Praise for At Zero

“Joe's new book was just as I knew it would be—FABULOUS! The riveting stories and enlightening insights lifted my spirits and filled my soul with love. This is indeed a path to miracles!”

—Janet Bray Attwood
Coauthor of the New York Times best seller
The Passion Test

“This book ought to be a movie. A masterpiece of story telling and a revelation on how the Hawaiian healing system of Ho'oponopono really works.”

—Barnet Bain
Movie producer, What Dreams May Come and
The Celestine Prophecy

“In At Zero, Dr. Joe Vitale shares the catalyst of his own awakening. He is vulnerable, insightful, and shares authentic Ho'oponopono secrets that are empowering and inspiring. If you want to get to the state of zero, where there are no limiting beliefs, I highly suggest you read this book.”

—Dr. Steve G. Jones
Clinical hypnotherapist

“With Zero Limits, Joe Vitale introduced the world to the incredible healing system of Ho'oponopono. Now he's taking it all to the next level, going deeper and revealing the real essence and magic behind these ancient secrets. A must-read!”

—Nick Ortner
New York Times best-selling author of
The Tapping Solution

Cover image: © iStockPhoto.com/MGDMORRIS

Cover design: Paul McCarthy

Copyright © 2014 by Joe Vitale. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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ISBN: 978-1-118-81002-6 (cloth)

ISBN: 978-1-118-81003-3 (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-118-83747-4 (ebk)

To Morrnah Simeona,
who lovingly gave us modern Ho'oponopono

Disclaimer

The information in this book is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a physician or other health care professional. The author and publisher offer this material for your education, entertainment, and inspiration.

Author's Invocation

Oh, Infinite Divine Mind,

Through my beloved High Self,

Cleanse this unit of all negativity,

Both within and without,

That it may be a perfect vessel for

Your Presence.

Foreword

My Experience of Morrnah Simeona

When Joe Vitale asked me to share my experience of Morrnah Simeona—the magnificent Kanuha Lapa'au (“Priest who heals with words” and “Keeper of the secrets” in Hawaiian folklore), I immediately began to feel the deep peace and sense of lightness that I always felt around her. She was a magnificent human being who reminded me of my maternal grandmother, Amelia, who raised me in Chile and had unconditional love for me.

Of course, it wouldn't take long to be around Morrnah to know that she was special—very special! She flowed—nature changed around her. She was always offering assistance with anything that someone needed. She would look at you as though she saw much more than your physical body. She was a true healer.

In 1984, she came to live in our sprawling estate in La Jolla Farms Road—a very exclusive area of La Jolla (San Diego County), California. There were four separate homes on the property, including the cutest little cottage that she stayed in for three months.

After she lived there for a few weeks, everyone who came to the property asked if we had a new gardener or if we had done something different with the landscaping—everything was so alive, vibrant, and beautiful. Nature itself changed around her—it was an uncanny experience for me in my early thirties, when I was just learning about generalized spiritual principles that have reigned Earth since eternity.

At times when I returned from Money & You tours, she would give me special, advanced Ho'oponopono treatments to clear my energy. Afterward, I'd feel like I had taken a shower. It was truly divine. She was constantly encouraging me to keep my energy clear by doing the process and uttering the word Ho'oponopono.

Morrnah was definitely special.

She was from a line of Kahunas and chose to modernize the Ho'oponopono process (part of the ancient teachings of Hawaiian Huna) to help human beings become free from traumas and dramas that are held in the subconscious and affect every moment of our lives—a very powerful process.

Morrnah's decision to open up the secret that Hawaiians had held closely for many generations did not make her very popular in certain circles—and she was ostracized in some. Morrnah was a lover of humanity, supporting all human beings to become free of unconscious behavior and supporting deep cleaning of the subconscious. She was courageous and clear about her purpose, which was to teach people to free themselves of their own limitations, to cut the aka cords that had been created through the ages, and to have alignment of the inner family:

The Aumakua: Au (means bathe or swim)

Makua: Father (together meaning bathed by and in the Holy Spirit)

The Uhane: Mother (conscious mind)

The Unihiipili: Child (subconscious mind)

I learned that just saying the word Ho'oponopono clears the space. It cleanses me immediately.

But let me tell you how I first met Morrnah.

My beloved friend who was reared in Hilo, Big Island of Hawaii, Eric Smith, introduced me to her and the Ho'oponopono class she was holding alongside Dr. Stan Haleakala (another magnificent human being now known as Dr. Hew Len) in Los Angeles, sometime in 1983. I have the sense that it was in November, my favorite month of the year, not just because it's my birthday month, but also because it's such a beautiful time around the world: fall in the northern hemisphere, spring in the southern.

It was a very special time—a weekend never to be forgotten.

The class had all kinds of wonderful people, including Hollywood types, such as the actor Leslie Ann Warren (once featured in the Will & Grace TV show as the lover of Will's father). She is a lovely person.

It was a fun group, and we definitely bonded during those three days of cleaning, cutting the aka cords that are created as we become attached to people, places, and things. The process required that we write lists and lists: names of people, which included just about everyone we could remember that we'd had a relationship with and who'd had an effect on us; places that we had lived in; vehicles that we had used; situations that hurt us and those we had hurt—every humiliating experience we could think of. We were encouraged to write down all the shame, blame, and guilt that we held in our subconscious.

That the space got uncomfortable at moments would be an understatement!

It was particularly interesting to write the list of persons that one had had sexual contact with. It was then that I got the enormity and importance of protecting one's energy. Having sex with someone is the fastest way to pick up not only your partner's energy, but also the energy of every person that he or she has ever had sexual contact with—potentially there could be the energy of hundreds of people as you have sex with another person!

She and Stan were excellent teachers. They taught by telling wonderful stories and tales from the many people they had helped through the years. There are too many to share here, but one I found so interesting was that Morrnah loved actor Tom Selleck, the star of the TV show Magnum PI, which was filmed in Hawaii.

Morrnah was always cleaning Tom Selleck. I had met him in Hawaii a year earlier, and I couldn't help thinking that he was so blessed to have someone like Morrnah constantly cleansing him. When he left the spotlight for years, settling for a much quieter life with his new wife and child, I couldn't help thinking if the Ho'oponopono Prayer hadn't influenced him. It's nice to see him back on the Blue Bloods TV series.

She shared with us that actors, celebrities, sport stars, politicians—those that are in the public eye—are particularly energetically endangered because of all of the projections that are directed their way. These people could potentially have millions of aka cords from all the attention, sexual projections, positive and negative projections—all the thoughts from fans that diminish their life force, personal power, and ability to be clear.

Wow, that was intense to hear! I started wondering if this wasn't why beautiful sex symbols like Marilyn Monroe had such a hard life!

I began to see things very differently.

My life changed after that weekend. I felt like I had taken a lifelong bath—that my energy had been cleansed forever—and that it was my responsibility to keep my energy clean and cleansed. I have my short-form Ho'oponopono process with me constantly. It has been behind my yearly paper calendar of events since the 1980s. I scan copies of it and put in my computer, my iPad, and my iPhone. We were taught to leave our Ho'oponopono book open in our cars to teach the car's subconscious to keep itself cleansed. I can't help thinking that this has worked. I haven't had a car accident since a very small one in 1976—before Ho'oponopono!

I have done the Ho'oponopono process everywhere in the world that I've traveled, except Bali, Indonesia. I started to do it there, and a very strong feeling said “No.” I later learned that the I had guided me correctly. Bali has its own rituals—its own energy. It's always good to follow our inner guidance.

The last time I spoke to Morrnah was mid-1989. My then business partner, Robert T. Kiyosaki (of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series) and I had returned to the Big Island of Hawaii to do our Excellerated Business School for Entrepreneurs at the then Kona Surf Resort (it has now changed hands a couple of times)—a magnificent property next to Keauhou Bay.

I called Morrnah so that she could fly into the Big Island (which we knew she loved) and lead the class with the Ho'oponopono Prayer. She said, “Honey, I am too tired.…I am not as well as I used to be.…You do it.”

I was flabbergasted. I this great Kahuna was telling me to lead a public Ho'oponopono process in front of a successful group of entrepreneurs. I felt a little unsure and felt tremendous responsibility to lead such a prayer. She reassured me that the entire area—the bay, the resort, and the Big Island—had been programmed with the prayer and that I had nothing to worry about, that I would do a great job. I felt peaceful and ready, and I did do a good job—how can you not when doing Ho'oponopono!

From then on, I led all the Ho'oponopono in our classes and beyond. We got very busy and very successful. I didn't speak in person with Morrnah again.

A few years later, I found out that she had passed on in early 1992. Although I was sad that I no longer could pick up the phone and speak to her, have one of her great treatments, or learn at her feet, I could still feel her presence—as always.

She is and will always be a magnificent force in my life. I truly feel that her teachings—Dr. Haleakala's teachings—and the prayer have had a tremendously positive impact on my life and business.

Part of the prayer is the Peace of I:

Peace be with you, all my Peace.

The Peace that is I, the Peace that is I am,

The Peace for always, now and forever and evermore.

My Peace I give to you, My Peace I leave with you,

Not the world's Peace, but only my Peace,

The Peace of I.

She taught us that when we get in our car, an airplane, a train, or any vehicle, to surround it with 300 million of Peace of I. I particularly remember this when I get on airplanes—and I sleep soundly. I know that I am being protected.

I have many Ho'oponopono stories to tell—too many for this copy—but rest assured that, for the past 30 years, I can honestly say that the Ho'oponopono Prayer has been a tremendous guiding (and protecting) force for me.

The word Ho'oponopono is constantly on my lips. I have used it in happy and sad occasions. I know that the alignment of my inner family is crucial for my peace of mind, for the mental clarity I need to run a successful global organization, for attracting the wonderful business partners whom I now have had for decades, for the amazing people that teach at our programs, for the participants that attend, for the fantastic global network that I have, and for the love for and connection with my beloveds.

My success and prosperity has definitely been propelled by hard work and by using the sound business and consciousness principles we teach—and there's no question that the wind beneath my wings is the Ho'oponopono process.

I wish you the same.

To quote the end of the prayer:

May the I continually bless all involved in the Ho'oponopono process.

We are set free and it's done! We are now in the Divine Creator's Embrace.

Aloha!
—Dame D.C. Cordova
CEO, Excellerated Business Schools® for Entrepreneurs
Money & You® Program
www.Excellerated.com

Acknowledgments

Iam forever grateful to Dr. Hew Len for personally teaching me Ho'oponopono, coauthoring Zero Limits with me, coleading three Zero Limits events with me, and becoming my mentor. Numerous people helped me create this book, from editorial help from Suzanne Burns and Mathes Jones to contributions from D.C. Cordova, Saul Maraney, and Kory Basaraba. I'm also grateful for the encouragement and support of my friends, specifically Lori Anderson, Victoria Belue Schaefer, Daniel Barrett, Mathew Dixon, Mary Rose Lam, Michael Abedin, and Bruce Burns. I am forever grateful to the staff of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., specifically Matt Holt, for believing in my work. I also want to acknowledge my Miracles Coaching® team at Prosper for helping people learn and correctly practice authentic Ho'oponopono. And, of course, thanks always to my wife and life partner, Nerissa, for showing love and support all the way. If I've forgotten anyone, please forgive me. Finally, I thank you, the reader, for being open to receiving this inspiration. I give this book to you with all my heart. Aloha Nui Loa.

Introduction

In the Beginning

We can appeal to Divinity who knows our personal blueprint, for healing of all thoughts and memories that are holding us back at this time.

—Morrnah Simeona

I was wrong. Very wrong. When I finished writing the book Zero Limits, I expected the world to thank me. I knew the story was inspiring. I knew it was miraculous. And I knew it had to be told.

But I never knew some people would hate it—and me.

Dr. Hew Len knew, though. When I told him our book was completed, he said, “When it comes out, the shit will hit the fan.” I didn't know what he meant. But he was clearer than I was. He was in the moment and saw the future. The story was unfolding for him. For me, it was still dark. When the sun came out, it hurt my eyes.

I decided to write this sequel for two reasons: first, to further explain the message of Zero Limits (and what happened as a result of publishing it), and second, to give you more advanced secret methods of authentic Ho'oponopono.

I asked Dr. Hew Len about my idea. He was reluctant because the elders of Ho'oponopono had slapped him for revealing their secrets. He didn't want to go through it all again. For him, he can change the world by simply cleaning. For me, I needed to champion the cause. I still wanted the world to know about this amazing tool. I decided I would write this book alone, without Dr. Hew Len as my coauthor this time.

But before we get into this book, let me give you an overview of the beginning.

It all started prior to Zero Limits even being published. Before I turned in the manuscript to the publisher, the book became a best seller on Amazon. How? The famous online store listed it for prepublication, but an excerpt of it had been circulating the Internet for at least a year. Millions of people saw it—and so many preordered the book that it became a best seller before the publisher ever got it.

Here's the article that circulated the Internet in 2005 and caused millions of people to want the book:

The World's Most Unusual Therapist

Three years ago, I heard about a therapist in Hawaii who cured a complete ward of criminally insane patients—without ever seeing any of them. The psychologist would study an inmate's chart and then look within himself to see how he created that person's illness. As he improved himself, the patient improved.

When I first heard this story, I thought it was an urban legend. How could anyone heal anyone else by healing himself? How could even the best self-improvement master cure the criminally insane?

It didn't make any sense. It wasn't logical, so I dismissed the story.

However, I heard it again a year later. I heard that the therapist had used a Hawaiian healing process called Ho'oponopono. I had never heard of it, yet I couldn't let it leave my mind. If the story was at all true, I had to know more.

I had always understood “total responsibility” to mean that I am responsible for what I think and do. Beyond that, it's out of my hands. I think that most people think of total responsibility that way. We're responsible for what we do, not what anyone else does. The Hawaiian therapist who healed those mentally ill people would teach me an advanced new perspective about total responsibility.

His name is Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len. We probably spent an hour talking on our first phone call. I asked him to tell me the complete story of his work as a therapist. He explained that he worked at Hawaii State Hospital for four years. That ward where they kept the criminally insane was dangerous. Psychologists quit on a monthly basis. The staff called in sick a lot or simply quit. People would walk through that ward with their backs against the wall, afraid of being attacked by patients. It was not a pleasant place to live, work, or visit.

Dr. Hew Len told me that he never saw patients. He agreed to have an office and to review their files. While he looked at those files, he would work on himself. As he worked on himself, patients began to heal.

“After a few months, patients that had to be shackled were being allowed to walk freely,” he told me. “Others who had to be heavily medicated were getting off their medications. And those who had no chance of ever being released were being freed.”

I was in awe.

“Not only that,” he went on, “but the staff began to enjoy coming to work. Absenteeism and turnover disappeared. We ended up with more staff than we needed because patients were being released, and all the staff was showing up to work. Today, that ward is closed.”

This is where I had to ask the million-dollar question: “What were you doing within yourself that caused those people to change?”

“I was simply healing the part of me that created them,” he said.

I didn't understand.

Dr. Hew Len explained that total responsibility for your life means that everything in your life—simply because it is in your life—is your responsibility. In a literal sense the entire world is your creation.

Whew. This is tough to swallow. Being responsible for what I say or do is one thing. Being responsible for what everyone in my life says or does is quite another. Yet, the truth is this: if you take complete responsibility for your life, then everything you see, hear, taste, touch, or in any way experience is your responsibility because it is in your life.

This means that terrorist activity, the president, the economy—anything you experience and don't like—is up for you to heal. They don't exist, in a manner of speaking, except as projections from inside you. The problem isn't with them, it's with you, and to change them, you have to change you.

I know this is tough to grasp, let alone accept or actually live. Blame is far easier than total responsibility, but as I spoke with Dr. Hew Len, I began to realize that healing for him and in Ho'oponopono means loving yourself. If you want to improve your life, you have to heal your life. If you want to cure anyone—even a mentally ill criminal—you do it by healing you.

I asked Dr. Hew Len how he went about healing himself. What was he doing, exactly, when he looked at those patients' files?

“I just kept saying, ‘I'm sorry’ and ‘I love you’ over and over again,” he explained.

That's it?

That's it.

Turns out that loving yourself is the greatest way to improve yourself, and as you improve yourself, you improve your world. Let me give you a quick example of how this works: one day, someone sent me an e-mail that upset me. In the past I would have handled it by working on my emotional hot buttons or by trying to reason with the person who sent the nasty message. This time, I decided to try Dr. Hew Len's method. I kept silently saying, “I'm sorry” and “I love you,” I didn't say it to anyone in particular. I was simply evoking the spirit of love to heal within me what was creating the outer circumstance.

Within an hour I got an e-mail from the same person. He apologized for his previous message. Keep in mind that I didn't take any outward action to get that apology. I didn't even write him back. Yet, by saying “I love you,” I somehow healed within me what was creating him.

I later attended a Ho'oponopono workshop run by Dr. Hew Len. He's now 70 years old, considered a grandfatherly shaman, and is somewhat reclusive. He praised my book, The Attractor Factor. He told me that as I improve myself, my book's vibration will raise, and everyone will feel it when they read it. In short, as I improve, my readers will improve.

“What about the books that are already sold and out there?” I asked.

“They aren't out there,” he explained, once again blowing my mind with his mystic wisdom. “They are still in you.”

In short, there is no out there.

It would take a whole book to explain this advanced technique with the depth it deserves. Suffice it to say that whenever you want to improve anything in your life, there's only one place to look: inside you.

When you look, do it with love.

That 2005 article prepared the world for Zero Limits and triggered it being a best seller before it was even published. Of course, when the book came out in July 2007, things got stirred up—and shit began to fly.

Having read only the excerpt, people started posting reviews of the book, which, of course, they had yet even to see. Old friends of mine from my struggling days in Houston decades earlier, people I had helped with work and advice, turned against me. They accused me of making the whole story up. They said Dr. Hew Len was fictional, that the story of him healing the mentally ill was an urban legend. They accused me of selling the secrets of a Hawaiian tradition for money. Others said I made money selling a book with no secrets in it at all.

I couldn't win. I was hurt. I was stunned and confused. I felt like a victim, I thought Ho'oponopono was supposed to empower me.

How in the world did people come to these conclusions? After all, Dr. Hew Len and I spent a lot of time together: running workshops, having our photos taken, doing radio shows, and creating the audio version of Zero Limits. We're in film clips on YouTube. We did all these things together. Obviously he was—and is—real.

Then there were the people who didn't read the book, who couldn't have because it wasn't published yet, but who reviewed it and said they hated it and me. They called me names and tried to blacklist me from e-mails I sent to my list. They created and named a computer virus after me. And more.

Yes, there were legions of fans of the book and me, too. Zero Limits became an official best seller when it was published. Thousands, maybe millions, of people learned the simple method of healing described in it and changed their lives. People used it not only for themselves, but they also taught it at schools, prisons, and hospitals and saw miraculous results. The book was translated in other languages. I was invited to speak in other countries. Dr. Hew Len's workshops went from having 30 attendees to having more than 800 at an event. He became a guru. Ho'oponopono became mainstream.

But it wasn't all peaches and cream. My best friend turned on me. His wife sent out a very unloving e-mail to a list I helped create, slamming and smearing me. It was unbelievably painful and certainly not from the heart. It was clear they weren't practicing any love and forgiveness—Ho'oponopono or otherwise.

Why did all this happen?

A friend of mine says success breeds contempt. I call that a belief. Dr. Hew Len would call it a program. Yet I have to admit something happened when the most important book of my life was written and published. I could call it an opportunity to clean and clear myself, but I think there's more to the story. Looking back, I believe this was a catalyst to my own awakening.

When I wrote Zero Limits, I said there were three stages of awakening. It turns out I was incomplete—there are actually four. The fourth one goes beyond Zero Limits and into the place where the Divine lives through you. I'll explain all the stages in this new book.

After I wrote Zero Limits, I thought I had a handle on how life worked. Instead, I had so many sour events take place that I felt more like a victim. All of this led me to an understanding of surrender and the importance of cleaning nonstop using Ho'oponopono. Today I know the miracle of enlightenment.

If you want to know more about authentic Ho'oponopono and pick up where my previous book left off, then you've come to the right place.

If you are curious about the origins of modern Ho'oponopono and are wondering who Dr. Hew Len's seemingly crazy teacher was, you'll find the answer inside this book.

But brace yourself. If you thought Zero Limits was a wild ride, wait until you read At Zero. This one may burn some hair. It may shake, rattle, and roll your world.

If you feel ready, turn the page.

Expect miracles.

Mahalo,
Ao Akua
—Dr. Joe Vitale
On a plane 35,000 feet high
August 2013