Joe Vitale

How do you handle setbacks?

How do you handle disappointments?

How do you handle being stuck?

Let me answer with a story…

As you probably know by now, I own Francine, a rare 2005 Panoz Esperante GTLM exotic sports car, as well as rock star Steven Tyler (of Aerosmith)’s even rarer 1998 Panoz AIV Roadster. 

Obviously, I’m a fan of Panoz cars.

I’ve been to the Panoz factory, met part of the family, attended their racing school, and love everything by and about Panoz.

So you can imagine how excited I got when I heard that someone took a Panoz Esperante and turned it into a flying car.

Yes, a flying car.

When I checked, I found the story to be true. It was not only transformed into a car that could fly by Jesse James and his nine-man team, but it actually flew – and was broadcast on television.

The 2004 Panoz Esperante took flight on an episode of Monster Garage, making it off the ground for 280 feet before touching down safely.

I wanted that car.

Yes, I wanted that car. 

But when I checked, I learned the person who owned the flying car didn’t want to sell it. He just kept it in storage.

I thought that was pretty sad, but I let it go and forgot about it.

Until a few days ago, that is.

That’s when I learned that the Panoz flying car sold at auction for only $45,000.

Not only was that a ridiculously low amount of money — as the car alone is worth $105,000 and as a flying car it’s worth three times that (at least) — but the auction happened last January.

Six months ago!

I am rarely upset by things these days, but I have to confess learning the flying car sold for only $45,000 and six months ago almost caused me to blow a gasket.

How could I have missed the auction?

Why didn’t anyone tell me?

Talk about disappointment.

I contacted the Panoz folks and shared my frustration. They told me they tried to buy the car at that auction by somehow couldn’t get their bid high enough in time. They lost the car.

This seemed bizarre.

I’m obviously a collector of rare Panoz cars. The flying car would be a gem for me to own. It would be pure P.T. Barnum, who of course I wrote a book about.

But somehow I was out of tune, or not clear, or something.

Not only did I not get a chance to bid on the car, but the auction happened half a year ago.

What the – ?

But things got even more interesting and even more disappointing.

When I tired to find out the name of the person who actually won the car, so I could ask him if he’d sell it to me at a higher price, I hit dead ends.

I couldn’t find him, and the auction house wouldn’t give me his name for privacy reasons.

All of this caused me to be upset for three days.

Three days.

I’m not proud of it. But I’m trying to share a story here, as well as vent a little. This was an experience of deep disappointment to me. I took it personally, and judged myself harshly.

I felt stuck, unhappy, and un-clear.

So, what did I do?

As it turned out, I had to go back into the recording studio to record a few more segments to my forthcoming new audio program, The Awakening Course.

This is the most advanced material I’ve ever created. It covers the four stages of awakening and leads you through the first three stages, so you can experience them live. The fourth stage comes by grace, but can be described. I do it in the program.

As I recorded my new material about trust and letting go, I realized that I had been very attached to wanting that flying car.

VERY attached.

Yet a key secret to attracting whatever you want is to let go of attachment. Want it without needing it. As my friend Bootzie often says, “I’m perfectly satisfied, I just want more!”

“I’m perfectly satisfied, I just want more!” – Bootzie

That’s the spirit of detachment that attracts results.

I wasn’t detached.

And I wasn’t trusting.

My ego felt things should be different from reality.

My ego felt the car was right for me.

My ego was upset when the car flew away from me.

But the Universe (Divine, God, Gaea, Collective Unconscious, etc) sees the bigger picture. It knows more than your ego. You have to trust IT.

There may be several reasons for me not attracting that car, including –

* Where do you park a car with wings?

* Where do you fly a flying car?

* How do you fly a flying car?

And there’s the very real possibility that the person who won the flying car has better reasons for owning it than me.

In short, the way I handled this disappointment was by letting go, trusting, and moving on.

It’s very possible the flying car will appear in my life at some later point, but I no longer need it to appear.

I’m happy with or without it.

That’s where you want to be with everything in your life: at peace.

And that’s the secret to attracting what you want and surviving setbacks, disappointments and stuck issues:

You trust it’s all working out for your highest good, you do whatever is next for you to do in the moment, and you do it all from a place of serenity.

You move on – smiling, trusting, letting go.

You soar through life — with no need for a flying car.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS – You can see pictures of the Panoz flying car (complete with bullet holes) at http://www.autoblog.com/2008/01/19/barrett-jackson-2008-panoz-esperante-flying-car/ Enjoy.

I visited my friend Mark Ryan the other day and spontaneously filmed an explanation of our new Dreaming Abundance program. This is a set of CD and DVD tools to work with your night time dream states to create abundance in seven different areas of your life. It’s astonishing, easy, and it works. A real breakthrough. You can see the short clip by clicking on the below image or by going to http://www.youtube.com/v/pStYjeak3G0 Enjoy.

 I’ve been filmed for seven movies so far. The latest is called The Compass. It promises to be as big or bigger than The Secret.

The man behind The Compass is an iron man fitness expert with the largest chain of bootcamp fitness clubs in the world. His name is John Spencer Ellis.

Twelve weeks ago John woke up and decided to make a movie.

Twelve weeks ago.

Today he’s filmed almost everyone he wants in the film, has the funding, the people, and the marketing in place, and is planning to shake the earth with his film when it’s released next February.

People in his film inclue Brian Tracy, Dr. Topher Morrison, John Assaraf, Kelli Calabrese, Debbie Allen, Dr. John Demartini, Al & Marilyn Sargent, Tim Ralston, Jim Strohecker, Tammy Kling, Tony Jeary, Dr. Robi Ludwig, Kelli Ellis, Dr. Bruce Lipton, Ona Brown, Burton Roberts, Charlie Gay, Les Brown, Marilyn Tam, Jerry Conti, Diana Jennings, Erich Schiffmann, and Marie Diamond.

This is a guy who got inspired and took action.

It’s a key secret to success.

What have you been inspired to do?

Are you doing it?

Why not begin right now?

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS — The starlet with me is Tammy Kling, one of the few people I’ve met who is, like me, a true bookaholic. Tammy is the author of numerous books, runs The Writers Group, and is one of the other people featured in The Compass. Go to The Compass Website and sign up for an email alert when the movie comes out. You’ll love it.

Note: Left click on any image to enlarge it.

 A friend of mine decided to give a kidney of hers to a colleague.

Now stop and think about this.

If you were asked to donate one of your kidneys, what would you say?

What if the person you were giving your kidney to wasn’t a family member, a friend, or even a coworker?

What would you do?

Marilyn Levin heard of a colleague who needed a kidney. Without hesitation, she offered hers.

Of course, after she said she would do it, she went through a month long internal soul-searching process of asking herself why, and did she really want to do it.

She used the question to help her grow. She wondered if she was coming from ego or the divine. She read books. She meditated. She asked personal friends for their opinion.

In the end she still decided to donate her kidney to her colleague.

Only now she needs $20,000.00 to cover her part of the operation.

She put up a website to help raise the needed funds. I’m donating at it, and I urge you to, as well.

I find Marilyn’s story inspiring.

Think about it:

What would you do if asked to donate a kidney?

Please go to Kindey For Thomas and donate.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS — You can watch a brief video of me interviewing Marilyn at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPzEbtG3Ukw or by clicking on the below image. Please donate and share this post and clip with others. Let’s help Marilyn raise the money she needs. Thank you.

I’ve secretly been planning an event of mega-proportions and personal challenge for two years now. Recently I got up the nerve to announce it in front of friends. You can see the two minute announcement about magic, music and miracles by clicking on the below image or going to http://youtube.com/watch?v=_eThKoL1alw Enjoy.