20 Things You Never Knew About Wayne Dyer
Wayne Dyer is one of the legends who left our world, but a more significant part of him remains with us. Through his famous quotes, we get motivated in our daily lives. The renowned motivational speaker was born on May 10, 1940, in Detroit.
He was from a humble background and grew up alongside three boys. He gave the harsh life the struggle that it deserved and realized his full potential. He is well known as a motivational speaker with most of his quotes used all over. He passed on later after doing great work, not only for himself but in service to others. Get to know more about the legend by checking these facts about him.
1. He was a motivational speaker
Wayne is known for being a motivational speaker, and some of his fans called him the father of motivation. He visited schools and various social institutions to motivate people, and his motivational speeches attracted a large number of students. Most of his lectures were based on self-reliance and self-activation since Wayne was a self-made man. He, therefore, came up with most of the talks based on the experiences that he had gathered in life.
2. He was also a self-help author
When his motivational talks got a broad audience, he decided to document it. Wayne wrote books about the message that he had been passing on to the students. The first book “Your Erroneous Zone” gained publicity as many fell in love with it, causing it to become one of the bestselling books of all time. He then decided to quit his teaching career to begin public tours where he could discuss the book. The appearances in the book tours made him more popular, and he sold many copies of the book. He later went ahead to write many other books that were still appealing to the audience. In his career in books publishing, he wrote a total of thirty-six books with six books meant for children.
3. He appeared in television talk shows
The success of his books led to television stations looking for him to appear in their shows as a guest. He had several television appearances in shows like The Tonight Show, The Merv Griffin Show, and The Phil Donahue Show where he expounded on his books. For those who failed to tune in to television, Wayne also created video programs that could be readily available on the internet.
4. Most of his childhood was spent in children’s homes.
As a proclaimed self-made man, Wayne spent most of his childhood in children’s homes and orphanages. He spent a more significant part of his first ten years in an orphanage in Detroit. His father decided to walk out on the family, leaving behind his mother with three small boys. It was a difficult task for her, and Wayne sought to seek an alternative way of sustaining himself. His life in the orphanage taught him a lot, and it became the start of his journey as a motivation speaker.
5. He had a degree in counseling
According to the Sun Sign, Wayne is a graduate of Wayne State University with a degree in counseling. He had a dissertation about Group Leadership Counselling Training. After he got his doctorate, he went ahead to work in Detroit as a guidance counselor. He lectured counseling psychology at St. Johns University and published journals privately.
6. He did not talk about spirituality early in his career
Most of his motivational talks earlier in his career were about positive thinking to build oneself. He did not speak about his religious stand at first. According to People Pill, he was previously non-religious. Later in his career, he decided to talk about his position on religion. He was leaning on both Christianity and Buddhism since he did not like the idea of being either a Christian or a Buddhist as he found both to have similarities. He consequently became half Christian, half Buddhist.
7. He married three times
Despite being popular in assisting people in getting the best in life, Wayne had three marriages that failed to work. He married his first wife Judy, and they had a daughter together. When they divorced, Wayne went ahead to marry his second wife, Susan Casselman and they did not have any children. With the one child he had, he went ahead to marry Marcelene, his third wife and they got five children. Marcelene had two children from her previous marriage, making a total of eight children. Wayne and Marcelene separated in 2001 after being married for twenty years.
8. He showed optimism when he was young
Wayne proved that he was an optimist when he was still young. The act was evident when they were at a bus stop standing in the snow with his mother and brothers. A car passed by them and splashed dirty water over them. According to Brainy Quote, the mother and the brothers began to cry. Wayne told them that everything would be fine. Her mother kept narrating the incident for years. It showed how confident he was to find a better life for the family. Wayne also displayed a sense of responsibility in 1948 when Wayne’s brother nearly drowned in a river. Wayne took the initiative to prevent his brother from drowning by calling a border official who rescued him.
9. He forgave his father for neglecting them
Wayne’s father’s decision to abandon the family was selfish, and Wayne was not happy with his father at first, but he later forgave him. According to his blog, he had rage against his father since he was a child. Unforgiveness, according to him, comes from blaming people, and therefore he found it suitable not to blame anyone for your unhappiness. Blaming people in life makes us take burdens with us that we cannot bear. He proceeded to write about how to forgive someone in fifteen steps.
10. He met controversies in book publishing
Book publishing is sometimes prone to disputes, and plagiarism is one thing that has been affecting many of the authors. Wayne got accusations of plagiarism in one of his book. He faced allegations for stealing lines from the book Tao Te Ching that was written by Stephen Mitchell, but the accusers dropped the claims in 2011. Psychologist Albert Ellis also admonished him for failing to give credit when it is due in one of the books. Such acts are unethical and unprofessional as per the law, but Wayne did not admit to doing any of them.
11. He could connect with anyone he met at a deeper level
Wayne was always ready to communicate with anyone he met, and their friendship could blossom. Reid Tracy is one who was happy to be associated with Wayne. Tracy and Wayne were working as authors and publishers and developed a great friendship. Tracy was always delighted when they were having conversations over the phone.
12. He found everyone to be a genius
According to Wayne, everyone is a genius. Being a genius to him is a potential that exists in every human being, and it is upon them to realize it. The process of achieving the creative and genius potential in you lies to your consciousness. The people who are not conscious about it will keep thinking that other people are geniuses, yet they also are geniuses.
13. He believed that we have to endure to be cured
Wayne advises us through one of his quote that we must not concentrate on what might have happened. Instead, we must appreciate whatever is to happen by doing everything possible to overcome our challenges. Some people regret not achieving something just because they never gave it a try. They end up complaining about things, not going their way without knowing that the time and energy used in complaining could be used to make their lives better.
14. His quote on change
Change is inevitable. According to one quote of Wayne, your life will only change if you are willing to change. Being productive, for instance, does not just happen to you unless you are eager to avoid laziness. To make big money, you should be ready to leave the lazy lifestyle and embrace a culture of hard work. His quote on change reflects how he managed to transform his standard of living.
15. His way of solving problems
Many people focus more on issues when they encounter them. You will find someone getting depressed just because they have come across a problem. According to Wayne, the only way out is to focus on the solution to the problem, not the problem. According to him, when you focus too much on the issue, it grows even more prominent and a time will come when it will not be solvable. Focusing on the effects of the problems will also not make them go away.
16. He was against dependence on negative emotions
Negative emotion is an enemy of progress. Wayne advises us not to be dependent on the negative emotions when we fail. We must instead think of getting a different method that will prevent failure in the future. Giving in to negative emotions is a way of endangering our future; it will prevent us from trying new things that can assist us in achieving our goals.
17. He found filming tiresome
During the first two weeks of filming, Wayne found it very grueling. When he was prompted to be part of a film, he saw it as a way of starting a new career yet he was already sixty-eight. Wayne did not want to go to filming as he was done with his goals. He finally surrendered and became part of the film since he believes in attitude as a way to achieve anything. He nearly quit at some point because he felt he was reciting the lines that he had written previously. The filmmakers later allowed him to do what he wished, and things worked out for the best.
18. He established scholarships for needy students
Because of the humble background and that he struggled academically, Wayne gave back to society. He developed a program that assisted the needy students to get an education. The scholarship was not given to one due to academic performance but due to the situation at home. He also showed an act of charity when he sold 80% of his property to assist the poor. He instructed his secretary to sell his belongings, leaving only 20% of it for his use. The secretary was however worried that Wayne was making a mistake that he could later regret, but he did not.
19. He died of a heart attack
Wayne suffered chronic leukemia in 2009. He decided to deal with the disease with exercise, positive thinking, and a psychic surgery by a Brazilian healer. The healer worked remotely and assisted in the removal of the invisible tumor. He celebrated his 71st birthday by paying bills to homeless people and giving them hugs as a sign of healing. He saw that the healer was doing miracles in his life and that was the best way he could appreciate. Although Wayne had chronic leukemia, he died of a heart attack in August 30, 2015.
20. After his death, his legacy lives on
Many of us believe in life after departure due to the spiritual part of us. According to Elevated Existence, conversations and signs of Wayne to his family members have continued. People go through review after their death, and the basis is the good and bad deeds they did while alive. Everyone whom Wayne impacted while he was alive keeps talking about him. His youngest daughter says that she communicates with her father differently. She lives by the words of her father as a way of respecting him and appreciates him for being a good father to her. All of his kids always think about him, and he is there with them.
