Joe Vitale

If you’re like many of the people who visit this blog, you’re probably curious about the books I’m reading. Here are seven current ones I’m in the middle of enjoying:

Trump: Never Give Up. Love him or hate him, you have to admit Donald Trump is a courageous and relentless self-promoter. This new book reminds you that it wasn’t so long ago that Trump was considered a failure and on the verge of bankruptcy. But look at him today. This easy-reading book is packed with lessons worth knowing about never giving up. It’s a gem. (I hope Trump gives Meredith McIver a raise, as she’s the person writing his books.)

Atomic Fitness. I’m still collecting body building and muscle building books. This new one is by Steve Michalik, who won Mr. USA, Mr. America, and Mr. Universe awards. I love the clarity of Steve’s concepts. He has a basic formula for success: natural body chemistry (he’s dead-set against steroids), nutrition, exercise and mindset. His book is an alternative to drugs, steroids and wacky diets. I’m so impressed with this book that I contacted Steve and will probably bring him into my gym for private lessons. (He told me he needs marketing help and that when it comes to self-promotion, he is “a 98-pound weakling”.)

Charlatan. This is the unbelievable but true story of “Doctor” John Brinkley, a 1920s former patent remedies rogue who helped men restore their sexual prowess by giving them an operation where he exchanged their testicles for those of a goat. I kid you not. Brinkley went on to run for governer of Kansas, became an early radio broadcaster and introduced the nation to blues country music. This book by Pope Brock reads like a fast-paced novel. It demonstrates the gullibility of all of us. (Not you or me, of course.)

Scripting Magic. I’m a lifetime member of the Society of American Magicians, a group founded by Houdini. I love magic but am usually disappointed by magic books. They aren’t written well, which makes the tricks hard to understand. This new one by Pete McCabe is astonishingly good. It proves that real magic isn’t in the trick, but in the presentation of the trick. I love this one so much I bought signed copies for my conjuring friends. (I’d tell you what’s in it, but, you know, it’s a secret.)

A Thousand Names For Joy.  A while back I mentioned Byron Katie on this blog. Someone passed the word to Byron and she and her husband, Stephen Mitchell, sent me a signed copy of their recent book. This is the kind of soul nourishment you want in your life. I just flip the book open and read whatever I find. It’s also thought-provoking, which is interesting because it’s trying to get you to the point beyond thought. (Byron, if you’re reading this, I love you.)

American Transcendentalism. I started calling myself a Transcendentalist around 1972, when I was in college at Kent State University and discovered the brilliant writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.  This new book by Gura brings those characters to life once again for me, which of course I love. I visited Walden Pond and Emerson’s home in the mid-1970s. I could have lived there with those members of the spiritual literati. (When will time travel be real, anyway?)

Psychological Foundations of Success. This is an older book (2002) but very relevant today. The subtitle says, “A Harvard trained scientist separates the science of success from self-help snake oil.” That’s what it is, too. The book is well written, packed with case studies, but treated as a how-to manual for success. Contains some startling facts, too. The famous Yale University study about goal setting turns out to be an urban legend. Yet almost all success speakers quote it. Wild. It’s interesting to me that even after all the talk of “self-help snake oil”, the principles he says work for success are exactly the ones some critics might still call “snake oil.” This is a quick but important read.  (So read it.)

I’m reading many other books, but that’s enough of a list for today. You can get any or all of them from Amazon.

Happy reading!

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS — I can’t resist telling you about yet another book: How To Be Financially Successful: A Spiritual Perspective.  Joshua David Stone has written more than twenty-five books in his “Easy-to-Read Encyclopedia of the Spiritual Path.” This is volume fifteen. It’s a belief-stretching blend of practical tips (keep a list of to-dos) and spiritual advice (pray to the angels and archangels and even “christed extraterrestrials” with your preferences not attachments). (!) Some of this book is brilliant; some of it is odd, even for me. Worth a look, though. His focus is on spirit and service, so you can’t go wrong there. (And he’s written over forty books, not twenty-five. And you thought I was prolific.) 

Jillian Coleman Wheeler and myself filmed 15 short video lessons on Internet marketing. They are based on our book, Your Internet Cash Machine. You can see the first one at http://youtube.com/user/yourinternetcash Enjoy.

A few days ago a squirrel clubbed me on the head with a copper pipe.

I’ve told the story (a true one) a few times to friends, and they all enjoyed it, so I thought you might, too. Here goes…

One day a squirrel moved into the attic of our home. Since my office is on the second floor, and the squirrel moved in right beside it, I could hear him all day long watching TV, playing loud music, cracking nuts, throwing balls against the wall, and just generally distracting me with his antics.

I told Nerissa about it and she went searching online for a humane solution.

She found a place that sells squirrel houses. They are made out of recycled materials, mostly an old tire. You hang it in a tree, the squirrel sees the better deal, and he moves out of the house and into his own hanging apartment.

So I bought it.

It arrived quickly. Nerissa read the instructions. They were detailed except for one small oversight.

I’ll get to that in a minute.

We went outside and began the process of hanging the squirrel house in a tree. It couldn’t be any tree, though. It had to be a tree right beside the house. And it had to be a tree limb where the squirrel could easily see it and get to it.

That was easier said than done.

We have a lot of trees here. And a lot of tree limbs. We spent thirty minutes taking turns trying to throw a rope over the right tree limb. We’d get it over a lot of limbs, and occasionally over the phone line, but hitting the right limb was like trying to shoot a flying mosquito with a dart gun.

When I finally got the rope over the limb, the next step was to attach one end of the rope to a hook on the top of the tire house and then hoist it up.

That wasn’t easy either, but we did it.

Once it’s up, you twist the rope until a hook at the top of the tire turns and clips over the limp. At that point the tire is now hung on the tree.

But you still need to get the rope off the hook.

The contraption was designed creatively and brilliantly. A copper pipe at the end of the rope was attached to the hook. When you tug on the rope, the copper pipe releases and the rope comes down.

That wasn’t a snap, either, though.

I tugged.

Nothing.

I tugged harder.

Nothing.

This is where the directions forgot to tell us something.

I tugged even harder and the copper pipe came off and came flying at my face at about thirty miles an hour. I turned away but it still hit the side of my head.

The directions forgot to tell us that when you tug hard on the rope, it’s going to release and come straight at you.

Nerissa ran over to see if I was OK.

I was dazed but fine.

I had to ask her who she was, but otherwise there was no real damage.

Now here’s the million dollar question:

Why did I attract this accident?

In my new Nightingale-Conant audioprogram, The Missing Secret, and in my Miracles Coaching program, I explain that we do almost everything unconsciously. My hitting myself in the head was unconscious, and a (somewhat) natural result of doing something new.

But there’s a larger reason for this accident.

Last week a dear friend lost his father. I love my friend and I loved his father. There was a lot of grieving, and my friend was hurting. I wanted to help, but there is rarely anything that can be said that will take grieving away.

But I now had the story of “The squirrel who clubbed me.”

I called on my grieving friend every day, to see how he was doing. He was not doing great. But when I told him the squirrel story one day, he laughed out loud. He even thanked me.

I’ve since told this story to several people, usually people who are hurting and need a diversion or distraction.

It always works.

So somehow my “squirrel clubbing me” story was attracted to help several people in pain.

That’s pretty wonderful.

I’m glad I had the experience.

I suggest not everything that hurts you is bad. It may be for your own growth. 

Or it may also be for the humor and healing of others.

Or maybe I’m just squirrely.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS — Yes, the squirrel moved out of the house and now has his own hanging pad. I was outside the other day, saw him peeking out of the tire, and waved at him. He gave me the thumbs up sign. At least I think it was his thumb.

Note: The Attract Wealth seminar is now accepting registrations for the event. See www.attractwealthseminar.com  Hope to see you there.

Kathryn Cassidy recently recorded a videotaped astromap reading for me. She used my birth chart to calculate where the best places are for me to live and work. She did it as a gift to me, as a way of saying thanks for being mentored by my blog. It’s about fifteen minutes long. You can see it by clicking on the below image. Enjoy.

 About ten years ago, back in my Houston daze, my guitar teacher at the time gave me a million dollar bill.

It wasn’t real, of course, but it was sure close.

I put it in my wallet and carried it with me every day for the last 3,650 days.

At Pat O’Bryan’s last Unseminar (#4), my old guitar teacher was there. When it was my turn to speak, I called him to the front of the room.

I asked him if he remembered giving me the million dollar bill.

He did.

I opened my wallet, pulled out the now well-worn bill, and handed it back to him, saying, “I made my millions. Now it’s your turn.”

I didn’t realize the emotional impact this would have on the audience until I noticed most of them were crying.

I also didn’t know that my old guitar teacher had been planning a website to help himself and others with prosperity issues. He was at Pat’s Unseminar to learn how to pull it off.

Well, my old friend’s name is Todd Silva, and his website went live today at www.GiveAwayADollarADay.com 

I urge you to visit his site, read his story, sign up for his daily reminders, and start giving away a dollar every day.

Then notice what happens.

It’s almost like playing a prank when you leave a dollar for someone to discover later. Only with this stunt the receiver and you are both delighted.

Try it and see.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS — Todd’s a wonderful singer and guitar player and has a CD you will enjoy. Check out www.sagetone.com