Joe Vitale

Years ago I was going to coauthor a book called The Red Flags Theory.

It’s the theory that as you go through life, there are signs to go forward, pause, or even stop and retreat.

They are a little like center lane bumps on the highway telling you to get back into your lane.

I call them green, yellow and red flags.

The key is to pay attention to the clues, or flags, and act on them.

When you do, life seems to flow at a smooth rate. When you don’t, you hit jolting bumps, scary rapids and/or unforgiving walls.

I was telling some friends about my red flags theory over lunch. One of them had gotten himself into a tangled business relationship. As I explained that before he got into the tangle there were probably yellow flags to alert him of problems ahead, he asked for an example.

I remembered that decades ago I took on a client that ended up being a nightmare. I finally had to fire him, return his money, and wish him well. It was a very unpleasant experience.

When I reflected on why I signed on with him in the first place, I realized that there were yellow flags on the field from the first day I met him but I didn’t pay full attention to them.

Those yellow flags were things like an uncomfortable feeling in the stomach; noticing an odd statement or odd behavior; feeling a tiny shudder when he said something about someone else that seemed negative or inappropriate.

I didn’t pay close attention to those yellow flags because this client was paying me a great deal of money, and I needed it (or thought I did) at the time.

So I let the promise of big money help me ignore or rationalize the warning flags.

But yellow flags turn into red flags if you don’t do something about them. Ultimately I had to end my relationship with that client.

As I told this story to my friends, they nodded. They realized there were hints, clues and “flags” all along the way, in every relationship, coming in every moment.

The point is to awaken, be responsible, and act on them.

A yellow flag doesn’t mean stop; it means explore the caution. If you can’t resolve it or shake it, you might have to get out of that game.

Here’s another example:

Donny Deutsch recently interviewed Donald Trump on his CNBC show, The Big Idea. In it The Donald said he once got the flu when he was about to close a deal to buy a newspaper.

Donald explained that he never gets sick, but he got terribly sick on the day of the deal. He took it as a sign not to go through with it.

As it turned out, it was the right decision. Being a newspaper publisher is not The Donald; being a real estate tycoon is.

The flu was a red flag to stop.

I have no idea if Donald Trump received yellow flags before the day of the deal, but I bet he did. You don’t get a red flag unless you’ve ignored all the yellow ones.

And that’s the point: Be alert to the yellow flags.

Of course, green flags are the good signs that say this is the way to go. But if you don’t act, you may get yellow and then red flags on those deals, as well.

Often I won’t get a green flag (or any flag) until after I’ve taken action.

This is a little like being at a football game. There’s no reason to toss a flag on the field before the game begins. But once it starts, look for the flags.

Same in life. I’ve often begun something because it felt right. After I took action, the game is afoot. From that point on I have to pay attention, and act, on all signs.

Also, as new information becomes available and relationships grow, new flags may also appear. Life isn’t static. The game isn’t over. This is why you have to stay awake in every moment.

As I’ve said here, there, and even on Larry King’s TV show, the great goal of life is to awaken.

Flags help you tune in to this moment; and this moment is all there is.

Here’s one final example:

Since I’m travelling more these days, I decided to get a laptop connect card so I could use my laptop virtually anywhere to connect to the Internet.

I went to my current phone service provider but he couldn’t determine what card I needed for my particular laptop.

Yellow flag.

I told him I would return with my laptop in hand so he could look at it and give me the right connect card.

I returned, he took one look, and said he didn’t have the card I needed, even though my card is a standard one and should be in stock.

Yellow flag.

He went on to say I would have to go to a larger city, probably Austin or San Antonio, to get the card I wanted. Since I had no plans to go to either city, and needed the card today for a trip I’m making tomorrow, I passed on his suggestion.

Note that these yellow flags don’t mean I shouldn’t get a laptop connect card; they simply mean (so far) not to get one with my current phone service provider.

I sat in the car and made a few phone calls to local stores of competing phone service providers, seeing who had the card I needed. After three calls (notice I’m taking action) I found a friendly woman who assured me she had the card in stock.

Green flag.

She told me her name is Chelsea, which is the name of one of our cats.

Green flag.

I went over to her store, went inside, and was greeted by the friendliest staff.

Green flag.

No waiting. No hassles. No deposit, or card fees, or much else.

Green flags.

And while I was there, one of my favorite waitresses of all time breezed into the store, saw me, and rushed over to give me a hug.

Green flag.

I now have the Internet connect card I need and I feel great about the experience.

Mission accomplished.

I still don’t know if I’ll ever write a book about my red flags theory*, but I’m hoping this blog post helps you remember that there are clues in every moment telling you if you’re on course.

Pay attention.

And act.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS — Usually fear stops you from paying attention to the flags. My bestselling DVD, created with Mark Ryan, on becoming fear-less, just might be the ticket for you. It’s one of our three subliminal manifestation DVDs described at www.subliminalmanifestation.com Take a look. There’s nothing to fear, you know.   

* Guess I’m waiting for a green flag. 🙂

Note to me: Waiting is not how a game begins.

Note to you: If you’d like to see this concept developed into a book, leave a comment (or just “Digg” this post) and tell me so. Thank you.

Amazon asked me to film a short clip introducing my forthcoming new book, The Key. We filmed it today. Nerissa just posted it on my video blog, so you’ll be able to see it before anyone else, even Amazon. It’s at http://drjoevitale.blogspot.com/ Go see. Enjoy.

 I stumbled across this image and wanted to share it with you.

What do you see when you look in your mirror?

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS – The mirror reflects what is inside, not what is outside.

I spent most of the other day at the hospital, supporting my best friend as she had surgery.

Surgery is no fun, but the real problem is all the stress before it: Worry.  Signing living wills. Worst case sceaniros played out in your head.

Once you’re in the hospital, though, the procedure happens pretty fast (depending on your needs, of course).

I was amazed to see so many people come in and go out the same day. I was beginning to think I was sitting at a fast food place, watching people drive up, place their order, drive around back to get it, and then go home.

I asked one of the staff how many surgeries they did that day. I was astonished to hear sixty-four.

Sixty-four surgeries in one day?

In just one little hospital?

I’d call that drive-thru surgery.

What a wild, wonderful time we live in.

But what I am really curious about is the experience of having anesthesia.

I had it last January when I went through an emergency appendectomy.

I wondered about it then.

When they knock you out, where do you go?

It’s not sleep, as you don’t wake up refreshed.

It’s not unconsciousness, like when you’re blacked out from a fall, because you don’t recall anything at all; not even “blackness”.

It’s not a near-death experience, as there aren’t any white lights or ghostly beings, and you don’t recall a single thing.

I asked the anesthesiologist what happened during anesthesia.

“No one knows,” he said. “There have been numerous studies done but all we know is the mind disengages from the body.”

Rightly so, too.

The mind doesn’t need to be there.

But why?

How?

And where does the mind go?

I asked one medical doctor and he said:

“This is truly one of the hottest topics in academic consciousness 
studies. This very question is what has obsessed a couple of 
academics in this area, and led to one of the most interesting 
theories of ‘consciousness’, which relates to microtubules in the 
brain, which seem to be affected by anesthesia.

“It may be that *only* the witness is *awake* under anesthesia, and that the witness experiences only silence and *the void* under deep anesthesia, but there may be much more that happens, that we are not privy to, because it is too deep.

“This is one of the interesting correspondences with the ‘divided mind’ theory, or ‘division theory,’  which is well presented in what I consider one of the most important books of the 20th century, The Lost Secret of Death, by Peter Novak.”

Fascinating.

I still don’t know where the mind goes during surgery.

I’m just glad it goes someplace.

I’m going to fish for that book and see what it unfolds.

Meanwhile, stay healthy.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS —  In Zero Limits my coauthor and I talk about the “zero state.” Maybe that’s where the mind goes? It just dissolves into zero? It reaches the blank state of nothingness and “you” aren’t there? Hmmmmm.  

A few weeks ago I was tag team interviewed by two men for a new DVD series on how to become a millionaire.

Everything was going fine until one of the interviewers asked me, “Is guilt necessary?’

I almost spit out my teeth, which aren’t false.

I was surprised by the question.

It seemed to come out of nowhere.

He went on to say, “You have a rare car, so do you feel guilty driving it?”

That really made my head turn like a confused puppy looking at a foreign object for the first time.

“I don’t feel guilty at all,” I said. “I love my Francine and love people seeing me drive her. I’m hoping people get inspired when they see me drive my Panoz. They can go for their dreams, too.”

As I asked a few questions of my own, I learned the man with the guilt question owns a brand new Porsche 911 luxury sports car and only drives it at night, when the neighbors can’t see him.

Turns out he felt guilty about owning such an expensive car.

I wasn’t sure why he felt guilty about it.

Did he steal it?

Did he flaunt it?

No and no.

I chewed on the subject of guilt for some time, though, not knowing how to answer this man with his sincere question. I asked if I could get back to him.

I reflected on it all that night. It seemed to me that anyone who had to hide his wealth didn’t feel guilt but shame.

He somehow felt he didn’t deserve it.

He somehow felt others opinions of him were more important than his own.

He somehow felt out of alignment with his own desires.

What about guilt?

Was guilt even necessary?

I went to my friend Mandy Evans, author of Emotional Options and Travelling Free. She’s a belief clearing expert. I asked her what she felt about guilt. She wrote —

“I do NOT think guilt is necessary. In fact eventually it usually leads to resentment and justification of whatever people feel guilty about as often as it works for whatever they brought it into play for in the first place. You really have to want to correct your ways already to be willing to feel guilty in the hope that it will help you to do that. Awareness and desire are stronger by far than guilt — which feels really awful and rarely works. When it does, the price is too high.”

In other words, awareness of what you are doing and desire to do something different are far better and healtheir than guilt or shame.

But does having a really nice car require any change at all?

Randy Gage (who owns a very expensive car and is proud of it) is a prosperity guru who says watching television and movies programs us to think rich people are bad. A nice car might push your buttons about wealth. He writes — 

“Is it any wonder that you grow up hating rich people and unconsciously not wanting to be like them? Once this is ingrained in you, the guilt starts. And it is that guilt that can stop you from accepting the abundance you are meant to have!”

Anyone who feels guilt or shame hasn’t gotten clear within themselves. There’s still a tug of war inside.

The part of them in touch with their pure desire is saying “drive the car” but the part of them feeling beliefs of lack or deservingness is saying “hide the car.”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, once you get clear inside, you can have, do, or be virtually anything.

The Divine may be offering you a new car.

Who’s to say It isn’t?

It’s your beliefs that make it right or wrong.

Walk, take the bus, or drive your Porsche 911.

It doesn’t matter.

Just do whatever you do with clairity and love.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS — For help in getting clear, which I regard as the missing secret to success, consider Miracles Coaching. I always use a Miracles Coach. Mandy is one of mine, but she no longer takes clients. That’s why you might consider www.miraclescoaching.com

PPS – A great article by Randy Gage on prosperity thinking is at www.prosperityuniverse.com/lack_program.html Anything by Randy or Mandy is worth reading.

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