Wayne Dyer Taught Me These Skills

As you may know, Wayne Dyer passed away a couple of weeks ago. I was first introduced to Wayne in my 20’s when I read his first book Your Erroneous Zones. I was fascinated and intrigued as I read many more of his books and watched his PBS specials and applied his teachings to my own life. In fact I was reading one of his more recent books Wishes Fulfilled: Mastering the Art of Manifesting when I learned of his passing. As I thought about the many ways he touched my life I realized that I have been learning from him for nearly 40 years. I would like to share some significant skills he taught me that I use every day to create a wonderful, fulfilling, and satisfying life. I hope you can apply them to your life, too.

1) I must set my intention to create what I want. Setting an intention is an essential first step in creating the life I want. It clarifies and defines what I hope to create and helps me set goals that align with my intention. It helps me be more mindful of whether or not what I am doing, thinking, or feeling is aligned with my intention and helps me stay on track.

For example, I set my intention whenever I start a new venture. When I went back to school to get my Master’s Degree I set my intention to do well so I could really help people live better lives. I pictured myself sitting in psychotherapy sessions listening to clients and guiding them. Later on, as I actually created a busy, successful private practice I often thought about how I imagined it would be. When I wanted to meet a man with whom I could share life’s wonderful journey I wrote down all the details of exactly what I wanted and how I would feel when I got it. I am now married to a man who matches what I wrote in my intention to an uncanny degree.  Read about the process I used here.

2) I can change my life by changing my thoughts. Thoughts are powerful and are instrumental in creating the life I see around me at any given moment. When I think predominantly negative thoughts I notice that negative things, events and people show up in my life. The more negative my thoughts, the more negative everything seems to be in my life. When I find a more positive thought that I can believe, then more positive things and people start showing up. It is important to find a thought that actually makes me feel better when I think it. As Wayne said, “when you change the way you look at things the things you look at change.â€

For example, when I start to think negatively about something, everything seems to prove me right. But when I find a more helpful and positive thought, it feels like a blockage is removed and things flow more freely. I used to wonder if I could write a book that would help anyone. What if nobody reads it? When I changed that thought to “I have already helped thousands of people in my practice and maybe if I write about what I’ve learned in my practice and my life it will help even more people.†Soon after I changed my thinking I was teaching a workshop for PESI and their publishing department invited me to submit a book proposal. I have since written 2 best-selling books so now my work is helping hundreds of thousands of people.

3) My emotions act like a magnet and attract things that match them – Like attracts like. I can attract good things by being mindful of my emotions and keeping them positive. If I am down and depressed, then I soon find that everything around me seems down, rejecting, too difficult, and not good enough. If I change my emotional channel and bring myself into a place where I feel better, then the world around me looks and feels better.

For example, I have become really good at finding something positive about almost anything. When we get stuck in an accident -related traffic jam, I think about how grateful I am that I was not involved in the accident – and I send good wishes for healing to those who were. When I feel worn out I thank my body for reminding me to slow down, rest up, and take a break. And then I do so, as soon as possible. When I feel frustrated I step back, put things in perspective, and ask for help if appropriate. I change my feeling and adopt a more positive attitude.

4) It is crucial to act and feel as if I already have what I want. If I want something specific in my life then it is amazingly effective to close my eyes and picture that I already have what I want in my life. Then, the most important step is to imagine everything about how I will feel when I have it. It is important to really get into the feeling of it. Picture all the details of having what I want and all the feelings involved.

For example, when I was selling my house a few years ago, as soon as the house was listed with a realtor I imagined feeling relieved, happy, and satisfied that I had a solid buyer with excellent financing and a great price offer within a few weeks. I kept the image going until I actually felt those feelings. I practiced this several times a day. I had a qualified buyer and contract in place within 3 weeks! This works!

5) Life’s challenges help me to learn and grow. Whenever I am struggling with some challenge in my life, I remind myself that every time I encounter a challenge, I learn, grow and strengthen in ways that boost me along in my life.

For example, I was chronically ill for 15 years. I hated being sick and having pain every day. This experience changed everything about my life as I knew it. It prompted me to change careers, move to a less toxic home, learn about nutrition and alternative forms of healing, find a way to deal effectively with the traditional medical community and develop a personal mindfulness practice. I have since used what I learned to help many other people. If I had not been sick I may not have experienced the benefits of mindfulness, helped clients learn mindfulness skills, taught workshops on mindfulness or wrote a #1 best-selling book about mindfulness skills.

So, thank-you Wayne Dyer. You have helped so many people create a better life for themselves. The way I live my life has been changed forever thanks to so many things you taught me.