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You can spy on me as I give a short Q&A presentation to my local community by clicking here http://one.revver.com/watch/889967 or here
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1774314533430922488 or on the image below:

 Besides being Mother’s Day, May 11th (tomorrow) is also Twilight Zone Day. It’s an important day to me because I met Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone TV series, around 1970, five years before he died. It was a turning point in my life.

Before I tell you about it, left click on the black box at the top left of this post.

See anything strange happen?

Welcome to The Twilight Zone.

The Twilight Zone television series ran on CBS from 1959 to 1964. I’m told 156 episodes aired and Serling wrote 92 of them, which is still mind boggling to consider.

But Serling was a brilliant writer, which is why I so badly wanted to meet him when I was still in high school and heard he was speaking in Youngstown, Ohio. I had dreams of being an author like him. 

I loved his show’s blend of psychology and theatre. I don’t like scary movies, but I do love psychological twists and mysteries. Serling specialized at it. He scared you by getting into your mind.

It helped that his TV series had many great actors in it, from Robert Redford, William Shatner, Burt Reynolds, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Carol Burnett, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin, Peter Falk and Bill Mumy, to such legends as Buster Keaton, Art Carney, Mickey Rooney, Ida Lupino and John Carradine.

Of course, Serling himself introduced each episode of The Twilight Zone and also ended each. This made him famous, which probably planted the seed in my mind that I could be an author and a sometime TV show personality, and both would help my career. It sure did for Rod Serling. No wonder I’m in the movies The Secret and The Opus. I learned it from Rod.

But meeting Rod was a disappointment, at least to my young mind.

I expected him to be a deity of some sort. I expected him to be in control of his life and surroundings; a master of the world.

He was a short man with tight lips, a day old beard, and a chain smoking habit.

He was self-depreciating; saying he was the only boxer in the Army who had to be carried both in to and out of the boxing ring.

He was afraid. He said though he writes scary scripts, if there was a bump in the middle of the night, he’d be the first one outside in his skivvies.

He was also unhappy. He said, “I was traumatized into writing by war events. By going through a war in a combat situation and feeling the desperate sense of terrible need for some sort of therapy. To get it out of my gut, write it down. This is the way it began for me.”

Still, I wanted to talk to Serling. He was a living genius with words. He wrote plays, such as Patterns and Requiem for a Heavyweight, and TV shows, that I loved. They were emotional and intellectual.

But I was shy, insecure, and still in high school. I didn’t know if I could ask him anything.

Yet I was standing in the presence of greatness.

This was my moment. 

I finally got up the nerve to ask the great scriptwriter if he ever planned to write his autobiography. I personally wanted to know his story.

He seemed surprised.

“About me? My life story?,” he asked. “No. Nothing really interesting has ever happened to me. I think my life story would be boring.”

That’s when I realized that the great Rod Serling was human.

He was like me. He was full of dreams and doubts. He was full of talent and trepidation. He was full of fear and faith.

That’s also when I decided that if this nervous little guy with the cigarette in his hand could become a world famous writer, then maybe I could, too.

I decided to be a writer right then and there, which led to my writing many books, from Hypnotic Writing to The Attractor Factor, and much later even starting my own Miracles Coaching program to help inspire others to live their dreams, too.

Serling also taught me about the importance of action. It’s one reason I am so prolific today. He said, “The instinct of creativity must be followed by the act, the physical act of putting it down for a sense of permanence. Once you get that prod, that emotional jar, that, ‘I have witnessed something.’ Or, ‘I have felt something.’ Or, ‘I have seen something.’ Or, through observation, ‘I have been moved by an event.’ I think the answer is, ‘Get it down. Get it down quickly. Write it down.'”

It’s ironic but Rod Serling died on June 28, 1975 and never wrote his life story, sticking with what he told me when I met him, that he thought his life was boring; yet at least three biographies came out after his death. Obviously there was something interesting in his life story, after all.

I think Rod missed the great gift he lived but didn’t see: his own life as an inspiration to others – like me.

Happy Twilight Zone Day.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS — Rod Serling was an advisor for the Famous Writers School at one point, as was copywriter John Caples, another writing legend who influenced me. I think both would have loved my Miracles Coaching program. They believed in dreams, too.

 Master Photographer Rodney Bursiel spent half a day last week shooting various photos of me playing guitar, working out, standing with Nerissa, displaying my cars, sitting and looking reflective, etc.

The picture above is of me with my 1998 Panoz AIV Roadster, formerly owned by rock star Steven Tyler of Aerosmith.

Rodney just sent me the below picture, saying for some reason my muscles really stood out in it. I think it’s proof that eating pizza and exercising work wonders.

 (Left click on the image to enlarge it.)

What do you think?

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS – One of the portraits Rodney took of me will end up on the cover of the June issue of Succeed magazine. To get details on how you can get that collectible issue, which will contain a six page in-depth interview with me, see
www.succeedmagazine.com.au/mrfire.html   

PPS — If you believe in miracles, too, please see www.miraclescoaching.com right now. It can show you how to accelerate the manifestation process.

I gave two talks at the terrific Attract Wealth event this past weekend. Nerissa filmed part of the first one with her Flip video. It’s not the entire presentation (you’ll miss the amazing opening) but at 45 minutes, you’ll get the gist of it. This is where I revealed The AAA Plan to Wealth. I thought I would share it with you as a gift from myself, my co-host Mark Ryan, and Nerissa. This talk, and the entire event with all nine speakers, will be part of The Attract Wealth Home Study Course which we’ll release later. See the clip at
http://revver.com/video/861752/ or at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7799203190031887531&hl=en or by clicking the image below. Enjoy.

 Todd Silva and his wife Victoria took us out to lunch last Sunday. Todd is a terrific guitar player and singer, and founder of the movement to inspire people to give away a dollar a day.

He’s a dear friend, too. He used to be my guitar teacher when I still lived in Houston. He and his family took me to events, such as the circus, and to an all-day Peter Lowe success seminar where we heard such speakers as the late actor Christopher Reeves, Colin Powell, Dan Kennedy, and Larry King. (I had no idea at the time that I would ever meet Larry King or go on his TV show twice.)

Todd picked up one of my guitars (the hand-made investment-grade Robert Taylor all-koa wood beauty) and played his original song “Do What You Love” for me.  It was a special moment that I wished I had caught on video. (Check out Todd’s music at www.sagetone.com)

After Todd sampled my guitar collection, he surprised me by handing me a sack of custom made guitar picks. Each has the Zero Limits clearing phrases printed on them.

I asked Todd to hold a pick while I took his picture. (Above. Left click on it to enlarge it.)

When I tried to take a picture of just the guitar pick, though, I got an unusual image.

Todd jokingly (?) said he could see Jesus in it.

I definitely could see Buddha.

What do you see?

  Well?

Does this prove the guitar pick is blasting with energy or was I just standing too close to the pick when the flash went off?

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS — One of the things I love about Todd is his upbeat vibe. He’s doing what he loves. Are you?