This article by Mathes Jones, which appears in the July 2013 issue of Austin All Natural magazine, is just too good not to share here with you. May it inspire you to follow your own dreams. Enjoy. – joe
The Secret of a Secret Movie Star
From Homeless to Bestselling Author to Movie Star to Healing Musician
by Mathes Jones
There’s a natural order and sequence to life that, as humans, we all understand: Night follows day. Crawl before walking. Grapes into wine. Rags to riches. Author turns movie star turns #1 rated singer/songwriter. You know, that kind of thing.
Wait – “What’chu talkin’ ‘bout, Willis?”
Actually, it’s who, not what, and the answer is Dr. Joe Vitale, the world’s first self-help singer-songwriter.
It’s hard to know what Vitale is best known for – his 50+ books, his role in the hit movie, “The Secret,” or the three Grammy winners he attracted for one of the six albums (The Healing Song) he’s produced in only two years.
Oh, did I mention that a mere three years ago he could only strum a few chords on the guitar and had never written a song – much like Paul McCartney and John Lennon who were just learning songwriting after they became the Beatles?
That’s definitely not the nice, neat, orderly progression we expect of typical humans. But Vitale is hardly typical. He lives in a world that looks much different than most of ours. Essentially, he lives – and sings – what he teaches.
Most (but not all) of his books and writings are in the self-help field, and he’s landed a mass of bestsellers, including The Attractor Factor and Zero Limits. His forthcoming book, The Remembering Process, is currently being published by the world’s leading self-help publisher, Hay House, and is due out in April 2014. His co-author is his music producer, Daniel Barrett.
Vitale sounds like a man on fire with a mission, and it’s undoubtedly where his moniker, Mr. Fire, comes from (www.mrfire.com). The truth is he is on a mission, showing the world how to use music to tap into our mind and body’s natural ability to heal.
He calls it Healing Music.
While Vitale has a fascinating backstory of homeless to multi-millionaire (he’s no one-hit wonder), it’s his rise to stardom as a singer-songwriter that’s so compelling today.
Just how does a person succeed wildly in all these different genres?
Perhaps it’s because he’s a gifted communicator, a necessary and common denominator in books, film, and songwriting. Having spent a lifetime learning, applying, and sharing ancient wisdom and current technologies for self-improvement, he’s an expert in teaching people how to clear limiting beliefs that keep them from pursuing the things they really want.
But if you ask me, it’s something else that’s behind his success – something Vitale refers to as divine inspiration.
“The whole point of personal growth is to clear any negative, limiting beliefs and gain access to your Divine self,” explains Vitale. “The great goal is to be so clear that when Divinity speaks through you, you don’t think, hesitate, or second guess about a call to take action. You just do it because there’s no interference from the conscious mind thinking, ‘Oh, should I do it? Am I the one? Do I have the money? Do I have the experience? Do I have the time? What do my neighbors think? What do my parents think?'”
Vitale is an example of everything he teaches and sings in his songs. He takes his inspirations seriously. A believer in fast, immediate action, he’s famous for the saying, “Money likes speed.” And this attitude has clearly worked for him – taking him from zero to voted as #1 singer-songwriter by Reverbnation (in March 2013) in two years.
“When I decided to be a songwriter three years ago, I had thoughts like, ‘I’m not a songwriter or singer. I can’t do that.’ One of my teachers, famed singer-songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard, asked me, ‘Where’s the proof? Where’s the proof you can’t do that?’ When he said that, I thought, ‘My God, he’s right. I have no evidence whatsoever that I can’t sing, play the guitar, record music, or write my own song. There’s no evidence!’”
“And I did, in fact, prove myself wrong. Little did I know in the beginning that inspiration would move through me so fast I’d not only complete my very first CD (Blue Healer) in just two months, but play as many as seven instruments for it – including a very rare 1915 Gibson Harp Guitar.”
Given Vitale’s success as a self-help and spiritual teacher, both in his own life and in his work with others, it’s natural that this rock-blues loving guy would take the music world by storm – bringing his thousands of fans into a new awareness of music’s healing power.
Music’s ability to heal is not a new concept. Its power has been storied in ancient text for thousands of years of recorded history, and today is well documented in medical research, which Vitale describes in his new ebook, Healing Music: The Miraculous Power of Positive Music to Uplift, Relax, Transform, Awaken, and Rejuvenate.
Vitale brings music to a new level, one accessible to everyone, whether at home, working out, or traveling. Each album he writes, sings, and records has a certain emphasis and intention, a particular therapeutic use and result – because, as he says, “Intention is a key driver in healing of any kind, and it matters in music, too, from the person who created it to the person listening.”
Using certain types of beats and tempos known to affect the mind and body positively, along with positive messages to uplift a sagging spirit, his eclectic music style is as wide and varied as his range of success. We’re talking sheer passion, not elevator music – everything from soothing to down home stomping fun, like his standout song, “You Gotta” (on his recent singer-songwriter album, Sun will Rise).
Whoever said a little fun can’t hurt you was only partially right – it can heal you. And Vitale’s music is proof of it. “The idea behind healing music like mine is to allow the high vibration of inspired music to work on you. That’s the basis for the healing.”
Being the world’s first self-help, singer-songwriter has its privileges. He’s attracted some of the music industry’s finest, including Glenn Fukunaga (Robert Plant), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer Joe Vitale (Yes, of the same name) and Grammy award winner David Darling to perform and record with him. He’s also recorded two instrumental albums with accomplished Guitar Monk Mathew Dixon. It’s no longer a secret that like attracts like.
According to Vitale, becoming a self-help musician was simply the next step. He got the call, so to speak, and, true to form, acted quickly on that divine inspiration. And it’s this instinct that’s so inspiring to the rest of us.
When asked about his meteoric path, he says, “In a world of all possibilities, there’s only one thing that can stop you…your own mind. Fortunately, you can change that. You can expand your own capacity to receive all the good things in life.”
From the outside looking in, Vitale does make quantum leaps look like natural evolution, gliding seamlessly from one successful reality to another.
Hmm, maybe there is something to that healing music.
“Blue Healer” www.HealingMojoMusic.com
“Strut!” www.GetUpandStrut.com
“The Healing Song” www.TheHealingSong.com
“Aligning to Zero” (with Mathew Dixon) www.AligningtoZero.info
“AT Zero” (with Mathew Dixon) www.AtZeroMusic.com
“Sun Will Rise” www.HealingRockMusic.com
A fellow on a recent flight showed me his business card. It was humorous and inspired me to make one of my own. The irony is, I rarely give out cards anymore. For fun, here’s the back of mine:
PS – I’m not sure where to post this but I have to share it with someone: I’m number 96 on the ReverbNation Singer Songwriter charts for the entire US. (!) http://t.co/I5Ux2pB0EA
It was October of 2012 that I told my music producer and friend, Daniel Barrett, that my desire to make more music was dead. I didn’t feel inspired or connected to the muse. I was happy with the four albums of healing music I had already created, but I didn’t see any more on the horizon.
I felt done.
As we talked, I had a sneaking suspicion that I may be deceiving myself. After all, self sabotage is rampant in virtually each of us and we usually don’t even know we are doing it.
Was I?
Daniel suggested we find a way to ramp up my energy for music. He didn’t know how, but he felt there was a solution.
“I know how,” I told him.
I did, too.
I knew a way to jump start the muse, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it.
He asked me to explain.
I took a deep breath and said, “I can set the intention to record five new songs by Christmas.”
Christmas was only two months away. It would be a miracle to write and record five new songs by then – especially starting from zero – and certainly after exhausting myself having just completed my fourth album, The Healing Song.
Daniel didn’t miss a beat.
“Why not go for ten songs?”
That made me gasp. It would be raising the bar even for me. I had already broken records by creating four albums in less than two years. Four miracles were plenty. But I accepted the challenge. We agreed that I would strive to create ten original songs within two months, and together we would record them to create my fifth album.
We both felt the exhilarating energy of having a goal that scared us and yet delighted us.
We both felt expectant, uncertain, open and willing.
But we had no idea how a new album would come out of nothing.
Now here’s where the story gets really interesting…
Remember, I didn’t have any ideas for new songs or any passion for new music. I felt tapped out. Yet the new intention “called forth” more music. The new goal stirred my creative self. Within days I had new songs coming to me. Within weeks I had almost two dozen ideas.
I couldn’t turn off the creative juices!
I would be sitting, reading a book on my iPad, and suddenly a song idea would enter my consciousness. I was smart enough to stop everything and write it down. (Always take action, remember.)
Other times I felt inspired to check out early or vintage rock and roll, what’s called rockabilly music. I simply followed the muse to see what occurred. I loved the searching, exploring and learning. (Always follow inspiration, too.)
Within weeks I had over two dozen pretty good songs. From those, I picked nine that I thought were solid. I left a tenth idea open to inspirational improvisation in the studio.
I felt ready to record album number five!
My band — not really “mine” but they were the same musicians who recorded Strut! and The Healing Song with me — got together again. We went into the studio on December 18th and 19th — right before Christmas, you’ll note — and recorded ten new tracks.
I’m told music doesn’t usually come together this quickly, or easily, or with this much energy and focus. But we got together in the studio and made space for magic to happen around my songs.
The result is my fifth music album, titled Sun Will Rise.
And it feels like another miracle.
When I held the finished audio CD in my hands, and listened to the original music I wrote and performed, brought to life with the musicians who supported me, I started to cry.
To think that this was created out of “thin air” is astonishing. To think that the songs are so good and the music so amazing and the messages so relevant, just makes me stop and stare in awe and gratitude.
I am grateful beyond belief.
It’s yet another miracle.
Miracles are indeed happening all the time.
This story is living proof of it.
And it all begins with an intention.
In case you are curious, here are the stories behind each track on Sun Will Rise http://www.healingrockmusic.com/:
“You Gotta!” is self-help rock and roll. It’s fun, upbeat, and carries the message that “you gotta” take action. Since I’m a big proponent of action, this song and its message felt like the right lead for the new album. Thanks to “my band” – drummer Joe Vitale, bass player Glenn Fukunaga, lead guitarist Daniel Barrett – this song opens with a “you gotta dance to this” feel. Add saxophone by Greg Williams and this one is irresistibly delicious! You gotta hear it!
“Sun Will Rise” came to me “out of the blue,” as I held a guitar and just started to sing what came into my being. When I first played it for Daniel, he was speechless. He said it had the potential to be a radio hit. My staff says my message to the world is to have faith, that the “sun will rise” again. Your current reality is just that: current. It’ll change. The sun will rise again. This song is your reminder.
“The Secret” isn’t based on the movie I was in of the same name. Instead, it was prompted by a haunting song by Leonard Cohen. His song had the hypnotic refrain “Everybody knows…” but his lyrics were negative. His dark song is a great one to commit suicide to. I wanted something hypnotic but with a positive message. I wanted something healing. The result is what I call “The Secret” and you know it will do you good to listen to it. 🙂
“Sperichil” is rockabilly music. It’s pure fun. No special message in the lyrics but the voice and the vibe is all about be happy now! The name is simply the early spelling of the word “spiritual.” I surprised myself recording this song as I spontaneously howled like a wolf during parts of it. There is a happy contagiousness to this track that simply makes me smile and feel good. Isn’t that what life is all about? Isn’t that healing music? Be happy now. Smile! Dance! Love!
“Expectations” is a hypnotic intermission where I played a special double-neck guitar, where the top is a regular guitar and the bottom is a baritone guitar. With the professionals behind me on this one, the result is something I could listen to all day long. When I first heard it in the studio, I said, “Call this one Expectations, because it suggests something is about to happen, but you don’t know what.” You are free to expect whatever you want, positive or negative, and this music helps you feel the moment. Talk about healing!
“My Electric Car” is about my relationship to my electric car (which I’ve written about on this blog before). I love this song because of the lyrics and the blues rock music the band came up with. I really believe this one could become a gas guzzler’s anthem. You gotta hear it. There are moments in this track that send shivers of joy up my spine. It’s an example of how music becomes magic. Whew!
“Train of Women” is a rock ballad about a man who faces his fears and falls in love. It’s about one hundred and fifty women, all wearing bikinis, who come to see him. He is at first afraid, asking for everything from a crocodile to a body guard to being taken to Area 51, but by the end he falls in love. The old saying is true, what looks like your demon is really your angel in disguise. This song is fun, fast, funny and more. Call it a Rorschach test song. Whatever you get from it, is what you get from it. It’s a mirror. It’s “Healing Music” at it’s best. Rock on!
“Isaac the Psychic” is my attempt to create a Shel Silverstein – Johnny Cash “Boy Named Sue” kind of song. I came up with a character, and a story, and a funny chorus, and weaved it into a song. My band — the experts that they are — created a Reggae upbeat rhythm and the whole thing came together. It’s funny and memorable. You’ll smile listening to it. After all, I’m so psychic, I know you’re reading this. 🙂
“Super Heroes” came to me after my guitar teacher, Mathew Dixon, taught me a new chord progression. I wrote words to that progression. Since I had just met actor/bodybuilder/Hulk Lou Ferrigno, and actor/Superman Dean Cain, I turned the song into messages from their characters. This is another feel good, relaxing song. It could be the theme to a television show. It’s about you being the new super hero. Don’t wait for a hero. Be one now.
“Ti Amo” was written for my love, Nerissa. I felt the urge to write a love song and thought, what better way to do it than to think of who I love and just write a song for her. I did. I believe anyone can feel the love in this one. Nerissa says she does. Love heals.
All of the above is a reminder that miracles are possible for all of us.
Yes, even you.
I created this fifth album of healing songs by declaring an intention. I didn’t have any reason or motivation or evidence that I could write ten new (and good, IMHO) songs in two months. But declaring an intention “called forth” all this music.
You can do this, too.
What do you want to attract?
What do you want to “call forth”?
What miracle would be cool to experience?
Declare it.
Ao Akua
joe
PS – You can order “Sun Will Rise” at http://www.healingrockmusic.com. My previous Healing Music albums are at —
http://www.healingmojomusic.com http://www.getupandstrut.com http://www.aligningtozero.info http://www.thehealingsong.com
What would you love to see occur in 2013?
What would be cool for you to attract?
What do you really want?
Here’s your chance to help it happen.
Setting a goal “calls forth” virtually everything you need to achieve and attract that goal.
Just a few months ago I felt dead when it came to music. After recording four albums, one of them a hands down bestseller, all of them seen in Rolling Stone magazine, I didn’t feel connected to any more music. I wanted to quit.
Yet after I set a new goal, with the help of Daniel Barrett and his Rubicon artist program, new songs came forth.
A dozen of them.
Good ones.
Great ones.
Surprising ones.
Where were they before the goal?
The goal triggered the songs. The goal “called forth” the songs.
I then went into the studio — with drummer Joe Vitale, bass player Glenn Fukunaga, guitar player and producer Daniel Barrett — and created ten amazing tracks. I’m in awe of what we recorded. The soft songs were kissed by angels. The rockers raised the dead.
Yet there were no songs before the goal!
I recall having dinner with Rhonda Byrne, the person behind the hit movie The Secret. I asked her if she felt she created or attracted the movie idea. She thought for a long time and said, “I called it forth.”
“Calling forth” your outcome is what happens when you set a clear goal and have no attachment to how or when it arrives.
Today is your chance to “call forth” what you want for 2013.
It all begins with a clear goal.
Goals that are without desperation are easier to attract. Desperation is the energy of a negative belief pushing the goal away. You want a goal that delights you, even if you have no idea how you will attract it, or when.
Goals are how you start a fire within yourself. You might be feeling “blah” and have no desire for much of anything but living in the moment and vegging. But let an inspired idea become a goal and suddenly you ignite the pilot light in your soul. Now you have direction, purpose, and energy. The goal triggers the release of new powers, and even begins to attract opportunities and more to bring the goal into reality.
Ask, “What would be really cool to attract in this new year?’
Forget why or how. Let your unconscious mind work with “all that is” to arrange it to happen.
All you need to do today is choose your goal.
What’s yours?
Ao Akua,
joe
PS — Happy New Year!
Mathew Dixon just released an amazing new e-book, titled Attracting for Others. It’s free. And fun. And eye-opening. I wish I had thought of it. Meanwhile, here’s my introduction to his book, which explains why you should go get it right now:
When you want to attract something, what do you typically do?
If you are like most people, you sit and visualize what you want, write affirmations about it, set an intention for it, and hope for the best. If you’re smart, you might even take action on the ideas and opportunities that come to you. That’s the basic mechanics of the Law of Attraction.
Sometimes you actually attract what you want that way.
Sometimes you don’t.
Why not?
Why doesn’t it always work?
Why can’t you always attract what you declare you want?
I’ve been teaching for years, through my books and audios, that there is a “missing secret” to the Law of Attraction. Basically, you’ll have a tough time attracting what you want if you have counter-intentions in your unconscious mind.
For example, if you say you want to attract money, yet at the same time think money is bad or evil, you will cancel out your own intention.
Why would you attract something you felt was evil?
If you say you want a relationship, but deep down don’t believe you are worthy of one, you won’t attract your dream person.
Why would you attract someone new if you felt you didn’t deserve someone new?
You can see the problem.
What you believe unconsciously is more important than what you believe consciously.
So, what can you do about this snag in the Law of Attraction process?
Well, you can work on your unconscious beliefs, enter my Miracles Coaching program, or do any number of things to get clear of your inner blocks. All of that would be wise. All of it would work. I’m in favor of it.
But Mathew Dixon rides to our rescue with an entirely new method. I think it’s a little “twisted,” but I also know you’ll love it.
While everyone else is scrambling to find new ways to attract more for themselves, Mathew quietly created a way to do just that, but with a twist: he found that the more you attract for others, the more you actually attract for yourself.
In other words, while the average manifestation junkie is sitting in a chair, meditating on the new car or sexy partner they want, Mathew is sitting in a chair imagining you already have that new car or sexy partner.
He’s focused on your end result, not his.
He’s using the Law of Attraction for you.
Why is this important?
His state of mind is at a higher frequency because his intentions are pure and his interference is low.
He can attract what you want faster than you can because he’s not emotionally tied up in your end result.
He simply and innocently wants you to have what you desire.
He doesn’t have your baggage, or limited belief system.
He doesn’t have any stake in you getting what you want, and as a result, he can more clearly, powerfully and effectively make the request for you.
That’s why his approach is “twisted.”
The “Twist” is he is focused on attracting for others, while most people are only focused on attracting for themselves.
Big difference in perspective, right?
And the grand insight is this: you can attract faster when you do it for others.
You also learn more about the inner dynamics of manifestation when you first do it for others.
You also earn what I call “Good Karma Points” by focusing on others before yourself.
And the more his book spreads around the world, and the more people learn how to attract for others, the more people will be attracting for you, too.
Besides, everyone you see is really a mirror reflection of your inner being, anyway. So when you attract for others, you’re really just attracting for the reflected versions of yourself. The cosmic joke is you are attracting for yourself when you “attract for others.” The other is you.
But don’t worry your mind over that. You don’t need to understand it or accept it to make the concept in his book work.
This book is evidence that Mathew’s technique is powerful. His stories are riveting and true. I know because a couple of them are about me or people I know. I’ve seen him create the method, try it, and secretly do it to help people. I also watched him write this book, which he decided to give away.
Again, he’s helping you.
The point of his book isn’t to make Mathew the “go to” guy when you want to attract something. Don’t write him and say, “Attract for ME, Mathew!” That’s an easy trap. That’s again giving away your power to another.
Rather, the point of this book is for you to start “ATTRACTING FOR OTHERS.”
The more you do it, the better you’ll feel, the more “in the flow” you’ll be, and the higher your level of energy and happiness. You’ll love it.
Simply read his wonderful, breezy little book, and follow Mathew’s guidelines. They are easy. And fun.
And as you use them, you will learn how to attract more for yourself – by first learning how to attract for others.
Go get his e-book — it’s entirely free — over at Attracting For Others.
Ao Akua,
PS — Mathew’s name should be familiar to you. We created the bestselling healing music album titled Aligning to Zero. The incredible music we were inspired to record helps open and align your chakras and is (if I say so myself) divinely beautiful. Hear samples at the site: http://www.aligningtozero.info