If you saw the hit movie, Eat, Pray, Love (or read the book), you know that Elizabeth Gilbert (played by Julia Roberts) has a relationship crisis and decides to spend a year in Italy, India and Indonesia, in that order. In the scene when she first arrives in Italy, she surveys the breathtaking beauty around her and says:
There is a wonderful, old, Italian joke about a poor man who goes to church every day and prays before the statue of a great saint, begging, ‘Dear saint, please, please, please let me win the lottery.’
Finally, the exasperated statue comes to life and looks down at the begging man and says, ‘My son, please, please, please buy a ticket.’
So now l get the joke…
And I’ve got three tickets.
Now I’m not telling you this story because I’m Italian and love Italy (although I am and I do, of course). I tell it because I’m wondering…Have you bought your “ticket” yet?
In other words, have you stepped out in faith towards that thing you want?
Have you taken a bold move?
Aristotle once said, “Nature abhors a vacuum.”
Stepping out, facing your fear, taking action, doing something – all of these, in effect, create a vacuum. They place a demand on the universe.
It’s like asking a question of God. If there’s no question, there’s no answer. Most of the time, people have this backwards. So they wait.
And wait.
And then wait some more.
And you know what they’re usually waiting for?
Money.
In fact, they believe that’s “how” they’re going to buy their ticket. It’s why they’re waiting and what they’re waiting for. And I know this because rarely does a day go by that I’m not asked about money – how to get it (fast) or how to make it (fast) – lots of it, preferably.
The funny thing is that these are often the same people who haven’t bought their “ticket.”
Oh, sure, they’re going to, they’ll say, after they get some money.
But that’s not the way it works.
You have to buy your ticket…first.
You have to take action…first.
You give the universe something to respond to…first.
You have to go buy your ticket right now.
It’s a bit counter intuitive, I know. And honestly, it took me years to understand it. Let’s face it…when you’re broke, getting money to do what you need or want to do is the first line of defense, the first excuse that pops out of your mouth.
But here’s the deal: Getting MORE money, making MORE money, than you currently have always involves some sort of transformation.
You have to transform your mindset.
You have to become somebody who thinks and believes differently than you do now.
And it doesn’t matter if you want $100 more a month or $10 million more a year. It’s all about the same thing: transformation.
Because when you go through this inner process, you’ll begin to see, choose and act differently.
Speaking from experience, money just gets a whole lot easier.
So…what if you could buy your ticket – literally – and accomplish all of it in one sweeping event?
You can…right now…when you join me and an elite group of experts in a life-changing weekend at my November event in Austin.
In both ways – figuratively and literally – there’s never been a better time to “buy your ticket”…and change your financial life.
Get you ticket here — http://www.attractmoneynowlive.com
Ao Akua
Joe
PS – Excuses are easy. Are you in charge of your mind or is it in charge of you? Make the decision to transform. Today. Right now. Buy your ticket already. http://www.attractmoneynowlive.com
It used to baffle me to see people being cynical or negative. It was even more confusing when they were cynical or negative about the Law of Attraction, the movie The Secret, my book Zero Limits, or me.
That never made sense.
But I just had a revelation that parted the clouds and showed me the sanity behind the madness.
In short, people who are cynical or negative enjoy it.
They feel good when they find fault with others.
But why?
Answer: they get a burst of serotonin in their brain when they feel they are better than someone else.
It’s a status rush.
They are, to be blunt, happily cynical.
But there’s a problem with that “Smiling Pessimist” approach to life.
It all made sense to me when Dr. Loretta Breuning sent me her books. I didn’t (and still don’t) know her, but she dropped me an email and said she was sending me her three latest books, Beyond Cynical, Meet Your Happy Chemicals, and I, Mammal. Each sounded fascinating, and I truly wanted to see them all.
But I had no idea the first one I picked up would blow the lid off my mind and lead to a profound insight into human behavior, mine as well as yours.
Beyond Cynical: Transcend Your Mammalian Negativity, grabbed me as soon as I read the back cover copy:
“Cynicism feels good because it triggers the brain chemicals that make us happy. It triggers dopamine by making things seem predictable. It boosts serotonin by making you feel superior to ‘the jerks.’ It stimulates oxytocin by cementing social alliances. Cynicism relieves cortisol as you fight or flee in your mind. Negativity is natural, but you can go beyond it if you choose.”
Wow!
All those negative, cynical people were actually enjoying their tirades because their brain was flooding them with feel good chemicals.
Of course, they had no idea their negativity was a cocaine rush and almost as addicting.
They just felt it was “natural.”
And the more they did it, the more the “happy” chemicals flooded their brain, making them want to continue in the behavior, even when their negativity and cynicism hurt others.
They were addicted to the feeling good that comes from feeling bad.
The problem is, this cynical approach to life doesn’t improve life.
As Dr. Breuning writes in Beyond Cynical, “You may think your outrage serves the greater good, but it is just a habit wired into your neurons. You can do more for yourself and the world by going beyond it.”
The good news is that negativity and cynicism can be replaced with something far more healthy, happy, and productive.
After all, as Dr. Breuning points out, being cynical ultimately isn’t helping you or the planet in any constructive way. She says it makes you powerless. A smarter approach would be to train yourself to become realistically optimistic.
It’s called PARE in Dr. Breuning’s world. That stands for Personal Agency and Realistic Expectations. She explains it this way:
“Personal Agency is the awareness that you can meet your real needs through your own actions. Realistic Expectations are the knowledge that rewards are unpredictable, and frustration is not a survival threat. When you PARE, you enjoy the act of meeting your needs instead of lamenting the world’s failure to meet them for you.”
She goes on to explain that you can build a PARE habit “…in six weeks by spending one minute thinking about something good three times a day.”
Sounds easy enough.
I’ve got one minute three times a day.
You probably do, too.
According to the author, though, it may be tough going to overturn an old habit. After all, the neuron highway for negativity may be already paved, and completed before you were six years old. You have to go “off road” a few times to begin to build a new path. Once you do, though, the new habit will have a new highway and your new positive behavior will then be natural and automatic.
I know this firsthand.
Back around 1974, I sat on the steps of the house I lived in at Kent State University, feeling unhappy. A couple walked by, saw me sulking, and the woman said, “You look like the unhappiest man on earth.” I told the story to a college friend who said, “You’re just naturally depressed.”
Today no one says I am unhappy, negative, depressed, cynical or anything of the sort. Over time, I retrained my brain to see the positive in life, and to get my brain chemical rush from optimism. Today people say, “You’re lucky. You’re just naturally happy.”
Hmmm.
I was naturally unhappy once.
Today I’m naturally happy.
Which is true?
“Natural” seems to be something we can create and then it is viewed as natural.
While Dr. Breuning doesn’t talk about the Law of Attraction, she does explain that we get what we expect. She says, “We don’t imagine ourselves sifting the world for evidence that confirms our expectations. But that is what the brain is designed to do.”
Expect the world to be messed up and people bad, and you’ll find evidence for it. Your brain will “attract it” by making it seem obvious to you.
But by the same token, expect the world to be abundant and people good, and your very same brain will “attract it” by filtering out everything that doesn’t match your expectations.
One dopamine-triggering later chapter in Beyond Cynical describes all the huge topics many people complain about today — such as climate crisis, economic crisis, and social crisis — and balances them with a more objective and historic overview that proves things today are actually better and getting better.
Dr. Breuning isn’t saying the world is perfect; she admits to problems that need a PARE attitude to resolve. But she says things are better. A cynic won’t see the better, and may never see how to make current issues better. They, too, will get what they expect.
As I pointed out in the book, Zero Limits, and in the sequel, At Zero (coming in January), your brain can’t process all the 11,000,000 bits of data flying at you in every second, so it learns to filter out what you don’t need to know. But the filter it uses is based on what you expect.
What do you expect?
Until you become aware of how your brain works, you will expect what you were already trained to expect. For most, that’s just plain fear. To go beyond it, you need to retrain your brain to see something else.
I am loving Beyond Cynical because it is making me conscious of how my brain operates. Much of Dr. Breuning’s book draws from research into animal behavior, which makes sense as we basically are just animals with wallets.
She quotes Robert Ardrey, who said —
“We are not fallen angels, but risen apes.”
She’s not describing animals because they are a model of love, but because they are wired to survive in any way possible, doing things that feel good but that may not actually be good.
That same mammal programming is in you and me. It drives us to food, sex, and status. The insights we gain from her book can make us far more productive, kind, and healthy.
When I want to reach for something to eat, for example, I ask myself if this is what my body actually needs, or has my brain learned that food stimulates chemicals in my system, leads to the happy feeling of survival, and that that stimulation itself feels good?
No animal would think that deeply about food: see bananas, access survival odds of going for them with other monkeys around, and decide to eat and run or just run.
From that new awareness of how my mammal brain is operating, as a conscious human looking at my food choices, I can make a healthier decision.
And as I wrote this post, a part of me felt the serotonin of feeling superior to all the naysayers out there. I enjoyed writing this, because I feel the article is a benefit to mankind as it informs you of books that can make a difference. But I’m very aware that a feel good survival chemical went off as I wrote this for you.
I liked it, too.
These three books are influencing my view of the world. I now see myself, and others, as “risen apes.” We aren’t awakened yet. We are still driven by mammalian impulses to keep us surviving. With conscious effort, we can transcend these urges. With these books, you can get a head start.
You can probably draw numerous eyeopening insights about yourself and others by reading Beyond Cynical (and the other books) by Dr. Lorettta Breuning — that is, as long as you aren’t cynical about it.
Her website is Inner Mammal Institute.
Ao Akua,
PS — If you truly want to feel good, expand your mind, and step into the world of unlimited abundance where you don’t have to fight other mammals for bananas, be sure to register for Attract Money Now LIVE. Details at Attract Money Now LIVE!
I’ve been in Chicago recording a breakthrough new program for Nightingale-Conant.
As when I recorded my previous programs, such as The Missing Secret and The Abundance Paradigm, I don’t go into the studio with a script. I trust myself to be inspired to say the right thing at the right time. I speak from my heart. This leaves me open to receive new information.
Well, something surprising happened in the process of recording this new program.
It began with me explaining advanced ho’oponopono, sharing new insights and stories, and going beyond what I revealed in the bestselling book, Zero Limits, as well as my forthcoming book, At Zero.
As I recorded this new program, inspiration came in and led me further and deeper than my original intent.
I even went beyond ho’oponopono itself, realizing the limitations that method has.
I ended up discovering a new law.
This new law is how you create miracles with speed and accuracy.
It’s a law that few know because it goes deeper than what other programs and techniques reveal.
You may already know about the Law of Attraction, but this new law goes beyond that.
The Law of Attraction is like having training wheels on your bike or being in grade school. At some point you need to drop the training wheels, and you need to move to the next grade.
It’s time to leave the superficial and go to the transcendental.
It’s time to go beyond the Law of Attraction.
This new law is the next step.
It leaves the Law of Attraction in the dust.
I call it The Law of Zero.
I’ve never written about this, or spoken about this, ever before, as it came to me via inspiration while recording in Chicago.
The Law of Zero enables and empowers regular people like you and me to do two things that are staggering.
Even miraculous.
This is merging with the power source of life itself to help you have, do, or be whatever you can imagine.
And even more.
My new program with Nightingale-Conant will explain the three levels of mind that you need to travel through in order to activate the Law of Zero.
The new program is called “The Zero Point.”
It will be available next year.
Meanwhile, I will be explaining The Law of Zero, the three levels of mind, and how to use this new information to create miracles in your life at my November Attract Money Now LIVE event in Austin, Texas.
It is the only place to get this information until my new audio program comes out next year.
If you are ready to be divinely empowered, and to leave limitations behind, please go here —
http://www.attractmoneynowlive.com
Ao Akua,
PS — I will be raising the price of admission to this once-in-a-lifetime event, and seats are limited to only 200 people, so I urge you to reserve your spot right now. Have faith and take the jump. You deserve this. Go to http://www.attractmoneynowlive.com
Note: My earlier programs with Nightingale-Conant are at http://www.nightingale.com/authors/joe-vitale/
Here’s something unusual. My Vedic Astrologer, Joni Patry, delivered a live in-depth reading of my birth chart for an Internet show. Vedic Astrology is very different than Western Astrologer. A great overview of how it works is right here. You can view it below. Enjoy.
This folk wisdom from Alex Haley reveals a secret to success in life —
“Anytime you see a turtle on top of a fence post, you know he had some help.”
This is relevant because I just finished the long awaited sequel to the bestselling book Zero Limits and was reminded of something along the lines of the turtle observation. It’s about how to motivate yourself and those around you.
My new book is titled At Zero: The Quest for Miracles through Ho’oponopono. It picks up where the first book stops, and is pretty gripping in what it reveals.
In it I tell the story of how ho’oponopono began (it wasn’t all love and light), and I share personal stories of my own dark nights (it’s not all bunny rabbits bringing me coffee every morning).
I also share a deeper understanding of what Dr. Hew Len taught, I give a great deal of fascinating information about Morrnah Simeona (the actual creator of authentic ho’oponopono), and I share some deeper secrets behind this mystical Hawaiian healing method – many revealed for the first time anywhere.
You’ll find the book hypnotic, deep, and unforgettable. The book, and its cover, are designed to be “cleaning” tools that work on you as you hold it and read it. And you can have a copy of it before anyone else by attending this event —
The book will be published in January 2014. Audio versions will come out next year. But anyone who attends my Attract Money Now LIVE event in November will be the first in the world to receive a copy. (See PS below)
Meanwhile, I wanted to share an insight about that turtle mentioned above.
A decade or more ago, I was in the home of Jerry and Esther Hicks, of Abraham fame. I helped them with their promotion in the early days, wrote the foreword to one of their books, created a full page national ad for them, reviewed their first books, and more. I love them both (and miss Jerry).
At their home I noticed a framed quote on a table. It was, as I recall, from the TV show, The Virginian. In essence, it said that a man was able to accomplish more by having someone who believed in him more than he believed in himself.
It struck me as odd at the time. I was reading and teaching about “do it yourself” concepts. I was yet to learn about the power of having someone believe in you as a way to generate more results.
Of course, this is a key secret of coaching.
Besides accountability and instruction, with a coach you have someone who believes in you.
That is powerful beyond measure.
I have done my best to encourage and believe in every single person I’ve ever met who shared a goal with me, even if only for a few minutes over coffee.
At this point in my sixty years, it’s hard to count how many people have gone on to create results where none existed before. I’m not taking credit for their results. They had to do the work.
I’m pleased that I could add a little fire of encouragement to them, so they could pursue their dream.
It wasn’t hard, and it didn’t take long.
But this isn’t about me.
It’s about you.
I’m urging you to encourage others.
You have no idea what potential is in the people around you.
For example, I worked for a giant oil company back in the early 1980s in Houston. I was writing and teaching and pursuing my career as a writer, but my “day job” was as a geological technician. I was there until about 1984. I then left (read laid off), and struggled my way into success.
When the movie The Secret came out in 2006, many long lost friends saw me in the film, Googled my name, and reconnected with me.
One man who had been a supervisor at the oil company wrote to me and said, “I wish I knew then what a gem I had around me in the office.”
That was flattering, but it made me realize that everyone around you is a gem. You may not know their skill set, but if you encourage them, it could come to light.
One of my favorite childhood actors was Clint Walker, who played Cheyenne in the hit TV show of the same name.
Clint is alive and well at 86 years old. A few years ago, he gave a presentation. At the end of it, after he received his standing ovation, he thanked everyone in the room for being an inspiration in their lives to others.
You didn’t have to have a hit TV show to be an inspiration, Clint explained. You could encourage others right where you lived, by what you said, and what you did.
I was reminded of all this while writing the sequel to Zero Limits, because along the way, a relative criticized my music. It gave me an opportunity to do some extra cleaning, ho’oponopono style, and it led to an important insight.
I was told by my peers early on to “gird your loins” when I started recording my own songs, as everyone has an opinion about singer-songwriters. Some people don’t like the Beatles. (Gasp). Some people won’t like me. (Faint.)
When my relative criticized me, I realized that what I — and everyone – want, is encouragement.
The world is full of negativity, bitterness, and ego.
What we long for is sunshine, in word and deed.
Triggered by my experience, I started a new song that basically says, “You can achieve any dream, all you really need, is someone who believes, in you.”
I was just in New York City, for a private master mind with a small group of powerhouse Internet marketers. The photographer there, Donato DiCamillo, had a rough childhood growing up on the streets of Brooklyn. But he said something unusual happened that helped him make better choices as he grew up.
As Donato hung out on street corners, consorting with the wrong crowd, a local business man would drive by, honk his horn, roll down his window and tell him, “You’re better than that, kid!”
Donato told me that this happened repeatedly for years.
He kept hearing, “You’re better than that, kid!”
He didn’t know the man in the car.
He didn’t know why the man focused on him.
He found out later that the man was a local businessman, fairly successful, and a little eccentric.
Donato went on to tell me that because he heard “You’re better than that, kid!” over and over again, the statement lodged itself in his brain. Today, of course, he’s not on the streets, and was hired to be the official photographer for our private mastermind.
All because someone believed in him.
Here’s one final example —
When I attended my first Bill Phillips Fitness Transformation Camp last February, I saw Bill do something unforgettable.
He walked around the room, looked each person in the eye, and said, “I believe in you. You can do this.”
It was very powerful.
Bill’s belief in me caused me to stay focused, work his 12-week program, and get terrific results.
At the end, I received a medal from him, saying I am a winner.
You can imagine how good that felt.
My reminder to you is to encourage others.
Be a coach.
Be a cheerleader.
Be a good friend.
“All you need, is someone to believe, and I believe in you.”
If a turtle can be picked up, and elevated to higher ground, so can you.
You can be The Turtle Whisperer. 🙂
You can look for inspiration, and encouragement.
It’s available.
But meanwhile, be an inspiration to others.
By the way, I believe in you.
Go for your dreams.
Ao Akua,
Joe
PS – At the Attract Money Now LIVE event in Austin, Texas in November, I will deliver a brand new presentation on Authentic Ho’oponopono, based on the upcoming sequel to Zero Limits, that will no doubt stimulate you and maybe even “burn some hair” with the truth and new techniques it reveals. Every attendee will get a copy of the new book, and will have the chance to have their photo with me with it (if they want).
There will also be a surprise comedy show on Saturday night, a special “install the concepts” session on Sunday morning, a live experience of Miracles Coaching, a demo of The Secret Mirror technique, and so much more.
Bill Phillips, Dee Wallace, Mindy Audlin, and others, will be presenting, too.
You can also meet me and other attendees at a private social function on Friday evening.
AND you can have $12,000 in online videos to help you awaken your millionaire mind the very moment you register for this once-in-a-lifetime event. (!)
People are already signing up and coming from everywhere — Canada, Italy, Germany, Ukraine, France, South Africa, Turkey, Mexico, UK, and more!
Go get the details at – http://www.attractmoneynowlive.com/
After all, “Today’s the day” for action! 🙂