TAO Archives - Mindful Happiness

September 18, 2015 By Admin

A Tribute to Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

Being Mindful Of Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

Recently I receive a heart-felt tribute dedicated to Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, who died recently. The tribute originated from Louise Hay, a long-time associate, colleague and publisher of Wayne Dyer. To those of us who inhabit the spaciousness of the spiritual world, perhaps, no other person in recent history has contributed more to support the resilient human spirit than Dr. Dyer. Possibly equal only to Louise Hay. A few years ago, Dyer published a remarkable book about the relationship between thoughts and life behaviors. Part of that endeavor included various Taoist statements/advisories on how to life a fulfilling and happy life. I decided to review a few of his Taoist comments. Dr. Dyer did consider himself a modern-day Taoist Master – and, indeed, he was. Since I cannot simply copy his statements (copyright laws), I will paraphrase and modify them so as not to violate his (or Hay House) publication rights. At the same time, my modifications will aim at delivering the true, practical meaning of these Taoist statements.

1) Your Eternal Light

In times of turmoil and challenge, it is a great idea to return your attention and concentration to your inner radiant light. Inner light is highly common in most spiritual traditions. Here, however, it is recommended as a regular practice to help ensure improved outcomes and personal experience. When was the last time you visited your inner, eternal light? Hope you will do so soon!

2) Utter Impermanence

Those who recognize higher and true inner consciousness about being, realize that nothing is permanent – especially your good fortune and life. So an extreme view might be to consider how fearful you are of impermanence, and especially the fact that it signals your own eventual death in your present form. I suppose that if fear of death is tantamount to ultimate human fear, then there is NOT much to worry about regrading all the other, countless things human concern themselves with. Just how important, ultimately, is the last thing you worried about incessantly? No matter what happens, helpful or unhelpful, it will change. Solve a problem is you can; otherwise seek direction from the reality of impermanence. Considering the seriousness of your own death, other concerns may be more like passing clouds, leaves passing in a stream, or anything all the way up to death. Remember that unhelpful experience informs your good fortune, and that helpful experience may allow the unhelpful to hide. Stop worrying about unsolvable problems; fix them if possible or seek support in the impermanence of all things. Reduce you secondary suffering – suffering based on worrying and negative moods associated unsolvable issues.

3) Ultimate Mindful Self-Control

One Taoist statements recommends that we practice the habits of talking less (also in our head), shutting down the senses, reducing sharp bluntness, softening the gaze, and allowing your energies to settle calmly. Now you are in a much better position to deal with whatever has aroused your emotional impulsivity and negative states. This sounds a lot like stop, breathe calmly and deeply, say nothing, loosen muscles – let the jaw go, observe – then act while in self-control.

4) In the Simple May be the Great

See what is less complex in the apparent complexity of perceptions. Do little things to help others. Be kind to the kind as well as the unkind. Be humble in all that you do. If it is necessary to weaken an unhelpful experience or reality, first you must allow it to expand. If you wish to remove problems from your life, you must first allow direct access to it first. There is no solution or improvement in suppressing or hiding from what we do not wish to experience.

5) All We Need is Love (The Beatles were Correct)

The last Taoist statement I will include notes what may be obvious. Love is the power of all power. Love can appear in experience with a small or large L. Be open to it; allow it to shine, and share the benefits with others. Love yourself more! Seek more love not more possessions.

For more information refer to Dyer, W. W. (2007). Change Your Thoughts Change Your Life. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE or any image blow to Order

Tips for Improving Your Mindfulness Practices The following practices may improve your mindfulness skills. It all depends – it all depends on whether or not you will do regular, daily practices. If you desire to improve your mindfulness skills, consider following the tips noted below. Most of the practices below involve sitting meditation. Likewise, regular […]

Self-Care to Reduce Compassion Fatigue First let’s begin with what some people do to counteract the stressors of living in a hurried,“over-technologized” world. Technically, “technologize” is not a popularly accepted word, but it is a sad reality. We live in a time when texting while driving may become the new addiction-based cause for many, many […]

Healing Meditations for Destructive Emotions Based on the mountain of research supporting the use of regular meditation practices and yoga, it is safe to say that Buddhism and its practices have merged with modern scientific investigation. From the early days of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (the MBSR of Jon Kabat-Zinn) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (the DBT […]

Gurdjieff’s The Fourth Way Meditations: A way of Being and Knowing Although Gurdjieff developed a whole way of being and knowing, including attentional practices, dance/body movements, group processes, and meditations here I will focus only on some of the suggested meditations. In particular, I include the meditations noted by his primary student (J. DeSalzmann, 2011). […]

A major part of suffering comes with the inability to shift unhelpful, negative focus on troubling thoughts and feelings. This cognitive reality is common in all the major mental health problems people suffer from: anxiety, depression, trauma, substance abuse, and eating disorders. Due to the lack of “wise-mind” skills most people suffering from these […]

Polyvagal Interventions for Anxiety S. Porges and his Polyvagal Theory may provide innovative interventions for both anxiety and depression. Many people become trapped in ruminating about the past or worrying about the future; they cannot seem to keep their mind and body in the present moment. Some strong, fear-based, bodily defenses may not respond well to […]

Advanced Meditations – Middle Way -Wisdom Path Between Extremes These meditation practices are advanced, and combine complex ideas from Nagarjuna (Indian Master), T’ong-Kha-Pa (Tibetan Master), and The 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso). In keeping with the mixed secular nature of my meditation center, I have decided to present these complex ideas with several of my […]

An Advanced View on Meditations on Emptiness An earlier post on the Dalai Lama’s book, Meditations on the Nature of Mind, ended with suggested meditations (my own personal contemplation’s) about emptiness. I will first review those contemplations. Contemplate deeply on what emptiness means personally to you. Contemplate about a time when you received a glimpse of personal emptiness. […]

Gratitude Along with Sadness and Fear – It Is Life The famous Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh gently advises us to appreciate the many things that we may take for granted. For example, when he does walking meditation he believes and feels that the the earth below his feet is, itself, a miracle of reality. […]

A Dark Night with Saint John of the Cross The writings of Saint John of the Cross offer a special viewpoint about the suffering of souls, suffering souls on their way to unity with the divine. What follows stands in contrast to the Buddha’s views in The Dhammapada about ultimate happiness without any form of union […]

Chronic Pain and Doing Body Scanning Although doing body scans cannot fully relieve your pain, it may help you manage it better. If your pain is serious and chronic you need to work with a qualified pain management professional, who will use both psychological and medical interventions. Note that a recent issue of Consumer Reports reviewed […]

Stress in America – On the Rise – The American Psychological Association recently completed its national survey on stress in America. Stress in America for adults is on the rise! I will review below a selection of reported percentages from the 2015 survey (published in 2016). 1) Younger people are more stressed; Xers and Millennials […]

The Tao of Nature I have two interesting stories about nesting robins. These stories tell of the bonds of birds and their young, and how intelligent these birds can be. The first story happened to me abut 15 years ago. The second story happened today, July 27, 2017. Story 1 I was working in […]

Emptiness – Meditation Practice The Brahma-Viharas (higher abodes) include four powerful meditation practices ( Loving Kindness/Maitri or Metta; Compassion/Karuna; Sympathetic Joy/Mudita; and, Equanimity/Upekkha) that involve boundless radiation outwardly all the way into the infinite universe. These boundless or infinite space meditations, working with deep absorption and projecting kindness outwardly, may lead to positive changes. Experienced […]

Beads: Significance in Spiritual and Religious Practices The significance of religious and spiritual practices in the world is enormous. Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist practitioners make up the overwhelming majority of the world’s population. The CIA estimates are that Christians (33%), Muslims (23%), Hindus (14%) and Buddhist (7%) make up the majority of religious followers. […]

A Primary Source of Unhappiness Self-medication to reduce or avoid pain and suffering is a major unhelpful habit in the United States. It is a desperate human effort to reduce pain and suffering in physical and psychological experiences. Therefore, we humans may be hard-wired for it. When we suffer and do not utilize effective wise […]

Happiness Characteristics – Post #2 Below I will note a few key characteristics of experiences and attitudes associated with happiness. Do your best to experience some of these each day – as much as is possible. Here is the first list. Being Fully Alive to Experiences – Do your best to be fully involved in […]

Overcoming the Hindrances of Ill-Will and Aversion Although regular daily practice and sincerely following of The Eight-Fold Path in one’s life may be the best ways to overcome various hindrances, there may be some additional practical suggestions to consider on the path. We will begin our discussion with common human pain and suffering; we will […]

Inner Workings of Self-Medication Process To continue our discussion about the self-medication process we will first turn to the human brain. The human brain is the most complex system known to science. Here, my comments will be basic. Self-medication often has roots in the quality of our earliest childhood experiences (attachment and object relations with […]

ACT – The Absolute Basics; Acceptance & Commitment Therapy In this post I begin a series of writing dealing with ACT, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. The details below are basic, but perhaps just enough to develop more interest in learning about ACT. Here we go! 1) Act, developed mainly by Steven Hayes Ph.D.and based on […]