10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace: Tenth Secret
March 9, 2010 by dr. lam · 3 Comments
Tenth Secret: “Wisdom is Avoiding All Thoughts that Weaken You”
You are what you think is a truism. If our mind is plagued with negative thoughts, we become a product of that negativity. Dyer opens the chapter with an example of kinesiology. When we hold up our arm and say a lie, our muscles go weak and we don’t even know it. When we tell the truth, our muscles are emboldened and remain strong. I tried this in the past, and I was shocked that it worked. At the time I did not even know what was going on but it happened, and I was flabbergasted. Dyer says if such a simple test can prove to be such a devastating force to our muscle capacity, how do consistently negative thoughts that course through our brains affect our bodies. Obviously, they wear us down.
When we are focused on peace, love and happiness, that is where we will reside. When we are entrained on hatred, anger, pettiness, and resentment, our hearts and minds will be aligned in such a way. If we believe that we will get the flu this season, we probably will. If we don’t, we probably won’t. We are a sum total of all our thoughts. We are truly what we think. Avoid all thoughts that weaken you, and be strengthened by all good thoughts that can enliven you.
Dyer cites a book entitled A Course in Miracles that divides all thoughts/beliefs/energies in this world into either love or fear. With this simple dichotomy, we can envision every thought we have as something that can either strengthen us with love or destroy us with fear. There are no neutral thoughts. Instead of a fearful, anxious mind, we should replace those thoughts with love, peace, joy, and happiness. Choose your thoughts, and choose them wisely.
10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace: Ninth Secret
March 5, 2010 by dr. lam · 2 Comments
Ninth Secret: “Treasure Your Divinity”
We are so ensnared in our mortal coil that we cannot see past it. We cannot see the grandeur and beauty that surrounds us. In short, we cannot see our own divine nature that has been given from a divine source. We are lost in the mundane. We are a product of this world. We are a consequence of habitual thought. Dyer exhorts us to see our divine nature and to be in touch with divine presence.
He imagines God (not necessarily a defined entity but a divine inspiration for the world or however you choose to believe in that divinity) to be like the ocean. We are a cup of water from that ocean. When we are part of that ocean, we are alive and vital and activated by that source energy. When we take that cup of water out of that ocean, it will eventually evaporate and return to its source. We are all a part of a divine presence. We just may not look at that part of us on a day-to-day basis.
When we see the divinity within us, we can be the very best of who we are because we entrust that we are divine creatures and not earthbound animals scrounging around for our daily bread. When we meditate in silence, when we offer our peace and love to others, we can be in touch with our divine spirit and we can be grateful for that enlightened part of all of us.
10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace: Eighth Secret
March 4, 2010 by dr. lam · 2 Comments
Eighth Secret: “Treat Yourself As If You Already Are What You’d Like To Be”
This is a wondrous statement. We have all heard of the law of attraction, espoused by Rhonda Byrnes in her famous book and film, The Secret. However, Dyer goes beyond The Secret in many of his thoughts. We do not attract what we want to attract; we attract what we already are. We must be focused on who we want to be as if we are that thing or person already.
If we want peace in our life, we must see ourselves already as the embodiment of peace. Similarly, if we want a peaceful relationship with someone else, we must see that person as a peaceful individual. When we say we want peace, that is not enough because wanting is a state of absence. That is the very definition of want. We must visualize that we already have it and that we are already there.
In short, we set our intention for where we want to be. When we set our intention toward a goal, our unconscious mind drives us toward completion of that goal effortlessly and at the appointed time. We follow forward toward our destination without labor or hardship. Whatever we want to be or want to become, we should see ourselves as a finished image of that self.
10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace: Seventh Secret
March 3, 2010 by dr. lam · 2 Comments
Seventh Secret: “There are No Justified Resentments”
Dyer opens this chapter with a story of how he sat in on an Alcoholics Anonymous group and heard one person blaming someone else for his or her woes. But a sign reminded the individual that In This Group, There are No Justified Resentments. At our lowest consciousness, we blame everyone around us for everything because it certainly could not be our fault. We look toward others and see that they are the ones that caused all of our current problems. In fact, our society supports this blame-oriented thinking. It is certainly the lowest level of consciousness.
“But, of course, I am justified to think a certain way. Don’t you understand the way that I have been treated?” Dyer relates a story of a person who always turned the other cheek in the face of great, apparent adversity and harsh criticisms. Someone asked him, “How can you do what you do?” The individual replied, “Quite easily, if someone offers you a gift, and you do not accept that gift, to whom does that gift belong?” If you do not accept the invective, who does it belong to? Dyer cites the humorous but truthful expression, “Your opinion of me is none of my business.”
After we let go of blame, the next level of consciousness is to offer in return to all: peace, love, forgiveness, and compassion no matter what. That is a much more profound level of consciousness that we all can aspire to attain. The first step however is letting go of blame. If we cannot even do that, then we cannot move onward and upward to returning beauty to all in any situation.
10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace: Sixth Secret
March 2, 2010 by dr. lam · 2 Comments
Sixth Secret: “You Can’t Solve a Problem with the Same Mind that Created It”
This is something that we have discussed in a previous blog series dedicated to Eckhart Tolle’s work. This beautiful paraphrase of a quote by Carl Jung is worth repeating herein. When we are petty and angry, we can’t solve the problem facing us by remaining petty and angry. In fact, being petty and angry probably caused the problem to arise in the first place. When we raise our consciousness, we may at once extinguish the current problem and limit the intrusion of future problems.
Dyer talks about three levels of consciousness. The first level of consciousness is ego. When we are enamored with acquiring more toys and being better than our neighbor, we are fully ensconced in our ego. When we must have a certain reputation that defines who we are so that we can flaunt our egoistic self, we are a victim of ego mentality. The ego level is consumed with self. I like Dyer’s idea that ego really stands for Edging God Out.
In the second level of consciousness, we are entrained to think like a group, or a clan. “We are Democrats so we think a certain way, and I am proud that I voted for …” “I work for a bomb-making factory. I don’t believe in bombs but that is what my line of work tells me to believe.” “I am part of a gang. I follow their commands.” “I am Asian so I think in a certain way.” Group consciousness moves beyond the self but is a very similar level of consciousness since we are beholden to a certain group’s mentality no matter at what price.
The third and highest level of consciousness is known as mystical consciousness where labels like Asian, Hispanic, Republican, American, Southerner, etc. fall away and we are left with more universal associations like human. We disavow separateness and are joined by our commonality. When we approach this level of consciousness, we will see the petty desires and foibles of our lower conscious selves begin to melt away.