“When first the Fox saw the Lion he was terribly frightened, and ran away and hid himself in the wood. Next time however he came near the King of Beasts he stopped at a safe distance and watched him pass by. The third time they came near one another the Fox went straight up to the Lion and passed the time of day with him, asking him how his family were, and when he should have the pleasure of seeing him again; then turning his tail, he parted from the Lion without much ceremony.”

“FAMILIARTY BREEDS CONTEMPT” – Aesop

I never knew where that “contempt” expression came from until I did a little research on Aesop’s Fables. It seems to be human nature to take things for granted once familiar. It happens everywhere – in friendships, business, marriages, careers, and alliances to name but a few. Reminds me of a story . . .

When I was a radio broadcaster, I remember getting my first major city job in Kansas City. I remember listening to all the other people on the radio station and thinking how good and professional they sounded. I had some doubts as to whether I could measure up to this level of talent. I remember a week later saying to myself, “I’m as good as these guys.” They were just as talented as the day I first heard them but familiarity was creeping in quickly.

I got to wondering about all the things we take for granted and noticed that the specialness of that person, place or thing gets occluded and we miss the enjoyment they can bring. We get caught up in our own internal world of thought, judgement, worry and woe and stop appreciating what is right there. We start interacting with an abstraction and not the real thing once it gets too familiar. And by too familiar, I mean that we misplace our gratitude for these treasures.

My suggestion for a remedy is: “Uncontemptable Familiarity.”

That means that comfortable old slippers need a blessing each time you put them on. Give rapt attention to the person you kiss while heading off to wherever. Appreciate the car that provides you transportation, the body that takes you through life, the shade tree in the front yard, the people who provide your employment, and anything else that if it disappeared from your life, would cause you grief.

Uncontemptable Familiarity means pay attention. Give attention to the persons, places and things that live outside your head. This present moment awareness allows you to go way deeper than familiar to the level of intimacy with life and all its gifts.

Give it a go. Today, express your gratitude for something or someone that has become all too familiar and notice the intimate connection you make with life.

All the best,

John

P.S. Thank you to all who participated in our FREE Hypnosis Session last night. There will be more. I would like to apologize for so much noise during the first 20 minutes of the call. It was a technical snafu that we discovered and have fixed, and it will be smooth sailing for our next teleconference.

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I’m reading Jill Bolte Taylor‘s book, “My Stroke of Insight.” Dr. Taylor is a neuroanatomist who had stroke at the age of 37 and she, in layman’s terms, outlines the workings of the brain from both the perspective of the researcher and the stricken patient. She basically lost all her left brain functionality and had to relearn from scratch. She described herself as an infant in a woman’s body.

She discovered that her brain is a filing system of pictures words and feelings. She describes how she used this filing system to relearn and update information. Jill Bolte Taylor never met the late Dr. Dave Dobson, who some 25 years ago taught this same model of learning and updating without a degree in neuroanatomy or having the experience of a stroke.

Dave said the brain had 3 filing cabinets – pictures, words and feelings. He said that the pictures and feelings were on the right side of your brain and the words were on the left. He drew a diagram to show you how information was shared between the brain hemispheres. He said that we would get a picture of something in our mind, have a feeling response to it and then cross reference that response to a label stored on the left side in the word filing cabinet. Perhaps an example would help . . .

Let’s pretend that someone is telling you a story from their childhood about an experience with Silly Putty. Those words triggered a picture of Silly Putty in your mind. You have a feeling response to Silly Putty, like its texture or the feelings that go along with fun, and then you cross over to the other side of your brain and come out with a word or group of words to describe this lightning quick stimulus/response. You may say, “I used to press mine on the comics page and transferred the comic to the Silly Putty and then stretched the comic out of proportion.” All this cross referencing happens in the blink of an eye.

Knowing this model, you can see that the same word can have different pictures and feeling responses associated with it depending on the person’s experience. If someone tells you they are depressed and you say something like, “I know exactly how you feel,” you have made a misstatement of the highest order. You have different pictures in your mind about depression than that person and you have different feeling responses to your picture and yet you select the same label from your word file. That’s why language is so limited in communicating.

It would be helpful to find out what the person experiences when they are depressed. “What specifically is going on in your body?” is a question that would elicit more useful information to get closer to what this person means when they use the label “depressed.” Their depression may be your minor sadness or vice-versa but you’ll never know if you guess what they mean by that label by putting your associations on it.

With all of this as a backdrop, I invite you to do an updating exercise that you will find very valuable.

Find one of your scary or unfavorite words – a word that you have a visceral response to. For example, newscaster, Katie Couric has a visceral response to the word “sputum.” Now on the surface that may seem silly to you but if you recognize how the filing system works, you get a finer appreciation of how this can happen.

Now ponder your word and see what associated pictures come up for you. Once you notice the pictures, you may automatically have the feeling response to them. Here’s what to do. Take the mental picture and distort it just like my stretching of the comic on the Silly Putty. Stretch it into a funny shape or until it is unrecognizable to you. What you will notice as you do this is the feeling response to the picture begins to change. With just a little practice with changing the pictures, you will notice that you will have a different response when you encounter the trigger word. It won’t be as intense. There are other variations of this exercise. You can make the picture black and white. You can have it be out of focus. You can zoom in or out on it, make it a different color, have zigzag lines running through it, etc.

I’m not a big fan of the expression of “Change your thoughts; change your life” because it misses the point that thoughts are afterthoughts. They come as a result of the pictures and feelings you have stored in your mental filing cabinets. Quoting Dr. Dobson, “Words are the caboose on the choo-choo of life.” They don’t drive the train; they follow.

“Change your pictures; change your life” is much more effective strategy to updating your references.

All the best,

John

Reminder: A FREE HYPNOSIS SESSION with John Morgan Tonight, May 29^th at 9 PM Eastern Daylight Time. Call 712-451-6000 about 20 minutes early. Enter the code 642177# when prompted. Please tell your friends who have always wanted to try hypnosis about this FREE session tonight.

HERE’S WHAT TO EXPECT:

John Morgan will conduct a question and answer session at the beginning of the call.

Next, he will guide you through a 12 minute written exercise designed to zero in on your goal.

Finally, John will guide you through his legendary Calm & Collected Hypnosis Session.

REQUIREMENTS:

1. A willingness to learn something new.
2. A note pad and a pencil or pen to do the zeroing in written exercise.
3. Wear comfortable clothing and be in quiet place in your home where you won’t be disturbed for an hour.

We look forward to having you on the call on TONIGHT at 9PM EDT.

(If you are charged for toll calls by your telephone service provider, you will be charged by them for the long distance call. We do not charge for the call.)

There are no guarantees in life aside from death, taxes and Law & Order reruns.

We do have a limited warranty on our human existence. For some it can last for only minutes and for others, just over a century. The common news is that it eventually runs out for everyone – we die.

Our imbuing spirit never dies, it just shifts location, but the form that carries our name ceases to exist at some point – the warranty runs out. Regarding this limited existence, the question has come up in every culture since the beginning of time – “What is the meaning of life?” I don’t know that answer but I think I’ve caught a glimpse of life’s purpose.

I think the purpose of life is to get maximum use out of your human existence by making a contribution. You are always contributing something to the patchwork quilt of humankind whether you want that to be your contribution or not. This is best explained by the maxim offered by the teachers of NLP (neuro-linguistic programming): “You cannot not respond.” They explain that even a non-response is a response.

So what’s the best thing you can contribute? I don’t have a specific answer only a signpost. You will know that you’ve found what you’re supposed to be contributing when you begin to notice more peaceful moments in your life. This is a telltale sign that you are on the right track.

Maximum use of our existence is not to be confused with seeking out constant pleasure and calling that maximum use. Pleasures will come and go like the tides. Seeking one tide to be a constant goes against the laws of nature. It’s an artificial existence and eventually it ends in a crash.

Maximum use of your existence and finding your contribution is about the blending of the two words that describe you – Human Being.

You have a form with sundry working parts and an intellect. That’s human.

You have a life force within you that animates your humanness. That’s being.

Don’t let anyone tell you what your specific purpose should be. Only you can find it. The most direct road to discovery is discovering your being – the part of you that imbues your human form. This being part of us remains hidden for most of us because we’ve assigned too much importance to being human and its constant quest for pleasure. We most often think of it as physical pleasure but it comes in many other forms. For example, being right is a human pleasure. Some need to be right all the time. They seek one tide. The crash comes in the form of the alienation of everyone because if you are always right, then they are always wrong, and who wants to be around someone who makes them wrong all the time?

The interesting thing is that being delivers more pleasure than human can ever imagine. When you discover your being, you begin to experience simple pleasures – ones that you overlooked while being exclusively human. With being, there are untold pleasures delivered along with peacefulness that human can’t seem to deliver. Intellectually getting yourself to peace is like taking pictures with the lens cap on – nothing ever develops.

There is nothing wrong with being human. It’s a matter of balance. Use the gift of life to its fullest by allowing your being to infuse your human contribution. It’s the ultimate win-win. You contribute something of value to your fellow humans and you enjoy the peacefulness of being in your own body – the ultimate pleasure.

Discover being before your warranty runs out. If you don’t know how to begin, find a class, a book, a CD that helps you quiet your mind. With a little practice in getting your mind to quiet down, you begin to notice being showing up more regularly. The more being you allow into your life, the more your contribution is felt by you and others.

All the best,

John

P.S. I am conduction another FREE Hypnosis Session by teleconference tomorrow night, Thursday, May 29^th at 9 PM EDT. The call is limited to 100 participants. Here is how to participate:

1. Call 712-451-6000 (Please call about 20 minutes early to secure your spot)

2. Enter the code 642177# when prompted.

3. Have a pen and paper handy. There will be an important written exercise to do before I conduct the Hypnosis Session.

Recommendation: Please find a quiet place in your home where you will remain undisturbed for an hour.

Note: This is not a toll free call. Most people these days have phone plans that include unlimited long distance. If that’s the case for you, this will not be a concern. If your phone company charges you by the minute, you may want to calculate whether the toll charges they assess make sense for you. We do not charge for the call.

“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” was the big box office winner over the holiday weekend. It’s two hours of creative, unbelievable fun. The operative word is “unbelievable.” It’s pure fantasy and it entertains.

Contrast that with another potential movie – “Missouri Smith and the Kingdom of it Can’t Be Done.” This one hasn’t been made yet, and if it ever is, it will be two hours of tedium and creativity crushing.

We all have Indy and Missouri as part of our make-up. Missouri wants to be shown the path before he proceeds and Indiana wants to create the path to walk on. When these two get in a brainstorming meeting they cancel each other out and very little gets accomplished.

I hate to admit that most of my life I’ve played the role of Missouri – logical, analytical, road blocker. Actually, this skill came in very handy when it came to evaluating ideas that had already been brainstormed. Many times I could easily see the flaw in the idea or the one or two things that, if changed, would make it workable.

The difficulty was if I were in on the initial brainstorming process. The idea would have never gotten to the point where I could use my evaluation skills. I would have squashed the atmosphere of creativity by using those skills too early in the process. If flower bulbs listened to my logic, they may have heard me say, “You’ll never bud trying to poke through that kind of soil” and may have never made the effort.

I’ve discovered that much of our creativity gets stifled through too much logic. We impede our own creativity when we allow our intellect to have too much input.

We all have the experience of having an “ah-ha” moment in the shower, car, on a walk or anywhere our critical consciousness gets bypassed. Our intellect quickly convinces us that this is a “once in a blue moon” moment and that we need its constant guidance to think things through.

The intellect is great at building ideas not creating them. The best example of a logical conception was the Ford “Edsel.” It was a miserable failure. It was a logical idea to fill a niche in the marketplace and had little consumer appeal. We witnessed the intellectual folly even further when Ford spent good money after bad marketing this logical lemon. Knowing when to add logic to the creative mix is a learned skill. Reminds me of a story . . .

My uncle, who recently passed on, worked for a company that had a creative idea for a “snap tab” for aluminum cans. His job was to design a machine that could create it. This was a classic case of using the proper skills at the proper time. My uncle also held several patents of his own from ideas he created when he wasn’t in his logical, implementation mode.

We own both parts – creativity and logic. The magic of balancing these parts begins with the personal recognition that we are using the wrong tool for the job.

You can’t force creativity but you can certainly leave the door unlocked for it to enter.

Struggling with something that logic isn’t solving? Let it go, set it aside, and give your mind a rest. Find a peaceful activity to engage in. Find your quiet place, however you get there, and just bathe your mind in peacefulness. It doesn’t have to be a long excursion. Start with a couple of minutes break from your thinking. You can add to this break as time permits. This serenity is the birthplace of all creativity. Use it to your advantage and then let your intellect mold the inspiration.

This is mind cooperation at its best and you will be more creative and productive as a result.

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

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http://www.cafepress.com/grasshoppernote/3580301

Old is always a relative term. I once heard it said that old is 10 years older than you are and rich is $10,000 more than you make. Of course, dimes have changed since I first heard those expressions.

Lest you think this is just about men, I encourage you to read on.

My experience is that angry old men are sick old men. Same for women.

Just notice that the anger was there before the sickness arrived. Reminds me of a story . . .

I often said I never had a bad day on the golf course. I only play about 10 times a year, so the odds are in my favor. My record was broken two years ago when I played with the most miserable person I have ever encountered on the golf course or anywhere else. This guy was about 12 years older than me and had the foulest mouth I’ve ever heard – and I was in the US Navy for 3 years, 5 months, 22 days and 8 hours. This man complained about everything and would spew his venom at anyone within earshot. I wasn’t there to conduct an inquiry, only to play golf, but after about 4 holes of this aberrant behavior, the people helper in me rose to the surface and I began asking him questions. At least that way I could lead the discussion and head it in a more conducive direction for playing a round of golf.

I said to him, “You seem to be in pain.” That was all I needed to say to confirm the topic of today’s blog. He launched into every malady in the Merck Manual and told me the medications he was taking for each. He cursed doctors, nurses, medicine companies, hospitals, orderlies, candy stripers and his dead wife – all on the putting green of one hole. There was no getting this man to entertain the role he played in getting to this point, and there was no sense in pointing him in a direction to alleviate his anger and pain. Sad to say, this man will die an angry old man because his ego will not allow him to be responsible for his own life.

I made an attempt to think what it was like to be that miserable and my body began to ache. I quickly began thinking about something else.

Anger is really a sign of sadness not dealt with. This person had so much sadness beneath the surface which fueled his anger, exacerbated his misery and caused his maladies. He will only get sicker no matter what health care practitioner he visits. Able physicians know who’s going to get better and who isn’t no matter what level of care they provide.

My golfing partner is beyond help unless he has a personal epiphany. Lucky for me he was only playing 9 holes.

There is help for the rest of us. If you are angry and have more going on with you physically than the others in your age group, you may want to investigate the sadness below your anger. Anger will eat you up and manifest itself as some label on your hospital chart. Notice the sadness below anger. Allow yourself to be with the emotion. Don’t tell yourself stories about how you became sad; just notice the sensations in your body that you label as being sad.

There is a transmutational effect to exploring and sitting with your sadness. It allows it to dissipate and makes room for other sensations to enter your body – ones that are more supportive of your health.

Being with your sadness reminds me of one of my mother’s sayings:

“If you’re mad, you’ll get glad again.”

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

http://www.cafepress.com/grasshoppernote/3580301

Ever since I’ve been a kid, I remember Memorial Day Weekend being referred to as the unofficial beginning of summer. It got me wondering about unofficial beginnings.

Some products have beta tests before being offered to the public (too bad Microsoft didn’t do that with Vista). Some stores have private, invitation only, openings before the official grand opening. Plays and musicals have off, off Broadway beginnings.

When we act on an idea, we look at that as a beginning, but it had an unofficial beginning because it was in the process of gestation below consciousness before it became an official idea. Did you ever look back and notice that there is a path to where you currently are. You couldn’t have gotten here unless you were there. You wouldn’t normally look at those past experiences as setting you up for your current situation but they have played a role is getting you to now – good, bad or indifferent. They were unofficial beginnings. They weren’t planned but they nevertheless contributed.

The Bible talks about unofficial beginnings when we read:

“Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth”

Today can be the unofficial beginning of a new season for you. This is the day to put an idea into the fertile soil of creativity without a lot of fanfare. Nobody needs to know. Remember: A secret is no longer a secret when you tell someone else. This means that today you can unofficially begin the next step in your evolution as to what gifts you want to produce. You may not see the action plan show up for awhile. When it does, that will be the official beginning.

There is a matter of trust needed for you to get from unofficial to official. You could logically whittle your desire away and come up with actuarial odds of it not happening in your lifetime, or you can just silently plant the seed and see what happens.

What seed are you holding onto that could be planted today? What unofficial beginning can start right now?

Simply take a few minutes today and quiet your mind and then plant your seed.

There will always be logical reasons not to unofficially begin but remember the famous words of hockey legend, Wayne Gretzky:

“You miss 100% of the shots you never take.”

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

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http://www.cafepress.com/grasshoppernote/3580301

The busyness of the day allows me little to say so I thought I would give us 3 quotes to muse on while we are engaged in other pursuits today. To see more quotes worth quoting visit http://www.billherring.info/Quotes

Don’t grieve for what doesn’t come.
Some things that don’t happen
keep disasters from happening.

~Rumi

The meaning of life always changes, but it never ceases to be.

~Victor Frankl

The greatest and most important problems of life are all fundamentally insoluble. They can never be solved but only outgrown.

~Carl Jung

Enjoy your pursuits!

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

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http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

http://www.cafepress.com/grasshoppernote/3580301

I witnessed projection first hand this morning. I was out walking my dog and a neighbor was walking her dog. The dogs noticed each other as they usually do. Both were leashed. As we were passing and I said “hello,” this woman says to me, “I don’t appreciate you saying that you don’t want my dog to get hit by a car every time you pass by.” Perhaps a story would be helpful . . .

One morning her dog ran into the street and a passing car screeched and swerved and almost hit the dog. I said to her, “Your dog almost got hit by a car. I wouldn’t want to see her get run over.” She went into a guilt laden speech about how she should have had her tied up, so on and so forth. Her dog has since run into the street a few times on subsequent occasions and comes over and sniffs with my dog. The owner calls her dog over or comes and collects her. I have petted the dog on these occasions because it’s a cute, friendly dog and have never mentioned the car incident again.

Fast forward to this morning . . . In addition to her “every time” comment, she tells me that her daughter saw me kicking her dog. That never happened. Then she tells me, “You have been stalking my neighbor and are a pervert. I should call the police.” This got my attention. I said “excuse me” and then she launches into a tirade that I should be ashamed of myself and keeps walking away. I said, “You’ve just made some pretty outlandish statements and you are offering me no opportunity to respond.” Her response was, “That’s all I have to say and I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.” At that point, I said “that goes both ways” and wished her a nice day.

Two years ago, I dated her neighbor for a period of about 3 months. Since then we remain quite friendly and wave or have brief chats when we see each other. Her house is on the route I walk our dog.

This woman has taken her embarrassment about not tending to her dog and putting it in harm’s way and projected it on to me with a bevy of statements that just won’t stand up to scrutiny. “You’re never upset for the reason you think” was the operative phrase that jumped into my mind. You can always tell you are dealing with projection, when a person throws up on you and walks away.

It’s really none of your business what other people think about you until they offer it up for your consumption. If people have legitimate gripes with each other, it’s productive to address them with the goal of there being some sort of resolution. This can only happen when there is a 2 way flow of information.

I once got a 5 page email filled with the same type of projection. They didn’t want a response because they said everything they wanted to say. I was confused how to respond and a wise friend said there is only one way to respond to a “telling you how it is” communication. The response he recommended was 5 words, “You sure got that right.” I chose no response.

There is no win when you are dealing with projection. You can only lose by responding. What this person is projecting from themselves to you is real for them, even though there is no evidence to support it. I’m not telling you I walked away happy today. I’m just suggesting that the most productive strategy is to just walk away.

The descriptive statement that illustrates projection best is this: A person could not possibly feel this bad on their own, so it must be someone else’s fault.

My mantra for dealing with someone’s projection is: “This too shall pass.”

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

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Yesterday was a vacation day for me from blogging. It wasn’t a scheduled vacation day; it just came up all of a sudden.

I got up, did my normal routine and was preparing for some radio interviews when all of a sudden I had this intense pain in my side. At first, I thought it might be intestinal pain from some food I had eaten. The pain was really acute but I decided to do the first radio interview. I managed to talk between the spaces of the pain and the interview went well. I was getting worse. Then it dawned on me. I had the same pain 15 years ago. I was passing a kidney stone.

This is a pain that you can’t get away from. It follows you and intensifies like a late day shadow. I called Hali, our seminar coordinator, and asked her to cancel the other interview and then I called my son to come take me to the walk-in clinic which is closest to our home.

The adventure now began. They got me into a room and were about to go into 50 questions when I interrupted and said, “I know what this is, I’ve had it before, please get me some pain killer and we can go from there.” They had their choice between Morphine and Demerol. They chose Demerol and gave me 100ccs. The nurse who administered the shot gave me a plastic pan and said, “This is for when you get nauseous.” Even in my weakened state, the words of the late Dr. Dave Dobson jumped into my head – “bad hypnosis.” The word “when” is a suggestion to get nauseous. I didn’t have any adverse reaction to the shot. It just eased the pain. When someone is in pain, they are highly suggestible. Choose your words carefully.

Also, when you are in pain, every one of your senses is up. Lights and sounds are particularly disturbing. Do they teach that in medical school? This doctor walks in, turns on the lights that I had turned off and decided to treat me to his stand up comedy routine and says in a loud voice, “Gives a whole new meaning to getting stoned.” And then he laughs at his own joke and walks out. He wasn’t even my treating physician.

Then the nurse stuck me in 3 different places before he could find the right spot to hydrate me with bags of IV fluid. Now the tending doctor comes in and then I knew I was in a Barney Miller rerun. He says, “I know the pain hurts like a mother-f***er, but we’re gonna’ load you up with fluids so you piss like a race horse and pass that stone.” They took an x-ray and a urine sample. They showed me where the stone was stuck and assured me of more pain when it moved again. More bad hypnosis. They sent me home with a prescription for Vicodin and told me to drink lots of water.

The good news is we have a new addition to our family. He was born last night about 8:15. He was only the size of a grape seed but reopened my eyes to the concept of sensory acuity.

The workman who treats your home as a job site and the medical professionals who only have their agenda in mind suffer from the same malady – lack of sensory acuity. They are blind to what’s going on with the person they are servicing or treating. Take time to notice what’s going on with the person you are interacting with. Get out of your head and pay attention to what is being offered to you by another. This will always be a more rewarding experience for both of you.

This isn’t a rant on medical care. They did their job. They treated their patient but they didn’t have the sensory acuity to notice I happened to be a human being.

Today, take the time to notice what is going on with someone else while you are interacting. Many people play the game, “Whose turn is it to talk?” They wait for a break in the action and say what they want to say all without noticing. This is basically throwing up on each other. Become aware of what is going on with another and they will become more aware of you.

Just make a commitment now to be present during your next interaction with someone and see how much smoother it goes.

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

http://www.cafepress.com/grasshoppernote/3580301

Growing up, I remember young girls playing “Double Dutch” in the school yard during recess. Double Dutch requires 2 ropes and 3 people – 2 to turn the ropes in opposite arcs and 1 person to jump. It is not an easy rhythm to grasp right off the bat. Inner city girls made it an art form, and in my opinion it should be an Olympic Sport.

The rope turners set the rhythm and you have to sense their timing before successfully jumping to their beat. I was never successful at Double Dutch. I tried awfully hard but always managed to get tangled up in the ropes. I rationalized my lack of rhythm by telling myself that it was only for girls.

How many times have we told ourselves in life that something is just for other people – not us?

We rationalize it away because we fail to recognize the rhythm.

Life has a rhythm. Success has a rhythm. Failure has a rhythm. Did you ever notice that your head never figures out the rhythm – your body does? Your head can certainly ask the question but the answer has to come from your body.

Joining the rhythm of life begins by first noticing that there is a rhythm. Look at people who have what you want. They are operating at a certain rhythm and that rhythm is matching up with the rhythm of the life force which is coming through their body. They are acting on information you don’t have access to as long as you remain stuck in your head. Reminds me of a story . . .

I knew this kid named Bobby growing up. Bobby was a boxing aficionado. He read all the magazines, knew all the statistics of all the major fighters and, in short, was a walking encyclopedia on boxing history and techniques. He never boxed but he talked a good game. One day at the YMCA, we checked out boxing gloves from the equipment room. Bobby was showing us all the stances, arm and hand positions he learned about in his readings. My other friend Jimmy was warming up by shadow boxing in the mirror while Bobby was holding court with his instructions. We all paired off with a partner. Jimmy and Bobby were partners. Within 10 seconds, I witnessed my first, in person knockout. Bobby was flat on his back on the floor with cartoon birds circling his head. Bobby didn’t have the rhythm of boxing, only the information.

Life has a rhythm and the way to find it is to have your body join the dance. We spend so much time in our heads and spend so little time noticing our body. The body is always here and now – the head is mostly there and then. Immerse your body in the next conversation you have with someone. While conversing, keep some attention on your body and notice that it is picking up on the rhythm of the conversation. The chat is more than words. It’s a dance going on between two people. Your body will sense when the rhythm changes and send you the appropriate words to accommodate that shift in rhythm.

Planning is an admirable skill and it is useless once the dance begins. This is the time to trust and know that your body will figure it out. You just have to start paying attention to the rhythms coming through your body. This flies in the face of most academic learning because academia only recognizes the head. They never teach you to feel the rhythm of the information. And where do you feel everything? Only in your body – never in your head.

Your body is a shortcut to learning and accomplishing.

Just take a moment today to notice the rhythm of your body. After a little practice, your body will begin equating certain rhythms with certain strategies and send your intellect a message. For lack of a better name, this message from the body is intuition. You will begin to notice that you are noticing more and taking different actions. All the information has always been there but it never got hooked up with the rhythm of life.

The rhythm of life is flowing through your body right now. Take time to notice it and you’ll spend less time on the canvas.

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

http://www.cafepress.com/grasshoppernote/3580301