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“You can blame Star Wars for that.”

I was talking to Guitar Monk Mathew Dixon, explaining that I see far too many people focusing on mind power and not realizing they need body power, too.

When I post pictures on Facebook or on this blog of me bending nails, bolts, steel rods and horseshoes, people often assume I’m doing it with just my mind.

I bent this horseshoe with mind directing body

While the process starts and continues with my mind, I am using my will power and mind power to direct my body to an end result: bending steel.

But why do so many people assume you can accomplish things with mind power alone?

Why do so many “New Age” types want to sit and visualize but not get up and act?

Why do so many people deceive themselves with magical thinking?

“You can blame it on Star Wars,” Mathew said.

Well, I’ve never seen a Star Wars movie.

None of them.

Or read any of the books.

To bring myself current, I watched the first film from 1977.

I nodded off several times during it.

While lines like “May the Force be with you” stood out, they were inaccurate to me.

Since “The Force” is always with you, a more accurate line would be, “May you be with the Force.”

The latter quote would remind you to align yourself with The Force.

But George Lucas didn’t ask my opinion.

“The second movie is the culprit,” Mathew explained.

The second one was the 1980 The Empire Strikes Back.

Apparently that’s the movie where a lot of things are accomplished with “Jedi mind tricks” and thought alone.

And apparently a lot of people assumed they could do the same if their mind were only stronger.

Yoda taught Jedi mind control for 800 years?

Good luck with that.

I don’t want to blame the movies, though.

The theme of “mind over matter” appears everywhere, in metaphysical literature as well as popular culture.

You’ll find it in comic books as well as bestselling books.

You’ll find it in Richard Bach’s Illusions and The Messiah’s Handbook and on television shows such as Flash and Super Girl.

Who doesn’t want to have the ability to create out of thought alone, or make things appear with a few magic words?

Who doesn’t want to have super powers?

Who doesn’t want to be Superman?

Or Superwoman?

The thing is, life doesn’t work like that.

You were given a body and a mind, and the ability to use both.

We are not brains in jars.

We are brains in bodies.

When we use both, then we can attract miracles.

But the miracles “appear” through natural means.

Even Wallace Wattles said those exact words — natural means — in his famous 1915 book, The Science of Getting Rich.

He stated that it’s the combination of mind and action that leads to attracting results.

It’s not just mind.

It’s not just body.

It’s both.

Slides of Einstein's brain. Without the body, it's just a curiosity.

If I pick up a horseshoe and “will” it to bend but not actually try to bend it, I’ll just be holding a horseshoe.

Nothing will happen.

I have to add my mind – mind power, will power, belief – and direct my body to actually bend the shoe.

It’s the same with anything you want.

If you want to attract a new car (or job, or spouse, or you-name-it), you want to begin with your visualization and affirmation. You won’t even try if you don’t kick start the process with your belief.

So, it begins with mind.

But if that’s all you do, you probably won’t attract anything.

You might even become skeptical or critical.

You’ll say “This mind stuff doesn’t work!”

Of course it doesn’t – if you are only using your mind.

But add your literal action, and you begin to co-create what you want into being.

It’s still not likely that what you want will just “appear” like in a Star Wars or Harry Potter movie.

I’m not ruling magic out. I believe in magic and miracles. I also believe that we live in a “no limit” universe, where we can probably do what some would say is impossible with the right mindset and proper action.

I’m just reminding you that you have a body for a reason.

Use it to aid in the attraction of your goal.

Use it for action.

There is real magic in the world: it’s using your mind and your body to achieve a specific end goal.

For example, if I want to write a book, I don’t sit and “think it” into reality.

Instead, I use every “mind trick” I know – from visualizing to Nevillizing to The Remembering Process and more – to get my mind around the idea of what I want.

And then I start writing.

I do something.

And it’s the combination of both mind and action that leads to me being an author.

None of this is a slam against Star Wars. I’m not blaming the movies at all. I’m told the latest installment, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is spectacular.

Just remember that movies and television shows program you, usually unconsciously and subconsciously.

Focus on solutions you can act on

Recently I watched the movie The Martian and came away from it realizing the focus was always on solutions.

It taught an “Anything can be solved” attitude.

I liked it.

And I recently saw the movie The Walk, the true story of a young man with the “impossible” dream of walking a tightrope across the World Trade towers in New York City.

And he did it.

The movie conveyed the message that virtually “anything is possible.”

I liked it, too.

Star Wars is great entertainment and it’s great fun to imagine having no limits due to mind power alone.

Just don’t think you can pay the bills with a Jedi Mind Trick.

Ao Akua,

Joe

Happy New Year!

PS – Happy New Year!!

Member BBB 2003 - 2016

I’ll be 62 years old (young) at the end of this month.

While that means I’m a member of AARP, I can get discounts at certain stores, and my remaining hair is turning gray, it doesn’t mean that I have stopped growing.

In fact, I’m aging backwards.

I’m youthing.

In the last year alone I —

— attended a strongman training and bent a horseshoe, a steel bar, and a nail, all with my bare hands, and drove a spike through a board with my fist. I was the oldest person in the room, even older than the instructor, and probably the most inexperienced when it comes to feats of strength. But I attended anyway. I learned a lot, too, including the fact that virtually “Nothing is impossible.”

Bent and straightened this horseshoe

— attended an advanced guitar camp with legendary player Tommy Emmanuel. I was one of the oldest in the room, was surrounded by players far more advanced than me – including a 14 year old girl who dazzled everyone with her skills – but I attended anyway.

— attended an online class to learn how to play the baritone saxophone, wrote an article about playing for a sax mag, recorded an entire album of saxophone music, hired Grammy nominated sax sensation Mindi Abair to perform for me and tutor me, and more.

— discovered a synthophone — an alto sax turned into a midi instrument — and bought one and learned how to play it, using it to help make another healing music audio with Guitar Monk Mathew Dixon, called The Enlightenment Audio.

– went into the studio with one of my favorite singers in the entire world – Grammy nominated Ruthie Foster – and producer Daniel Barrett and created an album called Stretch! with me writing lyrics, playing baritone saxophone, and singing with Ruthie. Talk about a stretch! But I did it.

Daniel, Ruthie and me Stretching

— traveled to Kuwait to speak to people interested in self-improvement and curious about positive psychology, but also traveled to numerous domestic spots, as well, including to one where we discussed my having my own television show in 2016.

— despite having written more books than most people read in their entire lifetime, I released several more, including the best selling The Secret Prayer and volume 3 of The Miracles Manual. And I just signed a publishing deal for my next book, coming out April 2016.

— and even though I’m an author of books designed to help people, I’m still buying and reading other people’s self-help books, too. I’m always searching for new authors, new voices, new books, new material, to help me expand my thinking and my life.

Why?

Why do I continue to invest in courses, books, audios, coaching, classes and more?

Why am I continuing to do this as I turn 62?

Because I’m still learning, growing, improving, stretching and discovering myself.

Because I don’t know it all and am eager to discover more about myself and life.

Because as long as I keep moving forward, they won’t throw dirt on my face.

I have no idea your age, and it doesn’t really matter.

My father is 90 and still enthusiastic about life.

He gets up earlier than you or me or the sun every morning and wallops a standing dummy five hundred times.

And that’s before he does light weight lifting, walking, and other exercise – with a hernia.

Actor Dick Van Dyke is 90 and still dancing.

Turn on the right music and he’ll start free styling it without a word or a prompt but with a gigantic bright smile on his happy face.

I’m sure you are younger than 90.

I’m reminding you to think big, do big, and move forward in big ways, no matter what your age.

Or, drop the “big” and just think, do, and move.

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.” ― Sophia Loren

It’s the end of this year.

The new one is firing up.

Ready or not, here it comes.

What would you like to accomplish in 2016?

You can begin right now by signing up for a course, or a class, or coaching.

The idea is to joyfully experience life.

It’ll keep you young, bright, happy and healthy.

“You’re never too old to become younger.”  – Mae West

And isn’t that what life is all about?

Happy Birthday to me.

Happy New Year to you.

Let’s make this new one rock.

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS — Consider my father. He’s 90 years old. He still gets up every morning and works out for two hours. He also is the primary caregiver of my ailing, bedridden mother. And, at 90, my father became an author. His book, The Most Contented Man, is on Amazon. He’s starting another book. He’s ninety. I’m sixty-two. Do you really have any excuses not to stretch and grow, learn and do?

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When the world’s strongest man, Dennis Rogers, came to visit me recently, he explained that most people give up just seconds before they are going to reach their goal.

With strongman Dennis Rogers and horseshoe I bent

“I’ve seen it hundreds if not thousands of times,” Dennis explained. “Right before the steel is going to bend, the person stops.”

He was referring to bending nails, horseshoes and steel bars, but his observation is true for any goal you’re seeking.

While some people procrastinate in getting started, still others stop too soon.

They give up on their goal because it’s “taking too long” or “it’s too hard” or they feel “it’s never going to happen.”

But the curious thing is, they were only moments away from the achievement.

In the movie Bending Steel, which is about upcoming strongman Chris “Wonder” Schoeck, the star explains how he finally bent a stubborn piece of steel: “I didn’t want to give up five minutes before the miracle.”

At the of the movie, he is on stage explaining that the metal he wanted to bend had haunted him for months.

On stage, he persisted and the metal bent.

The operative word here is persisted.

I’ve seen this in my own life, in countless areas, but most recently in learning feats of strength from strongmen Dennis Rogers and David Whitley.

After they teach me how to do a feat, I try it on my own.

When they are in front of me, encouraging me, I keep going, using will power, muscle power, strength and endurance until the steel melts in my hands.

Yes, I bent it

But I also noticed that I had great difficulty bending anything when I was alone in my gym.

I tried to bend a horseshoe every day for two weeks.

Couldn’t.

I tried to bend one in front of two visiting friends.

Couldn’t.

It perplexed me until I wrote David Whitley for advice.

He replied, saying it could only be one of or a combination of three things:

1:  The horseshoe is beyond your current strength level

2:  Your technique is off

3:  You lack confidence/desire

That really made me think.

Did I not believe I could do it?

Was my technique off?

Was I trying to bend too hard of a horseshoe?

I went back into my gym, looked at the horseshoes I had bent, and the ones I couldn’t budge, and realized I was trying to bend at a level I wasn’t ready to accomplish yet.

So I dropped back to a slightly easier horseshoe, got my mind and body in position, and — bent the horseshoe!

Chris "Wonder" Schoeck bent a steel bar into this scrolled shape as a gift to me

This story is relevant to you and whatever you are trying to accomplish.

Ask yourself –

1. Are you trying something beyond your current level of skill?

2. Are you using the wrong method or technique to get it done?

3. Are you fully believing in yourself and your ability to do it?

As with me reaching out to Dennis and David for personal coaching, very often you need expert help in achieving and attracting your goals. That’s where Miracles Coaching might be useful to you.

Whatever you decide, remember, most of us give up right before the miracle.

Remind yourself to hang in there and your “horseshoe” will give.

Expect Miracles.

Ao Akua,

joe

PS – Inside Secret: Because I know having a crowd cheer me on will trigger more motivation in me – much like cheerleaders at a football game get the crowd and team energized – I bought an applause app called Rent-A-Crowd. It’s exactly what you think: you open it and tap it to hear applause. It can be a small group of people applauding or an entire stadium of raving fans. Your choice. Now, when I attempt to bend a nail or horseshoe, I play the Rent-A-Crowd applause app and pretend a crowd is cheering me on. Another app I use is called Applause. It works, too. I sometimes play it for friends when they do something good for themselves. Go ahead. Applaud me for giving you this tip.

Member BBB 2003 - 2016

When I was conducting my Rolls-Royce Phantom Masterminds, I met already successful people who knew they wanted more – more money, more success, more insight, more spirituality, more of the full life experience.

Many were millionaires or multi-millionaires.

Quite a few had widespread recognition, but only in relatively narrow niches.

In short, most of these people were already highly successful by anyone’s standards. But many wanted worldwide success. They were truly ready for “the major leagues” – they wanted to play the bigger game and make more of a difference for more people, in a much bigger way.

You could say, they wanted to become “household names”

I loved helping these wonderful people attain widespread fame and new levels of financial success. Some were surprised, but I never was. I knew in advance what was possible for each person. Even so, I learned something new as I helped so many of them move to their own personal next levels.

Here is what I found: There was a surefire way to predict whether or not they would get where they said they wanted to go.

It all boiled down to seven major blocks to worldwide success.

Take a look at these and see how many of them could be holding you back from reaching your next level.

In no particular order, here they are:

#1 Your Dream Just Isn’t Big Enough

It’s gotta be BIG. OUTRAGEOUSLY BIG. Because if you don’t have a clear, powerful enough vision – one that really excites you a lot (and even scares you a little) – then you JUST aren’t going to do what it takes to get where you want to go.

You see, to achieve worldwide fame, you need a big, bold dream to propel you into living that dream.

You need a vision to turn on the radar in your mind to seek and find opportunities and connections. Without a big dream – a goal, a desire, a vision – you will survive but not thrive; you will exist but not exhilarate.

How this worked in my own life: When I decided to become a musician at age 57, it was a scary yet exciting dream. But it was my big dream – that “humongous” vision – that gave me the energy and confidence to create 15 albums in less than five years. Which made more than enough money to buy some of the most expensive guitars in the world.

And most important of all: It was my “humongous” vision, ultimately, that got my music in the hands (and ears) of more people around the world than even I dreamed of!

#2 You’re Not Taking Consistent Action

Willingness to take action, and keep taking action, is a major factor. You don’t need an entire step-by-step plan, as you might have to create it as you go. But you do need to take action.

Any action, even a baby step, is moving in the right direction. Because you have to keep moving forward for the path to unfold.

The rest of the road will become clear as you do. It’s like driving your car at night. You can only see the road as far as your headlights shine, but you can make the whole trip if you keep driving.

Personal example: Whenever I write a new book, I begin with the same blank page. But by typing words on it, I end up building what becomes a book. Many of them are worldwide bestsellers, such as Zero Limits and The Key.

#3 You Aren’t Congruent Enough In Your Beliefs

People who obtain worldwide success have an unreasonably strong – even stubborn – belief in themselves. If you don’t believe in yourself, or in your dream, you probably won’t take any action, or last very long. Limiting beliefs about money, success, yourself, and more, could limit your vision and curb your enthusiasm.

Your beliefs create your reality. Supportive beliefs can attract the massive success you want.

Again, my decision to become a musician is relevant. I had no prior experience in singing, writing songs, recording them or much else. As I systematically erased the limiting beliefs, using what I teach in my Miracles Coaching program, I freed myself to pursue my dream.

#4 You Lack the Necessary Courage

“No guts, no glory.” It’s true! It takes courage to face your fears and come from faith and make a massive worldwide impact. You don’t have to be flamboyant or showy, but you do have to be willing to step into the limelight. This is more about being willing to gamble on your dream than it is about being an extrovert.

You can be shy and successful. But you have to have the inner faith in yourself to pursue your dream.

I’ve often said that whenever you go for a dream bigger than what you’ve attempted before, you will feel fear. It’s natural. You are leaving your comfort zone. But as you take a deep breath and just do it, you find the inner power to get going, and the movement forward creates a momentum that is virtually unstoppable.

#5 You’re Not Willing To Do the Marketing

“Build it and they will come” works great in fictional stories, but face it: Nothing gets noticed unless somebody is marketing it (including the movie where the phrase “Build it and they will come” comes from!). The visionaries who are making a long-term difference on a worldwide scale all either conducted noteworthy marketing, or hired someone to do it.

Take Freud. While his ideas and books were being published and considered, they weren’t reaching a wide audience. It took a marketer to do that. Edward L. Bernays, the father of modern public relations, was the nephew of Freud. He saw his uncle struggle and did something about it. Today, largely thanks to the marketing work of Bernays, Freud is a worldwide name.

#6 You Didn’t Launch the Skyrockets

Getting worldwide success means standing out in the crowd. Doing big things in a big way is how you send a “skyrocket” into the world and get people to turn your way.

Consider Trump. Love him or hate him, vote for him or not, he is getting his name and brand increasingly recognized around the world.

Same goes for Branson. His daredevil exploits and well-promoted adventures, from ballooning to space flights, get his name locked into the mind of the world.

#7 You Haven’t Vastly Exceeded Expectations

Ultimately, you need to surprise people with what you deliver. Your product or service has to be way more than promised or expected. It needs to WOW them.

Zappos is known for this. So are many other companies that have worldwide recognition. They go beyond what is expected to deliver a “wow” service experience. Barnum in the 1800s did the same by offering tens of thousands of oddities in his museum. We still know his name today.

So, that is my list of the seven major blocks to worldwide success.

Any one of them can stop you.

All of them would have kept you from even reading this blog post.

But if you are here, and you’ve read this far, than you probably want more, too.

And here’s some encouraging news:

I have the personal experience and proven techniques at my disposal to help you get past every single block and onto the Worldwide Stage.

If you want to overcome these blocks and achieve the level of success others write about, then consider my one year Gullwing Mastermind.

There’s nothing else even remotely like it.

And, to be fair, it’s not for everybody; it requires a serious commitment of time, money, and willingness to grow.

But if you’re ready to fly, I have the vehicle for you.

You can get details right here.

Ao Akua,

joe

PS – Remember to check out Miracles Coaching, too.

The definitive course on attracting money

One day my cell phone rang.

It doesn’t ring very often because very few people have the number.

I didn’t recognize the calling number, and there was no Caller ID name listed, so I figured it was a random sales call and declined it.

But a minute later, the phone rang again.

Same number.

Again, I declined it.

But a few minutes later, I got notified of a message.

Curious, I played the voice mail.

I was shocked at what I heard.

It was a slightly muffled conversation between two people, a man and a woman, bad mouthing my music.

It was like being a fly on the wall, listening to a couple bash your first born.

Specifically, they were quite openly thrashing my first singer-songwriter album, Strut!, from 2012.

My first singer-songwriter album 2012

“It’s trash!” the woman said.

“It’s really garbage!” the man said.

I was shocked.

Baffled.

Hurt.

I recognized the woman’s voice.

I thought she was a friend.

Their entire conversation lasted several minutes.

Since the woman had “butt dialed” me by accident, she didn’t have a clue that their exchange had been recorded.

But it was.

I’m not sure how you would feel if you overheard people you know trashing something you created out of love and passion, but I was confused.

I reached out to my music support team, my friends who helped create that first album, and told them what happened.

They were angry.

They wanted to call the woman and give her a piece of their mind.

I didn’t want to do that.

I wanted to process the Twilight Zone-ish experience and see what I could learn.

As I meditated on the bizarre event, I realized a few things –

• not everyone likes my books (!)
• not everyone likes me (?)
• much of music today doesn’t appeal to me

Of course, I wouldn’t call someone and tell them my opinion of their books or music or them, but realizing that not everyone loves me or my work, while baffling, was somehow comforting.

And then I thought about all the good things regarding my first singer-songwriter album.

Musician makes cover

For example –

• Strut! has original songs that were nominated for awards,
• one song was turned into a music video with over 300,000 views,
• the album was mentioned in Rolling Stone magazine,
• the songs were recorded with the help of Grammy nominated people
• and one Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician,
• and I was voted #1 singer-songwriter by Reverbnation for it.

Voted #1 singer-songwriter 3 years

So, obviously, my music must not be “trash.”

It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but what is?

And I admit that my later albums – such as One More Day (a bestseller that sold out almost instantly after it was released and includes Grammy nominated singer Ruthie Foster on one hypnotic track) – reveal a more polished singer-songwriter, but I doubt that the first album was that bad.

Latest Bestselling CD sold out

Not everyone loves Elvis, the Beatles, Lady Gaga, or Neil Diamond – and those people are legends – but not everyone likes any of the hundreds of thousands of new, alternative, jazz or any of a staggering amount of music coming out today, either.

So, what are you or I going to do?

Stop?

Give up?

Let the critics win?

Mark Twain wrote in his autobiography –

“I believe that the trade of critic, in literature, music, and the drama, is the most degraded of all trades, and that it has no real value–certainly no large value…However, let it go. It is the will of God that we must have critics, and missionaries, and congressmen, and humorists, and we must bear the burden.” – Mark Twain

I’m with Twain, but I didn’t get to the same conclusion overnight.

All of this was a day-long process.

It took me more than a few minutes to get clarity.

After I realized that what I was given was an opportunity to clear up some limiting beliefs I had about approval, I was free to turn the event into a teaching lesson for you and me both, hence this post.

As I wrote in my book, The Attractor Factor, I pulled a TIISG: Turn It Into Something Good.

As you pursue your dreams and goals, you will probably encounter a person or two that doesn’t approve.

You have to continue forward anyway.

There will always be critics.

Their job is easy: put you or your project down.

Your job is harder but more rewarding:

Allow them their opinion, and continue towards your vision.

After all, everyone with a butt has an opinion.

And if you’re really worried about being butt dialed a bad review, just turn off your phone.

Ao Akua,

joe

"Dare Something Worthy!"

PS – If you want to see for yourself how bad my music is, go review all 15 albums I’ve created over the last 4 years at All Healing Music.

Member BBB 2003 - 2016