Tag: Abraham

Reading as much as I do, it’s hard to narrow the stacks of great books down to a handful of memorable classics. Here are the top ten books that really stood out and made a difference in my life in 2014:

Best Books 2014

You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero. This may be my favorite book of the year. Yes, there are plenty of self-help books that say virtually the same thing as Sincero’s book, but almost none do it with attitude. I love the humor, honesty, intimacy, personality, and daring of the author. I love the book so much I reached out and interviewed Sincero for my podcast. She’s sincere, funny, open, and a living badass of the polite I-won’t-hurt-you but I’m-going-for-my-dreams-so-stand-back sort. Fun, wise, empowering. Read it.

Spartan Up! by Joe De Sena. This one lit a fire under my butt and made me want to get out and run up steep hills with my shoes on fire. Since I’m already working out intensely, thanks to personally training with Body-for-Life fitness legend Bill Phillips, I didn’t feel compelled to enter a Spartan endurance race. But I found this book inspiring, motivating, and heart pounding. I love his concept of “obstacle immunity,” which means hard core exercise builds inner strength to easily handle the stresses of normal life. He’s right. After intense exercise, traffic is nothing. Great book.

The Science of Living by Emmet Fox. This book clearly explains the teachings of New Thought pioneer Emmet Fox, most famous for his little books, such as The Mental Equivalent and Make Your Life Worthwhile. Though Fox taught and published in the 1930s, The Science of Living is a recent publication based on his private classes with metaphysical students. I love its clarity, plus it made me feel like I was in the room with him. This fully explains what the philosophy of Mind Science is all about. A true gem.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. I’ve read this 1937 classic before, of course, but after reading a recent biography of Carnegie (Self-Help Messiah), I decided to read it again. It is a masterpiece. I am in awe of Carnegie’s conversational writing style, powerful stories, and crisp message. I wish just one of my books was this good. The message, while simple, is as relevant today as it was over the last several decades. Priceless.

Making the American Body by Jonathan Black. I found this book hypnotic. It masterfully tells the story of the men and women who shaped fitness in the United States. That may sound boring to you but believe me, the feats, feuds, and fuss of the often egomaniac men and women who urge us to get fit is an entertaining, enlightening, and even appalling read. My only disappointment is the author somehow left out Bill Phillips, who is a living legend in fitness. Otherwise, riveting.

A Moment in Time: The Steve Reeves Story by George Helmer. I’m one of the biggest Reeves collectors in the world. I have the famous body builder/movie star’s gym, car, clothes, trophies, and more. My collection is impressive enough that Lou Ferrigno (The Hulk) came to see it. This long awaited biography, by Reeves’ personal friend and executor of his estate, is mesmerizing. The hundreds of photos are worth the price of admission alone. The stories are alive. It’s a loving tribute to a legend; the definitive biography of the original Hollywood Hercules.

The Devil’s Horn by Michael Segell. As you may know, I’m now a saxophone player. (Afflatus, my baritone sax album, came out last month.) This is the hands-down best book ever written on the dramatic roller-coaster history of the sax, an instrument once considered the “devil’s horn” by some while others swooned to its cool sound. It was once the most popular instrument in the world (until the guitar got plugged in). The man who invented the sax – named (no surprise) Adolphus Sax – went through business failure, ridicule, controversy, political manipulation, envy, and even a death threat. An astonishing book.

The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. Nicholas Herman, later known as Brother Lawrence, lived in France in the 1600’s as a kitchen working monk. He dedicated his life to constantly living, working, playing, and praying “as in His presence” at all times. “His” means God. If the God word pushes a button in you, exchange it for Divinity or something else. This little book of conversations with, and letters by, Brother Lawrence has been changing lives for centuries. It did mine, too, and deeply influenced the writing of my forthcoming book, The Secret Prayer. There are numerous editions of this holy work around, many published in English for the first time around 1895. Highly recommended.

Managing Thought: How Do Your Thoughts Rule Your World? by Mary J. Lore. I love the direct simplicity of this well crafted book. It helps you understand what your thoughts are doing, whether you are aware of them or not. Of course, once you are aware of your thoughts, you are now separate from them and more in control. A practical, inspiring guide.

Willpower: The Owner’s Manual by Frank Martela. This brief book surprised me with the 12 tools it describes for “doing the right thing.” I expected fluff, I got wisdom. People often resist will power, thinking it is pure ego or pure pain, when in reality will power is what you often need to align your desires, achieve your intentions, and attract what you want. Great book. Will yourself to read it.

And here’s a bonus title —

You Are the Placebo by Joe Dispenza. I’m not a fan of so-called scientifically based books describing how the world works, mostly because I can’t follow their terminology and the authors often disagree with each other, but this book is easy reading, easy to understand, and truly eye opening. Dispenza explains how it is possible to heal many “incurables” with thought alone, by detailing how the mind influences everything. In a way, this is a manual on how to create the placebo effect as needed. I read every word. Fascinating.

What about you?

What did you read this year that moved you?

Please post your comment below.

Thank you.

Ao Akua,

Joe

Member BBB 2003 - 2015

PS – My list of best books for 2013 is at http://blog.mrfire.com/best-books-of-2013/

Click to read book free

My brand new self-help music video was just posted. It’s the dance friendly title song off my last singer-songwriter album, Reflection. You can see it right here:

http://youtu.be/jLwQk1LgxKg

And the first video, which has been seen by more than 100,000 people so far, based on the song ‘Everybody’s Going Thru Something’ off Strut!, my first singer-songwriter album, is here:

http://youtu.be/YzT_yljj-SU

Enjoy!

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS — The songs and their albums are on iTunes. A portal to all of my albums (so far) is at http://www.allhealingmusic.com

Saxman Joe

I’m a friend and a fan of Body-for-Life Hall of Fame fitness legend Bill Phillips, author of Transformation and other bestselling books, but I’m not an affiliate for anything he offers or sells. I’m writing this to share my personal experience with his new supplement, GHX10, which is supposed to help increase your Human Growth Hormone.

Like you, I see ads for supplements daily.

I used to take a bucket of them (supplements, not ads) every morning.

For years, I spent thousands of dollars on a prescription to help increase Human Growth Hormone.

I was over 50 and approaching 60 (and am now over 60) and was seeking the Fountain of Youth.

Feeling frustrated by the lack of results, and disappointed by the misleading claims, and tired of paying all that money every month, I threw it all away.

Stopped the supplements.

Stopped the drug.

I decided I would simply eat clean, workout, pray, and hope for the best.

Of course, I rediscovered Bill Phillips two years ago, attended four of his fitness camps in Denver, and have been working his program daily.

I’ve released weight, added muscle, and feel great. (I’ve written about my experiences on previous posts. See PS below.)

Recently Bill announced a new supplement.

Fitness legend Bill Phillips

It’s called GH10X.

It was created to help you increase Human Growth Hormone, a major key to rebuilding your body, releasing excess weight, and feeling youthful.

Bill says it can help increase Growth Hormone up to ten times.

That’s a pretty noteworthy claim.

He adds, “GH10x is an all-new, scientifically designed, nutraceutical – a natural supplement with medicinal like effects.”

Nutraceutical?

Because I trust Bill, I ordered enough GH10X to try for a month.

Since it’s simply a powder you add to a drink, it was easy to try.

The first night, I slept better than I had in years.

Years.

And my dreams became more vivid, colorful, and memorable.

The next morning my workout was stronger and more intense, with more endurance and less exhaustion.

I was impressed.

But I thought it might be a fluke, so I kept the experience to myself.

Three weeks later, I noticed that my muscles seemed bigger.

A month or so later, my wife said, “Look at your arms!”

And then when a service person came to the house to do a repair, and I saw him glance at my biceps (I had been in my gym and was wearing a sleeveless shirt), I knew something was working.

I went in the bathroom and took a selfie.

Yep.

My muscles are bigger.

The Evidence

Better sleep, more energy, increased strength, and bulging biceps.

I’m sold.

And yes, I ordered a lot more GH10X.

Bill is quick to point out that his supplements won’t work for you if you don’t exercise.

I already workout, using Bill’s methods.

Adding the new supplement seemed to turn on the after burners, push some sort of kick start nuclear blast button in my body, and engage my body-mind-spirit to fire up the back engines and sprint ahead.

I like GH10X.

Again, I’m not an affiliate for it and I don’t make a cent if you buy it or not.

I’m just sharing my personal experience of using it.

To learn more, go see http://eatingright.com/collections/gh10x

For the record, the only other supplement I take these days is Strongevity, also from Bill Phillips. It’s described at http://eatingright.com/collections/strongevity-rx ( I’m not an affiliate for it, either.)

To your health!

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS  –  My posts about training with Bill Phillips are at —

March 1 2013 http://blog.mrfire.com/transformation-on-demand/

May 16 2013 http://blog.mrfire.com/transformation-update/

October 22, 2013 http://blog.mrfire.com/transformation-part-three/

May 1, 2014: http://blog.mrfire.com/transformation-part-4/

July 25, 2014 http://blog.mrfire.com/transformation-part-5/

Member BBB 2003 - 2015

In my quest to quickly learn how to play the saxophone, I sought out great players to listen to, model, and study.

It didn’t take long to discover sexy sax superstar Mindi Abair.

Mindi Abair and me

Her latest album, Wild Heart, is already topping the Billboard charts. She’s been on American Idol for two seasons. She toured with Aerosmith. She’s been on Letterman. She played with Bruce Springsteen. She’s breaking through to even wider mainstream public awareness. Her blend of rock and jazz is just the right combo to excite and inspire me.

I had a sax lesson with her via Skype that helped me with numerous sax playing issues. That was a turning point in my playing. As a result, I’ve already played sax on several albums, from Invoking Divinity and Afflatus, to a forthcoming album with twice Grammy nominated singer Ruthie Foster and my music producer Daniel Barrett.

Randy Jacobs and Mindi Abair performing private acoustic concert for friends

And then I hired Mindi to perform a private acoustic concert for friends.

That’s where I became even more enthralled and inspired.

Mindi is open, generous, loving and lovable.

Hugging Mindi Abair

She spent time with each of my friends. She showed me her sax (Yamaha Custom Z alto) and answered more of my questions about playing.

And her playing stunned me.

She’s smooth, hot, sultry, jazzy, rocking, screaming, soothing, and more.

When I grow up, I want to play like her.

She put thought into which songs to play for me and my friends.

She considered my interest in positive thinking and played her song “I Can’t Lose” (off the Wild Heart album).

She heard that one of my guests loved the song “Summertime” and played her powerful version of it.

And she told stories.

Each song was introduced with a charming behind the scenes story.

It made the show intimate and unique and unforgettable.

With guitarist Randy Jacobs

Her guitar player was just as warm and talented.

Randy Jacobs played for Ringo and Willie and a long list of greats. He was as humble and friendly as Mindi. (And he was very impressed that drummer Joe Vitale, the “other” Joe Vitale who is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, recorded several albums with me.)

Check out Mindi Abair at http://www.mindiabair.com/

Check out Randy Jacobs at http://www.randyjacobs.com/

And here’s Mindi showing you how it’s done…

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS – Mindi Abair was kind about my sax playing, too. She called me (in a Tweet) a “killer saxophonist”! Thank you, Mindi! 🙂

Saxman Joe on Baritone

People usually marvel at the speed at which I get things done –

• Fifty books in a few decades.
• Ten albums in three years.
• Thirteen movies in seven years.

I personally don’t think it’s such a big deal. It’s simply what I do.

But I’ve noticed that when people get close to me, they also begin to get things done faster than ever before.

Why?

How is this possible?

Why do some people never start a project, others take forever to complete them, and others never finish them – yet I and those close to me start and complete at warp speed?

For example, my wife, Nerissa, just completed her first book, a cookbook titled Bread-Free Bread. It consists of almost 80 recipes, all of them created from scratch. They reveal how to make “breads” out of vegetables, seeds and nuts. The book is already a bestseller.

But here’s the interesting part: she landed a publishing deal and began the book project before signing it, worked night and day for two months to create, develop, test and retest the recipes, as well as take color photos of each dish.

Nerissa has a bestselling cookbook

And she did it while having two surgeries, selling rental property of 17 years, buying a new home for her mother, having bathroom remodeling and construction workers interrupting her, losing our beloved cat of 15 years, and maintaining her activities in local politics.

Pretty impressive.

But how was this possible?

She’s not alone.

Guitar Monk Mathew Dixon is my partner on several music projects, such as Aligning to Zero.

When I told him I had an idea for more original healing music, created with my baritone clearing electric guitar, and with prayers read by me, we took action and broke the speed of sound.

We created all tracks, from zero, in about four weeks.

A few weeks later, we were selling the album.

It’s called Invoking Divinity.

Created at warp speed

Some musicians take years to get their first album done.

Some never do it at all.

How did we do it so fast?

These stories of time distortion and instant results don’t stop there.

As you may already know from a previous blog post, I heard a baritone saxophone for the first time in January of 2014.

I loved it.

I bought a vintage bari sax in February.

In March I started playing, improvising, and learning.

Thanks to my music producer’s belief in me – Daniel Barrett said I have a supernatural connection to the sax – I was in the studio recording an all sax album in October.

In November – yes, this month – barely ten months from first hearing the bari sax – I completed it.

It’s called Afflatus, which means “divine inspiration.”

Another Miracle

And by the way, that’s my tenth album — in just over three years.

How is this possible?

What’s my secret to instant productivity?

It’s this –

I move as if I am on fire.

I treat ideas as gifts from the universe.

When they arrive, I do my best to act fast, if not instantly.

I also watch my mind for any excuses or doubts, and remove them at once.

The more I am clear, the faster I can create.

That’s worth repeating —

“The more I am clear (of limiting beliefs about what is possible), the faster I can create.”

And I surround myself with people who encourage and believe in me.

The result is a win-win.

I get projects done, and others around me are inspired to get things done, too.

Inspiration is contagious.

It ignites fire in others too.

Click image to get both volumes free

I’ve often said, “Money likes speed.”

Well, the Universe likes it, too.

Inspired?

Take action.

The faster you do, the faster everyone benefits.

And lest you think I am producing mediocre work by moving so quickly, keep in mind that several of my songs have been nominated for the Posi Award (considered the Grammy’s of positive music), my music video called “Be Kind” has been seen (at recent count) over 90,000 times, my albums with Mathew are all best-sellers for us, and the team that helps me create my singer-songwriter music are celebrity musicians, award winning musicians, and even one musician in the legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I’ve even had three Grammy winners involved in one album.

And my books – such as The Attractor Factor and Zero Limits – are bestsellers around the world.

I am producing top quality at top speed.

You can do this, too.

One more example:

A few years ago I was invited to be on the cover of Austin All Natural magazine. I decided I would create my first album in three months, and feature it as the cover story. It would announce my debut as a musician.

But I also went to Mathew Dixon, and to singer Sarah Marie, and told them if they, too, completed new albums within three months, I’d see that they were included in the magazine.

We could support each other.

It’d be a win-win-win.

We all went to work.

Remember, we each started from nothing.

And we each had the same three months to get our albums done.

We did it, too.

We completed our albums and were featured in the issue.

Again, inspiration is contagious.

This is the secret of great productivity:

Light a fire in your heart and let the flames of passion drive you to completion.

Knowing that others have done this helps you erase any mental limitations that may have been slowing or stopping you.

Doing it with others, or with others who believe in you, also collapses time, excuses, and perceived limits.

Truth is, I don’t know that we have any real limitations.

But what fun it is to test the limits.

Light a fire and burn.

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS — If you want help in achieving and attracting your desires, check out Miracles Coaching.

Member BBB 2003 - 2015