How Wayne Dyer Upset Me and Things I Am Thankful For

by Brian Vaszily, Founder of IntenseExperiences.com,
Author of The 9 Intense - Named One of the Top 5 Best
Motivational Books of All Time!

(NOTE: Don't miss the 10 Most Popular Motivational Articles after reading this.)


It’s so easy to allow our egos to paralyze us. The paradox is, it’s the most unnecessarily difficult thing to have let our egos paralyze us.

The ego is that pouting creature inside us all who wants to keep us focused on what we don’t have. Who wants to dictate our actions based on fear and all the ways we’ve been wronged.

And on that note...

The other day, I got upset. Of all people, you may be surprised that I got upset at the spiritual guru, Wayne Dyer. I was again watching his film, The Shift, and I got upset because at one point in the film he says – and I am paraphrasing here – that after achieving wealth from his books and more he realized how little wealth really mattered.

Angry at Wayne

Now I must add that it wasn’t just Wayne’s comment that upset me.

Thanks for "The Shift." See The Top 10 Motivational Articles Ever

I had paused the film the day before, and just prior to resuming the film I had been trying to work through a nagging technical issue related to this very website. I hadn’t yet succeeded, but I was exhausted and realized I’d be better off working on it the next day when I felt fresh.

To calm and center myself, I decided to resume Dyer’s film where I had left off the day before. But apparently the frustrating website technical issue plus exhaustion plus Wayne Dyer’s comment equaled an open door for my ego to stick his little head out.

“Easy for you to say,” my ego shouted at Wayne, “since you’re financially set for this life and probably the next and you don’t have to worry about money! How convenient to say something doesn’t matter much when you have that something!”

The Most Destructive Non-Pharmaceutical Narcotic

Of course, since my ego was hollering, I missed the rest of Wayne’s message that followed. Fortunately, I did pause the film about a minute thereafter to go to the washroom.

I say fortunately because in my washroom I keep a copy of the book The 201 Greatest and Quotes Ever that I compiled and printed out (I give this Greatest Sayings and Quotes book away FREE to anyone who wants it!)

And while I am sitting there in the bathroom (sorry for a bit too much information ;) ), I will often close my eyes, flip through this book’s pages, and let my finger stop somewhere “randomly” on a given page. Then I will open my eyes to see what quote I landed on. I then ponder the quote and try to absorb – or reabsorb -- the lesson it offers me.

This time in the washroom, after walking away from Wayne in a huff, I grabbed the book, closed my eyes, flipped through the pages, let my finger stop at a certain point on one of the pages, and opened my eyes.

And it was this quote by John William Gardner, the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in U.S. President Lyndon Johnson’s administration and a prominent author on leadership and excellence, that my finger had landed on:

Self-pity is easily the most destructive of the non-pharmaceutical narcotics; it is addictive, gives momentary pleasure, and separates the victim from the reality.

Okay God, okay Universe, okay Mr. Dyer and Mr. Gardner, okay “random” finger of mine, I get it.

I temporarily allowed my ego to rule, and when the ego rules it will always find a ready target. This time it was envy for Wayne Dyer. What that really means is that I allowed myself to focus on something I don’t have – Wayne’s wealth (though I don’t really even know, I realized, what his financial wealth is) – and how I’ve been wronged by not having it.

Self-pity. Self-paralysis. Self-destruction.

Thank You Feta Cheese

After apologizing to my own greater spirit for allowing pouty ego and his fear and envy to temporarily rule, and after apologizing to Wayne paused in a soft smile on my TV screen, I decided to do what I often do but still not often enough: make a list of some of the infinite gifts I have been given … some of the infinite things I have been blessed with.

In addition to the things I am thankful for that always make my list -- such as my health, my Mother, my kids, other family and friends and being loved, a roof over my head and food on my table, being born in the first place, and my Apple computer – dozens of other things I am thankful for floated out of me.

Here’s a small sampling:

I am thankful Beethoven lived and recorded Piano Sonata 14, “The Moonlight Sonata”

Things I am thankful for include the many times I could have been in an accident but I avoided them … or something helped me to avoid them

Things I am thankful for include all the hugs I get and am able to give

I am thankful for cheese. I really love cheese, especially feta cheese.

I am thankful for everything I have ever learned from my exes and for the love they showed me

I am thankful for balloons, especially at otherwise boring parties.

I am thankful for the smell of spearmint, which alone can refresh me

I am thankful for my cats, even Jackie who wants to urinate where she shouldn’t

Things I am thankful for include having opposing thumbs. They’ve been very useful

I am thankful for tennis and being able to play it, as it strengthens my body and mind while enabling me to relax

I am thankful for the sun. How can I not be?

I am thankful for whoever determined I was “gifted” back in fourth grade at Lloyd Elementary School in Chicago when to others I appeared to be “just another little punk” headed for gangs and trouble

I am grateful to my father for sending me to the library to pick out books for him to read, telling me nothing more than “choose whatever you think I am going to like” … and for actually reading them

Things I am grateful for include that so many people DO smile and laugh

I am grateful for contact lenses and glasses. Nice inventions.

And I am grateful for Wayne Dyer and his exceptional film, The Shift … and the shift I experienced while watching it

Put What YOU Are Thankful For Out There for The World

Once I get going with all of the gifts I have been given, with all that I am thankful for, I realize my list really is infinite. Wayne’s is, too, and so is yours. We are already all wealthy beyond measure.

Click Here to Share a Few Things You are Thankful For Now at the Intense Experiences Forums

Consider that a moment: we each have a list of things to be grateful for that is so long that we could never complete the list! Those butterflies that danced around your head a decade ago, getting sick and finally healing which led to seeing the world with new eyes, white tea, a good baseball game, your pillow, that one kiss … the list is never-ending when you and not your ego are perceiving.

So with that in mind, put some of your gratitude out there for the world!

As you already know, when you share what you are thankful for, it really does manifest itself … it blossoms into greater awareness of all that is good, and therefore it blossoms into greater good, for you, for all you are sharing it with, and for the world and universe in general.

So please head to the Intense Experiences Forums now and share a few things that you are thankful for … and Happy Holidays to you and yours.



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