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In 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, which you might say caused a stir.

But that same year saw another book published that triggered an even greater surge of interest, discussion, and awakening: Samuel Smiles’ Self-Help.

The public devoured Smiles’ book. It sold more than 200,000 copies the first year. It out sold Darwin’s book — even Darwin bought it – – and was instantly translated into other languages. It made the author a celebrity. From that point on, he was considered a type of coach to the dreamers of the world.

But Smiles was no dreamer. He was a hard working Scottish author and government reformer who believed struggle was necessary to develop character. He didn’t believe in positive thinking but in positive doing.

In his 1905 autobiography, he wrote –

“My object in writing out Self-Help, and delivering it at first in the form of lectures, and afterwards rewriting and publishing it in the form of a book, was principally to illustrate and enforce the power of George Stephenson’s great word – PERSEVERANCE.”

George Stephenson was a focused dreamer who created the world’s first public inter-city railway line to use steam locomotives. What carried Stephenson on to greatness was the word Smiles admired the most: perseverance.

According to Smiles, hard work, discipline, and focus were tickets to success. It was how you “self helped” yourself in the world.

Too many people today are afraid of work and too easily willing to quit.

I’ve learned that struggle can be not only good, but even great.

When I’m in the gym, struggling to lift heavy iron weights, it’s the struggle that builds my muscles. If I lift donuts, my muscles aren’t challenged and don’t grow.

What do you hear in your mirror?

When I was first learning how to write songs and perform my own tunes, I told my coaches not to take away my struggle. I knew that wrestling with the new skills was how my body and mind were going to create new neural pathways and lead me to my own discoveries.

But not all struggle is necessary, and may in fact be a clue to alter your course.

When I was driving across the city to run an errand, I got a flat tire. That was struggle I didn’t see in any way was helping me. So I looked at the deeper significance and decided it meant I was to skip the errand for that day.

In other words, you get signals through life to proceed, pause, or even stop.

I’ve often called it The Red Flags Theory.

When you go in the right direction, you get green lights to proceed. Things go smoothly. There’s a flow.

But when you are about to do something that is off path, you get a yellow flag. Maybe the engine light on your car comes on. It’s a signal to pause and reflect.

And when a red flag appears — like a flat tire on the way out — you have to literally stop and assess your direction.

But none of this says struggle is bad.

“Struggle” is a path to manifesting what you want.

It just depends on your mental attitude to the work at hand.

When I write blog posts like this one, I “struggle” to articulate and communicate my message. It doesn’t mean I hate the process or want to quit. It means I care and want to get this right.

It’s an acceptable struggle.

It’s simply part of my process.

In creating my seventh music album, I went through lots of struggle.

Writing, rewriting, rehearsing, tweaking, performing, takes, retakes, dubbing, over dubbing, editing, mixing, mastering and more – all could be considered “struggle.”

My 7th album

But it’s simply “the work” that attracted the result I intended: my seventh album, titled Reflection.

Why struggle?

It’s only struggle if you are resisting the work; if you are OK with what needs done, it’s simply process.

As I wrote on my Facebook page recently at https://www.facebook.com/drjoevitale —

“When you resist doing what you know needs done, it is difficult. Find a mental way to enjoy it, and just do it, and it is easy.”

Samuel Smiles worked hard and gave us a book that is still relevant today. I imagine he “struggled” some in writing it. He certainly struggled in getting it published, as his first books were considered failures and his most famous book, Self-Help, was rejected by the first publishers to see it — one of whom regretted it a decade later and told the author so over dinner.

Birth of all kind involves struggle.

Welcome it.

Once you accept struggle, it is no longer struggle.

As Smiles wrote in Self-Help, “Nothing that is of real worth can be achieved without courageous working.”

Now get to work.

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS – My new album on CD – complete with a beautiful printed book revealing all of the lyrics and including photos of me and the band – is at the printer right now.  It will be a limited edition collectible, because I am only printing a small quantity of 1,000 to offer to my friends (like you).  It will sell to others for $21.95 but if you go and pre-order it right now, you can have it for only $9.95 (plus shipping, of course). That’s well over half off. That’s only a dollar a song. For less than ten bucks, you can change your life through sound *and* get a collectible new album and booklet, too. Plus I will include a surprise gift when we ship the new album to you later this month. (You will love it.) May I send it to you? Just go see http://www.reflectioncd.com (There’s no struggle involved in ordering it.) 🙂

PPS – Check out Miracles Coaching to better understand and implement the ideas I express here.

Sequel to "Zero Limits" Available Now at Amazon

Who says you need money?

Last weekend I received a mega gift in Las Vegas – a late 60th birthday present – that was so unexpected, overwhelming, rare, loving, priceless and magnificent, that I’m still nearly speechless.

Over 50 people were involved — none were paid, all gave out of love and generosity — and the result was a gift of such magnitude and historic importance that I’m not sure how to describe it.

But here goes…

I love everyone in my Miracles Coaching program.

The coaches and staff are upbeat, positive, loving and loveable people.

Keep reading for a-maz-ing story...

Once a year the top coaches and sales people meet me in Las Vegas for a dinner, awards ceremony, sharing, meeting and more. I always look forward to the trips and the catching up.

Over dinner, they hinted early on that they had a surprise for me. I figured it’d be a cigar or a book. I didn’t think too much of it. I wasn’t there for me. I was there for them.

Little did I know that their little surprise would change my life forever.

Steve Gardner, one of the team leaders, began.

He handed me a little key.

I joked that it must be for a little car.

Back of guitar just as glorious as front (says Mathew Dixon holding it)

Wrong.

Turns out it was to a guitar case.

Not to any guitar, though.

What these people had done was build the world’s first Clearing Guitar.

It was hand crafted out of Kauri wood estimated to be over 50,000 years old (!), and included gems and mantras and other healing mojo to make it a truly one of a kind healing guitar.

The Miracle Guitar

It was crafted of other wood that I love, such as koa, flame maple, and purple heart.

It contains unique additions, such as a mammoth tooth estimated to be over 12,000 years old (!).

It also has chakra stones for fret markers, and more.

It’s tuned to the 424 Hz frequency, said to be more harmonious to our bodies than the standard 440 Hz.

And it is a baritone electric guitar.

The Clearing Guitar

I’m in awe of this incredible guitar, made with such precision, and care, and so personalized, and with such healing qualities.

I’ve never seen anything like it.

More than that, they built it for me.

They talked to Guitar Monk Mathew Dixon, my guitar teacher and partner on several musical albums, to determine what kind of guitar would be best for me. He told them of my love for baritones.

With the inside info from Mathew, and further insights about clearing and ho’oponopono from Suzanne Burns, my right (and left) hand partner in business, they went to work.

Guitar maker Mark Seddon

The whole idea was the brain child of Abi White. She went to her friend, luthier Mark Seddon of Oxbow Guitars in the U.K., and they began the process.

In the end, six months later, over 50 people gave product or service, to help create this Miracle Guitar, what they call The Clearing Guitar.

Mark named it Morrnah, after Morrnah Simeona, who gave us all ho’oponopono (as described in my books, At Zero and Zero Limits).

They presented the guitar to me in Las Vegas.

After I heard the story of its creation, I was almost speechless.

When I held the guitar, I felt the love.

When I played it, I felt the magic.

But the story gets even better.

Abi, who came up with the idea, and Mark, the luthier who crafted the guitar, flew to Vegas from London to meet me the next morning.

It was the idea of Abi White

Mark answered my questions about the guitar, and set it up for me to play for everyone at our private meeting in Vegas. It was a joyful experience to strum such a one-of-a-kind baritone electric guitar, with the unusual but soothing 424 Hz frequency tuning, and all the esoteric specifics that went into it.

I teach that you need to “get clear” of unconscious limitations so you can attract what you want. Along the way, certain tools can help you.

This Clearing Guitar is designed to clear me as I play it, and clear you as you hear it.

So you can expect music created with it down the road. 🙂

Abi White summed up the creation of this guitar this way…

“For me this guitar inspired by Joe and manifest through myself, The team at Prosper, Mat Dixon, Mark Seddon and so so so many others whom I love and am very gratefull for is far more than just a guitar. It a a stunning beautiful completely balanced highly powerful clearing tool that I hope will assist and support Joe in the work he is doing in the world to bring healing and clearing through music or as Mat Dixon The Guitar monk puts it far more eloquently: ‘To simply call this a guitar would be an understatement, it is a Masterpiece! A one-of-a-kind piece of art, created with love by all those involved’.”

And for me…

It’s difficult to describe the love and gratitude I feel.

When I realize that 50 some people were feeling such love and gratitude to me, that they wanted to create this for me, the feeling of love is almost incomprehensible.

There is no way I can list everyone involved and thank all involved, but a good place to start is looking at the website they created for this amazing gift.

It’s right here: http://www.theclearingguitar.com

And of course, this was a gift from everyone in Miracles Coaching.

I thank you, one and all.

I am beyond grateful.

Ao Akua

joe

PS – If you are interested in a Clearing Guitar of your own, contact Oxbow Guitars at www.oxbowguitars.co.uk

What do you hear?

I have a question for you…

I would like to send you my latest album, titled Reflection, which is a breakthrough in self-help healing music.

It’s music to soothe, heal, stir and awaken.

Click image to pre-order new album

Every track is original, and every track conveys a powerful message about life, love, miracles, faith, and more.

It’s all designed to raise your vibration so you can better attract higher levels of consciousness and manifestations.

It works beautifully with the Law of Attraction because it helps program your mind to attract what you want and prefer.

For example –

The song “Love” could be the anthem for a whole generation. It is unforgettable. It will help you love and attract love. When you feel love, you merge with the higher attraction law of the Universe.

The song “Fidem” lets you know the truth about worry. The message is freeing. (“Fidem” means faith.)

The song “Lakshmi” is a powerful song of homage to the Goddess of Wealth and Prosperity. It can help you attract more abundance. (She is a secret in my own success.)

The title track song, “Reflection,” reminds you that the whole world is a mirror — of you. (This song has the potential to trigger an awakening in you.)

The song “Remember” is a beautiful, yet haunting message of how to change your life with a brand new process. (It is way cool.) It was inspired by “The Remembering Process” book (coming in April).

The song “Do” is a pep talk to get you moving. It could help you overcome procrastination and fire you up for the day or a work out. The word ‘action’ is in the phrase ‘law of attraction.’

The song “Believe” lets you know what to do when no one seems to believe in you or your dreams. We live in a belief driven universe, so this song is timely and powerful.

I could go on and list every track and the story behind each, but you get the idea.

This new album is a-maz-ing.

My band behind "Reflection"

I got my band back together — Daniel Barrett, Glenn Fukunaga, and Rock and Rock Hall of Fame drummer Joe Vitale (yes, he has the same name as me) — and we created this new album of ten tracks just for you.

It’s self-help healing music at its best.

It’s music that transforms.

And I want to send it to you.

The album on CD – complete with a beautiful printed book revealing all of the lyrics and including photos of me and the band – is at the printer right now.

It will be a limited edition collectible, because I am only printing a small quantity of 1,000 to offer to my readers and friends (like you).

It will sell to others for $21.95 but when you go and pre-order it right now, you can have it for only $9.95 (plus shipping, of course).

That’s well over half off.

That’s only a dollar a song.

For less than ten bucks, you can change your life through sound *and* get a collectible new album and booklet, too.

Plus I will include a surprise gift when we ship the new album to you in April.

(You will love it.)

May I send it to you?

Just go see http://www.reflectioncd.com

Expect Miracles.

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS – This offer will last until May 1st, 2014. Please go order one or more albums (think of your family and friends) right now while it’s on your mind at — http://www.ReflectionCD.com

Member BBB 2003 - 2015

An important FedEx package arrived today and I found myself thinking, “Gosh, where would we be without this great company?”

It’s even more amazing when you consider the struggles FedEx founder Fred Smith had in the beginning trying to get his company off the ground (no pun intended).

He had such a hard time getting enough cash flow to make payroll that at one point he “raided the family’s trust fund without his sister’s permission.” (He was sued for that.)

For a while, he met payroll by borrowing money from a bank in Chicago that kept him going until one day they refused – “That’s it, Fred. Sorry.”

This is where the story gets rather astonishing.

After being turned down, he was headed back to Memphis with a heavy heart, knowing he would have to tell his employees he couldn’t pay them.

Standing in O’Hare airport, he “noticed” a departure for Las Vegas. He took the company’s last $5,000, jumped on that plane, and, well, the rest is history.

Needless to say, they made payroll and are still here delivering packages to my door.

What happened that day in the airport?

And whatever “it” is, wouldn’t you like to have it, too?

Well, you do… and this is the subject of my newest audio program with Nightingale-Conant – “The Zero Point: How to Enter the Realm of Limitless Possibilities.” http://thezeropoint.info/

You see, Fred Smith needed an answer right now.

He’d done everything he could to make his company a success. He’d put his own money into it, all he had. And it had worked, but he needed to go to another level and had no idea how to do that.

He needed inspiration.

Now I’m not a gambling man in the strictest sense of the word. And apparently, Fred Smith isn’t either, because I understand he hasn’t gambled since.

But that day, he received inspiration, followed it – as bizarre as it seemed to him and later, to others – and it led to him being able to pay the employees who he knew depended on him.

Inspiration works in some pretty interesting ways – if not downright crazy. At least, they can seem so at the time.

Certainly that’s how it felt when I heard the whisperings inside myself to become a musician after spending decades becoming a writer.

And look at what’s happened as a result of my following it…Seven CD’s in record time (okay, okay, enough with the puns).

Where do these ideas come from?

I call it the Zero Point.

For 10 years, I’ve been practicing and teaching about a little known, virtually untapped, awareness we all have inside ourselves.

It’s literally your point of power – the power center of the world itself, a world of miracles and Divinity.

It’s all based on the Law of Zero which is deeper and beyond the Law of Attraction or the Law of Creation.

So let me ask you…

Are you ready for inspiration, too?

If so, go here – http://thezeropoint.info/

Expect Miracles.

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS — You may know about the Law of Attraction, but if you are ready to discover the higher laws of living a life of magic, miracles and more, then please go see http://thezeropoint.info/

Member BBB 2003 - 2015

Back in 1976, Jimmy Carter was running for US President and I was escaping from college at Kent State University.

I read his book, Why Not the Best?, and was fascinated. When Jimmy came to Ohio, I arranged to meet the candidate twice. It never went anywhere – well, it did for him – but I always remembered something I read in his book.

Have you done your best?

Jimmy told the story of applying for a job in the Navy and being interviewed by Admiral Rickover.

The Admiral asked how Jimmy stood in his graduating class at the Naval academy.

“I came 59th in a class of 840!” Jimmy proudly announced.

The Admiral asked in return, “Did you do your best?”

Jimmy paused and reflected — something I’ve always admired about him — and honestly admitted that no, he had not always done his best.

The Admiral replied, “Why not?”

This interaction caused Jimmy Carter to base his entire presidential campaign on doing the best. It also triggered the title of his 1976 book. And of course, he went on to become the 39th President of the United States.

That story made an impression on me back in 1976 and never left me. It’s still with me today.

Whenever I complete a project, I always ask myself, “Have you done your best?”

I won’t allow myself to slide and flippantly answer the question. I make myself really reflect.

Have I really done my best?

Is this all I can do?

Will a little bit more time and effort make it even better?

I often rewrite my books fifty times.

Or more.

I often rewrite these blog posts dozens of times.

Or more.

When I was completing my new songs for my forthcoming album, Reflection, I rewrote each a dozen times.

Or more.

New best album coming in April

And when I got into the studio with my band, I rewrote the songs again.

Why?

I was urging myself to do my best.

I was asking myself, “Have you done your best?”

When you look at the question from a sincere perspective, and don’t allow yourself any wiggle room in squirming out of an honest answer, you can usually see that you have not done your best.

At that point it’s up to you to make a decision and make it your best.

One of the reasons I have been so successful in so many fields is this stance of disciplining myself to do my best.

Even when I work out, following the advice of Bill Phillips and Scott York in my gym, I am always checking in with myself.

Doing my best

I simply ask myself what Jimmy Carter was asked: “Is it your best?”

If it isn’t, I work some more.

When I decided to be a writer in the 1960s, I would walk to the public library (two miles each way) and spend the entire day there studying books on writing. I remember pushing myself to learn the craft.

I would sit at a desk and follow the exercises in the books I was reading. I didn’t know about The Carter Question at the time. I was simply following my passion.

But ever since 1976, I’ve turned on the after burners and really question everything I write or create.

Is it my best?

Can I do better?

And now that I’ve taken up the saxophone, I’m doing the same thing.

I read the books, listen to the great players, study lessons online and with a personal tutor, and I always, always, always ask myself the Jimmy Carter question —

“Have I done my best?”

Again, being ruthlessly honest is the ticket to escape self-deception and self-sabotage.

Of course, you have to let go at some point and share your work with the world. But most of us are lazy and release mediocre work.

With such overwhelming competition in today’s world — there are 1,000 books published and 3,000 albums released weekly — it behooves you to do your best and only your best.

Good enough won’t cut it.

What about you?

Did you do your best?

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS – Late last year I noticed that Jimmy Carter was still working with Habitat for Humanity to raise funds and build homes. I instantly jumped on board to support Carter and his cause. I won first place in the fund raising contest and did well enough to receive an autographed photo of Jimmy and his wife, and won a free trip to New York City (which I passed to the second place winner). You can see the fund raising page I put up and promoted at http://helpbuild.habitat.org/site/TR/CWP/General?px=1936753&pg=personal&fr_id=1280

Member 2003 - 2015