Life’s Missing Instruction Manual - Joe Vitale

Your Point of Power Is Now War.
Economic concerns.
Poor business.
Unemployment.
It sure looks bad, doesn’t it?
But I also want to remind you that we have lived, survived, and prospered through far worse times. For example:
In 1780 George Washington said, “We are without money; and have been so for a great length of time. . . .”
He went on to create an estate worth three-quarters of a million dollars when he died.
In 1840 a traveler wrote, “So great is the panic, and so dreadful the distress, that there are a great many farms prepared to receive crops, and some of them actually planted, and yet deserted, not a human being to be found upon them.”
But we got over that problem, too.
In 1857 an editorial stated, “It is a gloomy moment in history. Not for many years—not in the lifetime of most men who read this newspaper—has there been so much grave and deep apprehension.”
That passed, as well.
In 1873 this country had a panic that shook the nation. A newspaper wrote:
“All over the country manufacturers are closing their works and discharging their operatives, simply because they can neither sell the goods they make nor borrow money to carry them until the demand for them revives.”
Yet we survived that panic, too.
In 1893 one man wrote of the troubling times he saw: “I have been through all the panics of the last thirty years, but I have never seen one in which the distress was so widespread and reached so many people who had previously not been affected as this panic of 1893.”
And we got through that one, too.
We also got through the Great Depression of 1929, two World Wars, the Y2K panic, and even 9-11.
What appears to be gloom and doom is often just the focus of the media. Consider what Gandhi once said: “When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think ofbit . . . always.”

I could go on and on. The point is this: Life will always have ups and downs. The secret is to flow with the tide as best we can. Complaining about what is keeps you from spotting or even creating new opportunities. In every panic, in every generation, men and women with eyes wide open saw and seized opportunities.

Whether it was George Washington who went on to become president and build his own fortune, or P.T. Barnum who went on to prosper during the Civil War, the fact remains: Circumstances don’t make you, you make you. This “bad time” might become the greatest period of prosperity for you.

Maybe you just have to relax your demands. In 1941 Bruce Barton wrote, “I have been out of a job three times in my life. Each time I made a survey of my surroundings and discovered that there was work to be done, though not the same kind of work I had been doing.”

Barton was a best-selling author, Congressman, popular speaker, and founder of one of the largest advertising agencies in the world, BBDO. He also became a millionaire. And don’t fall for the trap that the past was better than the present. In 1907 the famous tycoon John D. Rockefeller said: “People sometimes talk as if we older men lived in a day of peculiar opportunity, as if there were no chance today for a young man to do what has been done by my generation of men, as if all the avenues were closed, all the big things done. Nothing could be more mistaken.

Why, the time in which I opened my eyes was a midnight of darkness, and this is blazing noon.” A word to the wise: Listen, act, and prosper. There are opportunities around you. Which will you see first and act on now? The point of power in your life is now. This moment is your time of blazing noon.

“I Wish I Had Learned . . .”
Jim Edwards

“I wish I had learned that I can do anything I really believe I can do. It may sound simple, but it’s the basis of any and all achievement (or lack thereof) in anyone’s life. As soon as I believed I could, I could . . . and before that, I believed I couldn’t, and I couldn’t. If you want to change your life for the better, change your belief about what’s possible for you, what you’re entitled to, and what you can accomplish if you simply put your mind to it. Sure, it sounds obvious, but until you live it, breath it, and make it a part of who you are as a person, you’ll just keep getting what you’ve gotten in the past, which I’ll bet isn’t what you want. Start believing in yourself and your world will change for the better faster than you ever dreamed possible!”
Jim Edwards, author 5 Steps To Getting Anything You Want www.HowToGetAnythingYouWant.com.

You Can Be Happy Now
No one will believe you when you tell them this, but happiness is a choice.
You can be happy right now.
Yes, right now.
How?
With the decision to be happy.
You don’t need more money (though it would be nice).
You don’t need to be thinner (though you might like it).
You don’t need anything (though you might still want things).
You can simply say, “I’m going to be happy right now.”
This is the trick few know because they didn’t have the owner’s manual for their life.
Smile. Be happy.
“If you’re not happy, you’re missing a great opportunity.”
Life Doesn’t Have to Be Hard
Life doesn’t have to be hard.
Few know this (unless they’ve read this manual, too).
Most people think they need to fight and struggle. Not so. You can let life unfold. The secret is to focus on what you want, do what is before you to make it happen, and trust the process.
Yes, life can be hard.
But it can also be easy.
Most of the difference is in how you look at what is happening.
If you regard running a marathon as hard, you won’t find it very easy. But if you enjoy running and consider a marathon a personal challenge you welcome, then you will regard running it as easy.
Yes, you may sweat and struggle and pant along the way, but you’ll enjoy it.
As with everything else, the choice is yours.

You Are Behind Your Eyes
I was on my back on the doctor’s operating table. It was minor surgery, so I was awake as the doc dug into my chest, cutting, snipping, cleaning a wound I had.
It was no big deal. Not heart surgery or a lung transplant. Yet I lay on that table, wide awake, and felt as if he were working on a machine. I just happened to be in the machine. What he was doing wasn’t happening to me but to something I owned.
Take note:
You have a body.
But you are not your body.
You have a mind.
But you are not your mind.
You have emotions.
But you are not your emotions.
You are the being behind it all, able to choose what you want, able to direct it all.
Choose wisely. (The rest of this manual will help.)

Your Feelings Are Hidden Thoughts
“Feelings are shadows of thoughts,” wrote Michael Ryce in his book, Why Is This Happening to Me . . . Again?
Your thoughts create your feelings, but sometimes it happens at such lightning fast speed that you don’t hear the thoughts as they whiz into a feeling.
“Your feelings inform you of the nature of the impact of the energy of your thoughts on your physiology,” writes Ryce. “If you are in pain, you are the one in error.”
Become aware.
This concept will become clearer as you review this manual and live your life. For now, realize that your feelings aren’t sneaking up on you unannounced, and they are not unavailable to your control.
Your feelings are from your thoughts. Change your thoughts, and you’ll change your feelings.
This will take some getting used to.
Enjoy the process.

Everything Is Energy Directed by Your Thoughts
Energy makes up your entire world—you, me, this book, the chair you’re sitting on, the room you’re in, and so on.
How you think begins to organize energy into form.
For example, hold a negative thought in your mind for a few minutes and then go look in the mirror. You’ll see darkness around you. You’ll probably have slumped shoulders, droopy eyes, and a frown. Your thought created the changes, which others will perceive as an energy change.
Now hold a positive thought for a few minutes. Go look in the mirror. You’ll see brightness. Your shoulders will be square, eyes twinkling, and a smile on your face. Again, your thought changed your energy.
Thoughts begin to change the energy of everything around you.
Hold positive thoughts to help yourself, and others, lead happy, productive lives.

You Can’t Stop Your Thoughts but
You Don’t Have to Listen to Them, Either
Your mind will keep working night and day, awake and asleep, throughout your life.
Good thing, too. You need it to help you walk, talk, drive, and live.
But along the way you’ll notice some thoughts make you feel good, and other thoughts make you feel bad. Some thoughts will be good; others will be bad. Some thoughts will encourage positive behavior; others may encourage negative behavior.
You don’t have to obey all your thoughts.
A T-shirt I bought years ago had this saying printed on it: “Meditation is not what you think.”
Exactly.

Meditation is that space behind your thoughts. The more you can pay attention to the screen where the thoughts appear, the more liberated you will be of them.
This may not make sense right now, so just remember this:
“You can’t stop your thoughts but you don’t have to listen to them, either.”

Everything Is a Projection
from Inside You
You’ll find this hard to believe at first, but everything in your life is a projection from the shadow side of your own mind.
I told you this would be hard to grasp.
Blame and excuses are easy. They let you avoid responsibility.
But your life is all about total responsibility.
When you look around, all you notice is seen within your own mind. How it got there is from your own mental filters. To change anything, you must change the inside.
This is difficult to understand because most people don’t have this manual. They were never told that life happens from the inside out.
When someone upsets you, they pushed a button within you.
When a situation occurs that you don’t like, it was drawn to you from your inside programming.
If this is true (and it is), how do you change it?
You have to own the fact that you attracted it.
All of it.
You then have to accept the inside of you and release it.
So if someone upset you, look at how you upset yourself, love it,
and let it go. As you change your inner self, you will find the outer change.
This is a big principle.
Sit with it.

Your Nature Is Your Current Act
When I was in college, a friend of mine said I was naturally pessimistic.
He noted my sadness, the glum look on my face, my constant complaining, and he concluded that pessimism was my nature.
Thirty years later I was interviewed on a radio show, and the host wanted to know why my nature was so optimistic. She noted my smile, the light in my eyes, my constant exclaims of gratitude, and concluded optimism was my nature.
Well, which was my nature?
Both were.
Your nature is simply a role you play, based on your choices.
Change your choices and you change your act. Do it long enough and it will seem like your nature.
Wally Mintos, in The Results Book, wrote: “When you haven’t got your role completely memorized, then you feel like you’re acting.
When you have the role memorized and it becomes a habit, you think it’s your nature.”
If you want to change your nature, start acting in a new way. At first it may seem awkward, as if you are truly acting. After a while it will become second nature, and everyone will assume you were born that way.

How to Know What You Want
Some people say they don’t know what they want.
They’re lying.
You always know what you want. You may not want to admit it,
though, not even to yourself.
When you state what you want, you then either have to start making it happen or you have to start making excuses for it not happening.
14 JOE VITALE
Sometimes it’s just easier to say you don’t know what you want.
But that’s a lie.
You do know.
So admit it.
No one is looking.
No one is listening.
So what do you want?
You Get More of
Whatever You Focus on
People without this manual focus on what they don’t want. They get more of it.
You’re smarter than that. (Right?)
If you want wealth, focus on wealth.
If you want health, focus on health.
If you want happiness, focus on happiness.
It’s an overlooked but guaranteed secret of the universe: You get more of whatever you focus on.

Whatever You Say after “I Am”
Defines Who You Become
An important lesson is realizing that you create yourself by whatever you say after the words, “I am.”
I’m not talking about the words you speak out loud, though that is part of it. I’m referring to the words you say in the privacy of your own mind.
“I am fat” or “I am stupid” may sound like assessments of who you are now. Actually, they are the commands that led you to your current reality.
Begin declaring who you want to become and soon the words will become facts.

What You Love or What You Hate
Will Be Drawn to You
This is the law of attraction at work, but basically, what you love or what you hate will be drawn to you.
In other words, if you truly hate a political party or a way of life, you will find it everywhere. Your hate is an intense energy which will attract more of the same energy.
By the same token, if you truly love something, whether a car or an activity, you will tend to draw more of it into your experience.
The lesson is to choose your passions carefully. Knowing that you control the magnet will help awaken you to your own power.

Your Body Requires No Assembly
Take a look in the mirror.
Everything accounted for?
Got some arms? Legs? Eyes? Ears?
Some people come with incomplete parts, but they can still have a terrific life. So don’t worry about anything if your parts look small, or big, or are missing.
You’re still OK.
If you have a thingy, you’re a boy.
If you don’t, you’re a girl.
Either way, congratulations.
You have what you need to have a good life.
No assembly required, either.

Great Hair, Great Day
My late ex-wife loved make-up and hair styling. Her business  card contained the one-line statement that said it all: “Great hair,
great day.”

The lesson here is to feel good about yourself. If that means nice hair or a nice shirt, so be it. The better you feel, the more the world will respond to you in kindness.

Your Memory Will Never Be Accurate
You won’t remember everything.
You won’t remember anything accurately.
The best thing to do is take notes.
When I spoke at an event in San Antonio on marketing, one of the greatest marketers of all time was in the audience. He was Ted Nicholas, one of my heroes and mentors. I noticed that Ted took notes furiously and copiously throughout my presentation.
When I spoke at an event in Las Vegas, Jack Canfield, creator of the Chicken Soup idea, which became a series of bestselling books, was in the audience. He, too, took pages of notes.
Neither of these legends had bad memories or lacked in success.
Yet they knew the value in taking notes. It helped them solidify what they were learning. And it helped them have records to review later, so they could refresh themselves of what they absorbed.
In life, our mind will play tricks. You think you’ll remember things—even the key secrets in this very manual—but you’ll forget them within hours. And if you do recall them, you’ll have reinterpreted them with your own spin.
Take notes.

Love
Love will cause you to become disoriented in the most delightful way.
Enjoy it. It will last longer if you commit to it and not run from it.
Love of people, pets, places, and even things is natural.
When you are near the end of your life, you will look back at all that you loved and you will smile.

Sex
You’ll want it.
You’ll like it.
Find someone who likes to play the same way you do, and enjoy.
Sex isn’t bad.
Sex isn’t dirty.
Sex without love is acrobatics.
Sex with love is bliss.

Food
Your machine/body requires high octane food.
It needs it every three hours.
Not much, though.
A little protein, a lot of vegetables and fruits, plenty of water, and you’re set.
Warning: Eating food as a social activity is deceptive. You don’t need the extra fuel. Take in too much and your machine will get larger than your garage may be able to park.

Exercise
You must exercise.
Your body is the vehicle that carries you around for your life. It needs maintenance. Moving your body keeps it running smoothly.
Exercise doesn’t have to be hard.
Gentle exercises, like yoga, are just as valuable as intense exercises, like rugby.
The idea is to enjoy the exercise you choose.
Exercise doesn’t have to take long, either.
Do something every day for 30 minutes.
The other 231/2 hours are yours to do as you please.
I’ve managed to lose over 70 pounds in 8 months, keep it off, enter four fitness contests, and never miss a day of exercise. If I can do it after 50 years of struggling with obesity, you can do it, too.

Three Life Lessons I Wish I Had Learned Earlier
Dr. Paul Hartunian
When I look back, there are three lessons I’ve learned, each of which has become solidly hardwired into my psyche.
1. There never was anything to be afraid of. The opportunities I passed up, the people I never approached, the rock star I never became. All sacrificed at the altar of fear—fear that never really
existed.
2. My worst decisions and actions happened when I was being petty, weak, or self-involved; when I made less-than-kind comments about people; when negative outside influences affected me.
3. I am on this planet for bigger purposes than accumulating riches. Thirteen years ago my life was permanently, profoundly altered by a dog named Milo. He put me on an entirely different life path. Milo helped me see that one of the major reasons I’ve been fortunate enough to accumulate substantial wealth is to use that money to help homeless, abused, and abandoned dogs.
Milo also taught me humility. As I stand on a platform, having just finished giving a 90-minute talk to an audience of hundreds, getting a standing ovation from the admiring crowd and getting a paycheck equal to many people’s annual salary, I clearly keep in mind that at the same time on the next day I’ll be back in my yard, cleaning up dog poop left by the dozen rescue dogs now in my care.
Thank you Milo.

This is part of the book: Life’s Missing Instruction Manual by Joe Vitale

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