SELF-DEVELOPMENT ;

On Sunday night, renowned author and speaker in the field of self-development, Dr. Wayne Dyer, discussed his new memoir I Can See Clearly Now, which chronicles transformative events and encounters from his life. He has come to believe that there are no accidents. Although we may not be aware of who or what is "moving the checkers," life has a purpose and each step of our journey has something to teach us, he argues. An early influence came from his 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Engles, who read the book The Secret Garden aloud in class. "All of the things that I've done in my life have really been to teach people that there is a secret place within each and everyone of them, and that if they go there and realize who they are and how powerful they are, they can create anything," he explained. Dyer shared a miraculous event that happened at a monastery/church in San Damiano, just outside of Assisi, Italy when he had a vision of St. Francis, and his ailing knee was healed in that moment. He also described remote healings from leukemia that he received from John of God in Brazil, while he was living in Maui in 2011. John of God allows entities that date back as far as the 16th century to come through him and conduct surgeries, and was able to successfully "operate" on Dyer, even though they were in different countries. After the procedure, Dyer had a spiritual awakening, and became more in touch with compassion. "Circumstances do not define you, they reveal you," Dyer commented, adding that even people who experience horrific situations can transcend them. We can attract or create whatever it is we want by using our own imagination and inner world to act as if what we want has already manifested, instead of being dependent on what our senses tell us, he continued. Yet, results tend to be better if instead of coming from a place of 'what's in it for me?' people are asking 'how may I serve?' he pointed out.