Tag: loa

Back on September 1st I wrote about how I used the Law of Attraction and the Law of Right Action to attract legendary singer-songwriter-guitarist Melissa Etheridge.

At that time I hadn’t met her yet or had my songwriting lesson with her.

Well, now I have.

With Melissa Etheridge (!)

As I write this in Los Angeles, I had my session with her yesterday, at her home.

She met me outside her door, hugged me, gave me that Melissa million dollar smile, and said, “I didn’t know you were a fan.”

A “fan” is an understatement.

I’m a fan-atic.

I’ve been in awe of her performing and her music since around 1995.

To be standing with her was surreal.

As it turns out, Melissa is a fan of my work, as well as the work of the rest of the teachers from the movie The Secret. She’s personal friends with Tony Robbins. (Tony introduced ho’oponopono to her and her sweet spouse.)

She reads all the deep-end metaphysical books. She says she began around 2003 by picking up Ken Wilber’s The Theory of Everything, which is like learning how to swim by being dropped in the Atlantic ocean.

Her spirituality and understanding of manifestation has helped her awaken and achieve even greater levels of success in more recent years.

She told me that laying on her back, with cancer, and watching the movie The Secret, forced her to think about what she wanted in her life.

“If I am this powerful being who gave myself cancer and can create whatever I want, then I want healed, I want to make more music, and I want to win an Oscar.”

Of course, she went on and did all of that.

My time with Melissa was about songwriting, but she began it by asking about my life in music, my books, and then showing me her guitar collection.

Her favorite guitars are in the trailer that goes on the road with her. But she has a guitar room with them lining the walls like playable art.

And she has a studio with old and new and prototype guitars. (Ovation is releasing a ME electric in January). She also has more guitars in storage.

In Melissa’s guitar room in her home

Of course, I related, understood, and told her of my own collection, which she says she wants to see one day.

We went in her home studio to focus on my actual lesson.

We each had a guitar. I had my songbook, where I jot ideas and snippets and songs. She said the songbook is sacred. (Later, I had her sign mine, making it even more priceless to me.)

Melissa wrote this in my sacred songwriting notebook

From there she had me pick a song idea. She wanted to know the why for writing a song.

“What’s important to say in the song? Why do you want to write it? What’s the intention for it?”

She told me how she wrote some of her own songs, first thinking about why she wanted to write them.

She explained that for her song, Pulse, she wanted people to know that the person who went into a nightclub and shot dozens of people did so because he was in pain.

She also explained that for the Al Gore slide show about global warning, she wanted people to know that “I have to change,” not anyone else.

I found her to be a deep thinker, cutting to the core with her messages.

I told her about wanting to tell people how they could be happy now, and manifest their lives using the Law of Attraction, and more.

She nodded, accepting my reasons.

From there, for Melissa, it all begins with what I call a brain dump.

“Just write words,” she said. “Let it be okay whatever comes.”

She also advised to “fall in love with words.”

She uses a paperback thesaurus to look up other words, so she isn’t using too common or too cliche of words.

While I had been using Masterwriter, a popular software for songwriters, I found using a printed thesaurus slower but more enlightening.

The time spent looking up a word gave my mind time to think, and the alternate words were often surprising and triggered other thoughts.

We began with me wanting to write a song about Miracles, since my new book is titled The Miracle.

Melissa and some of her guitars

But within minutes the song became about The Great Something, a concept I write about in my book The Secret Prayer.

Instead of saying God, or Divine, or Universe, I refer to the super power behind all of life as “The Great Something.”

Melissa loved “The Great Something”‘ because it made you want to know more.

In a song, it would make you want to listen.

I got excited watching the song unfold with Melissa’s help.

Melissa often writes pages of words and phrases, knowing that later she will edit them.

“Editing is the fun part,” she told me.

She pointed to the back cover of my album, One More Day, to the line, “Self-help messages in 3 minutes or so.”

“That’s the challenge,” she said, smiling bright. “To condense pages of ideas into a three minute song.”

“That’s why I’m here,” I said. 🙂

Her songwriting template, more often than not, is to write a verse, then go right to the chorus, then to a versus, chorus, bridge, and chorus again.

“It’s stating the problem in the verse, and often a solution in the chorus,” she explained. “The next verse might spell out the problem more, and the chorus will again offer the upbeat solution.”

One of the biggest insights for me was the idea of writing in the first person.

Melissa says that first person songs are more personal and hit home with people.

Second person, or ‘you’ oriented songs, are one step removed from the listener and have less impact.

More often than not, she writes in the first person.

Melissa showing me her all-time favorite guitar, a Fender Telecaster. “If there’s a fire and I can only grab one guitar, it’s this one.”

I started to play with the idea of writing The Great Something song in the first person. I instantly felt more connected to the song, and felt more power in the message.

I also saw myself get more excited and inspired.

“Always write from inspiration,” she had told me earlier.

“Get to that place where you have tingles of excitement for whatever you are about to write,”she added. “Never write without the tingles.”

She doesn’t meditate but often walks in nature, looks at trees and flowers, reads some poetry, reviews songs from people she admires, from Bruce Springsteen to Neil Diamond, all to ignite her inspiration.

I told her I smoke cigars.

She didn’t seem to relate to that.

Of course, she lives in a state where cannabis is legal.

Later she asked me to sing for her.

Now try to imagine that.

I’m a star-struck beginner at singing, sitting in the home studio of a rock and roll legend who has the most soaring voice of all time, and she says, “Sing for me.”

That’s like having Elvis ask you to sing.

Well, I did.

Melissa showing me her rare Rickenbacker “Cadillac”, an electric 12-string that can be turned into a 6-string with an awkward device

I played a snippet of my song One More Day, off my One More Day album, and a snippet of my song Today’s the Day, off my Strut album.

I also played a little instrumental, to give her a sense of what Guitar Monk Mathew Dixon and I create.

I was off key, out of step, and out of tune, but I did it anyway.

Melissa smiled big and said she bets the recorded versions with the band are stellar.

I then asked about singing advice.

Melissa took a breath and gave me a long, wise, hypnotic answer about watching the Ed Sullivan Show on TV and being influenced by Tom Jones, Janis Joplin, Robert Plant and others.

She noticed their joy in singing was what was so captivating.

Melissa showing a “Mustang” guitar given to her by the Ford Institute

She went on to say she wanted her music to be ballsy, not girlie.

She didn’t want to sing head voice, though she could.

She wanted something deeper and harder.

I related and told her I often felt more comfortable singing with a baritone guitar, which lowered my voice into my chest.

“That’s a good place for your voice,” she said. “It’s at home there.”

She also gave advice on performing.

“Never perform sitting down,” she said. “It cuts off your breathing.”

“And always eat, be hydrated, and get plenty of rest, so you can deliver your performance with full power.”

I’ll be processing my time with Melissa Etheridge for the rest of my life.

I found her open, loving, generous, spiritual, fearless, talented, present, friendly and wise.

Thanks to Melissa, my new album has a new title

She even invited me to speak on her next cruise ship concert. (!)

I was a fan (fanatic) before meeting her in person.

Today I’m in love.

Hey Melissa, I want to come over – again!

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS – Please note that whenever you have an expert coach you, your experience and expertise leap in incalculable measures. Melissa Etheridge heard a limiting belief come out of my mouth that I didn’t hear and I was the one who said it. We all need a coach. Consider Miracles Coaching.

Motivational songs?

Yes.

Why?

Because everything programs you.

You don’t have to be consciously focused on conversations around you, or the media blaring news over TVs in a bar or restaurant, or billboards in your field of vision as you drive, or even the music playing in the background as you work, walk, rest, exercise or lounge.

It’s still all programming you.

Your mind is picking up around 40,000,000 bits of information in every second.

Even right now, as you read these words.

You’re not aware of it all, thank goodness, because another part of your mind is filtering it.

That other part lets you become aware of only what is necessary to your goals and survival.

But that other part is also receiving all that other programming.

My fifth and most recent singer-songwriter album

When it comes to attracting more of what you want using the Law of Attraction, you need to become aware of this hidden programming, and consciously surround yourself with what supports you.

And that’s where I want to talk about motivational songs.

Music can program you for lack and limitation.

I’ve written about this many times, explaining if you can’t seem to get what you want today, it could very well be due to the Rolling Stones singing “You can’t always get what you want” into your brain since the 1960s.

Great song.

Lousy affirmation.

What we need to do today is carefully choose what we allow into our heads.

We have choice.

You can still listen to the Rolling Stones, or any other band you love, just with an awareness of the lyrics and the consciousness to prevent any limited thinking programming.

You can also search for more upbeat, positive music.

For example, more and more music is being called “healing music” and “self help” music. It’s music intentionally created to motivate you, inspire you, or even enlighten you.

A quick search brought up these top motivational songs:

• What A Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong
• Eye Of The Tiger – Survivor
• Over The Rainbow – Judy Garland
• Beautiful Day – U2
• Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – Marvin Gaye
• Here Comes The Sun – The Beatles
• Imagine – John Lennon
• Walking On Sunshine – Katrina and the Waves
• Don’t Give Up – Peter Gabriel
• Let It Be – The Beatles
• I Feel Good – James Brown
• Heroes – David Bowie
• Heal The World – Michael Jackson
• Get Up Stand Up – Bob Marley
• Walk – Foo Fighters
• Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey
• Dream On – Aerosmith
• Perfect Day – Lou Reed
• Lovely Day – Bill Withers
• Smile – Nat King Cole

You can of course create your own playlist of self-help or motivational songs.

Meanwhile, let me share some of my own adventures in making motivational music:

Back in 2011, when I began recording my first album, I consciously decided to make it a “meditation meets the blues” recording.

I brought in my muse and support at the time, Sarah McSweeney, and together with producer Daniel Barrett, we created Blue Healer.

We also recorded it in record time (no pun intended), so I could be on the cover of Austin All Natural magazine announcing my first ever music album.

We succeeded, too.

My famous band

My next album in 2012, was my first singer-songwriter one.

I knew I wanted to create songs that helped me feel inspired and motivated. The album title track, Strut!, was a rally call for people to “strut around” when they felt down.

It’s the positive psychology principle that just smiling, even when you don’t feel like it, will change your internal state.

Fake a smile to feel a smile.

Strut to feel like strutting.

My first major music video from the Strut! album became, over the years, my all-time most watched video. You can still see “Everybody’s Going Through Something” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzT_yljj-SU

At this point I’ve recorded five singer-songwriter albums.

I’m going to record album six in January, after my private songwriting lesson with the legendary Melissa Etheridge next week. (!)

I’ll again attract my all-star band back into the studio:

• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer Joe Vitale (yes, same name as mine),
• legendary bass player Glenn Fukunaga,
• Guitar Monk Mathew Dixon,
• and of course my producer, Daniel Barrett.

Together we’ll make more motivational songs.

But I’m not the only one creating music to help people.

Free book at http://www.healingmusicbook.com

In the last few years of making music, I’ve met many other artists creating their own forms of motivational songs, or healing music, and self help music.

For example –

• Jana Stanfield, another great singer, told me about a group of singer-songwriters who were all making positive music. Called EmPower Music & Arts and it’s at https://www.empowerma.com/
• Bob Baker, well known for his books on how to market music, dropped by one day and gave me a copy of an album he created with Pooki Lee. I listened and loved it. Opening Up to the Good is all about feel-good music you feed your mind. Check it out at https://soulmassage.bandcamp.com/
• Ruthie Foster, a Grammy nominated blues singer I adore, made an album with me (!), and Daniel Barrett, called Stretch. We call it musical medicine. Details at http://www.transformingmusic.com/
• And of course Guitar Monk Mathew Dixon and I have recorded several instrumental albums, many of which are bestsellers for us. Almost all of them are inspired by the Hawaiian spiritual healing system called ho’oponopono. You can read about those albums and others at http://www.allhealingmusic.com

I could go on.

Obviously, you have choice in what you listen to.

The Jive Aces, a really cool swing-jump-jazz dance band from the UK, has a video that makes me smile whenever I watch it. Over 2,000,000 have seen it. It’s “Bring Me Sunshine” and you can watch it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXvJ8UquYoo 

The point of this post is to help you remember to consciously guard the roads into your mind.

Whether it’s audio or visual, you want to feed your brain what will nourish and support you.

Listening to the right music is one key way to do it.

Meanwhile, dance, sing and strut your stuff!

Ao Akua

Joe

PS- A list of my singer-songwriter albums is here at CDBaby and almost all of my albums so far are listed at http://www.allhealingmusic.com

Member BBB 2003 – 2017

Many people new to the Law of Attraction confuse material gain and spiritual awakening. They think it’s either-or: either you attract the money or you attract the awakening, but not both.

Obviously, that’s not what I teach.

In my books, such as The Awakened Millionaire, I explain that you want to profit from your passion, and that being true to yourself in business is also being true to your spiritual path.

It’s not either-or.

It’s both.

One evening I watched a documentary called Still Bill, on Bill Withers, the singer-songwriter famous for such tunes as Grandma’s Hands and Lean on Me.

In one scene in the film, he was congratulated for not “selling out.”

Bill paused and then said, “Look. We are all entrepreneurs. What’s the best sign we could ever put in our store? The greatest sign we can hang in our window is ‘SOLD OUT.'”

I loved his clarification.

Bill wrote songs true to him, and along the way he sold millions of them.

He didn’t “sell out” but he surely “sold out.”

Singer Bono once said “Selling out is doing something you don’t really want to do for money.”

I don’t want you to pursue money for money’s sake, but to instead pursue your passion and make money from it along the way so you can continue pursuing it.

In other words, focus on your passion, create a product or service true to you, promote it honestly and relentlessly, and then enjoy the profit from your work.

Sounds healthy and wise, doesn’t it?

You can do this, too.

It’s knowing your calling/passion/life mission, and being at peace with success, as you express yourself in the marketplace.

It’s not about “selling out” but being “sold out” while doing what you love.

I know people who deceive themselves into thinking they can’t make money doing what they love because they would be too focused on the material.

They completely forget that the material is the concrete form of the spiritual.

Judging “stuff” as not spiritual is spiritual snobbery; it’s a self deception; it’s an ego trip.

I’m not talking about hoarding or whoring, but about being comfortable living well as you do well.

As Milton Friedman said, “Rich or poor, it is good to have money.”

Anyone who wants to awaken needs to embrace all aspects of life and quit judging parts of it or themselves as bad.

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
― Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

It doesn’t take much character to judge anything as lowly; it’s takes much character to see the good in all of life.

Again, you can use the Law of Attraction to attract cars and cigars or spirituality and enlightenment – and you can use LOA to attract all of it.

The only limitations are in your mind.

That said, what would you welcome into your life?

As Arnold Patent, one of my favorite teachers, once said, “You can have it all!”

But, will you accept it?

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS – You can always get greater understanding of these principles about Law of Attraction and more in my Miracles Coaching program.

Around 1990, Jerry Hicks called me.

I had been working for Jerry and Esther Hicks, of Abraham fame, for years, to help get their books and audios out to the world about the Law of Attraction.

I always loved it when Jerry called, as he was upbeat and articulate, and always complimenting me on my ads, letters, advice, and so on, that I was creating for them. He was cool.

So his call wasn’t unusual and it was certainly welcome.

But this time Jerry had something new in mind.

“I have an idea for a law of attraction calendar,” Jerry began. “I’m not sure how to explain it so a printer can get my vision, so I thought you might help me.”

Jerry went on to explain an idea I quickly regarded as genius.

He wanted to create a page-a-day calendar, but in a special format.

“The front side will be quotes and passages from Abraham,” Jerry explained. “But the back side needs to be in two columns.”

Why two columns?

“In the first column, people can write their to-dos for the day,” Jerry told me. “That would be their meetings, calls, appointments, and the stuff anybody would write for their errands for the day.”

And the second column?

“The second column is where people can write what they want from the Universe,” Jerry said. “Their intentions and desires can be written there, as a kind of task list for the Universe to do.”

I loved the idea. Basically, you use one side of the page to write your to-dos and you use the other side to tell the Universe what to do for you. Pretty cool.

But Jerry wasn’t done.

“You then take the sheet, fold it in half, and put it in your wallet or purse. You carry it throughout the day, as a reminder of what you need to do, as well as a reminder to the Universe of what you want.”

Jerry added, “And the calendar will be big, as there will be one sheet for each day. You can start on any day, write the date on that page, and use it daily from then on.”

I helped Jerry communicate his vision to a printer and the first Abraham calendars were printed. I began to use mine and was absolutely thrilled by it.

It was fun to list my errands but far more fun to tell the Universe what I wanted.

And carrying the page in my pocket was a constant reminder of my goals and dreams.

It truly became a daily lesson course in what Jerry called (and I loved) “The Science of Deliberate Creation.”

I don’t recall what happened, but at some point I stopped using it.

Later, of course, Jerry passed away.

I had to look at the Abraham site to see if they even still sell the famous law of attraction calendar. (They do. See http://www.abraham-hickslawofattraction.com/lawofattractionstore/product/ABCN.html )

I’ve since started using the Abraham calendar again, and I love it.

If you are wanting to deepen your understanding and daily use of the Law of Attraction, then I encourage you to go get the Abraham calendar.

Ao Akua

Joe

PS – I am not an affiliate for Abraham or Esther Hicks and make nothing if you go buy the calendar or anything else from them. I’m just sharing.

Here’s a deeper insight into how the Law of Attraction actually works:

I’ve noticed that as soon as I sign up for a seminar or workshop, changes begin.

It may be just the decision that triggers change, or it may be something more esoteric.

Let me tell you a true a story about how this works…

A few weeks ago I decided to go back into the studio with my band and record my sixth singer-songwriter album.

As soon as I decided to do this, song ideas and new opportunities came to me.

For example, one day I looked in Facebook and there was a notice that rock legend Melissa Etheridge was doing a crowdfunding campaign for her new album.

As you’ll see in a minute, I’m a huge fan of hers.

I scanned her offerings and there was one for a two-hour, in-person, songwriting lesson with Melissa herself.

That excited me.

It also made me nervous.

After all, I’m a newbie as a singer-songwriter and Melissa is a goddess at it.

But as I say, “A goal should scare you a little and excite you a lot.”

I decided to go for it.

Within 24 hours, new energy for music hit me like waves of hot electricity.

I started writing new songs almost instantly.

Yet I haven’t had my session with Melissa yet!

As I mentioned, I’m a huge fan of Melissa Etheridge. Have been almost twenty years.

I fell in a hypnotic trance when I saw her on TV around 1995, scorching the screen with just her voice and acoustic guitar on an episode of Unplugged.

I’ve had this photo of Melissa Etheridge over 20 years

I mentioned her in my book on P.T. Barnum, There’s A Customer Born Every Minute.

I’ve seen her perform live numerous times.

I was a card carrying member of her fan club for years.

I bought a guitar signed by her.

I bought and read her autobiography.

I bought her song books to learn how she wrote her hits.

I tried to meet her, too.

She was going to be in the same organization I’m a member of (Transformational Leadership Council) and I thought I’d see her at one of our retreats.

I still haven’t met her.

But I will, when I have my private songwriting lesson with her.

And knowing I will, and knowing I will discuss my singer-songwriter passions with her soon, has turned on some “music production” switch inside me.

Just this morning, as I was working out, I received an entire song.

It just sort of “appeared” in my head.

I knew it was good because I couldn’t stop humming it.

I jumped off the treadmill and wrote the words down.

It was a complete song.

Everything was there.

I was amazed and delighted that it came with no effort and came by inspiration.

But it came AFTER I booked my lesson with Melissa and BEFORE I’ve had it!

Throughout my life I’ve noticed that when anyone makes a decision to attend an event designed to improve them, changes begin.

I saw it when I signed up to do a fire walk decades ago.

I saw it when I registered to experience The Forum seminar long ago.

I saw it when I signed up for Bill Phillip’s Body-For-Life challenge ten years ago, and more recently when I registered for his Transformation Camp and personally trained with him.

I saw it when I booked a saxophone lesson with Grammy nominated sax player Mindi Abair.

Grammy nominated sax sensation Mindi Abair and me

And I see it almost daily when people join my Miracles Coaching program.

As soon as they sign on the dotted line, and know they are committing to change, the change begins.

Why?

How?

I’m convinced it’s the decision to change that does it.

The decision sends a solid message to all parts of you that you are going in a new direction.

Suddenly your mind has a new target; a new goal.

Instantly your brain goes on “alert” for anything to help you with the upcoming changes.

There may be a more esoteric reason for it, too.

When you declare you are going to do something new, the Universe takes note, applauds you, and sends you support.

As Goethe put it –

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back — concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.“

Decision is the key.

It’s like turning the ignition switch on to engage the Law of Attraction.

Decide and things happen.

So, if there is something big you are considering doing, I say DO IT.

Just Do It!

Show your support for your desired change by signing up for it.

Make the decision.

It’s a concrete way to tell yourself and the world that you are doing something new, and you and the world respond by beginning the change that very day.

And yes, I am VERY excited to meet and learn from the rock icon herself – Melissa Etheridge!

Ao Akua,

Joe

PS – Learn more about Miracles Coaching.