I received my private pilot’s license back in 1972.
It was an intense ten week program at Kent State University. I’d call it a “crash course” but that seems counter useful for a program on flying planes.
I was 18 years old, fresh out of high school, and in love with flying. I found the course to be the hardest thing I had ever done in my life till then, and for decades after.
I also had some scary moments, like the time I got lost.
I wasn’t yet a licensed pilot, but I was skilled enough to fly solo.
One day I mapped out a cross country solo flight. I got out my compass, maps, highlighter, checked the weather, and did all the manual things you had to do back in the days before instruments and apps.
I took off.
I remember it being a cool, clear day in Ohio.
I always found it meditative to be solo in a plane, high in the sky.
I enjoyed the peace and scenery.
I looked out the window, searching for a check point to confirm I was on my path. I looked around but couldn’t find it.
I don’t recall if it was a water tower or some other landmark. But not seeing my checkpoint made me wonder if I was on course.
I kept flying, looking for my second checkpoint.
I couldn’t find it, either.
Now I was getting concerned.
I looked at my folded map, verifying my route and the checkpoints. They were clearly on the map, but not anywhere in view from the cockpit.
So I decided to start looking for the signs.
I flew to the left, then to the right, then randomly in any direction that seemed promising.
Before long, I knew I was lost.
I’m a solo pilot, on an alone cross country flight, and I have no idea where I am.
I assume I was still in Ohio.
But Ohio isn’t as big as Texas. I may have flown into another state.
Part of our pilot training is to identify runways on the ground, even small ones that a farmer might have, or an abandoned road.
So I started looking for a place to land.
As my flying adventure continued, and my heart raced, I spotted a small runway and a small hanger.
I aimed toward it, got into the landing pattern, and landed.
I got out of the plane and walked to the hanger.
There was a small coffee shop inside. I still wasn’t drinking coffee back then, but I ordered a cup.
I acted like all was right with the world.
Then I decidedly to ask the person making my coffee an important question.
“Excuse me, but could you tell me where I am?”
I got her attention.
It was clear I was lost.
She helped me look at my map, explained I wasn’t too far from Kent State, and helped me reroute my way home.
I got back in the plane, took off, and headed back to my destination.
As soon as I landed, my flight instructor asked what happened.
I told him I had been lost.
He immediately ordered me back into the plane.
He wanted to retrace my steps and see what I did wrong.
Back in the air, I followed my original map.
I again looked at the window for my checkpoint.
But again I couldn’t find it.
My instructor took the wheel, titled the plane, and pointed out the window.
“You were right over the checkpoint!”
I was never lost at all.
I was right on my path, until I began to doubt and question myself.
My instructor explained that checkpoints have to be seen out the left or right side of the plane. You can’t see them if you are right on top of them.
Lesson learned.
I also learned that throughout my life, whenever I thought I was lost, I reminded myself that I was probably right on my path, only thinking I was lost.
Lost?
Is there such a thing?
Ao Akua
joe
My 93-year-old father was moving some old furniture around when he discovered a few long lost black and white photographs.
One of them was of me.
From 1954.
At the age of ten months.
I had never seen the photo before.
But as I stared at myself of almost 65 years ago, I saw a happy child.
My father told me, “Joe, you were one happy baby!”
Maybe I was.
But I certainly wasn’t happy shortly after growing up.
And I went through long periods of unhappiness as an adult, and as a struggling writer wanting to be a success.
What happened to that happy child?
What happened to that uninhibited smile?
Oh, it’s still here.
People can see the baby smile in my adult face today.
But where’d it go for so long?
My guess is, it never left.
And I’m guessing your original innocent smile is still in you someplace, too.
Lately I’ve been encouraging people to look for their very early baby pictures.
Not the ones where you are still in diapers, and not the ones where you are going off to school.
I want you to find the baby pictures where you are showing signs of awareness and your “original smile” is still on your face.
Get that photo and use it as a meditation.
Stare into the smile.
Let it expand from within yourself.
Feel the original innocence of bliss today.
Because it’s still there.
And if for some reason you can’t easily or quickly find an early photo of yourself smiling, then consider looking at my photo. Or someone else that makes you grin or giggle. Or draw or paint one.
The point is, that original smile is not lost.
It’s in you.
I used to teach a form of meditation where you imagined an inner smile within yourself. As you visualized it, it grew. Before long, you had an outer smile.
Your inner child is still within you.
And it is still smiling.
It’s time to find it again.
Ao Akua,
joe
PS – I also believe there is something like an “original laugh,” too. That’s where you laugh without control or inhibition. Recently author-singer-TV celebrity Lisa Winston and I held a Facebook Live to discuss our forthcoming event, “Own the Stage.” We were so open and playful with each other that by the end of the broadcast, we were laughing so hard we were crying. Where is your original laugh? Where is your original smile? I urge you to look within and see…
Since so many people ask how to attract money, I thought it would be useful to share this money attraction secret from 36-year-old billionaire Andres Pira. It’s from the forthcoming 2019 book, Homeless to Billionaire.
A New Approach to Attracting Great Wealth
(An Excerpt from Homeless to Billionaire)
By Andres Pira
(with Dr. Joe Vitale)
Most people know that giving can lead to receiving. But most people do it wrong. I discovered a specific way of giving that has brought me millions of dollars. It helped me become a billionaire before I reached the age of 35. Let me tell you how I used this method to attract my first million dollars.
I am originally from Sweden. I moved to Thailand at the age of twenty to find my way in the world. But before I made any money, I became homeless. As I dug myself out of that dire situation, I noticed that Thailand has unique views about giving.
In Thailand, for example, on your birthday you don’t receive gifts, you give them. That was entirely new to me. But I started practicing it. As I gave more, I received more. As I gave more money, I received more money. I became fascinated and decided to experiment with this apparently magical law of giving. I wanted to see how it works, and if I could improve it.
The way most people give – if they give at all – is by tithing. That is the traditional way of giving ten percent of your income to a religious organization. Most religions teach that you need to give ten percent of the money you receive as a form of “payment” to God. While that has worked for centuries, and I have no argument with it, it’s not the way I do it.
Others have learned that giving money to any source that has inspired them will trigger a force that brings more money back to them. Dr. Joe Vitale, one of the teachers in the movie The Secret, tells people to give ten percentage of their income to wherever they receive spiritual nourishment or inspiration. That could be an Uber driver, a waiter, someone you meet at the store who says encouraging words, or an organization or anything else. I like this idea because it opens up the possibility of giving to others, including but not limiting to a church.
The trouble is, post people give only money and expect only money in return. While that works, it’s a limitation. The Universe (whatever you choose to call The Great Mystery of life) may have something better for you, but you limited the road back to you by insisting that what you get back is money. In my experience, the Universe may have many other gifts waiting for you, not just money, but your expectation of receiving only money is blocking the other good you could receive.
My own method is more refined and more focused. And it doesn’t always have to do with giving away money. In short, I’ve discovered that the emotion you feel as you give anything at all is what you will receive back. This is far more important than you may realize. If you feel hate as you do anything, you are setting up an “attractor field” to experience hate later. If you feel love as you do something, you are also engaging in a principle to attract love back to you later.
When I wish someone a good day, I do it with genuine feelings of wanting him or her to have a good day. Most people say, “Have a good day” with no feeling at all. It’s automatic. It’s dead. But I say it wanting to change the emotion of the person hearing it. I truly want them to have a good day. The feeling I give out as I say the words is one of love. As a result, what I expect to get back sometime later is the feeling of love. It may come as great news about a project, or a check, or a profitable idea, or a new connection, or some other reason to celebrate. But I give out love and what I get back is love.
In other words, when you give money, feel ecstatic as you do so and what you will receive in return is something with the feeling of ecstasy attached to it. That may be a return in the form of money. But it could be anything else. It could surprise you. It could be something unexpected, and not just money. What you gave was some emotion, so what you receive will be the same emotion, but multiplied at least ten times.
I’ve learned that this “vibrational giving” or “frequency giving” is the real secret to making giving work. While giving anything is a good policy, giving with conscious awareness of your emotions will bring wealth beyond all imagination.
Now let me share my story of making my first million dollars with this method.
Many years ago I visited an orphanage in Thailand. It was sad because all the kids had HIV. They didn’t have any government support and they were struggling. I wanted to help. I agreed to paint the building, all the rooms, and give the kids toys. I didn’t do it to receive money. I did it because I felt great in helping.
And that’s the secret to giving: feeling. How you feel when you give is what you will receive in return. Emotion creates vibration. And you can’t create anything without emotion. Unfortunately, most people aren’t aware of their feelings when they do anything, let alone when they give.
While I had been visualizing making my first million dollars, I also didn’t know how it would happen. But when I was at that orphanage, I didn’t think spending money there would bring me a million dollars later. All I knew is the kids need help and it would make me feel good to help.
So I invested about eighty thousand dollars in hiring people to paint and rebuild the place. I felt great as I paid for the services. Again, I was using “vibrational giving” as my tool. I knew that the feeling I felt as I gave is what I would get in return later, in some unexpected way. There was nothing calculating in my action. I didn’t give money to get money.
Instead, I did something that made me feel great, and I expected something to happen later that would also be a great feeling. But money wasn’t the focus. I just made sure to feel great. While eighty thousand was about a fourth of my yearly revenue at the time, spending it didn’t make me feel stretched or worried. It made me feel good.
As a result, a real estate deal I had in the works went through. I closed a property worth so much that my commission was more than one million dollars. In fact, it was one million plus about eighty grand. So I not only made my first million, but I also got my investment back.
And how did I feel? Fantastic, of course. The feeling I had when I invested in helping the orphanage (feeling great) came back to me to multiplied (feeling fantastic). I copied that check, framed it, and still look at it every day. I still feel great every time I see it.
Mother Teresa had it right when she said, “It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.”
Again, this isn’t only about money. It’s about what you feel as you give anything. The feeling you give out is what you will receive back. Practicing this “vibrational giving” works for me, and will work for you, too. Try it and see.
*****************
Andres Pira, President of Success Events and Blue Horizon Development, is the largest real estate developer in Southern Thailand. He and bestselling author Dr. Joe Vitale are completing the book, Homeless to Billionaire: The 18 Wealth Attracting Secrets for Becoming a Money Magnet. For details please see http://www.homelesstobillionaire.info
While my personal services require an investment, I have many ways to help you that are all free. For example —
http://www.MiraclesManual.com
http://www.AttractMoneyNow.com
http://www.
http://www.TheSecretPrayer.com
http://www.
http://www.healingmusicbook.
http://www.thejoyofservice.
https://www.mrfire.com/smart-
http://
http://ringsofpowermentoring.
https://www.zerolimitsmastery.
These are also all free —
http://www.twitter.com/mrfire
http://www.instagram.com/
http://www.facebook.com/
https://www.mrfire.com/dr-joe-
https://www.youtube.com/user/
Enjoy!
Ao Akua,
Joe
I love creativity!
The sudden burst of a creative new idea electrifies me.
It’s an orgasmic rush to feel the birth of a new book, or song, or product, or online course.
I love it!
But there are a lot of misconceptions about creativity and being creative.
For one, most people sit around and wait for inspiration to wallop them over the head with an idea.
And they expect the idea to be fully developed and ready for release to the public.
But is that how it actually happens?
When I had my private songwriting lesson in the home of rock icon Melissa Etheridge, she advised, “Never write without being inspired.”
But how do you get inspired?
She went on to explain how she gets inspired.
She walks in nature, reads biographies, reviews songs and poems, and more.
In other words, she invites inspiration.
Jack London was more macho about it.
He said, “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”
Considering he wrote over 50 books, and some (White Fang, The Call of the Wild, Martin Eden) are considered classics of literature, he knew what to do to nail creativity.
I’m a fan of inviting creativity, too.
I read, listen to music, allow my mind to reflect, sit in the hot tub and look at the stars, meditate and more
But here’s the thing no one seems to get.
Receiving creativity is one thing; developing what you receive is another.
For example, I was reading the new book The Creative Curve by Allan Gannett and began to get the idea of writing this post.
My mind was “ignited with an idea” and I let it float through my mind.
But then I went here and started explaining my idea.
I started writing.
And rewriting.
In other words, the sudden inspiration for an idea is a birth; but you have to grow and develop the idea into something that you can share.
Melissa Etheridge also told me that after I got an idea for a song, I “get” to develop it with music, melody and more.
She stressed the word “get.”
Some people complain that they have an idea for a book or a business, but now have to do the work to bring it into being.
You don’t “have” to do it, you “get” to do it.
It’s a shift in perspective.
With this very blog post, I’ll probably rewrite it fifteen times, or more.
Why?
Because receiving an idea and developing an idea are two different things.
For example, according to Gannett’s book, Paul McCarthy worked on his famous song “Yesterday” for almost two years. (!)
He didn’t just receive inspiration and release a song.
He wrote. Rewrote. Wondered.
Pondered. Worried. Stressed.
And worked some more.
The result is considered a masterpiece.
But it didn’t arrive in his mind as complete and finished.
All he received was the seed.
According to Gannett, “McCartney became obsessed. While he worked on it, the people around McCartney became sick of hearing about his ever-changing song in progress.”
After twenty months of this process, he created what we all know and love as the famous song, “Yesterday.”
Mozart didn’t receive finished music, either.
That’s another fallacy.
He got flashes of ideas and then worked at the keyboard to grind out what worked and didn’t.
I remember reading that the late Leonard Cohen often worked on a single song for ten years.
The shocking truth about creativity is that getting an idea is simple birth; you still have to raise it, much like making a baby is a thrilling explosion of delight, but now you have to change the diapers, feed it, raise it, and send it to school.
If you really want to be creative, you have to invite inspiration, and then go to work.
Take the seed and grow it.
When Daniel Barrett and I wrote the book, The Remembering Process, we wanted to share a new way to invite creative expression and creativity.
But after you receive a vision, or an inkling of what to do, you still have to develop it.
The creative idea isn’t the end.
The creative idea is the beginning.
And that’s where you “get” to be the parent of creativity.
For example, when I stated an intention to create the album, Sun Will Rise, I had to use everything to receive the ideas for each song.
But then I also had to write and rewrite those songs.
And then I had to get my Band of Legends together and record those songs.
And then we had to tweak and improve those songs in the studio.
And then we mixed them, and mastered them.
I didn’t just “get an idea” and quit.
This is the shocking truth about creativity.
Let me give you a maybe more startling example:
Back in 1997 or so I wrote a little booklet called Spiritual Marketing. I wrote it for my sister. I got the idea that maybe I could help her by explaining a process I had learned that took me from homeless to wealth. The little booklet explained a five step formula for attracting wealth. I never promoted it, and I kept it secret; only handing it out among friends and people I met and trusted. One of those friends was Bob Proctor, who convinced me this little booklet was a gem.
I could have stopped there.
A new print-on-demand publisher approached me around 2002 and asked if they could print something of mine. I gave them Spiritual Marketing. But before I did, I rewrote it, expanded it, added more content to it, and developed it into a more mainstream full length book. That book became an Amazon bestseller and was mentioned in a New York Times article.
And I could have stopped there.
Then, around 2005, a major publisher approached me about publishing Spiritual Marketing. But they didn’t like the title. So I changed the title, rewrote the book, added even more content to it, and released it as The Attractor Factor. It was that very book that got me invited to be in what became the hit movie The Secret.
But this evolution of an idea didn’t stop there.
The publisher loved the book but wanted to print a newer, expanded, more workbook oriented edition of it. So I again added to the book, enriched it, added quizzes and worksheets, and saw it published in 2008. That book is still a bestseller today.
Do you see how this process works?
I didn’t receive an idea and stop.
I received it, developed it, and kept developing it.
What I keep preaching is that life is a co-creation.
It’s a dance of energy.
You receive an idea or inspiration.
But it will just sit there unless you take action to breathe it into being.
I’m told I’ve written over 75 books.
I’m told I’ve recorded over 15 albums.
They all began as ideas from being creative, from allowing creativity; but none of them would be available had I take not taken action to create and manifest them.
So, how do you be more creative?
How do you practice creativity?
By inviting inspiration.
And by acting on that inspiration.
Now go forth and blossom.
You have work you “get” to do.
Go do it.
Ao Akua
joe
PS — Enjoy!