Dr. Joe Vitale’s Blog

What a day!

I love receiving snail mail. It brings letters, postcards, packages, catalogs, books, CD’s, software, music, checks and more.

It also brings what others call “junk mail,” which I call a free education in marketing.

Today the snail mail surprised me by (a) being incredibly late to get here and (b) containing several autographed photos of one of the living legends of bodybuilding — Dave Draper. www.davedraper.com

Dave has been Mr. America, Mr. Universe, and Mr. World. He’s also been in movies. He’s alive and well, still pumping iron and writing inspiring articles. He’s the Pied Piper of Bodybuilding.

As it turns out, Dave’s wife is a student of my marketing. She wrote me and said she first heard of me more than ten years ago. Then she stumbled across an article by or about me recently. Then she wrote me. Small world.

I’m a fan of Dave Draper. I’ve trained with Frank Zane www.FrankZane.com and I idolize Steve Reeves www.SteveReeves.com, but Dave Draper is the living gladiator of classic physique bodybuilding.

I have Dave’s books, from Your Body Revival to Brother Iron, Sister Steel to the recent Iron On My Mind. He’s the most literate of the living legends and I hear a nice guy, as well.

I didn’t know he had autographed photos for sale until I asked his wife if I could have one. She told me to pick what I wanted from www.DaveDraper.com I bought a few. She then sent me a couple extra autographed pictures of the blond bomber himself, signed to me, as gifts. They arrived today.

I’ve been smiling ever since.

I’m pretty pumped up now. 🙂

Yep, you never know what your snail mail will bring.

Expect miracles.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS – Heads up: The February 2006 edition of News You Can Use is now online at https://www.mrfire.com/a/february-06.html

If you’re near Austin, Texas – or can get here on Feb 25 th — I am hosting a private dinner with the Hawaiian shaman therapist I wrote about on my blog a while back.

He healed an entire ward of mentally ill criminals — without ever seeing any of them.

He and I will talk about ho’oponopono. This is the philosophy that you are responsible for everything in your world — including the economy, the president, your neighbors, me, and even this message. It’s all coming from within you. This is head twisting, heart opening, and hard to grasp.

There’s no charge for this Saturday evening gathering (except your dinner) and nothing will be sold. If you’re interested, let my assistant know. She’s at [email protected]

My blog entry about the therapist is at http://mrfire.blogspot.com/2005/11/living-bliss-or-my-awakening-at-hands.html

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS – If you don’t know why I am wearing the Gold’s Gym t-shirt in the above picture, then you are way behind in reading the posts on this blog. Catch up already.

On July 12, 1980 I bought a book that deeply influenced my life.

Sad to say, with as many books as I buy, very few move me. Very few are hypnotic. In my 52 years, maybe two dozen or so have awakened something new in me. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy reading the books; it just means few of them alter the course of my life.

The one I read in 1980 is still around today. At first glance you’ll wonder what it has to do with James Caan or me or much else in the “real” world. But stay with me on this.

The book is Improv: Improvisation and the Theatre. It’s by Keith Johnstone. (I told you it wouldn’t make immediate sense to you.)

I was in the theatre back then — I wrote a one-act play that won an award and production back in 1979 (see PS below) — so reading the book wasn’t out of the norm for me, but I never expected the book Improv to open my eyes to life, as well.

One of the most powerful concepts in the book is the idea of status. There’s an entire chapter on it in Johnstone’s work.

In short, in every situation there is an unseen and unconscious play of status.

One person is perceived as higher and the other is perceived as lower. This happens virtually all the time. When you start to become aware of it, you’ll see it everywhere.

You can also use this to your advantage. When you intentionally lower your status, others will like you, feel comfortable around you, and want to spend more time with you. They feel safe. They feel important. They feel respected.

I know a famous speaker who confided in me that this secret method was how he won friends and became so popular. He always made himself appear lower in status.

As you know by now, I got to meet superstar actor James Caan the other day in LA and spend some time with him.

I love Caan as an actor. He’s been in such classic movies as Rollerball and of course The Godfather. But I really admired him as a person when we were in his trailer on the studio lot of the Las Vegas TV show and he asked my opinion about a new reality-TV show he’s currently involved in.

He asked…and he listened.

And on top of that, he did some brainstorming with me, showing that my opinion counted.

I disagreed with him about something he was doing to market the reality show, and he didn’t argue. He heard me out. He told me his view. I told him mine. We had a discussion.

When you consider that I’m a nobody in his world and he’s a diety in the movie and television world, the fact that we had any discussion is amazing.

In short, Caan lowered his status to let little ole me feel more at home in his neon-lit world. This was a major feat, and something I will never forget.

I have no idea if James Caan did this intentionally or not. I like to think he really wanted my opinion. It doesn’t matter. It made for one of those experiences you write home about (or write on your blog about).

The psychological principle of status changed my life in 1980.

It can change yours today.

Listen and learn.

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS – Jimmy Caan also did one other thing that impressed me. Some day I may write about it, too.

PPS — The prize-winning play I wrote and saw produced back in 1979 (mentioned above) was a respectful comedy about eccentric author and playwright William Saroyan. I to this day regret never meeting him. I was actually on my way to California to see him when I grew roots in Texas and paused my travels. He deeply influenced my writing style. He was truly a daring young man in the literary world. I miss him. http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/saroyan.htm

T.R. Goodman of www.procampsports.com is the fitness trainer to celebrities, professional star athletes, entire sports teams (mostly hockey), and…me.

He teaches an advanced fitness model that is more focused on health and longevity, where the average trainer just focuses on how you look. (You can look great but be ill inside your body. Total fitness is an inside-out achievement. Me, I want to live forever, and look good doing so.)

T.R. looks like a shorter version of actor Tom Selleck. He walks like a panther ready to take on six guys and Jackie Chan them into the ground. And he has a heart as big as Texas. That’s him buying me lunch in Venice, CA, right after another work-out in Gold’s Gym.

He has access to superstar actor James Caan and got me on the set of the hit TV show Las Vegas. While the set was dark, as they weren’t shooting in the studio that day, you can see Jimmy and me standing together on location, in his office on the show.

Jimmy himself took me to the set, driving me there on a little golf cart used to get around the studio lot.

He jokingly told me, “I usually only do these private tours for chicks.”

Truth is, he virtually never gives personal tours.

Afterwards we went back to his trailer. That’s his Bentley (which I want) parked beside it.

Inside the trailer I handed Jimmy a copy of my book, The Attractor Factor.

T.R. took pictures while I quickly told James Caan about the book. I can almost guarantee he’ll never read it, as he didn’t seem to connect to the book, but he said, “I should give this to my wife.”

I noticed something interesting taking place while I hung out with Jimmy in his trailer.

He was far more distracted than he was when I first saw him in the gym that same morning. (See my earlier post: Part One.)

I know he had just done some shooting on location elsewhere, he had just gotten back to his trailer, and he had more than a few things on his mind. It was natural that he couldn’t be as talkative or charming with me as he was earlier in the day. I’m grateful that he spent any time with me, considering who he is in the world.

Still, I noticed something that we can all learn from. Let me back up for a second and explain…

Well, on second thought, it might be better to let my observation be Part Three in this “What I Learned from James Caan” series.

So tune in tomorrow when I finish what I’ve started here.

Truth is, I need to gather my thoughts about how to reveal this to you, anyway.

This is an advanced psychological concept that may take some thought to explain.

So check back here tomorrow.

Ok?

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS – While in LA I also met with sports hypnotherapist Pete Siegel, who I wrote about in an earlier post. I don’t think I’ve ever met a more self-confident man in my life. He’s a blend of an ancient warrior, street-smart no-nonsense results-only do-it-or-die trainer, and a mad genius in the body of a power lifting grizzly bear. I’ll try to find time to write about meeting him, as well. You’ll never forget it, either. His site is at http://www.incrediblechange.com/

PPS — Remember the Hawaiian shaman therapist who healed an entire ward of mentally ill criminals– without seeing any of them? (I wrote about him on an earlier blog post, too. See http://mrfire.blogspot.com/2005/11/living-bliss-or-my-awakening-at-hands.html) He’s planning to come to Texas and would love to give a short talk about his work. If you’re in the Austin area and might be interested, check back here later for more details, or sign up for my ezine at www.mrfire.com I’ll be sending out the details to my list when I know more. Expect miracles.

I just received this picture and the story behind it.

Turns out Jessica Biel, star of the hit TV series Seventh Heaven, used my book, The Attractor Factor, to land a movie role.

She’s obviously holding the book. She says she loves it.

The new movie she’s in is described at http://festival.sundance.org/filmguide/popup.aspx?film=6590

I just returned from LA, saw this, and had to tell you about it.

Ao Akua,

Joe

www.mrfire.com

PS — I’ll post Part Two of my meeting with James Caan tomorrow or the next day. You’ll be astonished by what I describe. I’m hesitant to reveal what took place, but I’m going to take a deep breath and just do it. Stay tuned.