Dr. Wayne Dyer (May 10, 1940 – August 29, 2015) was an American self-help / spiritual author and a motivational speaker. Wayne’s insights into living authentically and the wake of the boat speak to me.
Live Authentically
Dr. Dyer credits Abraham Maslow for these insights.
The following three traits necessary to live authentically:
- Act independently of the good opinion of others. That is, to march to the sound our your own drum. Live on purpose, to your moral and ethical core not what others expect of you.
- Detach from outcome. Do things because they are the right thing to do. Do not do things for the reward, acknowledgement or acceptance.
- Doing things without any investment in control or power over others. Authenticity and true fulfillment does not come from dominion over others. If people want to be led by us because they believe in what we stand for and what are doing, that is different. It is through the act of doing, not exercising dominion that we find people looking to us.
The Wake of a Boat
Dr. Dyer gives credit to Allan Watts for this metaphor.
Hanging onto our past and using it as the excuse/reason for not reaching our potential is like believing the wake of the boat is what powers it forward.
Ask ourselves these three questions:
- What is the wake? The wake is the trail that is left behind, it is our history.
- What is powering the boat forward? The present moment energy that is being generated by the engine. It is our present moment thoughts that is taking us in our current direction in our life.
- Is it possible for the wake to drive the boat? The answer is no!
We all leave a wake behind us. We have a tendency to delude ourselves, to use the stuff in our wake as the reasons why our lives are not working out the way we would like. It is important to be in touch with our past and understand it. But to use your past as the excuse for being unable to get to where you would like to is just plain wrong. We are not limited by our history, just let it go.