The Firestarter (a conversation with Dr Joe Vitale)

Changing lives and reconnecting people with the passion is what bestselling author and international speaker Dr Joe Vitale does best. After his first ever visit to the UK, he speaks exclusively to Kate Osborne about his desperate life on the streets, surviving the loss of his wife, and enjoying a life of abundance and love. He shares his views on how we can all rekindle our spark of divinity and live full of purpose and joy…

You were involved with ‘The Secret’, why are the principles of the laws of attraction are now coming wider suspicion as it begins to ‘fail’ people?

I love the movie The Secret, I’m glad the law of ‘Attraction’ is being introduced to people, but all they are hearing is the introduction, there is great depth to that whole law and what people manifest is what they unconsciously believe. So on the conscious level they can say, ‘I want more money, I want a better relationship; I want a better job’ – they can consciously intend that all they like, but if unconsciously they have beliefs that are vetoing their own intentions they won’t attract it. For example, on New Year’s Eve people will consciously say they want to get fit, change their job or find a more loving partner, but within a couple of weeks they still haven’t gone to the gym, are still in the same job or still in an unhealthy relationship. What has happened is that unconsciously they have beliefs that more money is bad and even if I did earn more the greedy tax man will take it, or I will always he fat, or I will never find the love of my life – all of those are negative beliefs which are actually the beliefs that are attracting what they get. So for anybody that is saying that the law of attraction isn’t working or they are not getting results, what they are really saying is they have unconscious beliefs that have not yet been cleared. And for those who manifest against the greater good, say your Hitler, Stalin types, what they create will only be short-lived, it will never last. People will only ‘get away with it’ for a very short period of time, but ultimately the ‘Universe’ is going to slap them, sometimes very brutally.

How can ‘average Joe’ who has a family to support or who many have serious health issues follow their passion?

You have to work at it. When I was working for an oil company in Houston, I found time to follow my passion. I was working on a book, so I would write in the morning before I went to work. At lunch time, when people were opt shopping or having a meal in town I would be at my desk working on my book. After work I would do whatever I needed to do to survive, to pay the bills and so forth. But I always found time to work on my next article – I always found time to follow my passion for writing. So you follow your passion within the parameters of your life until you can do it full-time. But most people will wait, most people will’ create excuses like ‘I can’t follow my passion now ‘cos I work 50 hours a week’ or ‘I’ll do it whenever I retire’. That’s not how it works. Follow your passion now to the best of your abilities and by doing so you expand your time slot so you are able to follow your passion all the time. You see, we are taught in schools to survive. We are not taught to thrive, or to prosper. We are not taught that we have spiritual and mental powers that come from our soul, that are God given – divine given blessings to us. All we are taught in school is how to get by when we get out of school. And that’s survival that’s still playing the role of the ‘victim. We want to be empowered.

What has been your greatest challenge?

Probably in Dallas when I was homeless, 37 years ago. Because when you are homeless, you feel like you are a victim of the world, you are angry at the world, you feel like you are backed into a corner – that there is no other option. Your self-esteem is in the pits, the belief in yourself is in the pits, self-confidence is in the pits. And that would probably be the darkest, lowest point of my life. But it was curiosity that stopped me actually ending my life. I was still able to go to the public library, and that’s where I slept sometimes and read and re-read books. As I read them I kept thinking, ‘What if my life changed tomorrow? What if my work starts getting published by the end of the year? What if I find somebody that I’m in love with? What if my passion bears fruit and I actually start creating rewards? What if?’ So Instead of looking at the ‘What if’ which most people do in a negative way, thinking what if nothing changes, I looked at is as ‘What if it all changes?’ If I had ended it all, I would have missed out on a great marriage, on having 37 books published, being on TV, creating courses to inspire others, I would have missed out on all of this had I not believed that it would change 37 years ago. And my belief had a lot to do with my upbringing in that I had a pretty aggressive, masculine and strong role model in my father, who in his 80’s, still works out today – that part of me took over and said this can change, hang in there.

Have you had moments of ‘divinity’ of real clarity?

I have had glimpses. I think gratitude is one of the most powerful tools that any of us can use to shift our perception and open ourselves to the power of the Divine. In my hot tub at night I go through the experience of saying ‘thank you’, because 30 years ago I wasn’t in a very good place. Now I have a lot to be thankful for. I’m in the hot tub and I’m looking at the stars saying ‘I love you, I love you. What I am really saying is ‘I love you’ to the Divine. And as I say it and I move into that state of gratitude, and I get to that point of tears in my eyes, something opens in me and I suddenly am the Divine. I move into that awareness that I’m not in my body, I’m not my feelings, I’m not my thoughts, I’m the witness behind all of them. It is incredible – it is a struggle to describe it to anybody who doesn’t know that. Life is really a game and once you learn how to play the game you can just have fun. You have no need to ‘strive’ for things, life is no longer a struggle. I now want to look at living forever, not succumb to fear of what might shorten my life. My mission is to inspire people to go for their dreams, to show them that their life could be easier. I have come to realise that if I choose to serve the Divine, rather than me trying to force the Divine to work for me, I am able to follow my passion and live a wonderful life.

(To read the feature in full order Kindred Spirit Magazine issue 95 Nov-Dec 2008)