I’m reading a book called “SCREENPLAY: The Foundations of Screenwriting” by Syd Field.

The main gist of the book is the structure of a successful screenplay: He writes that structure is composed of three items: Set-up, confrontation, resolution. For example, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back, or not. It’s pretty straightforward.

It got me to thinking that the chapters of life follow the same formula. We embark on a new chapter with eyes open and make progress, we get upended by something that results in a black eye, and then we resolve it or not.

It’s the resolve it or not phase of life that’s dependent on options. The people who don’t resolve their situation have one option: staying mired in their misery. The people who have the best chance of a productive resolution notice they have many more options.

We’ve been conditioned in life to react. We believe it’s our only option. That means we re-enact the same solution we tried before and get the same unsuccessful results. We don’t recognize that doing that same thing again and again keeps us stuck in the past – in the land of “remember when.”

Resolution is dependent on responding vs. reacting. Responding is noticing that there is more than one option. In fact, countless more options present themselves if we stop and notice that our standard reaction isn’t working.

But we stay stuck with our one option by making excuses for it. “I’m not trying hard enough,” or “everyone’s against me,” or my favorite, “it was God’s will.”

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think God wants you to stay stuck.

The answer to your prayers are options – avenues of exploration that open your eyes to solutions.

The key to getting up after being knocked on your tushie is to notice there are options past the one one that’s keeping you down. Then, it’s a matter of acting on those new responses to reach your happy ending.

The next time you watch a movie, notice the structure: set-up, confrontation, and resolution. Let it remind you that, in life, options are your solution.

All the best,

John

Hear the recorded version below.

“Coincidence” is a word we made up that really means reality.

It may be a welcome or unwelcome coincidence, but it’s never serendipity; it’s always reality.

We want something to fit in the box we’ve made for it so badly, that we attempt to wedge it in where it doesn’t fit, and announce to the world that it’s “serendip.”

I’ve always liked the word “serendipity” but never knew its origin. It comes from the fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip where the three princes were making “accidental” discoveries while they were in search of something else.

“Accidental” is another word we use to explain away reality.

It’ll probably never catch on but it would be more accurate to say, “I made a reality” instead of saying, “I made a mistake.”

There is no length we won’t go to explain away “what is.”

It’s really a binary world when you break it down to it’s components: “Is” and “Isn’t.” “It’s morning or it isn’t.” “It happened or it didn’t.” “Is” and “Isn’t” are the only two legitimate children of reality. The others (Mistake, Accidental, Serendipity, and countless more) are adopted.

It’s not necessary to remove these words from your vocabulary. They’re colorful and descriptive. The real lesson is to know their real meaning when you catch yourself attempting to bend reality to your leaning.

All the best,

John

Hear the recorded version below.

Here is the recorded version of the Grasshopper Note for the week of 03-21-22.

Read the written version here.

Make sure to download a FREE copy of my ebook: INTER RUPTION: The Magic Key To Lasting Change here.

Here is the recorded version of the Grasshopper Note for the week of 03-14-22.

Read the written version here.

Make sure to download a FREE copy of my ebook: INTER RUPTION: The Magic Key To Lasting Change here.

Here is the recorded version of the Grasshopper Note for the week of 03-07-22.

Read the written version here.

Make sure to download a FREE copy of my ebook: INTER RUPTION: The Magic Key To Lasting Change here.

One of the biggest blunders we make in life is assuming we are the thoughts in our head.

We identify our thoughts as us and with just a little inspection of this belief, we find out we’ve been duped.

Just take a moment and observe the thoughts going on in your mind. What you’ll notice is they are the same type of thoughts you’ve had before, and they just repeat themselves over the years. They may dress up in a brand new suit of clothes, but when you disrobe them, they’re the same old thoughts you’ve had for a lifetime.

These thoughts aren’t you. They’re old songs playing on a jukebox in your mind. The real you is the part of you that notices that these are songs of the past, pretending to be you.

One of the great songs of the 60s is called, “It’s The Same Old Song” by The Four Tops – a Motown group: I suggest you let that title remind you of what’s playing in your mind.

The key to stop identifying with the thoughts in your mind is to start catching yourself thinking. That’s called observing your mind at work. When you catch yourself thinking, ask, “What song is the jukebox playing?”

If you sit back and listen for a moment, you’ll recognize it as a tune you’ve played countless times before. Just by noticing it’s the jukebox playing, you’ll disengage from the long-held belief that you’re the jukebox and all its old songs.

Want to stop playing the same old ditties and not hum along? Notice it’s the jukebox playing, and before long you’ll be singing a different song.

All the best,

John

Hear the recorded version below.

Here is the recorded version of the Grasshopper Note for the week of 02-28-22.

Read the written version here.

Make sure to download a FREE copy of my ebook: INTER RUPTION: The Magic Key To Lasting Change here.

Do you know someone who is always the hero of their own story? How about the person who’s always the victim? These two folks have something in common. They’re stuck in their story.

The hero keeps his low self-esteem in place by pretending to be the perennial victor. The victim is super glued to the notion that others are the cause of their dismal circumstances. Both are prisoners of their stories.

With each passing year it becomes more obvious to me how we limit our growth by dragging ourselves backward by sticking with our out-of-date story.

The hero thinks if he creates just one more heroic narrative, it will make him feel better about himself. It won’t. The victim believes if they reiterate their tale of woe just one more time their circumstances will change. They won’t.

Convincing these people to retire their stories is harder than convincing a drug abuser that they have a problem. Their story has become who they are and they will justify the telling of it, ad nauseam, to those near and far.

The only thing you can do for them is make them aware that their story hasn’t gotten them what they wanted: relief from their pain. It never will.

Perhaps asking them to get a “little religion” and stop telling the story so often will put a crack in their border wall and eventually open up an escape route.

But the full release can only be achieved when they stop being the hero or the aggrieved.

If you recognize yourself as the victim or hero, stop telling your story or you may wind up like that famous, Roman fiddler: Nero.

All the best,

John

Hear the recorded version below.

Here is the recorded version of the Grasshopper Note for the week of 02-21-22.

Read the written version here.

Make sure to download a FREE copy of my ebook: INTER RUPTION: The Magic Key To Lasting Change here.

Here is the recorded version of the Grasshopper Note for the week of 02-14-22.

Read the written version here.

Make sure to download a FREE copy of my ebook: INTER RUPTION: The Magic Key To Lasting Change here.