are going to fall of f. Every place in your body gets the proper nutrients
without your having to do anything. Y ou’re n ot going around saying, “Oh my, I’ve got to get all this done. I’ve got so much to do with th is digestion. I’ve got to make sure that my
pancreas and duodenum work. Ugh, how do I turn this lettuce into waste. How am I going to get that out. ” Y ou’re not busy doing any of that. It all
works in harmony and perfect ion. Y our heart is beating, and  it does so
thousands of times every single  day. Y ou don’ t need to tell your hea rt to
pump blood for it to do so perfe ctly. Y ou don’ t have to do any of it, yet you
are controlling it all. Enlightenment is like that: Y ou get in harmony, and you start fu nctioning
optimally. Who you are as a hu man being just happens. It all works. Y ou
don’ t have to go around thinking every minute, Is this an enlightened
r esponse. Am I using higher consciousness her e. I don’ t know if I’m being
spiritual enough. Do I need to a djust. Y ou don’ t have to do that any more
than you  have to beat your heart or operate your digestive system. It all
works perfectly when you’re in harmony. If you’re not, then it’ s as if you
were trying to d irect the tomato and lettuce to the right places. Y ou would
get so mixed up and puzzled by it. If yo u tried to beat your own heart, you couldn’ t. Y ou natura lly let it
work. This is the same way you must see yourself within the universe—
allow yo urself to  work perfectly. The way you do so is to focus on yourself
while al so havin g respect and lo ve for everyone. These universal laws that
we’re ta lking ab out here are the very same ones that are in place for your
digestion or your cardiopulmonary system. The necessary enzymes are
released instantaneously, and i t all happens in a perfect way. There are
certain r ules and laws that apply  to everything we do, from how we relate to
each other to how our bodies function. Sometimes after hearing me speak or reading my books, people will
come up to me and say, “I’m a seeker too. ” They assume that I ’m this way
because I talk about the higher truths, principles, and laws that are universal
yet elud e so many people. This k ind of amuses me, so I’ll respond, “I’m not
a seeker. I’m n ot looking for a nything. I’m evolving, going through thedream, and enjoying it all. I am  bringing this mind-set to everything that I
do. ”
When you’re in harmony wit h these transcendent laws, you are in
enlightenment. Y ou’re not seeking it. Y ou don’ t have to unders tand it, and
you don’ t have to agree with  it. Y ou simply know that it is. In fact,
enlightenment is nothing more than the quiet acceptance of what is. Y our desire to m ake things better is also part of what is, so you learn to
go w ith that. W hen you are focused on making things bette r—helping,
serving, extending love—and are able to send that out into the world, you
are now a part of the spiritually aware, awakened consciousness. THE THREE ST AGES OF ENLIGHTENMENT
I’ve fou nd that there are three specific stages of enlightenment. The first
stage is learning  by hindsight. As an example, I think about this woman
who told me: “T en years ago, my husband came home from work, said,
‘I’m lea ving yo u,’ and walked out. I was devastated. For years, I couldn’ t
get over it. Bu t now I can look back on his leaving me as the most
important turning point in my l ife. I see the blessing in it. ” Af ter years of
suf fering, she was able to come to the realization that his leaving her was a
blessing, not a tragedy. In oth er words, this stage of enligh tenment is
reached through  a lot of understanding of the past. Y ou do not immediately
embody the present-based know ledge that there’ s an opportunity in every
obstacle. In the next stage, you do: you understand in your heart that e verything
that com es your way is a blessing. Y ou see that this is more  than just a
hokey p hrase used in self-help. In fact, what I’ve been talking a bout in this
book is not self-help but self-r ealization, which is way beyond self-help. When you begin to realize yourself—when you discover your
magnificent potential—you see that everything that’ s coming at you has an
opportunity in it, even though it may look lik e an obstacle. Y ou think, I
wonder why I cr eated this. I wonder what lesson is in this for m e. Y ou may
still hav e the suf fering, but it’ s minimal and doesn’ t last. Rather than 10
years, for example, you might move through a challenging situation in 10
weeks, 10 days, 10 minutes maybe. Suf fering is always played ou t in form because it comes from your
thoughts. Becau se you know tha t what you think about expands, you learn
not to focus on the negative. L et’ s say you’re going through a divorce, a
tough time financially, an illnes s, or a death in the family, whatever it is. Now you’re looking at it as, I  can g et something out of this. I can gr ow fr om
this. I can transc end and go pas t it. Y our mind is focused on that instead of
on, Why is this happening to me. S omeday I’ll know why, but I don’ t know
why toda y. It’ s so terrible that I’ m going to be depr essed for six mor e years. Y ou don’ t go t here anymore. Thinking like this belongs back there in
another time in your life. Y ou’re solidly in the second stage. People ask, “If t hat’ s the second stage, what else is there. ” W ell, the third
stage of  enlightenment happens  when you are able to get out  in front of
things. Y ou see them coming an d play them all out in thought, a nd then you
decide which of these is going to be brought into form. For example, let’ s say you’re in a relationship and your par tner says
something upset ting to you. Y ou know that if you respond in a certain way,
then she ’ s going to respond in kind. Then you’re going to say th is, and she’ s
going to say tha t—you can play that all out in thought, and you’re out in
front of it already. Y ou can even see how this could devolve into an absolute
blowout, with both of you really upset for two or three days, maybe not
talking, maybe storming out, or  doing any number of things that people do
to avoid being intimate. Again, you play that all out and  know you don’ t have to make it happen. Y ou don’ t have to make her wrong, which is a grea t step. Y ou don’ t have t o
make yo u right, an even higher  step. There’ s no right or wrong here. Y ou
play everything out, and as you do, you decide that you don’ t have to bring
this altercation into form. Y ou g ot out in front of it; it’ s gone. It’ s all been
played out in yo ur mind. Y ou use your mind to not  bring into form, into
your life, into action that which you know is not beneficial for e ither one of
you. In relatio nships, this means letting go of your need to be right and instead
celebrating the dif ferences in t he other person, and agreeing to disagree
about them for the rest of your life if necessary. I tell people that this is a
wonderful stage  to get to, because once you and your partner are both there,
you can still express your perspective. Y ou don’ t have to be a certain age to
get to this point—you can learn it at any time in your life. As you move across the levels of enlightenment, you go from being an
actor in the firs t stage, being directed by events, circumstance s, and other
people, to being the director you rself in the second stage. Then  in the third
stage, you become the producer too. Y ou are now the actor, the director, and
the producer of your entire life, and you’re doing it all with your mind. If
it’ s a career move that you onc e would have agonized over, y ou can see
how it’ s going to go. If you’re l iving in Atlanta but need to go to Houston,
you can  see yourself selling your home and driving to T exas to start this
new job or enterprise. When yo u play all this out, you can actually see how everything  is going
to w ork, because what you think about expands. Then you can d ecide. Y our
decision isn’ t based upon, My boss  is going to do this to me, and the world
is going to do this, and if these things don’ t work out. It’ s based upon
your pro jecting in your mind how you want things to be. If the picture
doesn’ t come out exactly the wa y you want it to be, then you’re  out in front
of it already, and you don’ t go to Houston after all. Or perhaps you do
choose t o move because you see it as an exciting, wonderful ad venture and
a t ime to do something new. And you can do these steps with anything that
you perceive to be coming at yo u but is really what you’re creating through
all the choices that you’re making. Y ou can  use your mind in exciting ways, as I said. On the job, you can
see how, if you react in a certai n way toward your boss or co-worker, you
know that If I say or do this, that that’ s going to set them off. I don’ t have to
go ther e  anymor e. Instead of behaving like A, B, C, or D, I’ve a lr eady done
it all in my mind, and I’ve seen the r esult. I don’ t want to go th er e. I don’ t
want my form to  have to follow  that anymor e, so I’m in fr ont of it. It’ s like
you’re producing your life through your mind. WIN-WIN SOLUTIONS
The totally awake and aware pe rson has almost moved beyond success. Success in W estern society tends to mean accumulation or winning rather
than achievement. It almost always means you have to outper form or get
more than the ot her guy. This is very much a part of our culture, and there’ s
nothing wrong with it. But now  you understand that success, a chievement,and performance all have built into them the notion that somebody else has
to lose in order  for you to win. When you are enlightened, y ou learn to
approach conflict from a win-win position. While this has become a popular
slogan and philosophy in business, it can also be used in any type of
interpersonal situation. I t hink very strongly that when you are in a romantic relation ship, you
fall in love with the things in another person that you don’ t have in yourself. After al l, to fall in love with somebody who has everything exactly the
same as  you is to  have a redundant relations hip. Y ou’ve already got that;
what do you need more of it for. Y et peop le will say, “Oh, we have so much in common. He says  this, and
I s ay the same thing; he likes to do this, and I like to do it t oo. He’ s an
athlete, and I lik e athletes. ” They think it’ s such a wonderful thing that they
have all these th ings in common. I always think, Uh-oh, this one’ s doomed. W e’ve got some r eal pr oblems h er e. But  wh en someone says, “Ah, she’ s the
exact op posite o f me,” I think that’ s almost always where the most intensity
is found. When this couple looks at each other, they realize, They ar e many
things that I am not and can’ t be, and I like that. I like having that ar ound
me. I need that passion ar oun d me. I need that person who talks a lot
ar ound me, because I’m very quiet. This is what endears them to each other. What of ten happ ens, though, is that as time passes in a relation ship, you
for get that the dif ferences are what give it spice. Then you turn those
dif ferences, whi ch are the very thing that attracted you to the p erson in the
first plac e, into areas of conflict or confrontation. Y ou begin to try to alter
the p erson you love. This does not make them think that you lov e them, but
rather that you want them to be dif ferent. Y ou have to remember to go back
to what you fell in love with. All relationship s are about an opposite. Y ou don’ t need a mirror of
yourself—you’ve already got th at. Even with your children, the things that
usually endear you the most to them are the things they do that are not like
you. Those are often the things you respect the most. Y ou admire, for
example, your child who will st and up for what she thinks is rig ht and take
the sling s and arrows that go al ong with such fearlessness. Of course you
don’ t want her t o be contrary an d disobedient, but there’ s a part of you that
says, “Y ou know, I never had the courage to do that myself. I don’ t want her
to ever not  do that. ” When you ad mire such qualities, you can le arn from
them, and they become your teachers. Y ou can make something very positive and beautiful out of those
dif ferences. When you make conflict something to honor, to da nce with, to
celebrate, you become instant ly focused on solutions. Most often, the
solution to the d if ferences in any relationship lies in respecting, honoring,
and cele brating the very things t hat are dif ferent in the other person. Again,
you bring a win-win attitude to it. So when conflict crops up at wo rk, you have to take the same a pproach. Resist th e ur ge to be problem-oriented—that is, I’m going to make this
person wr ong, and I’m going to make myself right —or turn it into a contest. Y ou do not need  to feel threaten ed by the dif ferences in other people. Y ou
see t hat others a re on a dif ferent  part of the path than you are. Some people
are very ef ficient at getting things done, while others are slower. Instead of
making them wrong, you can refrain from being ego-involved in this at all. I think this one of the hardest things for us in the try-to-get-ahead-of-the-
other -guy, comp etitive-oriented W est to grasp. Y et we must try to get to the
point wh ere the dif ferences in other people are to be respected a nd honored,
accepted for what they are rather than treated as contests. Bringing in a
spiritual, right-brained, intuitive kind of approach isn’ t going t o make you
wimpy, weak, or less profitab le; in fact, it will bring you peace and
harmony. It will give you a sense of knowing what you’re about and why
you’re here, and that lack of the need to be right or to win or to put
somebody else down frees you up to do better. I hav e moved m uch more in this direction in my own life. I don’ t need to
make a contest out of every dif ference I have with others; instead, I
recognize those variations and look toward solutions. I dance with, even
enjoy, th e disco rd rather than tr eat it as something that shouldn ’ t be there. Since I’ ve given up some of my attachments to having to be right and
embarked upon a path of sending out love and peace and ha rmony and
contentment, I’v e never had more “success” come into my life. My books
and audio programs are very popular. The demand for my lectures has
increased, and people are inviting me to do things that never even came to
me before, such as create my own television shows and write plays. Success
as v iewed in an external fashion, as an achievement, has certai nly gone up
for me. Y et I’m talking about going beyond all of that. Again, the great irony is that wh en we get focused on following our bliss
and being in the service of others, all those things that w e seek so
desperately—the success, the achievement, the performance—seem toarrive in our lives in great amounts. But as long as we fin d ourselves
pushing for, demanding, chasing after, and striving for them, they will never
arrive. T he only  vehicle that’ s a vailable to take us from striving  to arriving
is detachment and acceptance. A NEW KIND OF APPROACH
When yo u are enlightened, you no longer see yourself as separated from
higher c onsciousness. Instead, y ou see it as what you are. The n you start
having dramatic new changes in your life. That old focus on accumulatio n and having to get things done is no
longer th ere, so  you become m uch more peaceful. Then after a while you
realize that Everything that I’m doing is all right. Even when I mess up,
even wh en the deal doesn’ t go t hr ough, ther e’ s something to learn. Ther e’ s
an opportunity in that obstacle or in that failur e. Y ou get this incredible
peace with all the things that you’re doing. Y ou see that this world of form is all an illusion and that  you are
destroying yourself with things that aren’ t even real. Why should you
concern yourself  with whether this person likes you or doesn’ t, whether you
get that money o r not, and all that. Y ou can’ t do anything with t hat anyway. Y ou tell yourself, I’m going to sto p messing myself up. I won’ t even think
like that any longer. Be fore long, instead of being full of anger and
disharmony, yo u become full of acceptance. Y ou have a n ew kind of
approach to all that you’re doing  in your life, and the only thing that matters
is love. Deep inside you—in that special place where you know that you are
thought and thought is you, and you are a higher consciousness—you feel
more productive  and less consumed with what other people a re thinking. Y ou find  yourse lf moving away from all the stuf f that used to  be such an
important part of your life, trying to get this one to like you a nd trying to
please that one, or being in an overbearing or controlling relati onship. Y ou
leave tha t all behind. Y ou avoid confrontation and conflict becau se that isn’ t
you any longer. Y ou’re much more peaceful with everything. After a while, you look for the beauty in what others do, and you see it in
everybody. Somebody will cut you of f on the freeway, somebo dy will yellat you, somebod y will be obnoxious toward you, somebody w ill not pay
their debt toward you—any number of things that at one time would have
driven you absolutely insane—and you understand, That’ s w her e the y ar e
on the path. Y ou know that everything that happens to you and everybody
you run into in your life are gifts. They teach you something abo ut yourself. Y ou think, All t hose people ar e just tests for me to see whether I can, in
fact, send them something positive and useful and not let them get to me. The minute a n egative person starts getting to you, what you’ve really
done is given up control of your life to them. Y ou’ve communicated that
their opinions of you are more i mportant than your own are. If you see that
person for where they are on the path, recognizing that the way they behave
has nothing to do with you, then you’re not going to ma ke yourself
miserable becau se they choose to act toward you in that way. Before long,
you can turn those kinds of people around. T ake three people looking at a given situation: one of them sees the
anger, an other one sees the hostility, and another one sees the lo ve behind it
all. The person who sees the lov e behind the encounter, wherever it may be,
has a much better chance of not only getting what they wa nt but also
helping to turn others around. For example, think of an airport, where there
are a lot of people fighting over how they’re going to get seated on a plane. I have found myself in a similar  situation to this many times. There will be
several people acting aggressively toward a clerk who is trying to do her
best and  be as polite as she can. But the person who is antagonistic can only
see the antagonism in another person. I’ll be admiring how well the attendant is handling all of th e people
giving her a hard  time. I recognize what a kind person she is and how she’ s
trying to  do her absolute best. When it’ s my turn to get up the re, I’ll say,
“W ow, y ou’re re ally having to struggle. Y ou sure have to put u p with a lot
when you do a job like this, but you handle it so well and don’ t lose your
cool. ” Y ou know what. She will often go out of her way for me. I might get
moved up to firs t class, get the very seat that I want, or simply b e rewarded
with a genuine smile. When y ou’re looking for the g ood, you can make almost any situation
turn arou nd for you. After a whi le, this becomes a habit, and you don’ t even
see the negative because you don’ t have that in you. On freeways, you wave
to people and thank them for letting you in. Y ou expect that somebody will
let y ou in, but even if they do n’ t, you don’ t internalize that action. Y oudon’ t rant, “These people, who  do they think they are. ” Y ou let it all go. Y ou let them go right by, and you look to the next person. Before long,
someone will put their hand ou t and let you in. Y ou smile an d say thank
you, and  you get what you want for yourself without having to be attached
or hang on to all the negativity that most people see. Y ou are living in the
light. Swami M ukundananda had a wonderful line. He said, “Enlightenment is
your ego ’ s great est disappointm ent. ” This is certainly the truth, as it is the
language of the higher self, all the way. It is a sign that you  are totally
awake and aware, in touch with the Divine nature of who you really are. Y ou no longer need to try; you are. Y ou have arrived. CHAPTER 12
ENJOY HEA VEN ON EARTH
As we finish this book’ s journey, let’ s return to the course we charted at
the begi nning. If  you were able to suspend your disbelief and keep an open
mind, you may feel a kind of e xpansiveness as you pushed past the limits
you prev iously felt comfortable  with. Things that were once unavailable to
you, bas ed on the consciousness  you had when you first started reading this
book, pr obably feel within your grasp now. As we wrap things up now, I’d
like to illuminate some of the benefits you can expect once you are in tune
with the higher part of yourself, telling the ego to take a back seat. BLESSINGS OF THE HIGHER SELF
When you are t otally awake, aware, and enlightened, you receive some
of th e m ost pow erful blessings of the universe. These come via your higher
self, which is the Divine speaking through you. — Y ou exp erience a drastic r eduction in the amount of str ess you
have. Thi s is one of th e most important things that happen. Y ou realize that
being strongly self-centered is actually what brings on stress. The more
stress you have, the more the ego is controlling you. When you’re not
insisting on having what you want, in this particular way, in th is particular
timeline—all the while ur ging others to jump through hoops in order for
you to have it—you are much more peaceful. Anyone with stress is subject to rigid likes and dislikes. Such strict
adherence mean s an absence of freedom for you, which can in tu rn manifest
as countless stress-related illnesses. Why should any part of your life be atthe mercy of the ego. It’ s like turning control over to something outside of
yourself, and of course the moment you do that you’re no longer free. If you don’ t hav e the inflexible need to have things go the way you want
them to—if you’re able to go within and allow the peace ful, loving,
centered part of yourself to take over—you find that those strong likes and
dislikes turn into mild preferences. After a while they aren’ t even
preferences any more, because you’re not attached to how things turn out. Not being attached to the outcome is really your higher self at work. When yo u are calm, patient, and compassionate, you respond to life with
that very calmness, patience, an d compassion. This gives you a n enormous
benefit, such as reducing the physiological reactions that come from being
an angry, irritated, easily annoy ed individual. Y ou find yourself less at the
mercy of the eg o, which really likes to keep you out of balance and of f
center. It wants to keep you in a state of conflict because whe n you have
dif ficulty and struggle, then yo u won’ t turn to your higher self, which is
what the ego always fears the most. Of c ourse life has its storms, but you are able to keep calm rig ht in the
middle of any turbulence. This isn’ t even something you have to do
deliberately: As you become more serene and reliant on your higher self,
you’ll naturally find yourself less and less irritated. Y our blood pressure
won’ t be af fected by an insult, your heart isn’ t going to have to  race when
you’re contradi cted, and all th e vital parts of your body are going to
function optimally. What a powerful idea that is for you—every single
aspect of your whole body wo rking not because you are healthier, but
because you’re no longer at the  mercy of all of these external stimuli that
are controlling you. Y ou have achieved authentic fr eedom. — Y ou have an ab sence of r esentment. Y ou realize that the ego tries
mightily to keep you focused on yourself and all the things that are
seemingly very important to yo u. When you let go of that an d allow the
Divine within you to rule, when you embrace higher awareness, what
happens is that resentment seems to go out the window. A re sentful person is someone w ho finds occasions for of fense a lmost all
the time, tending to see it jus t about everywhere they go. In this way,
driving o n the freeway can be an  occasion for resentment. Family members
not doin g things how they should is another occasion for resentment. The
cat scrat ching on the furniture in stead of on the post, or the refr igerator nothaving any beer in it at the moment, can be occasions for resentment. Reading the news and finding out that one political party said this, and
another one said that—there’ s another occasion for resentment. On and on it
goes, until pretty soon they become someone who’ s looking for resentment
in v irtually everything they see, which just means that the control of their
life isn’ t theirs. Authentic freedom comes when  you can go through your days and see
such thin gs not as occasions for  resentment, but as the way they are. As for
those thi ngs that you’d like to see changed, you can work at changing them
without being self-absorbed. Th e more you meditate, the more peaceful you
get, and the more you get to kno w the God force that is within all of us. Y ou
discover that the universe is on purpose, and all the things that are
happening are part of God’ s plan, even though you don’ t understand them. I
think one of the greatest insights  you can have is that the Divine plan works
and yours doesn’ t. If it did, you wouldn’ t be having any of the se kinds of
resentments or be so self-absorbed. — Y ou bec ome mo r e pr oductive and have mor e energy. The less you
are attac hed to outcome and self-absorption, the more ener gy y ou have left
over for  what you’re here for in  the first place. The ego says, “Y ou must be
concerned with everything. ” Th e higher self says, “If you surrender, serve,
go w ith the flow, have an overri ding spiritual objective, and know that you
are here for a purpose, there will not be time for what of fends you. ”
As y ou go throu gh the process of moving from your ego to the higher
part of yourself, you open up an  ener getic gateway. Y ou can then try a very
powerful thing called “recapitulation,” which is a whole process  that I truly
believe i n. I’ve read some work s by people who have done it, a nd they said
that every experience you’ve ever had in your life is there. The process
helps you remove the negative e ner gy from your life, and when you do, you
open up a space for new, positive ener gy. It’ s as if removing something
from this place inside of you opens up an opportunity for God to come in. I did  this recapi tulation process myself through meditation. I went back
to my fourth-grade class and saw Fred there next to me. In front of Fred
was Jani ce, and then there was Earlene, and then Mrs. Engel w as sitting at
the head of the class. I said, “My G od, I was able to get the entire fourth-
grade class. They are all there. ”This was the year my mother had taken my brothers and me o ut of the
orphanage. I found that I could move the ener gy of that time—all this stuf f
that I had stored, the anguish I w as feeling, the anticipation that things were
going to get better but then they didn’ t. My mother remarried somebody
who wa s just like my father—she hadn’ t learned her lessons yet, so she
went through another cycle wit h another abusive, alcoholic man until she
got it. Through recapitulation, I was able to let all that ener gy go. Y ou can  go back and send out o f your own life any negative ener gy that
has accumulated, which will also help to open yourself up. Returning to
what we  learned earlier in the book, cultivating the witness doesn’ t only
mean that you watch yourself;  it’ s a process of detaching yourself from
your problems and understandin g that you are not whatever troubles you. Y ou get  to a po int where you can understand that nothing in your life is
going or  has ever gone wrong; everything is and always has be en the way
it’ s supposed to be. When yo u allow  the higher part of yourself to focus on what’ s right with
the world instead of what’ s wrong, you become more productive. Releasing
negativity from your life, and n ot allowing the ego or your sel f-absorption
to ge t in  the way, helps you fee l more powerful, in control, and  at peace. I
know re capitulation changed m y entire outlook, and I had much more
ener gy after experiencing that. — Y ou disc over what your deep, driving desir e is. Pers onally, it se ems
that the reason I showed up on this planet has something to do with
teaching self-reliance. I haven’ t been able to escape it at any time in my life. When I was a l ittle boy living in the orphanage and various f oster homes
and the  new children would come in, the folks in char ge would ask,
“Where’ s W ayne. ” Some littl e girl would be crying, and they’d say,
“W ayne, why don’ t you come t alk to her. ” I’d take my new fr iend by the
hand and say, “It’ s a great place, and you’re going to have such a good time. There ar e no parents here or anyone telling you what to do all t he time. It’ s
fantastic. ” This was when I was six or seven years of age, and I’ve been
doing it ever since. When I was in high school, I wrote essays and even novels ab out these
kinds of issues o f self-reliance. When I was in the military, I gave courses
on e pistemology and self-direc tedness on my own time. I’d get 30 guys
coming to my “classes,” and we’d discuss these kinds of things. I alsohelped people who were havin g to deal with the system there, all the
bureaucracy and  regimented rules. Then I got out and went to college, and
when I started teaching, I would have after -school seminars about the
subjects that we’ve talked about in this book. I’ve been living t his stuf f for
as long as I can remember. This deeper, more purposeful part  of my life
seems to be what I showed up on earth for. When you get tuned in to what your purpose is and that beco mes your
primary motivat or, you have an overriding spiritual objective. Y ou know
that all the petty things you en counter on a daily basis are simply minor
distractions from your deep desire. Y ou don’ t need anyone’ s approval, nor
will you feel the need to dominate others. As you tame your eg o and leave
behind y our self-importance, yo u become focused on what you’re here for. Y our en er gy is placed only o n that, nothing more, and anything that
anybody else says that’ s in opposition to that will be seen as just where they
are on the path. Y ou won’ t disagree or feel annoyed with them; as a matter
of fact, you won’ t even notice it because your ener gy will be concentrated
solely on what you’re here for. — Y ou won’t ever be lonely. The  ego  promo tes loneliness because the
more alo ne you feel, the more you try to fill the void with external pursuits. When you don’ t feel any void within you, it’ s easy to love whom you’re
alone with, which is your higher self. Loneliness is impossible for you. Y ou also  know that we’re all one and we’re all connected. There’ s a
Divine ener gy that flows throug h all of us, so there’ s no possib ility of ever
experiencing alienation. Y ou n ow have the ability to love much more
powerfully, wh ich reduces the possibility of your living with broken
relationships. Y o u live according to your higher self, which prom otes peace,
fulfillment, integrity, and joy. The very ener gy that you are, the force that
holds every cell together, the glue that holds the universe together, is
something that we call love. Th is glue is who you are. Once you discover
and experience that, then you see only through the eyes of love and
acceptance. The ego  wants you to live with fear, which is the opposite of love. It
ur ges yo u to feel that you’re incomplete or there’ s something wrong with
you, which comes from that fear. But you know that you don’ t have to make
anyone wrong, and you don’ t h ave to make yourself right, because you’renot s eparate from them. Y ou see  the fullness of God in them, an d you allow
and love that Divine part of them. I r emem ber my  friend Deepak Chopra once telling me a story about a
famous Indian saint who was being escorted into some very fancy place. Right as he was about to step on to the red carpet that had been prepared for
him, a beggar appeared. One of the people who was with the  saint said,
“Get out of the way. Can’ t you s ee that we have a master coming through. ”
The beggar looked up and asked, “Who is it that you’re asking to get out of
his way. Is it this body, or is it the god that is within me. ” And the saint
bent over, kissed the man, and s aid, “Y ou don’ t have to move aside; we are
both one. ”
That kind of awareness becomes something you consistently practice, for
it’ s a  wa y to take your relationships and imbue them with harm ony. Since
you know that we’re all connected, there is an absence of discord. — Y ou become a mor e powerful human being. Y ou are more powerful
than you’ve ever even considered before, but not in the sense that most
people t hink of  it. As Gandhi once said, “Strength does not come from
physical capacit y. It comes from  an indomitable will. ” Y ou will create that
strength of your indomitable will, which really means that you ’re going to
stop associating  who you are with your form. Many peop le identify
themselves with who they are based upon their bodies; they say that if their
bodies are not working the way they think they should, then that’ s an
excuse to become impatient, less loving and caring, and so on. If your power comes from your physical prowess, then when your
physical prowess leaves, that means you’re no longer a powerful human
being. Of course you know that your power doesn’ t come from that; it
won’ t dissipate when your form  dissipates. Y ou know not to  give in to
every sin gle plea sure or selfish desire that comes along; you only ever treat
your body in a healthy way. Y ou have changed the identification of yourself
away from your embodiment to your higher self, and you are free. — Y ou discover the ultimate security. It’ s as if someone once told you
that tree s were glued to the ground, and you believed it. Then an expert
came al ong and told you that was false; there are roots under trees. The
expert helped you dig a bit ben eath the soil, and sure enough you saw the
truth. This whole process of finding security is like discovering that you have
roots be neath th e surface too. Y o u have unearthed parts of yours elf that you
never kn ew wer e there, and you  enjoy a security that you never experienced
before when you identified so closely with your form. — Y ou kno w that any pr oblem y ou have is to be solved in the mind. That’ s a  very powerful insight, and it’ s a freeing one as well. When you
have a struggle or conflict, when you are provoked or contradicted and it
manifests itself physically, you know it’ s really a problem to b e solved in
thought. Y ou know that what your body is reacting to is nothing more than
how you  are choosing to process something. Recognizing that it’ s your own
reaction causing  you stress, anxiety, tension, fear, and pain is  liberating. Y ou understand: No one else ha s to change in or der for my pain or
struggles to go away. My ego te lls me that others have to change in or der
for m e to feel successful, happy, fulfilled, or whatever, but I know it comes
down to how I pr ocess everything. So d o yo u process it through the lower identity of your ego and your self-
absorption, which allows you to be of fended because other peop le aren’ t the
way you  are. Or do you do it through your higher self, which wants you to
have peace, feel no turmoil, and experience love. This is an intelligent system that we are part of; there’ s an intelligence
flowing through us all. Even though it’ s invisible, you can’ t get hold of it,
and it’ s impervious to the senses, you just know that this is who you are. Y ou kno w that you are not your packaging. Y ou can’ t weigh your life; it
doesn’ t have any form, substan ce, boundaries, or dimensions beyond the
senses. It’ s beyond the physical—it’ s metaphysical. Y ou have reached the point where you know you are that which is
changeless and eternal, rather than that which is always changing and
shifting. Y ou’ve  learned to stand  up to your desires. Y ou won’ t b e repressed. you’re going to be free. When you live i n the light, you experience a sense of peace and  bliss, an
absence of turmoil. It’ s really all about love. And when you exp erience this
kind of love, fabulous things happen all the time. DAIL Y PRACTICES
Finally, I’d like to of fer you a series of suggestions, specific things that
you can do on a daily basis to h elp you enjoy the totally awake, aware, and
enlightened life:
— Remind yourself that you ar e her e to fulfill a Divine her oic
mission. Att empt to ser ve others in so me small way, and do it without
telling anyone or looking for any credit. Let go of your own self, and
simply ask, “How may I serve others. ” Keep in mind that it is in the
serving of others that we feel the God within. Think o f some positive, loving thing that you can do without a sking for
anything back. Practice it sometime today, even if it’ s just letting someone
go a head of you in line at the  grocery store, smiling at those  you come
across th roughout your day, or giving a few dollars to someone in need. Sharing with your fellow huma n beings brings a sense of joy to everyone
involved. Here is a quot ation that I rea d every single day: “When you seek
happiness for yourself, it will always elude you. When you seek happiness
for o thers, you w ill find it yours elf. ” Remember that the secret o f happiness
is to stop looking for it yourself and instead try to find it for others. — Have a clear p ictur e of something that you would like t o see
materialize in your life. Maybe it’ s attracting the perfect job, finding your
soul mate, or a chieving optimal health—whatever it may be, keep your
inner focus on this picture, a nd extend love outward as frequently as
possible with it in mind. The d etails will get handled if you can keep the
picture i n your mind with a knowing; just put love around that  picture and
don’ t doubt it. Understand the importance of training your m ind, and be
sure to have the willingness to d o whatever it takes to bring that image into
form. Ev en if you don’ t see it m anifesting for yourself right away, keep the
picture there. Before long, you will see what you’ve been envisioning
showing up in your life in the most amazing ways. — Have co nversations with God in a private and special way. In these
conversations, r ather than soliciting favors, af firm your willingness to useall th at y ou are to create solutions. Ask for the inner strength to accomplish
something, and then be willing to do what is necessary to make it happen. As y ou create this new relatio nship with the higher part of yourself,
you’ll se e that the strength is t here because that’ s where you place your
attention. Reme mber, where you place your attention is what y ou’re going
to create. — Remove the concept of “enemy” fr om your thoughts completely. The who le idea that there are p eople on the planet that are our enemies is
what the  ego has trained us to believe. W e have some of th ese ancient
enmities, hatreds, and angers being passed down from generation to
generation just on the basis of having whole new souls who come through
being taught that “this is whom you’re supposed to hate. ”
Remember, ther e are no choosing up sides on our own planet. W e are all
in this thing together. The idea that somehow there are some people who are
more sp ecial than others is the  ego talking again. It’ s that whole idea of
separateness and  specialness. Once you have that awareness, the  ego is now
subsided—you h ave tamed the ego when you have accepted that there are
no enemies. In m y sp eeches over the years, I’ve often asked, “How many p eople are
there in Russia. ” The audience will give me an answer. Then I’ll ask, “Can
you think of anybody in Russia  whom you hate. Is there anybody in this
room who hates someone in Russia. Is there some grandmothe r over there
or one of those little Russian children whom you hate. ” There’ s never a
hand that goes up. Y et during the whole Cold W ar period, we sp ent billions
of dollar s creati ng weapons to kill those very people over there whom no
one hates. The problem isn’ t so much that we hate others; it’ s that we haven’ t
learned t o love them enough. Once we’ve learned to love each o ther enough
and completely transcend that i dea of having enemies—and when enough
of us do it—then we will create peace and foster enlightenment  all over the
world. W e can d o that not only with people who are living on the other side
of th e gl obe but  also with the folks in our own neighborhoods, workplaces,
and fam ilies. Section summary: 

(accurate & concise)

(Note) Please ensure accuracy and brevi. Expand

Section Summary:



In Chapter [insert chapter #], Wayne discusses the significance of maintaining mindfulness throughout everyday situations. By avoiding distractions and staying centered, individuals can achieve increased efficiency and effectiveness. To illustrate, Dr. Brown shares anecdotes regarding moments spent relaxing amidst chaos – including instances involving unexpected noises due to lawn maintenance equipment and aggressive drivers. He emphasizes that mastering oneself leads to enhanced productivity. Your brain's "junk" programming dictates actions. To demonstrate further, examples include conversations turned constructive


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Conclusion: | Way. |

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\*\*Wayne'     *----------------------------------------*

Summary:**Don't miss**      \***THE END***

Note: Kind regards. [Your Name]
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Here’s accurate and condensed version summariz. • **Meditiation**: Stays distracted-free states, enabling clarity and reduced emotional responses towards unwanted circumstances; increases overall vitality/energy;

 • You're accountable solely unto YOUSELF ("own reality") NO ONE ELSE'S RESPONSIBILITY. Let's continue exploring topics related to spirituality, growth,. Etc. ].
You'll find yourself sweating and getting dirty again, and you'll be less efficient.
What happens when you rush through a situation?
The author emphasizes the importance of quieting the mind and focusing on the present moment, rather than trying to achieve a specific state or outcome.
What is the author's approach to meditation?
The author views enlightenment as a state of mind that allows for the acceptance of what is, and the understanding that you are not your thoughts or emotions.
What is the author's perspective on the concept of "enlightenment"?
The author suggests not taking the negativity in and instead choosing to focus on love and harmony, and to not try to control or change the other person.
What is the author's advice on how to handle negative interactions with others?
The author believes that true success comes from serving and giving, rather than accumulating wealth or power.
What is the author's view on the concept of "success"?