Joe Vitale

The Missing Secret could be Ho'oponopono

Everybody wants to know a secret. First, we have the movie, The Secret, and then I follow up with, well, I didn't tell you the real secret. There's a missing secret and everybody leans forward going, "What's the secret, Joe?"

We’re speaking with Dr. Joe Vital an internationally famous author, marketing guru, movie, TV, and radio personality, musician, and one of the top 50 inspirational speakers in the world.

And all kidding aside, there is a missing secret, which explains why a lot of people watch the movie, the Secret, and then they end up sometimes getting what they want, but sometimes not. And then they become skeptical, then they become critical, then they become naysayers, then they become self-doubters of their self-worth, their power. So it's just a slippery slide down to darkness. And what I discovered is that there is a missing secret. Being myself homeless at one point, I was in poverty for 10 years. During that time, which was back in the 1970s, there was no internet, coaching was just literally coaching and football coaching. We didn't have personal development coaches.

There Must Be Something Wrong With Me

We didn't have a lot of the things that we have and take for granted today. So my journey was pretty much solitary, and it was very grueling and it took forever. I read books like, Think and Grow Rich, and then throw them against the wall, because I was still broke, still starving, and still struggling. It's like, what is this nonsense? People say they read Think and Grow Rich and they become rich. Something is missing. And I do what everybody does, looking at myself, I think, well, there must be something wrong with me. Maybe I'm not good enough, or smart enough. And after I went through that exploration for almost 20 years, I discovered that my God, there's a missing secret that virtually none of the other people in self-help or self-improvement, including Napoleon Hill knew, let alone told anybody or wrote about or talked about.

The Secret is in Our Subconscious

This missing secret is that we are largely driven by what's in our subconscious/unconscious mind. So when somebody like me, broke at the time, read, Think and Grow Rich, it was on the conscious level. Reading a book on a conscious level gives me new information consciously and I make new intentions. I intend to get out of poverty, be published, be an author and have money. All good intentions. But in the subconscious mind, there are counter intentions, limiting beliefs, negative data, and stories about lack, money's bad, money's evil, money corrupts, you are not good enough,  not smart enough, you don't have the connections, you're cursed, you have evil in your history, your lineage, your background. If any of that is in the subconscious mind, it will stop, slow down, or completely wipe out the conscious intentions.

The Missing Secret is Getting Clear of Blocks

I found that the missing secret was, to get clear of the blocks in the subconscious/unconscious mind in order for our consciously stated intentions to manifest. Once we get clear, we remove, we erase all the limitations, all that negativity, all the beliefs that for the most part we didn't even know were there, then not only can we have what we want, but we can have it at an accelerated rate, because all the blocks are gone. Before we even started this interview, you asked me if I slept at night because you saw many books, and CDs I have written and recorded. I've written 85 books, and have 17 CDs. There are 20 movies, a new one coming out later in the year, and I have 200 products. How does a man who was homeless and in poverty excel at such a productive, prolific, accelerated rate? By getting clear. Whenever there was a block in me, and in the beginning, and there were a lot of them, I found ways to use the missing secret and get clear of those blocks, then I can accelerate.

A Clear Path to Manifesting

Today, I can come up with a book idea and pretty much write it, finish it, and release it the same day, if not at least the same week, because there's none of the self-sabotage, there's none of the self-doubts, there's none of the garbage. At least when it comes to books, I'm still human, I'm still going through the human experience and evolving. And whenever I go for something new, and this is true for everybody, whenever you go to a choir or attract something new, most likely you'll have blocks, hesitations, and doubts. Getting clear of those is the missing secret. Once clear of those you can read Think and Grow Rich, and get rich, or read any of the self-improvement books and have a clear path to manifesting what they were talking about. So that's a wordy answer to, what is the missing secret, but it's the idea that we have to get clear of the limiting beliefs in the subconscious unconscious, in order to have what we consciously state we want.

Absolutely. And how I visualize it, is an iceberg, the top part of the iceberg is your conscious, beneath the water is part of the iceberg you can't see, the subconscious. So how do you help others to go into the unseen?

The Million-dollar Question

That's the million-dollar question, isn't it? And there are lots of ways. In fact, I just came out with another, it shouldn't surprise anybody, another brand new book called, Your Unlimited Self. And I have nine different ways to get cleared, using the missing secret. But let me talk about a couple of them. One is coaching. I'm a great believer in coaching. I established what's called, Miracles Coaching, 20 years ago, 20 years ago. It's been proven. It's been tested. When you have somebody on the outside of you who's not buying into your own beliefs and not living in your reality that's created from your brain, they can reflect back to you what you're thinking, what you're saying, what you're doing. And you get to get a glimpse from the mirror that is the coach of what your programs are. And then you can change them. You can reduce them. You can clear them. You can be free.

Ho'oponopono, A Simple Method of Transformation

That's why I started Miracles Coaching. But another thing, and you mentioned this in the introduction, is Ho'oponopono. I absolutely love Ho'oponopono, and I hope your people know about it. If not, please go and learn, because Ho'oponopono is the most profoundly simple method for transforming yourself, getting clear of these missing secret beliefs that are in our heads. And you don't even have to know what the beliefs are, because Ho'oponopono is this Hawaiian healing system where you have a dialogue with the Creator, with the great something, with God, the divine, the benevolent big boss, whatever you want to call him or it, and what you're doing is, inside yourself, you're feeling that, okay, I'm trying to attract my soulmate or to attract healing, or a breakthrough, but I feel like I'm stuck. Something is holding me back.

You don't have to know what the belief is, or what the stuckness or block is.  But because you feel it, you do know there is one. As you feel it, pretend you're talking to your connection, to the universe and say these four simple phrases; I love you, I'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you. That's it. I love you, I'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you. And you're saying it over and over; I love you, I'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you. You can say it in any order, jumble it up, it doesn't really matter. You rarely say it out loud or have to say it to another person. This is your private prayer or petition, your communication inside yourself to whatever you feel, whatever you call the being that gave you life - the greater higher power.

Becoming Clear of Limiting Beliefs

For me, Ho'oponopono is one of the nine things in my new book, Your Unlimited Self, and one of the most powerful ways to get clear of these limiting beliefs. The beauty is, that you don't have to know what the beliefs are. I've been doing Ho'oponopono for a decade and a half at this point, I've written three books about that and brought it to the masses. It's become the background audio in my head. It's self-talk. Right now, as I'm talking to people, I love you I'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you. I offer that to people to use right now. If somebody wants to heal, think of what their desire is, think of what their concern is, and what could be the block. No need to name it, it's a private communication. Feel it inside and as you do, pretend you're praying. You got on the phone and you're talking to the big honcho. I love you, I'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you. It's as easy as that.

We Tend to Look Outside for Change

And do you use that prayer for others? When I learned about Ho'oponopono, I was amazed that the gentleman who did this, was looking at files for the people who were criminally insane in a psychiatric ward. He didn't even see the patients but did the prayer for them and many of them walked out of that place without even knowing this prayer had been done for them and were integrated back into society. Amazing! Joe, I'd love for you to share when you've used it for other people, and some of the things you've witnessed.

That's a profound question and that's a profound story. And when people really grab this, it's going to turn their brain inside out, because most of us are looking to the outside for our healing. We're looking to the outside for change. We want the world to change so we'll feel better then we'll heal or allow ourselves to be healed. That's not how Ho'oponopono works. Ho'oponopono says the entire world, and everybody on the outside of you, is a mirror, it doesn't even exist. It's a projection from your subconscious mind. It's almost like we're walking through the dream state of life, and everything out there, including the people and the situations and all these things that irritate you, they don't even exist out there. It's all in you. So the very first thing to understand with Ho'oponopono is, and a lot of people don't like to hear this, you're 100% responsible for everything you experience.

There is No One to Blame

That means you don't get to blame anybody. There's no get-out-of-jail card, no loophole that says, "Well, it was their fault." You never get to say that in Ho'oponopono, because the man who taught me Ho'oponopono, was the therapist you were referring to in that story. His name was Dr. Hew Len, he passed away this year. He and I wrote the first book, we did many events together. And in those events and in the book, he would often ask people, have you ever noticed that when there is a problem, you are there? What he means is, that you experience it because you are the common denominator, you are the key element in knowing that there's even a problem. The person calling it a problem, the person experiencing it as a problem, is you. And where do you experience the problem? Inside yourself.

You don't experience a problem out there, but you might point out there and say, "They are irritating me", but the irritation is in here. The need for healing is in here. And so, even if there are other people out there and you say to yourself, "Boy, I wish my spouse would change, then I could heal faster. Wish my kids would listen to me, and then I'd be more at peace. I wish my boss would treat me better. I wish my employees would be better. I wish my customers..." That's pushing the power out there. And Ho'oponopono says it's all in here. So when you go to change anybody, you're never going to succeed, because the only person that needs change, is you. So you go inside yourself. The button that's being pushed is in you. It's not out there.

The “Great Something”

So you go inside yourself and you're saying, my next door neighbor isn't mowing the grass and it looks terrible over there, and it's really irritating me. And I want to heal in this particular place. It's not about the next-door neighbor. It's about the button that got triggered in you. So as you feel it inside yourself, this is when you, again, go to what I end up calling, the great something, with I love you, I'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you. Which is very much a shorthand for saying, I'm sorry for the unconscious beliefs in me that are being triggered. Please forgive me or my ancestors, because Ho'oponopono said you could have had all this downloaded from your lineage, from DNA, from epigenetics, and please forgive my ancestors for any part they did. The programming of me to experience this as a problem now.

Thank you for healing me, for removing this, and for taking care of me. The situation was handled. I love you for Ho'oponopono, for the healing, for my life, for the cleansing, and for the process. So I love you, I'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you. Shorthand for much more that's going on. And what happens is that inside yourself, you start to get to a place of peace, and serenity. There's healing. And the healing is, that you're now at neutrality. The button that was being pushed is gone. When that happens, the outside reflects it. Suddenly the neighbor goes, you know what? I haven't cut my grass in a while, I'm going to go cut it. And they go and mow the lawn.

Changing Ourselves

In Dr. Hew Len's case, when he was at the mental hospital for the criminally insane in Hawaii and he looked at their charts, he was not trying to change them. He was trying to change himself. He was looking at charts and he was being repulsed, he was being angry, he was being guilty, he was ashamed, he was being all kinds of emotions. It was those emotions that he was trying to heal. When he heals it in him, it gets reflected in some sort of magical quantum physics, some otherworldly supernatural way that I can't explain, but I have seen it over and over again. And I've written three books about Ho'oponopono, and all of them have stories of everyday people that are doing this in experiencing shocking miracles. There you go.

I love that you said it's not about what's happening out there, it's about what's happening in here. In other stories, such as the mowing of the lawn the healing might be, "Oh, I'm going to go and ask them if they need their lawn mowed." And then in that asking, they find out that they're caring for someone terminally ill, or there's some situation they had no idea about. The healing is on so many levels in whatever way you look at it.

A Ho'oponopono healing

I invite people to think of something that is bothering them right now. It could be anything, a person, a situation, or it could be a world event. There is a lot happening in the world right now, and we're reacting to it. So pick something that you're reacting to, something that you would like to change. And once you have that, notice how you feel about it. if it's bothering you, there's some sort of emotion there. And if you can put a name to it, if you can label it, that's fine. If you can't, it's okay, because you're feeling it, and you could be feeling anger, you can feel rage, impatience. Now, you have the situation, you have the feeling, you know it's inside of you, you can feel it inside of you. You may or may not know what beliefs or stories are around it. If they're there, wonderful. If not, you don't need them to heal them. You have the feeling and with the feeling, you can have a healing.

Close your eyes if they weren't already closed and kind of pretend that you're going to talk to the benevolent creator, whatever that means to you. I have been calling it the great something. Joseph Campbell called it the great mystery. There may be a phrase that everybody in this group uses that I'm not aware of, but whatever it is, allow that to be who you're going to talk to.

Forgive Me For Being Unaware

As you're feeling this concern, this issue, this emotion, your eyes are closed, now pretend that you're speaking to the great something and you are reverently, genuinely saying inside yourself, "I'm sorry, please forgive me. Thank you. I love you." You can say it two or three times at my speed, or you can say it slower or faster, but say it with feeling like you're really feeling these phrases. Like I'm sorry. I feel sorry. And please forgive me. You didn't do anything wrong. You were simply unconscious. So you're saying, I'm sorry, please forgive me for being unaware. Thank you for the healing, for the clearing, for the resolving of this. I love you. Oh, I love you for my heart, for my life, for this process, for this group, for this healing. And you can say it another time or two, if you like, I love you. I'm sorry, please forgive me. Thank you.

Of course, you can continue this or for the purposes of this event, you can end it now, but notice how much better you feel and be expectant of a change on the outer, because of the change and the healing on the inner. And welcome back.

Letting Go of the Subconscious Limitations

I'd like to let everyone know that Dr. Joe features Zero Limits Living, zero_limits_living_tv.com. That means that this process and the others that he might give, apply to all categories, to everything, the disease in your body, or the joy that you're missing, the partner that you want, or the money that's coming. Anything that holds us back, is the key. We have taught this, it's getting rid of the subconscious thoughts and the baggage that you bring in. So this is why it is so important. I encourage all of you who would like to know more about this, not only to go to Joe’s website but watch the show again and participate in what Joe just did. This is wonderful. What have you seen personally, that as a result of this, that maybe is one of your favorites, doctor?

I've seen so many things because as you pointed out, you can use this for anything. And I'm glad you said that because I've heard people use it for their animals. They've used it for their relatives. They used it for interpersonal relationships. They used it in an IRS audit. They used it when there was a lawsuit against them and all of what looked like hell was breaking loose.

A Personal Story

One of the most powerful stories to me is a personal one. Several years ago, my mother was dying and I was traveling, speaking all over the place, I don't even know where I was, but everybody was being called back to Ohio, which is where I was born and raised. My mother was in the intensive care and then we were bringing people in because she was going to die. There were only five other patients in the room and four of them died while I was there, which shows you how intense this was. I got a chill thinking about this, how intense all of it was. And here I am travel weary and I'm confused and I'm the guy who talks about magic and miracles, I wear an Expect Miracles t-shirt, I was in the movie, The Secret, and I'm thinking, I can't save her.

So I've got that anger. And I got that frustration and I'm in the room with everybody, my father is there, my two brothers, my sister and everybody's confused and we're grief-stricken. Nobody knows what to do. So I sit beside my mother in bed and I do ho'oponopono, and I'm not doing it to heal her.

The Source of Creation is In You

This is the big mistake people make, they direct it at the outside and it has to be directed at the inside realizing the source of the creation is in you, not out there. And it's tough to do, especially if it's your mother laying there. I'm sitting beside her doing, I love you, I'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you, inside myself. I just kept doing it. And I don't know if I did it for 45 minutes or two hours, but the nurse had come in at one point and said, we all had to leave. Visiting hours were over, come back tomorrow, so we left.

And I would say I was, in all honesty, and transparency, I was not in a place of total peace, but I was better. I felt like I had diluted a whole lot of my concern and my anxiety and my grief and got to a place more of trust. Like life and death are part of the life process and I got more in alignment with that and then left. When I arrived the next day, my mother was sitting on the side of the bed, putting her socks on as she is going home. She lives for four more years.

The Outer Reflects the Inner

Did ho'oponopono do it? Did I do it? Did the great something do it? Was it the combination of all of it? All I can tell you is the more I got at peace, the more the outer reflected the peace and mirrored it.

The outcome was like the icing on the cake, but already you had stepped aside and were at peace.

Yes, even more important than making a difference or creating an outcome is what Monica just said, “you are at peace.”

Thank you, What I didn't get a chance to say is that I have been a fan of the Kryon materials for two decades, I'm honored to be here and have a chance to say thank you.