How to Manifest Miracles with Mike Dooley

In this Episode

• [02:24]Stephan and Mike Dooley explore how positive thoughts are more powerful than negative ones. Mike also shares the origin story of his popular “Notes from the Universe.”
• [10:55]Stephan recalls a personal story about the power of words and thoughts, and Mike delves into the concept that thoughts become things and how worrying can be like praying for what you don’t want.
• [17:27]Mike explains the power of positive thoughts in alignment with truth and how they are 10,000 times more powerful than negative thoughts in influencing the events of our lives.
• [25:43]Stephan and Mike delve into the importance of practicing “best-case scenario” thinking instead of defaulting to worst-case scenarios and the power of positive thoughts in shaping our reality.
• [33:20]Mike discusses the power of gratitude, highlighting its role in attracting more positive experiences and opportunities.
• [39:18]Mike opens up about facing personal challenges in 2000, including a career change and heartbreak. Mike describes his journey into writing, public speaking, and internet marketing.
• [44:19]Mike shares how he created infinite possibilities and the art of living one’s dreams, leading to the internet phenomenon and his involvement in the documentary “The Secret.”
• [48:06]Mike and Stephan tackle the concept of soul contracts and the idea that our thoughts become things.

Jump to Links and Resources

Mike, it’s so great to have you on the show.

Stephan, thanks for this opportunity and for all the great work you do.

Thank you for making such an impact in the world and sharing light, love, and inspiration for decades now. How many years have you been doing it?

Most people are just channeling their ego. – Matt Kahn

Golly, from very humble beginnings, the year 2000—dark night of my soul. Starting over at age 40, it just kind of coalesced around me doing the stuff that I now teach in hindsight, have a vague general result in mind—wealth, creative fulfillment, friends and laughter, international travel, and to show up, visualize affirmations, that stuff as well. 

The Notes from the Universe have been going out for 23 years—many thousands have been written. They were like my night light—my guiding light because I needed one so badly. I wish somebody were doing something like that on the Internet at the time. I used to have these little digital reminders. “It’s all illusions. All things are possible. You’re pushed on to greatness.” And so I started sending out messages like that from the universe, your higher self, or God, for subscribers just to get that little pick me up when they maybe most needed it.

Would you say that you channel from the upper world or God? Or is this just your inspiration?

That’s been a frequent question all these years. It goes back to 23 years ago when channeling was far less known than it is today. Of course, with a bit of thought, we’re all channels. Everything is channeled. This conversation is channeled. It’s not from the cells in my tongue or the brain. We are the instruments through which spirit pours through. As Matt Kahn, a friend, says, most people are just channeling their ego. You know, the lower thinking and the lower vibrations. Still, that’s pure spirit. The ego also has an important place in the scheme of things. We’ve just given it too much power. But deeper than that, “Am I able to have ever channeled beyond my normal awareness?” I have to look back at some of the stuff I’ve written that’s made me laugh aloud or humbled me with its potency. 

I remember that, so many times, most Notes from the Universe took anywhere from two to six hours for a single note. Instead of just holding my breath, counting to ten, and going into a trance, which is very commonly done these days, I would hammer it out—type, cut, paste, curse, type, cut, paste, curse. But then, in the end, it’d be like, “Oh, damn, that is good.” At other times, it would come more quickly. But I’d always be guided. This is like a metaphor or a small example of living deliberately and creating consciously, which I write about. I would hold it in my mind and still do it when I work on anything creative—my ideal vision of what I was most after through the creative writing process that would follow. As I shared a moment ago, I advocate keeping it general and emotional. What I would most be after when I would write would be, “Oh my God, that’s so good, I can’t wait to send it out.” That feeling from which, if it’s going to be that good, it’s going to grow legs, it’s going to have an afterlife, it’s going to attract more subscribers. So all the things I really wanted could be encapsulated into that feeling of, “Oh, my God, that’s it. I got it.” So I would sit in my chair for four or five minutes max, and I had no idea what I was going to write about. I’m like, “Hallelujah.” And then, as soon as I was done, the little visualization emotionalization session, which I do for money, I’ve done for money, for health, for healing, for love and romance back in the single days. As soon as you’re done the visioning, you show up, you take action, humble baby steps, and, if necessary, down sucky dirt paths, which will lead ultimately to the diamond mine. As a writer, that meant to start writing. “But I don’t know what to write.” Start writing anyway. “But I have no idea.” “Hey, this is the universe I was flying by the other day, just something stupid.” And that would lead to a thought, an idea, a hook, a punchline, and invariably, an hour or six later, I’d be like, “Yeah.” Like I said, I do that for money, for everything else. What is it you want to feel? Keep it as general as possible. Wealth is okay. $10,000 by the end of the week. Don’t micromanage. But wealth and abundance, more than I could ever spend, “Oh, my God. Can you imagine where we’re going to go and what we’ll do,” and really get into it and then show up. You don’t know what to do. Show up. You have nowhere to go. Show up, write a note, do a Google, press the flesh, ask for help, and get out in the world. The miracles line up. It is astounding. I have such a blessed life now. I sometimes wonder, in my still naive state, what I ever did to deserve so much late blooming, first-time husband. Well, ten years ago now. A late blooming, first-time dad, joy, bestseller, a career I’m crazy about.

Okay, I got to tell you, since you keep saying this, almost every time you said that phrase, “Oh, my God,” I thought, in my head, I feel like I’m supposed to nudge Mike about this, and then you say the word or say the phrase, so you definitely are supposed to hear this story. It’s a short one, but it’s really powerful. 

Our focus is given more power through refinement, down to words we speak and think very often.

As a podcaster, I like networking with other podcasters. I go to Podfest, Podcast Movement, and so forth. And this was at Podfest. I met another podcaster who works with angels. His name is Seph Dietlin. We’ve become friends. I saw him six months ago at the last Podfest event in Orlando. We’re chatting in person, and he starts saying, “Oh, my God.” I get nudged from above to tell him that that might not be the best thing to say. I’m an Enneagram nine, the peacemaker. I do not want to confront anybody, so it’s uncomfortable, yet they’re pretty insistent that I tell him. And so as soon as I utter that, “Hey, just about that phrase,” and I say the phrase out loud, I spelled it for you, but I said it out loud. That was the first time I said it in six months. I stopped saying it because my guides and angels told me to stop saying it. It’s disrespectful. And not that you have to live in this tiny little box and walk straight lines all the time, or you have free will. You can do whatever you want. It’s my free choice whether I say it or not. But they’re like my higher self. “You don’t need to say that. It’s just not that respectful.” So I stopped and never said it again until that dinner when we sat together and chatted. As soon as I said it, my right ear started ringing. Tinnitus type ringing. Like, really loud the moment I uttered those three words. I quietly apologized to God in my head, and it stopped immediately as soon as I apologized. I shared with Seph that that happened, but I also told him, “Hey, six months ago, I was getting nudged to stop saying it myself.” So it’s your choice what you do. But they’ve asked me to share that with you.

Oh, my God. It’s kind of negative, like, “Oh, wow, things could happen to me.”

No, it’s not reverent. There are orthodox Jews that don’t even say God. They don’t even write the word God. They put a dash instead of the o. I’m not that strict. I’m not trying to police anybody, but sometimes I get nudged to say something about something or to suggest something, and it tends to work out to mention it because I get all these synchronicities all the time; I get confirmation. Like, “Okay, so that nudging, that wasn’t just me imagining it,” because every time I thought that thought, you said the phrase four times while you were talking. So I’m like, “Okay, got it. I’ll bring up the story.”

When you cultivate a positive mindset, you'll be a lightning rod for new ideas. Click To Tweet

Okay, so I could not agree more about the power of words, and I could not agree more about the underlying implications, which would be that I’m not in control or that anything could happen or maybe an irreverence to what is so sacred every moment of our lives. But there’s something that I have learned or come across, and I don’t know because of the connection wobbling there if this has total relevance to what you said. But it’s absolutely one of my favorite talking points, Stephan.

I’m all about thoughts becoming things. I shared those three words in The Secret; now, thoughts become things. I know it is the only variable in the sacred jungles of time and space we choose to focus on. Our focus is given more power through refinement, down to words we speak and think very often. Unfortunately, in words, which can be very limiting, that gives the words more power. But yet, like Mark Twain once famously said, “You know, I’ve had a lot of things to worry about in my life. Almost none of them came to pass. What’s up with that?”

I love the corollary that my wife Orion shared with me many times: worrying is praying for what you don’t want.

That’s true. Given that I share to audiences all over the world, at least before COVID, I was on a nonstop world tour for, like, 17 years, that it is an immutable law, as rigid and predictable as gravity itself—thoughts become things. But I would have these Mark Twain realizations, which sent me on a, you know, talk about receiving higher wisdom. I feel like I did. But it would send me on these quests of how it could be so dependable, predictable, and utterly absolute—I hold by that and will forevermore—thoughts become things. Yet I’ve been a big-time worrier, not just subliminally. I have been like, “Am I going to get fired? Is my girlfriend going to cheat on me? Is my luck going to run out?” Even using the word luck that’s a bad word. And yet I have gone from strength to strength. I have prevailed and prevailed again. I have had many fears, much less once you know what I’m about to share. 

I’ve had so many fears in my life. I mean, when I first found out about our powers, I was like, “I’m doomed.” I would have a runaway train of fear that I was going to get fired from Pricewaterhouse, my first job out of university. I could not stop thinking about it. And I would go to visualize that I’d be happy at work. During my sacred five minutes of visualization a day, I wonder if the pink slip is really pink. And I’d be like, “No, stop.” And I simultaneously continued with the visualization. Anyway, I had affirmations. I put my best foot forward, and I soared at Pricewaterhouse. 

I went right to the precipice, got transferred to tax, got a foreign assignment to the Middle East, lived in Cairo and Riyadh for 18 months, traveled on African safaris and Kathmandu, and you name it. I was a rock star at Pricewaterhouse until I left five years after reaching the precipice. So, Mike Dooley, mister, it’s as predictable as gravity. What gives? And again and again, this answer came to me, lit me up, and I swear by it to this day. Stephan, you and I are the eyes and the ears of God almighty. I don’t mind saying that word. I say it with reverence. We are divine beings who come alive in the dream of life because we can, because we could, because we knew we’d be safe, because we’d be loved and adored, and because we’d be pushed on to greatness every day. 

We were, individually, although there’s only one, we’re all the same God force filtered through different lenses, as Ken Carey said in his phenomenal books. We’re like, metaphorically, individual tidal waves of magnificent, rolling through eternity. We’re like, you know, “I could go here, I could go there, I could go everywhere, and I can do it all simultaneously. But where am I going to go now?” Here on planet Earth, this literal garden of Eden, this bastion of perfection floating through the cosmos, the razor’s edge of reality creation, we’re like, “Oh, my goodness, I’m going to go there.” And so, given our pure divinity, we’re only purely divine, no matter what silly mistakes we make or faux pas or funny sentences when we arrive here, by choice. From the zenith of our brilliance, knowing what we’ve wanted and why, we’re going and will discover our greatness all over again. We’re going to see the beauty through eyes that have never seen it before and have perspectives that the divine has never seen before. When we think a thought is in alignment with truth and truth is absolute—there’s only one. There’s only love. It’s all good playing for the greater good. We’re all eternal beings. 

It takes less effort to bring about a happy, joyful thought that aligns with the magnificence of who we are.

I mean, when we think thoughts in alignment with truth, typically called positive thoughts, but that’s judgmental. I’m not getting into judgment. I’m talking about the few absolutes that hold reality together. I think there are four or five. Those thoughts go with the magnificence and the current of who we truly are. It’s a lot easier for them to become the things and events of our lives. When we think, “I’m just dumb and getting dumber, old and getting older, what are the chances God’s angry, people are jerks, we’re going to end up in heaven or hell, I have no control, my father abused me, my mother abandoned me.” Those thoughts don’t line up with the truth of who we are. You know, “I hate myself. I’m bad at math.” All the things that we say it’s not fair. Those thoughts are lies. They’re not true. While we may gather some evidence, I’m not excusing those violators who have caused abuse; that’s another tangent. We’re not going there now—when we think thoughts out of alignment with truth, often called negative thoughts. In alignment with truth, out of alignment with truth, those thoughts don’t easily become the things and events of our lives. Just like they say, “It takes fewer muscles to smile than it does to frown.” Well, it’s true. It takes less effort to bring about a happy, joyful thought that’s in alignment with the magnificence of who we are, divine 100%, than it does to bring about some negativity or something that’s not in alignment with truth. We can bring about anything. That’s how powerful we are, and there is no judgment. That’s how powerful and free we are. But this, for me, explains why, in spite of my lifelong fears, worries, trepidations,  self-loathing, and dark nights of the soul wondering if I’d ever be happy again 23 years ago by at least doing a little bit in the direction of dreams, mustering up a little bit of hope, creative visualization on a daily basis, usually for four minutes—vision boards, the occasional affirmations, moving with love, showing kindness, giving what I want to receive in the world. I have killed it. That’s not a great word to use either, but I flipping killed it.

When you simultaneously put your best foot forward, you’re harnessing the momentum of eternity to fulfill your birthright.

I can’t tell you how sweet my life is right now. I do everything that I want and when I want. I am surrounded by love, family, and everything. To summarize, this lesson is one of my favorite lessons of my teaching career and is in practice in my life. It’s as if, Stephan, our so-called positive thoughts in alignment with truth, beauty, abundance, and prosperity, reflective of our real nature, are at least 10,000 times, and that’s surely an understatement, more powerful than our thoughts that are out of alignment with truth. Thereby, we see the latitude with which we can play. We see the license we can create. We see the power reflected in the beauty and the love that brought us. It wasn’t half love and half hate that brought us here; it wasn’t half strength and half weakness. It was the Glory almighty in the highest. We’ve got phenomenal wiggle room. Look at some people in their naivetes and flat-out ignorance, who thrive, make fortunes, find love, and have the might as touch. I mean, they’re not the sharpest tools in the shed. If anything, but they had the audacity, courage, nerve, or brilliance. It doesn’t matter why they think they can prevail, succeed, be rich, be loved, love, find truth, and create peace. While I am all for watching words and P’s and Q’s, if I say, “God,” it is just another word for me because there’s only me and more me, including you. There’s only you and more of you, including me. God will be like, “Ah, there he goes again.”  You know, like, be an indulged child. The wiggle room is insane. When you simultaneously put your best foot forward, you also choose your words wisely. Then you’re gathering the steam and harnessing the momentum of eternity to fulfill your birthright and destiny of all cups running.

The thing that strikes me about—and it’s all beautiful and feels very true to me—are two visuals I was given while you were talking. One is the monorail. If you want to go off track, it’s very hard. The monorail keeps the train on its tracks.

Another one is bowling with bumpers. Remember being a kid or having learned how to bowl with those bumpers blocking the gutters? That’s the kind of wiggle room that we have.

Everything that happens and doesn’t add to who you are eternally.

It is that great and greater. When you consider more, this is the same as a nighttime dream. Anything bad, icky and ugly, you’re going to wake up and say, “Oh, it’s just a lifetime in space. Oh, my God.” Let’s go back, and I’ll be your wingman, and I’m gonna remind you of the truth, and you’ll remind me of the truth. I remember a Note from the Universe that said, it’s like, no matter what happens, it’s for your greater good. That doesn’t mean any crazy, wacky, bad stuff can happen. Nothing’s random. But if something unpleasant happens, you are given the ability to understand how you are involved in its co-creation, and you are reminded of your power to never for all eternity to do that again. Everything that happens and doesn’t add to who you are eternally. Well, what about the time I was violated? Those are tangents. I’m happy to go down there, but it brings the vibe down sometimes. There are answers that always reveal confusion, fear, your own, and other people’s, with an attempt to be alive in a sea of love, bathed in love, but completely unaware. So, while I say, “Well, anything could happen, it will add to you.” That doesn’t mean anything’s gonna happen. It’s up to each of us what’s going to happen in our lives.

So many people have the worst case scenario type of thinking, and how often do you hear folks imagining the best case scenario happening and say, “Well, this client just quit. I couldn’t help it. They couldn’t afford us or a bunch of other vendors anymore.” Instead, we take it to the next level and think, “Well, what if the other shoe drops? What if my next biggest client also leaves at the same time or within a very short period? Do I need to brace for impact? What if, simultaneously, the government wants to audit me?” 

You’re just creating more and more focus on what you don’t want. We do that so well. We’re so good at it. I’m good at it. A lot of listeners are good at it, too. I want to work that muscle of best case scenario thinking. That’s the first thing I go to instead of the worst case scenario.

Yeah, I’m good at that. I was better at it, but I used to ask, “What if I have to sell my home and nobody’s buying? What if I have to go back and get an hourly paying job?” I was good at that. Yet I prevailed. You’re inclined to succeed. Your default settings regarding finances, love, and fulfillment are already set through the roof. When you realize that your positive thoughts are at least 10,000 times more powerful than any other thoughts, you really can chill out. And now, if you try not to think of a polka dot pig, you’re gonna think of a polka dot pig. If you try not to worry, you’re gonna worry. 

I’ll still have my little, like, “Oh, gosh. What’s that?” It’s like, “Mike, you just worry your little heart out.” It’s perfectly okay. You worry. But I want you to sit down and pretend everything’s fantastic for four minutes with a timer. Pretend you’re crying happy tears. Pretend you’re laughing like, “Oh, my God, was I really that worked up?” Just for four minutes, and then go back and worry. Call your brother and sister and see if they want to worry with you, like, “Yeah, this is serious, lots at stake here.” You just worry your little heart. 

There have been those times when I could not stop the runaway train of fear. For example, when I thought I was going to get fired. When I thought my girlfriend was running around, and she was. When I thought I could not stop the runaway train of fear. But I have learned I would never tell anybody to stop it. It’s not stoppable. But you can mitigate your new fears by understanding that while you cannot stop it—it’s a scary use of words there—you can always simultaneously start another train running. 

You just worry your little heart out. But over here, I want you to imagine the best case. I want you to imagine that you don’t even have a mortgage. I want you to imagine that everything’s just working great, and you’re laughing with your friends and Tahiti. I want you to just do that. You can start another train simultaneously. It might be meek. It might be timid. It might be doubting. While you worry full steam ahead, those little timid thoughts will gain momentum by leaps and bounds, be expounded upon by divine intelligence, and then you will show up and go down some of those little steps, “Oh, that’s the other tipping point.” 

When you start showing up, no matter how timid and sucky the path—I’ve learned this the hard way—the resources you need to ascend, change tracks, find your way, and will be added. Those resources are not added until you show up. If your car is in park, on that GPS journey, no matter how infallible, you’re not getting there. If your life’s in the park, no matter how much you visualize, you’re not getting there. “This contradiction of the life of my dreams, but I’m going to wait for Oprah to call.” It’s like she’s not calling, and she never will call. Life of your dreams, go do something about it. Even if it means this is what I did and what I still teach to this day: assess. 

If you’re starting over—dark night of the soul, like I was—assess your sucky options. -I know they suck; otherwise, you wouldn’t be in this place. Don’t wait a week or a month. What are your sucky options today? Whittle down to the three least sucky, give yourself a deadline, and you’re knocking on doors within a couple of days. You’re trying it out. You polished off your resume. Every day, week, month, and year, you’re always assessing, “What’s my next best option?” Rarely is it going to be the life of my dreams. You don’t even know what the dreams are. You don’t know how you’re going to get there. Don’t micromanage. Divine intelligence knows how. 

You can mitigate your new fears by understanding that while you cannot stop it, you can always simultaneously start another train running.

You say, “I want to be happy, rolling like thunder, soaring like an eagle, rich with lots of love from the universe.” I know how to do that. You’re me, and I’m you. I’m also 8 billion other people. I know who’s going where and when. I know the trends. I know about AI. I invented AI. 

I’m going to put you in the right place at the right time. If you just get your butt out the door, down any sucky path, you will be raised, not when you think, not how you think, not where you think, but unexpectedly, as you make the best of what you have, from where you are, doing what you can, which anybody has something to do. Just do that. You will be raised and delivered, and your mind blown. It’s just so freaking crazy. It’s so much fun.

It is fun, and you’re spot on. It’s more than 10,000 times more powerful to think positively or in alignment with the universe, universal laws, and the truth. The visual I get is that a little match can light up an entire dark room, but a little bit of darkness cannot put out a fully lit room.

I love it. That’s such a great metaphor. The match and the darkness are who you are, who I am, and who we all are. We are eternal beings of light. We are God almighty and come alive in the dream of life. I’m not from the shed; I’m not from the lower 40. I am pure divinity, and so are all of us. There’s nothing that can’t be purely divine; it’s just our nature to thrive. 

We weren’t put here to be tested. We came here to rock and roll and to discover it anew in an adventure where every day we fall in love and every day we’re falling in love with. Particularly when we know these things and we can just brush ourselves off, shake off the fear, show up, and make the best of what’s in front of us, which is not settling for less, which doesn’t mean better won’t come. The best way to get rid of a job you hate is to master it; it is to show up with a smile anyway. Show up ten minutes early, stay five minutes late, and say yes to everybody. Everyone wants some of that. 

Whereas the person who hates their job they think nobody knows. Meanwhile, the UPS driver who shows up once every three weeks knows who that person is. Nobody wants to get near them with a ten-foot pole. But if you’re just radiant and grateful, that doesn’t mean everything’s perfect in terms of wanting to live deliberately and create consciously. But if you’re just grateful for what you have, that we’re here, that we’re alive, that the sky is blue, that people are waking up, it’s like there’s a lot to be grateful for, and that sets the stage for more. 

I think people are afraid to be happy because they feel like it’s a cop-out sometimes. Like, “Well, happy won’t get me anything.” If the universe sees I’m broke, happy, and alone, I’ll say, “Well, they’re fine. I don’t need to worry about them.” He’s so easily amused. It’s like however happy you get, you’ll be happier. So you got up here, you’re going to be happier. 

You’re going to be a magnet for all good things. Your whole worldview will change. Your thoughts and feelings will be skewed to the wonder and the magic. Gratitude is like saying, “I have received,” if you’re in a place all the time as I have received, you will be given more because that’s just how the law of attraction works. So you become more of what you are. As Sarah Landon, my friend, says, she channels the council, “You become more of what you are.” You don’t get what you want, you don’t get what you need, you get more of what you are. So if you can put out like joy, demonstrate wealth, and occasionally splurge $0.05 on yourself where you can budget it. You become this unstoppable.

Take the express lane, the one that costs fifty cents. I did that today. I’m like, why not?

We are eternal beings of light.

It looks the same. There was a big congestion area for all the other lanes, but because I was in the expensive express lane, I just zipped right past it and didn’t know.

Yeah, well, some part of you knew, so good job.

It’s like a video game where everybody’s in on it, but we don’t realize we’re all in. The book that comes to mind is The Little Soul and the Sun by Neale Donald Walsh. Are you familiar with that book?

I have that book, and it was just in my hands two days ago.

Oh, funny. No coincidences, right? That book is such a joy to read to my son, who’s four. It’s how the universe works. If we remember who we truly are, everyone else can remember who they truly are. But if we forget, then maybe they’ll forget too, and we’ll all be lost, and someone else will have to get sent in to help us all remember. So, I take full responsibility for doing my part in remembering who I truly am so that I can inspire others to remember who they truly are.

Oh, that’s so good and so well said. It is just like a video game. It’s just this holographic dream. The best metaphor for me, while the one I lean on the most, is comparing it to a nighttime dream. We all know a nighttime dream is not real. We would all say that it is not real as we normally define reality. But for the person in the dream with a racing heart and sweaty brow and God knows what other bodily functions are taking place, that’s total reality, but it’s not. That’s exactly how we’ll refer to this. And that’s how, in other levels of our multidimensional existence, we do refer to this. But what a hoot. Let’s go and dream together and think it’s real, and we’ll be at our own mercy as to how quickly we can wake up. Mercy is not the right word, but we’ll have the power with us every moment of every day to start waking up. This is what’s referred to as enlightenment. 

This is self-realization. This is soul integration. This is ascension. This is spiritual illumination. Those words are real. There is a process, and it’s not one that says, “Okay, you’re not enlightened now. You’re enlightened. Game over.” It’s like this unending spectrum. No matter what realm, dimension, or density you’re from, they all say, “There’s higher to go.” Yet where we are in the 3rd, 4th density dimension right now. It can be the trickiest and sometimes the most painful because we think life is happening to us. We think we’re a mere bystander. Things are random, but we create them the entire time, just like we create a dream at night that we think is real. How? I don’t know. I’ll figure that out when I’m on the 9th level. The same is true now; I don’t know how I’m creating this conversation with you, but I am, and I’m also experiencing it simultaneously. What a riot. 

You don’t get what you want, you don’t get what you need, you get more of what you are.

But there’s always room for more joy, levity, laughter, money, and whatever you want. So why not go? In the process of going, following your heart, doing what you most want, these little pieces drop in, and you’re illuminated more and more to the point where with Christ consciousness, as it’s referred to illumination, enlightenment, we will literally do the things that Jesus did. I’m not a religious person. I have zero religion in my body. I’m a spiritual person. Recognize that Jesus was here, as were all the other prophets who all said, “We’re not special; you can do what I’m doing.” You can do greater than I’m doing. When you wake up to the truth, your vibration and illumination will then be able to transcend the physical laws. Not that we’re here to do that. We’re not here to dream and to dispel the dream through illumination. But one of the things I’m onto right now is adding this illumination just for its levity and joy. I wouldn’t mind doing some of those miracles, but every moment of our lives is a pure miracle. I’m not trying to impress anybody, but it would signify a mastery over the illusions that we have been given dominion over to bring it to bear. It’s so cool. And then, as some of the channels I’ve spoken with have shared, that’s when living begins. We finally have emerged from the caves. It’s not like, “Become enlightened. Game over.” It’s like, “Become enlightened. Start living.” Living like we can’t even imagine now in very primitive times.

Yeah, it’s amazing. It’s beyond belief. The monks in India, from whom I got my first awakening experience, explained that God is an experience, not a belief. So, if you have that experience of enlightenment, joy, bliss, and all the things lining up for you, I think of that movie Bruce Almighty where he kind of swishes his hand and all the busyness of Manhattan and all the cars just whooshed away and all parked. And he had free reign just to drive unimpeded down one of the streets in Manhattan. 

That’s what is possible for us. But that’s not the point of it. It’s just power beyond belief. But we’re here experiencing life, experiencing experience. It is joyful. When it’s not joyful, we’re caught up in the illusion. We bought into the lie. I’ve had plenty of occasions where that happened—lots of dark nights of the soul for me. Speaking of which, I’d love to hear more about your story of what happened in 2000 and how you hit a little bit.

Sure. I was with Pricewaterhouse, today’s PricewaterhouseCoopers, for six years as a CPA and tax consultant who wanted to be an entrepreneur. I quit cold turkey and moved to Orlando for ten years. Mom, Andy and I ran a business and sold boatloads of our brand of t-shirts. It’s totally unique, tshirts.com. That’s where that came from. It’s still my domain name. It evolved into totally unique thoughts. The three of us sold $10 million—a million a year for ten years. 

When you wake up to the truth, your vibration and illumination can transcend the physical laws.

But the trends were declining so severely in the last couple of years that it was like, “Let’s wind down while we’re still ahead.” And so we did. Our leases were expiring fortuitously at around the same time. We already bought Mom out. Andy and I were fighting like, “Split the pie.” At this point, I could afford to cover the cost for about two years. That’s with my accountant’s visor on. I did all the numbers. 39, turning 40. The love of my life at the time. Record-breaking long-term relationship for this up until then, a lifelong bachelor. 

We were approaching our ten-month anniversary, and my girlfriend found out she had a boyfriend, and it wasn’t me. As much as I like telling this story now, I was sick, I was nauseous, I was inconsolable., and starting over my career, not knowing what I was starting, didn’t have a tunnel to look for a light in. Ten years removed from public accounting, I don’t want to go back into the t-shirt business. Turning the big 40, which used to be intimidating, now it’s kiddie stuff. I was like, “What happened to my life?” I would think it was pretty damn good—I lived all over the world, hardship bonus, international airfare, lay flat sleeper seats before, they were the cool thing, I didn’t have a relationship, never had a family of my own. “Poor me. I was getting old,” so I thought. 

I started sending them out because I wanted to receive them as I shared these notes from the universe. They were ‘Emails from Mike’ in the beginning, which were never very popular. Stephan, I have to tell you. But they were something that I could do. I had time on my hands. Little nuggets of insight are metaphysically inspired. Because our t-shirts, which we sold like gangbusters for long enough, are all about ‘thoughts become things,’ ‘choose the good ones,’ and ‘believe in your dreams,’ with my brother’s killer art. For ten years, I was writing for t-shirts, but I started writing emails, and that’s not a business model. I wasn’t making any money. I dabbled with public speaking, thinking, if you like to write about this stuff, why don’t you speak about it? But that terrified me. 

I joined Toastmasters. I shook like a leaf on a tree totally went blank in front of my first Toastmasters audience of like eleven people, harrowing four minutes. I will tell you, I wondered if they could see my heart. It was beating so hard. That’s how scared I was of speaking. But one thing led to another. I did what I could with what I had. I asked questions. I asked for help. I learned Internet marketing. I stumbled into affiliate marketing. I created e-cards with my brother’s art and my metaphysical sayings. As I sent out the emails, the emails evolved into Notes from the Universe and, from that point forward, to just explosive subscriber bass. I did an audio program with a professional speaker who bailed before we recorded one word, at which point we had already pre-sold it. I had already sold $5,000 to my subscribers. So I was like, panic, nightmare. I cobbled it together and created Infinite Possibilities: The Art of Living Your Dreams. It went on to become an Internet rage in the early two thousands. I had full-page ads and physical print magazines\, recorded in my home, in my boxer shorts in Florida, and not running my air because I was afraid of running out of money program. 

All of a sudden, all these things, the emails, the notes, the speaking announcements, “I’m going to be at a unity church. I’m going to be here. I’m going to be there for my subscribers.” I got an email from a fan named Rhonda Byrne. I didn’t know her; she didn’t know me. “I’m coming to the US to do a documentary on the Law of Attraction. Me and my sister are big fans. We love your work. We have Infinite Possibilities. Can we interview you?” 

I thought they wanted me to fund it. I was like, “What do you want?” I was getting a lot of invites, and she said, “No, this is real. We’ll fly you to first-class Chicago and meet you for a four—or five—hour shooting session. We got makeup team, this, that, that’s how I got in The Secret. I was like, “What’s the Secret? She says, “The law of attraction.” I’m like, “No, thoughts become things,” but it’s her movie, so she got the law of attraction. 

We didn't come here to be tested. We came here to rock and roll and discover it anew in an adventure where we fall in love every day. Click To Tweet

We had different ways of saying the same thing, but my speaking turned into world tours just by announcing it to my own Notes from the Universe subscribers. Hence, I was touring nonstop for about 17 years; granted, I would be home more than away, but I’d go out and do two cities in a weekend, come back for two weeks, go out and do two cities, come back, go out to do Europe for two weeks, come back, go to Australia, South America, and Asia. My love life improved significantly. I met my wife in Puerto Vallarta. After The Secret came out, I was invited to speak there, headlining with Don Miguel Ruiz of The Four Agreements. For three days, we hung out with the participants. I met this senorita who spoke zero English; I speak zero Spanish. We, in hindsight, realized this was solid gold for a new relationship, got married, and have a nine-year-old daughter. We also have Hay House, Simon & Schuster and The New York Times bestsellers. It’s almost crazy, except it’s not. This is there for everyone, no matter your age, no matter your fears, no matter your expertise, no matter your degrees or pedigree; it’s like your thoughts become things. You’re inclined to succeed. You’re pushed on to greatness. It’s your nature. So have your dreams. Do something about it. Don’t be embarrassed. Even though those steps might be embarrassing, they were for me in the beginning. Prepare to be astounded. That’s the short version.

Amazing. Congratulations on all the beauty, joy, and miracles. You said earlier that nothing’s random. I’m curious to hear what your take is on whether things like being a part of The Secret movie was not just a divine setup but like a soul contract where you and Rhonda decided like, “Hey, I’m going to shoot this movie, and it’s going to be big, and you’re going to be one of the subject matter experts or the key talent in the film, and we’re going to do this collaboration and you’re going to do that and so forth,” before incarnating. What’s your take on that?

Words fail trying to speak to reality. Given in large part, we speak them on a linear timeline, and time’s an illusion, and they’re so finite. But time is happening simultaneously. Are there ancient contracts, or are there pre-life contracts? Yeah, but we write them every single day. My infancy and my old age, and my age, 40. So, how do I parse that? All of what you said plays into it, but it’s not like any contract could ever be written in stone or otherwise. It would defeat thoughts and become things. It would defeat the law of attraction. We are streaming manifesters, and wherever our focus is, which is the summation of our expectations, intentions, feelings, desires and fears, the confluence of all of that, that’s what we’re showing. 

Whenever we can change that, including core root beliefs, we change our past and contracts. So, are Rhonda, me, and the other contributors connected? Yeah, but it would require everyone’s approval, not just us, but the audience. And it would require me, on a linear timeline, to maintain the faith and show up and do my part, and everybody else would do their part. If I had bowed out, then, boom, somebody else would have shown up, and it’d be meant to be. 

We are all one. When you parse it down like that, it starts to fall apart. Although metaphors like reincarnation, spiritual contracts, and karma itself can be handy and help explain more than they confuse, in the end, it’s tricky to dress it up neatly. I did share, which is equally flawed, but I remember my audiences following The Secret because I was doing my first world tour before it. I had infinite possibilities before The Secret. That’s how Rhonda found me. My vibe was to reach untold people with the truth that we are powerful and life is beautiful, and I demonstrated it as I went. 

When I met Rhonda and her sister in Chicago live for breakfast before filming, she told me a crystal clear intention: bring joy to billions. I never forget it. She would say all the time that we’re bringing joy to billions. Well, my vision was complementary to her vision, and the universe takes over, and I don’t want somebody to take from this, like, “Well, that’s not what my vision is, what my intention is. It is what you say it is today.” 

Your vision and anybody’s vision today will rearrange your stars, future, and past in ways that will be invisible to you so that all of a sudden, it’s like, “Oh, God, it feels so meant to be.” You’ll find evidence that it was meant to be, “Look, it’s in your zodiac chart, too.” Even though before you made a new intention and started raising your own vibe, you were filled with self-doubt and occasional self-loathing. That’s okay. You’re inclined to get this. You never would have thought to look at your zodiac chart to find the evidence that this could happen. The great news is, raise your sights and shoot for the moon. Whether that’s financial, nothing unspiritual about that, or to be of service, or you call it, you write your ticket, raise your sights and be congruent with it in thought, word and deed. Show up. “I don’t know what to do.” So what? Show up. I don’t care if you go bowling. Show up. Get out into the world.

The universe will connect the dots to create a masterpiece that will take your breath away.

You will be a lightning rod for new ideas, epiphanies, and new players to enter your life. You might meet that person who’s just boring as hell, but in two months, they will invite you to the office Christmas party, where you will meet Mr. Goodbar. It’ll be like, “Oh, the miracle was when I met the person who didn’t thrill me, but I made the best of it.” I smiled, and we had a few dates with tea. I did what I could with what I had from where I was. The universe will connect these dots to create a masterpiece that will take your breath away. You might not have yet the ancient spiritual contract with Rhonda Byrne or somebody else to your audience watching right now, but there is one waiting for your crisp signature that will be retroactive once you raise your vibe, your sights and move with joy, given that we live our lives in paradise.

Well said. What a great way to end this episode. If you show up, we live in a world of action. Who knows what kind of magic you can create? Just give it a shot and see where it goes. If our listener or viewer wants to read your books, attend your events and follow you, all that sort of good stuff, where do we send them?

Yeah, tut.com. The Universe Talks is what it stands for. There, they can get Notes from the Universe, which will inspire them for free five days a week. They’ll also find out about everything else we do on the website or through the notes.

Raise your sights and shoot for the moon. In everything you do, you write your ticket. So, be congruent with it in thought, word and deed. Click To Tweet

Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Mike. This was such a joy, a pleasure, and an honor. You’re such a bright light in the world. Thank you for everything that you do.

Thank you, Stephan, for this opportunity and for the great work you do.

Thank you so much. Have a great week, everyone, and we’ll catch you on the next episode. I’m your host, Stephan Spencer, signing off.

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About Mike Dooley

Mike Dooley is a New York Times best-selling author and creator of “Notes from the Universe,” which is read by 1.2 million people. His books have been published in 27 languages, and he’s inspired live audiences in 156 cities across 42 countries. He was also one of the featured teachers in The Secret.

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