“Thought is the sculptor who can create the
person you want to be.” – Henry David Thoreau

The seemingly incompatible ideas of being both successful and spiritual are a very intriguing and powerful field that Dr. Wayne Dyer explores in his internationally bestselling book, The 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace. In the book Wayne Dyer explores a vastly new attitude towards life, success and spirituality. This attitude goes against the grain of much of what we’ve come to believe about living an extraordinary life and it calls on us to adopt a new way of perceiving ourselves and the world at large.

In a world that seems to be obsessed with having more and being the best, it’s hard for many people to comprehend success as a spiritual idea, yet in this book Wayne Dyer lays down a series of timeless principles that each and every one of us can follow and practice in our everyday lives to create for ourselves the kind of life that we ultimately desire.

(you can download a FREE summary of this book – click here… for more info)

This new spirituality is not one which you can keep neatly wrapped up until next Sunday morning. It is not a spirituality that is grounded in the traditional stigma of fear and dogma. Instead, it is a very practical and personal spirituality – one where God is personal and part of ALL of your life. The ultimate purpose of spirituality is for it to serve you and not frighten or judge you. The challenge is that we get born into a life and with this comes a set of belief that we cannot help but to adopt. This is the very thing that often keeps us from making the kind of progress that will free us.

A very important aspect of your personal and spiritual growth is to be willing to be wrong and to have your belief system turned upside down. One of Wayne Dyer’s secrets for success and inner peace is to have a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing. Having an open mind is a very hard thing for most of us to have simply because we’ve all been conditioned in so many different ways. Most of what we think is right or wrong is nothing but a function of the environment that we grew up in. When you close your mind, you close yourself off from what’s possible for you. When you open your mind to everything, you open the doors to the creative genius within you.

What you are capable of is a function of your mind and what you believe as being possible and not your physical capabilities or resources. Scientists have now proofed that until and unless you can see something happening in your mind, you won’t take the action necessary to make it happen. With an open mind, you are open to new suggestions and along with this you are able to see the entire world in a new way. Throughout history, all progress depended on people to have an open mind and people who were able to consider and conceive of the ‘impossible’ where those responsible for advancing humanity. A mind that is closed, especially to the obvious, is a mind that will only continue to move along the same line. Open minds can break their bounds and see things afresh.

Your own inner genius relies on you to allow it to blossom and it starts by opening your mind. Creativity is a force that requires a fresh look at things and a mind that is open is a mind that allows the creative force of the universe to work through it. Even though most people claim to be open minded, very few are truly open to new points of view. Very few people are willing to be wrong or to have their own beliefs challenged.

When it comes to matter spiritual people tend to tighten up. We’ve been so conditioned into slotting spiritual approaches into categories – especially when it comes to religion. People are incredibly sensitive when it comes to spiritual beliefs, and some will even defend it with their lives. George Bernard Shaw once said that “There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it.”

What’s your view of it? 

Sometimes we just can’t help but to ‘slot’ people and to be judgmental, BUT being open minded calls on us to let go of this and to really explore the possibilities. Life’s treasures are usually found in the most unlikely places!

Living a more spiritually conscious life requires of you to be more open minded. The fact remains that we know very little about the true nature of the world we live in. There are just so many dimensions to life and so many unanswered questions that after 2000 years we are only starting to get a glimpse at the vastness of it all. How can anyone be an optimist in a world that is so rich in unexplored ideas and unanswered questions? How do we really know things are what they are? With an open mind you can start to embrace more of life and in the process you will start to develop a greater sense of awe for life. This is the foundation of having a rich life – rich in experience and in the totally of what you allow into your own private world.

Spirituality is at the centre of our exploration into the world we live in and ultimately understanding more about ourselves is a thirst that we all have to quench. Spirituality has always been at the centre of humankind’s quest to know itself – to discover and explore life’s most profound quests. Life is not so much an ‘either or’ as it is an ‘as well as’ but our conditioning keeps us locked up in our own limiting beliefs. Open your mind and free yourself from the limitations that keep you locked up in your own limitations. An open mind will free that creative force that lies dormant within you. An open mind will help you to create a greater sense of harmony in your life and embrace more of life with a sense of wonder and awe. Free your mind and your spirit will follow.

(continues from part 1)

In part 1 we looked at some key ideas about inner peace and we defined inner peace as an inner sense of harmony; a feeling of bliss that we feel deep down inside. In part 2 we will look some of the barriers that we all encounter towards living with a greater sense of inner peace.

1. The Ego
Your ego is that part of you that’s like a veil to your spirit. It’s the external façade that we all wear in order to operate in this world. Your ego constantly reminds you about your separateness and how you have to proof yourself by being better than, faster than or stronger than everybody else. Your ego is the source of most of the conflicts in your life. These can be conflicts with other people and even with yourself because the ego is fixated on being the most important person. Much of the anger, resentment and frustration in your life come from the ego’s demands on you

Having a sense of inner peace allows you to be in harmony with everyone and everything. The effect of inner peace is a sense of unity and you start to see both your environment and your fellow human beings as being connected to you in some invisible way.

Although you cannot rid yourself of your ego, you can go along way in subduing the ego’s demands on you and focusing on living from your higher self instead – making a conscious effort not fall prey to your ego and all the millions of demands it places on you every day.

2. Living In The Future
It’s important to realize that wherever your mind is – there you are. If your attention is in the past or the future, then that is what your experience of life will be. So many people waste away their precious time living their lives in a time other than now. Wallowing in the past serves no purpose and no matter what you do you cannot change that which is over. Worrying about what might happen in the future will only cause you to feel an inner sense of turmoil. Worry tends to consume your entire mind, removing you from feeling at peace.

One of the key spiritual realizations is to understand that the only ‘time’ you really have is now. Where your thoughts are now is where you are. If you think that one day when you have enough money or when the right person comes along or when you are fit and healthy THEN you will be happy – think again! Divert your thoughts and your energy to the present moment instead and give up everything that’s over and done with and let go of everything that might be.
 

3. Spiritual Ignorance
There is an aspect to each and everyone of us that is invisible, yet very real. This higher self, your spirit is who you really are. You will continue to feel unfulfilled in life until you recognize and nurture the seeds of divinity deep within you.

It is this spiritual part of you that seeks to be at peace. When you recognize and nurture your own divinity you can start to listen more to your Self and less to the demands and expectations of the world. Knowing what brings you a sense of inner peace is the essence of living a more peaceful life.

By becoming more aware of these three ‘enemies’ of inner peace you can start to make a more conscious effort to stay connected with your own spirituality and live a more blissful life. An inner sense of quiet and tranquility is a very important part of being happy in your Self. Make it your goal in life not to achieve or have more, but instead to be at peace and reorganize your priorities to create an environment within yourself where your spirit can thrive.

Without inner peace no person can survive. Almost daily we see headlines of super ‘successful’ people having to turn to drugs or alcohol just to cope with the inner turmoil they are experiencing. It’s a challenge that we are all faced with and with every experience of life you have the choice: Do you choose peace or do you choose turmoil? Do you choose to win, to be better, to have more, to proof someone else wrong…OR do you choose that which will bring you inner peace?