Wayne Dyer has shuffled off this mortal coil. I always wanted to use that term in a sentence. But when I did a livestream video on Periscope about Wayne Dyer on Friday (which you can watch ), I realized that for most people, Wayne is still here. After all, millions have loved his words in books, on TV appearances and lectures–a lot more than ever knew him in person. So he does live on, because most of those who loved him still have that which they loved: his words.
I actually knew Wayne personally, starting almost 40 years ago when he looked me up shortly after his arrival on the bestseller list and in Florida. One story I didn’t tell during my “scope” video was a vivid memory, a slice of experience that will keep Wayne alive in my memory forever. It was perhaps a peak moment of aliveness for him. I was visiting him in his penthouse apartment overlooking the ocean in Ft. Lauderdale. He came over to me when I had come in and sat down holding an envelope in his hand. He was bubbling over with more excitement than usual.
He was excited for me, too, as I was the first person he was showing what had just arrived in the mail. By this time it was evident his first book, Your Erroneous Zones would be the nonfiction bestseller of the year, and his publisher had just sent him a check for $1,000,000, his advance on his 2nd book, Pulling Your Own Strings, which he sold them based on a half page outline. He showed me the check, and it was exciting to see all those zeros lined up. Then he held it up in the air and did a little victory dance.
It wasn’t about the money, in fact he kept the check for a couple of weeks before depositing it. It was the demonstration it gave him that he wasn’t a one trick pony, that he had arrived, that he had something to say and people were listening. He still has something to say and many, many people are still listening. He is only gone in a physical sense, but if he taught anything to his many fans and followers it was that life is an inner experience, a contemplation, a meditation. That part of Wayne Dyer, and the words it produced, are still very much alive and well.
What are some of your favorite quotes from this extraordinary man? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
