Book Review: 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace

Dr. Wayne Dyer shares some of his quintessential wisdom on living the best life possible in this short, but insightful and uplifting book. These secrets are applicable whether you are a teenager or a senior citizen, or somewhere in between. Dyer offers his opinion, based on his personal experiences in overcoming challenges. He states in the introduction of 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace, "I have no advice on goal setting, putting your nose to the grindstone, planning your financial future, listening to us older folks, respecting your culture, . . . Instead, what I offer you are ten secrets that allow your spirit to guide you."

Each chapter can stand alone and you may want to select the one or two areas where you're struggling in your life to focus on. Or you may want to give yourself a real treat, and read this one cover to cover - several times!

What are these secrets? The first secret for success and inner peace is "Have a Mind That is Open to Everything and Attached to Nothing." Some of the attachments Dyer points to include the need to be right, to win at all costs, to be concerned about how we are viewed by others, etc. Being open to everything requires a shift in our interactions with others. Instead of immediately thinking someone's idea or comment is ridiculous, we open ourselves up to a new possibility that we had not thought of previously.

The second secret for success and inner peace is "Don't Die with Your Music Still in You." This is advice that many wise scholars and everyday folks have offered over and over again. How else will we avoid regretting what we didn't do?

The third secret for success and inner peace is "You Can't Give Away What you Don't Have." This is, for me, the most profound of the secrets. Think about this: If you do not have joy and peace in your life, how can you share them with others? How can you offer these gifts to others in your life?

The fourth secret for success and inner peace: "Embrace Silence." This may be challenging for us in a world that has become so loud!

The fifth secret for success and inner peace is "Give Up Your Personal History." In other words, don't let your past limit or define who you are, how you live, or what you accomplish in and with your life.

Dyer expounds upon the sixth secret for success and inner peace, "You Can't Solve a Problem with the Same Mind That Created It." First, problems are really what we perceive to be problems. These situations, Dyer contends, can be solved by changing how we view the world. By seeking a higher spiritual level, we will be able to shift our thinking to see that our problems are really in our heads, and have a spiritual solution.

The seventh secret, "There Are No Justified Resentments," is the chapter I found most challenging to embrace. We must let go of all the grudges, resentments and ill-will we have toward others and even toward ourselves in order to achieve the best quality of life.

Number eight is, "Treat Yourself As If You Already Are What You'd Like to Be." This is similar to the concept of positive visualization. If you believe you are loving, kind, living in abundance, highly actualized, you will eventually accomplish what you imagine for yourself. That's a tough one for me too, but I do work on this everyday. I have found I have a more positive self-image and feel more empowered to reach my goals in life after reading this chapter.

The ninth secret for success and inner peace is "Treasure Your Divinity." The opening sentence of this chapter declares, "You are a divine creation of God." Remembering this truth helps me on those days I feel very small and somewhat to the rest of the world. Since God is perfect, I am part of His perfection.

The tenth and final secret for success and inner peace is "Wisdom Is Avoiding All Thoughts That Weaken You." This secret is pretty self-explanatory. Negative thoughts weaken us and make us vulnerable to more negativity. This is not to say that we are to form an unrealistic, "pie-in-the-sky" attitude about life and the world. It simply means that when we have negative thoughts, we are to shut them down. I love the example Dyer uses to explain the difference between thoughts that weaken and strengthen us. "You have the choice each day to wake up and say, "Good morning, God" or "Good God, morning!" It's always a choice."