Words of Love with Dr Dwayne

Have you ever had (or do you currently have) a health issue you’ve tried to solve, but nothing seems to work? For years, Dr. Lynn Carey suffered from chronic pain and illness after having scoliosis surgery as a teenager. Nobody knew how to help her beyond the painkillers and antibiotics…until someone introduced her to something that helped her not only heal her pain but reduce her fear of it as we...

You’re not just what you do to earn a paycheck. What you do to fulfill your passion, engage in your creative ability, and so much more helps make up the kaleidoscope of different colors and angles that is you. And ancient and modern tools are available to help you discover these different sides of yourself. My guest, Johnny Neang, who participated in the same Vipassana retreat I attended, comes fr...

If you were to Google images of meditation right now, what would you see? Chances are you’ll see many people of color; for much of the world, the face of meditation is brown. During my recent 10-day Vipassana retreat, I met Alberto Chagolla and Fernando Santillan and bonded over meditation. We also bonded over our shared experience as people of color and sons of religious families—I, a Southern Ba...

We all walk down that road of struggling with the self and accepting, embracing, and expressing who we really are. You’ve probably felt compelled to hide something about yourself that was considered “out of the norm” by your family, culture, religion, etc. But it’s still authentically you and always waiting to shine through. Many times on this show, you’ve heard me talk about my struggle. But I’m...

Feeling a bit trapped by your circumstances, even if you look like you’re living the dream? No matter, you can always choose to break out of your conditioning to discover who you really are. At 40 years old, Dr. Asha Rani looked like she was living her best life. She had the marriage, the kids, the degrees, and the successful dental career. What she didn’t have was a sense of who she was or the di...

When you experience Vipassana, it affects various aspects of your identity. During my recent retreat , I discovered (to my surprise) that my sobriety story was one of them. There was a surface-level impact. But there was also another effect that required effort to receive the beautiful gift that awaits anyone who takes the journey. In this episode of the Words of Love podcast, you’ll learn what it...

Can you sit in silence for 10 days? Many people can’t fathom being quiet for more than a few minutes, much less that long. Six months ago, I couldn’t imagine doing it! But recently, I went on a silent retreat at the California Vipassana Center. For 10 days, I and 50 other men and women had a sacred experience that bore fruit for the mind, body, spirit...and life. In this episode of the Words of Lo...

We all play a role in fulfilling the creation of something whole and wonderful. Whether you’re an instrumentalist in an orchestra or a member of a surgical team, not one single person can complete the task alone. In this episode of the Words of Love podcast, we’ll explore the parallel between the operating room and the orchestra hall and how the role of surgeons brings the chaos together into beau...

What is fear doing for you? What is it trying to teach you? How is it serving you? Fear has always been part of our human evolution. It’s what helped us survive the dangerous wild in our neanderthal days. But now we no longer (as a general rule) have to depend on it to prevent ourselves from being eaten due to wandering into the wrong cave. So instead of letting it control us, we can turn that des...

Today, I offer you a challenge. In fact, it’s really more than a challenge; it’s the divine assignment you’ve been given. In this episode of the Words of Love podcast, you’ll learn what that divine assignment is and how music encapsulates it. I’ll also briefly discuss how k.d. lang took on the challenge in her special way long before other popular musicians. 5:30 - What the Virgin Mary really embo...

In the beginning, there was the word. And we depended on the word to be passed down to us through the ages of Moses, the printing press, and beyond to move us on our voyage through time and space. But no longer. In this episode of the Words of Love podcast, you’ll learn why the most powerful time for us humans to decide and express our simple gifts is now and how doing so can impact our future. 8:...

Too often, we suppress the child-like qualities within us. We’re told to leave childish things behind now that we’re adults. But we can always choose to champion some part of our inner child. Musicality has that special quality, and it’s also something we’re all born with that plays a role within us as we move through the world. In this episode of the Words of Love podcast, you’ll hear about how w...

There comes a time when everything that came before culminates into an a-ha moment that transforms you. As I sat down to record this episode, I realized that I was resonating in a space that the previous version of me would have never thought possible. Today on the Words of Love podcast, you’ll hear about getting one step closer to full awareness and embodiment of the truth that can set you free....

What if, one day, you suddenly couldn’t do basic things or recall a single thing about your life? At the age of 37, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor had a hemorrhage in the left side of her brain that left her without the ability to walk, speak, read, write, or remember anything about herself. It took her eight years to recover. Now, she’s an author and advocate for teaching us that we can all recover from n...

We consistently deal with illness and disease, whether we’re doing so as physicians or patients. But what really lies at the heart of what ails us? After spending so many years with cancer patients, I learned that the needs of the mind and spirit are just as important to me as the needs of the body. It brings us closer to Thomas Edison’s vision of doctors in the future who’d give no medicines but...

We have the chance to do something more important and impactful than the Jeff Bezos or Elon Musks of the world. But will we take it or let the moment pass us by? In this episode of the Words of Love podcast, you’ll hear about the unique opportunity we have right now to do the most important work we’ll ever do. I’ll also talk about the contract I made nearly a year ago that has been preparing and g...

You’re more than likely guilty of concluding something about someone or something based on what you immediately see. At some point, most are guilty of judging a book by its cover instead of digging in further. For example, if you were to see my friend and colleague, Dr. Jim Smay, you’d immediately think, “middle-aged White man.” And while he is a native Oklahoman with a Ph. D. in engineering, an e...

This world can be a difficult place to live in, and some people have felt it more acutely than others. We know of the history of African Americans in the U.S. during slavery and the Civil Rights era. We sometimes hear about massacres of people over culture, religion, and ethnicity in places like Sudan or Turkey. The current situation in Israel and Palestine also illustrates this perfectly. And whi...

Today has been a long time coming! I consider Tricia Brouk my mentor, coach, and friend. And after a year of working with her, she’s finally a special guest on my podcast. Who is Tricia? She’s an award-winning director, author, producer, and podcaster. With over 30 years of theatrical performance experience, she mentors speakers and has helped put thousands of global thought leaders on big stages....

Have you had to cope with grief with no friends or family nearby? Dr. Parul Dua Makkar has a powerful story of her own. She practices dentistry in Long Island but has global roots in India, the Middle East, and Canada. But these days, she spends much of her time sharing the story of her younger brother (and only sibling), Dr. Manu Dua. Her life took a turn in 2021 when he succumbed to oral cancer...

Mindfulness is the foundation of everything we do. But the road to developing that mindfulness can be quite traumatizing. Chris Salem spent 30 years battling inner demons that originally stemmed from his relationship with his father. But now, he’s a professional keynote speaker, podcaster, and trusted advisor who motivates people and tells them how to unlock the value in their businesses. In this...

In life, you meet people who just seem to have a profound impact on everyone around them. Thirty-something years ago, I met someone like that in South Carolina: Dr. Tisha Boston Dr. Boston grew up in the projects of South Carolina. Now, she’s a board-certified family medicine physician practicing in Columbia, SC who has spent her career educating young physicians and medical students. And it’s tak...

Happiness comes in many forms. Many of us have been told that the path to it is to graduate from school, get a job, get married, buy a house, have kids, etc. But what if you wanted to leap into something else--something that doesn’t look like the traditional 9-5, white picket fence existence? So many are afraid to follow their own path. Not my guest, Asabi Goodman, though! When I heard her story a...

On some level, we’ve all feared being judged for who we are. It can be subtle in some cases and very apparent in others. Today, I’m joined by a new friend I met in Provincetown, Massachusetts. I went to JC Rea’s salon, and during my visit, she not only got me out of my shell, but we also connected over some profound truths in our conversation...especially about how we look at people on the surface...

Today’s show features another blast from my past! I spoke with Miss Beverly (a.k.a. Beverly Stroman), my elementary school teacher who still lives in Orangeburg County, South Carolina, where I grew up. In addition to being a teacher, she’s also been an assistant principal, principal, and district volunteer coordinator. Now happily retired, she devotes her time to church, mentorship, and animal res...