Last Updated on September 6, 2024
Wayne Dyer was a renowned American philosopher, motivational guru and self-help author. His first book titled “Your Erroneous Zones” is one of the best-selling books of all time — selling 35 million copies to date. He was affectionately considered as the “Father of Motivation” or the “Father of the Modern Self-help Movement” by his fans.
Early Life
Born on May 10, 1940, in Detroit, Michigan, Wayne Dyer was the son of Melvin Lyle and Hazel Irene Dyer. After spending a huge part of his childhood in an orphanage, Dyer graduated from Denby High School.
He joined the United States Navy in 1958 and worked there for four years. He managed to earn a D. Ed. Degree in Counselling from Wayne State University, which allowed him to work at St. John’s University in New York as a professor.
Dyer had taught several levels of education during those years — introducing the concept of self-empowerment to students from high school through graduate school. He is known for his unique perspective on spiritual focus, as well as mental and physical energy.
Struggles and Philosophies in Life
Dyer faced a lot of hurdles in his life, spending years in foster homes and orphanages. He did not let his past define him, however, as he worked hard to make his dreams come true. He spent his adult life showing others to rise from their struggles, just like he did.
His main message to everyone was that each of us is capable of living an extraordinary life. He believes people can achieve their deepest desires if they just recognize their inner divinity.
Notable Works
“Your Erroneous Zones” was released in 1976 and it has since sold millions of copies around the globe. The book, which offers a step-by-step advice for escaping the trap of negative thinking, made Dyer a household name in the self-help and motivation field.
He had since published over 30 books in the same category, with some of the most famous ones being “Excuses Begone!” “Wisdom of the Ages,” “Change Your Thoughts,” ”Wishes Fulfilled,” ”Change Your Life” and “Manifest Your Destiny.”
In addition, Dr. Dyer had recorded various audio programs in which he talks about his expertise. He had also graced more than 5,200 television and radio shows including “The Today Show,” “Oprah,” “The Tonight Show,” and had been interviewed by popular magazines. He was even chosen as one of the six prominent Americans for the year 1985, and his work “A Letter to the Next Generation” made it to an issue of Time magazine.
Career
Dyer’s success as a best-selling author continued with numerous lecture tours, PBS shows, a series of audiotapes, alongside a regular publication of new books. As the years passed, his message reached more people in the New Thought Movement and beyond. He often used stories from his personal life as an example as he taught everyone to become the best version of themselves.
A large part of his appeal came from his self-made man success story. Dyer often encouraged his readers to pursue self-actualization, stressing how reliance on the self can guide people to a “religious” experience. He suggested that Jesus Christ is the best role model, calling him both an example of a “preacher of self-reliance” and a self-actualized individual.
Dyer initially refused to accept the spiritual tag. However, around the 1990s, he eventually changed his message to embrace more components of spirituality when he released “Real Magic” and delved deeper into higher consciousness in “Your Sacred Self.”
Later Years
Dyer decided to further expand his knowledge in 2005 by spending one year studying the works of Lao Tzu, a well-known Chinese philosopher who founded Taoism.
At one point in his life, Dyer instructed his secretary named Maya to sell all of his belongings — including the apartment he lived in. She, of course, was concerned about his decision and thought he was making a huge mistake.
Dyer believed in the notion of keeping only 20 percent of worldly goods for personal use and giving the rest to the poor. He later moved to Maui as he studied the Tao, before finally writing one of his most successful works, “Change Your Thoughts – Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao.”
Personal Life and Legacy
Although he has a reputation for helping others live their best lives, Dyer was not perfect. He went through three failed marriages. He had one daughter with his first wife, Judy, while he and his second wife, Susan, had no kids together. He and his third wife, Marcelene, became parents to five children. Dyer and Marcelene called it quits in 2001.
Dyer had been diagnosed with leukemia in 2009, but he died due to a heart attack on August 30, 2015 in Maui.
Here are the most inspiring and unforgettable quotes from the Father of Motivation himself, Dr. Wayne Dyer:
Wayne Dyer Quotes
“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.” – Wayne Dyer
“How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.” – Wayne Dyer
“Friends are God’s way of apologizing for your family.” – Wayne Dyer
“You are not stuck where you are unless you decide to be.” – Wayne Dyer
“Your reputation is in the hands of others. That’s what the reputation is. You can’t control that. The only thing you can control is your character.” – Wayne Dyer
“I am realistic – I expect miracles.” – Wayne Dyer
“When the choice is to be right or to be kind, always make the choice that brings peace.” – Wayne Dyer
“You have everything you need for complete peace and total happiness right now.” – Wayne Dyer
“Conflict cannot survive without your participation.” – Wayne Dyer
“Circumstances do not make a man, they reveal him.” – Wayne Dyer
“You’ll see it when you believe it.” – Wayne Dyer
“If you knew who walked beside you at all times, on the path that you have chosen, you could never experience fear or doubt again.” – Wayne Dyer
“You don’t need to be better than anyone else you just need to be better than you used to be.” – Wayne Dyer
“Heaven on Earth is a choice you must make, not a place you must find.” – Wayne Dyer
“Begin to see yourself as a soul with a body rather than a body with a soul.” – Wayne Dyer
“We are not human beings in search of a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings immersed in a human experience.” – Wayne Dyer
“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.” – Wayne Dyer
“Your children will see what you’re all about by what you live rather than what you say.” – Wayne Dyer
“In any relationship in which two people become one, the end result is two half people.” – Wayne Dyer
“You cannot always control what goes on outside. But you can always control what goes on inside.” – Wayne Dyer
“The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.” – Wayne Dyer
“Each experience in your life was absolutely necessary in order to have gotten you to the next place, and the next place, up to this very moment.” – Wayne Dyer
“When you’re at peace with yourself and love yourself, it is virtually impossible to do things to yourself that are destructive.” – Wayne Dyer
“Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.” – Wayne Dyer
“I am thankful to all those who said no. It’s because of them, I did it myself.” – Wayne Dyer
“Before speaking, consult your inner-truth barometer, and resist the temptation to tell people only what they want to hear.” – Wayne Dyer
“I would rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I’m not.” – Wayne Dyer
“There’s no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love. There is only a scarcity of resolve to make it happen.” – Wayne Dyer
“You leave old habits behind by starting out with the thought, ‘I release the need for this in my life’.” – Wayne Dyer
“The state of your life is nothing more than a reflection of the state of your mind.” – Wayne Dyer
“Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.” – Wayne Dyer
“What comes out of you when you are squeezed is what is inside of you.” – Wayne Dyer
“You are in a partnership with all other human beings, not a contest to be judged better than some and worse than others.” – Wayne Dyer
“Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be.” – Wayne Dyer
“If we focus on what’s ugly, we attract more ugliness into our thoughts, and then into our emotions, and ultimately into our lives.” – Wayne Dyer
“Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.” – Wayne Dyer
“Don’t die with the music still in you.” – Wayne Dyer
“You get treated in life the way you teach people to treat you.” – Wayne Dyer
“If you meet someone whose soul is not aligned with yours, send them love and move along.” – Wayne Dyer
“It is easy to love people when they smell good, but sometimes they slip into the manure of life and smell awful. You must love them just as much when they smell foul.” – Wayne Dyer
“It’s never crowded along the extra mile.” – Wayne Dyer
“All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, it will not change you.” – Wayne Dyer
“When you abandon making choices, you enter the vast world of excuses.” – Wayne Dyer
“You are what you choose to be today. Not what you’ve chosen to be before.” – Wayne Dyer
“Embrace silence since meditation is the only way to truly come to know your Source.” – Wayne Dyer
“Begin with the end in mind. Start with the end outcome and work backwards to make your dream possible.” – Wayne Dyer
“No one knows enough to be a pessimist.” – Wayne Dyer
“A mind at peace a mind centered and not focused on harming others is stronger than any physical force in the universe.” – Wayne Dyer
“I have absolutely no limits on what I intent to create.” – Wayne Dyer
“No one can create negativity or stress within you. Only you can do that by virtue of how you process your world.” – Wayne Dyer
