Remembering Wayne Dyer

Wayne Dyer passed away 29 August 2015 in Hawaii. Dr. Dyer had been diagnosed with leukemia several years prior. He was 75.

On Wayne Dyer’s Facebook page, his family wrote:

“Wayne has left his body, passing away through the night. He always said he couldn’t wait for this next adventure to begin and had no fear of dying. Our hearts are broken, but we smile to think of how much our ‘scurvy elephant’ will enjoy the other side”.

Wayne Dyer was one of the most widely recognised voices in personal development and spiritual self-growth. Across more than four decades, he wrote more than 40 books, with 21 becoming New York Times bestsellers, and created numerous audio programmes and videos. He also appeared on thousands of television and radio programmes.

His work brought together ideas about self-reliance, personal responsibility, intention, spirituality and the power of our thoughts.

For many readers, his message was both challenging and encouraging. We may not be able to choose everything that happens to us, yet we can become much more conscious of the way we respond.

That is part of what makes his words worth returning to. A good quotation can be read in one moment and forgotten for a while, then suddenly become meaningful years later because life has changed and we are ready to hear it differently.

A message that continues beyond the years

Enjoy this talk by Wayne Dyer in the video, above. Below, I’ve included some of my favorite Wayne Dyer quotes for you to ponder.

Wayne’s teachings often encouraged us to look inward rather than waiting for the outside world to change first. His ideas invite us to question old assumptions, notice the choices available to us and take greater responsibility for the direction of our lives.

You don’t have to agree with every idea to find something useful in his work. Sometimes one sentence is enough to make us pause. Sometimes a quotation becomes a question we carry with us. Sometimes it simply reminds us of something we already knew yet had temporarily forgotten.

Wayne Dyer Quotes To Ponder

If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.

When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.

Be miserable or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.

Conflict cannot survive without your participation.

You cannot be lonely if you like the person you’re alone with.

The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.

When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It’s to enjoy each step along the way.

Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.

Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.

The components of anxiety, stress, fear and anger do not exist independently of you in the world. They simply do not exist in the physical world, even though we talk about them as if they do.

Each experience in your life was absolutely necessary in order to have gotten you to the next place and the next, up until this very moment.

Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last. The past is over and gone. The future is not guaranteed.

Love is the ability and willingness to allow those that you care for to be what they choose for themselves without any insistence that they satisfy you.

Freedom means you are unobstructed in living your life as you choose. Anything less is a form of slavery.

You cannot always control what goes on outside. But you can always control what goes on inside.

Deficiency motivation doesn’t work. It will lead to a life-long pursuit of trying to fix me. Learn to appreciate what you have and where and who you are.

What comes out of you, when you are squeezed, is what is inside of you.

Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people live in a hostile world. Same world.

It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there’s nothing you can do about them and why worry about things you do control? The activity of worrying keeps you immobilized.

You leave old habits behind by starting out with the thought, ‘I release the need for this in my life.’

Everything you are against, weakens you. Everything you are for, empowers you.

You’ll see it when you believe it.

Miracles come in moments. Be ready and willing.

Our lives are a sum total of the choices we have made.

What Can We Take From Wayne Dyer’s Words?

Reading a collection of quotations like this can be more valuable when we resist the temptation to simply read them and move on.

Instead, choose one that catches your attention.

Read it again.

Then ask yourself what it might mean in your life today.

Perhaps the most useful question is not, “Do I agree with this?” rather, “Is there something here that could help me?”

Wayne Dyer repeatedly returned to themes such as choice, perspective, responsibility, freedom, love and living in the present. Those themes are not tied to one particular decade. They remain relevant because the circumstances of our lives may change while many of the questions we face remain remarkably familiar.

Which quotation speaks to you?

Of all the words on this page, one may stand out because it describes something you are experiencing right now.

Maybe you need to change the way you are looking at a situation.

Maybe you are spending too much energy worrying about something outside your control.

Maybe an old habit is ready to be released.

Maybe you need the reminder to stop treating life as a rehearsal and start paying attention to the day you are actually living.

Perhaps you simply need permission to enjoy the journey rather than becoming so focused on reaching the destination.

That is one of the pleasures of returning to the words of writers and teachers we have encountered before. We are not the same person who first read them.

Keep Taking Your Next Step

Personal development doesn’t happen because we read one inspiring quotation. It happens through the small choices we make afterwards.

A thought can become a question.

A question can become a decision.

A decision can become an action.

Repeated actions can gradually change the direction of a life.

That idea fits beautifully with Wayne Dyer’s emphasis on personal choice and with the spirit of Forward Steps: we don’t have to transform everything at once. We can simply notice where we are, decide where we would rather go and take the next step.

You can listen to (ad) some of Wayne’s most recent audiobooks here.

Hi, I'm Thea Westra at Forward Steps (forwardstepsblog.com)

Since March 2003, I've been sharing practical, positive, thought provoking and inspiring self improvement content online. My aim is simple - to offer tips and resources that help us enhance our daily experience of life and to keep stepping forward. Perth, Western Australia is the place I call home and I'm the author of "Time For My Life: 365 Stepping Stones". You might also know me from the Forward Steps personal development blog and the daily series of "365 Forward Steps Notes", all designed to add wings to our unique life journeys.

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