20 some years ago I was on a cruise and one of the ports of call was Ocho Rios on the north coast of Jamaica. While walking around the island city, I noticed a sign that read: Sleeping Policeman Ahead. It made me smile and got me curious.

I came to find out that
Sleeping Policeman comes to us from the British. It’s what we commonly call a “speed bump” designed to slow down our speed.

I was reminded of that term this morning when I saw an SUV going a bit too fast as I was out walking the dog. It got me wondering about the rush to nowhere that goes on unimpeded in our lives.

I guessed that the driver of the SUV was probably running behind schedule or maybe he just liked to drive fast. Either way, it pointed up how oblivious we are to our natural rhythms. Our natural rhythm is not perpetual pedal to the metal, but you would never guess that by looking around.

Seems we’re all in a rush to get somewhere other than where we are. We miss a lot when we do that. Firstly, we miss the richness the present moment has to offer and then we miss the natural rhythm of our body.

Did you ever notice that your mind wants to run at full speed? Thank goodness your body is incapable of keeping up. It wants to run at a different pace but we continually override the desires of our body with the go-go-go instructions from our mind.

There is an eventual price to pay for this mind activity – a rebellion from your body.

Your body will send you a slow down signal. At first, it may be aches and pains and if we ignore them too often, they eventually graduate to full blown diseases. This is your body’s reaction to the mental stress you constantly keep it under.

Cell Biologist, Dr. Bruce Lipton tells us that we are either in a state of fear and protection, OR in a state of joy/love & growth. You can’t be in both at the same time. According to Bruce, chronic stress is the biggest obstruction to our health and is related to most illnesses.  So activities that promote relaxation also promote our health & well-being.

Dr. Lipton is just one of many Sleeping Policemen who are encouraging us to slow down and save lives – mainly our own.

There is no one who is too busy to take a look at the direction of their life or to adopt a practice that slows them down a bit so that they get the therapeutic effects and can recharge. Most people are already attempting to slow themselves down but with methods that only hasten their deterioration – excessive alcohol, drugs, food, etc.

Your mission today is to find your Sleeping Policeman. There are so many to choose from. The step that’s necessary before you find one is to recognize that you need one. If you notice that your mind is going full speed ahead, that’s all the recognition you need to find a helpful way of slowing down.

My CD RELAX IN 2 MINUTES is one of the many ways you can begin this practice right away.

The road sign “Speed Kills” can easily be replaced by one that reads: “Sleeping Policeman.”

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

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

Biblically speaking, we have heard that the term “I AM” is a reference to the name that God gave Himself in Exodus 3:14

Many who teach the Law of Attraction say that the “I AM” part of you is the divine part, the creator.

The Grasshopper checked in with two nips of nectar on “I AM” – one recently, and one from a few years back. In March of 2008, He said,

“I AM is a statement of creation. Be mindful of what follows I AM. Interrupt yourself when you are attributing something limiting to I AM. A more useful statement is he/she is – where he or she refers to the conditioned you.”

In November of 2005, The Grasshopper said this:

“A new perspective on affirmations: When you affirm, affirm what is undeniable – meaning affirm I AM is _____________. (fill in affirmation).

The Affirmation is about the consciousness that is you – not about the conditioned you. You are affirming what is already true, possible and present for the unmanifest right now. When you affirm that, it seeps through to your life experience.”

One thought seems to be a warning and the other is a new strategy for affirmations.

The warning is be careful what you reinforce. “I AM not a people person” is an affirmation that will keep you out of Dale Carnegie classes. “I AM a klutz” keeps you out of the juggling hall of fame. “I AM a failure” will have you continue living that script.

The difficulty I have with affirmations in general is this: We don’t believe the positive ones. You can say, “I AM a good dancer” as often as you like, but if you are truly a lousy dancer the conditioned you will never believe it. There is too much evidence to the contrary.

The new affirmation strategy given to me by The Grasshopper has more believability.

If you consider “I AM” to be the creative part of you, there is no trouble in believing that rhythmic dancing is available to the all knowing.

The subtle shift is that you are affirming what is possible for your caldron of creativity, not the egoic you.

My contention is that with this type of affirmation, you sidestep the conscious filter of disbelief and allow this intention to gain entry to the creative part of you. With practice, you will begin to notice more and more evidence of the intention showing up.

It seems that most affirmations are about health and wealth. Rather than affirming “I AM healthy,” add a verb. Affirm “I AM is healthy.” You are saying the creative, godly part of you is healthy. There can be little argument about that. It’s easy to believe.

This intention, once believed, will begin to bubble up into consciousness where you will receive ideas to act on which will lead you towards your intention.

I could have made this all up. In fact, I did. That doesn’t prevent you from using this strategy to see how soon you’ll get better results than with traditional affirming.

I AM is doing something new.

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

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

I’m not a big fan of tattoos, never have been. Well, that’s not completely true. When I was a boy, we would get transferable tattoos in our bubble gum wrappers and I would put them on my arm. Reminds me of a story . . .

I was on a cruise 23 years ago and was doing a workout in the gym. The guy working out next to me had a large tattoo on his arm. So, I asked him what his mother said when he arrived home with it. He said, “She didn’t say anything but my father went nuts and told me, in Italian, to ‘wash it off’.”

Tattoo removal is becoming a big business designed to erase youthful indiscretions and lovers that weren’t as indelible as the ink.

The Grasshopper gave me some perspective on tattoos. He said,

“The personality is a tattoo that covers your original self. The biggest misconception being bought into is that it’s not removable.”

We cover ourselves is metaphorical tattoos and define ourselves as the image we display. The truth is it’s only skin deep.

Our personality is a cover. It attempts to cover what we are missing. Even the most well adjusted people come to a point in their life where they sense something is missing. The biggest error we usually make at that time is to look for the missing piece outside of ourselves. It’s not at the tattoo parlor.

The missing piece is inside you, several layers down. To get there, you have to begin the process of removing layers to get to the real you. It’s like removing decades of wallpaper. Each layer represents something you added to cover up the feeling of missing something.

Some people are not ready for removal. They’re too busy to stop and notice the unsettling feeling of missing something within. When they do come to a halt, they will experience that sensation first hand. The temptation is to chase it away. That only has it come back another day.

If you’ve come to the point in life that you know something is missing, summon your bravery and stop diverting your attention from that which needs tending to. Allow yourself the freedom and opportunity to allow this empty feeling to have its day. Spend time with it. This sensation in your body will lead you, by the hand, down through the layers and into your deepest self.

How will you know when you get there? The empty feeling is replaced by the peace that passes all understanding. This peaceful you needs no barrier between you and the world.

You remove the tattoo that could never define you.

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

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

I am not an authority on the topic but I have a perspective. It’s more of an offshoot, really – same life reincarnation.

Reincarnation can happen or not in a single lifetime. If we repeat the conditioned patterns we have acquired, we will get the same life day after day ala the movie, Groundhog Day. If we outgrow patterns that are causing us an unwelcome sameness, we become reincarnated in this lifetime. You don’t even have to read one ancient Hindu text to discover this.

“Born again” is such an accurate description of this same life reincarnation process. Too bad it’s already taken by a wing of Christianity.

Think of all the conditioning we receive from newborn to age 4 and how it stays with us for a lifetime whether useful or not. Most of it we had nothing to do with but are living with the results. Yes, you could complain about it and blame your parents and other early care givers but it does nothing to help get another life.

It’s amusing if we discover that we hang the toilet paper in the same direction our mother did, but it can be downright depressing if we’re repeating a preference they gave us which isn’t working. Discovering your patterns is only one end of the same life reincarnation equation. The other part is making an effort to outgrow the behavior(s).

Many people when they discover something they got by accident, use it as a justification to continue the pattern and claim helplessness. They will not reincarnate in this lifetime. Some deny that the behavior is present. They will also live the same life they have now.

We have all been stuck. If you investigate “stuckness,” you will notice it’s driven by some underlying pattern of behavior. And chances are you had no say in getting this particular behavior. That recognition does not cause it to disappear, but it’s a starting point.

Spiritual teacher, Eckhart Tolle tells us the ego exhibits wanting, thwarted wanting, and indifference. It’s the indifference piece that keeps most of us stuck in the same lifetime. This indifference, in many cases, can lead to isolation. The thinking goes something like this: “As long as I am apart from the ‘unwashed,’ I won’t have some numbskull eliciting my patterned behavior and I won’t have to deal with their criticisms.”

Other people help you discover yourself, flaws and all. The world is a research laboratory filled with these creatures of discovery. You won’t find them watching reruns of “Law & Order.”

My mantra for me and you is “Risk.”

Risk discovering yourself through others. You’ll find out the good, the bad and the ugly about yourself. If you then choose to go to work on the bothersome behaviors, you get a new life in this lifetime. If you don’t, you can always pray for a better life the next time around.

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

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

Reincarnation picture was taken from Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnation

Got an interesting perspective from The Grasshopper last week. He said, “Emotions will either fuel you or consume you.” I got to wondering.

In our culture, emotions have been tucked away in a corner as the evil stepsister we have to put up with. “Let’s not get emotional” is the often heard mantra when these thought triggered sensations show up. I have to admit that a good portion of my life has been spent suppressing emotions. I was pretty accomplished at it – world class, but it doesn’t work.

Stuffing things down just saves them for another day, kind of like the laundry.

When you consistently hold back on your emotions, they have a way of hardening you. No matter how well intentioned you may be, you present a prickly exterior that people have a hard time getting close to. Relatively few will attempt to get past the thorns to see who is really home.

The emotions, when kept at bay, begin to consume you. They chew at your soul and then they gnaw on your body no matter how spiritual or physically fit you may be.

Please don’t consider this a license to lash out and go on a rant. Think of it more as permission to allow yourself to be human.

Emotions are part of the human package and we may as well put them to work for us. Again, if you mistake this as doling out drama, I haven’t been too clear. Drama is keeping an emotion alive that has already been expressed and expressed, and expressed again. It’s telling yourself a story to revive an emotion that already had it platform. Drama is giving life support to that which has already lived.

This is not to say you cannot express the same emotion, just don’t artificially revive it by telling yourself a story to conjure it up. Emotions will show up in ample supply on their own.

I was talking with Jerry Stocking recently and he was saying that he hadn’t thought of emotions as commodities in the past. He looks at emotions as a fuel that powers us.

He says that true happiness is on the other side of any emotion. You just have to move through it to get there.

Begin to recognize the power of an emotion. Just like with any other power source, be careful how you use it. It’s often been said that electricity can be used to power a city or to electrocute the careless.

Recognize and express your emotions. This has two immediate benefits:

1. You get to find out what’s on the other side of them.
2. You feel better and become a lot more approachable.

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

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

” “

I’m traveling today and I’m musing on two quotes. One is from The Grasshopper and the other comes from Author Sandra Maitri.

The Grasshopper said,

“You can’t afford not to risk.”

Sandra Maitri wrote,

“Moving away from something you are afraid of is not freedom at all; it’s a reaction that keeps you very much in relationship with what you are frightened of.”

Somehow they seem associated. Maybe they’ll provide insight for you as well.

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

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

I see that Dr. Phil is currently one of the areas of focus of the tabloids in the supermarket checkout lines. That’s one of the downsides to being a TV celebrity. Whether the revelations they offer about him are even a tiny bit accurate, only time will tell.

There is also lots of talk in the people helping community about Dr. Phil as well, none of which refers to any alleged peccadilloes.

It seems most of the chatter I hear is negative. I think a lot of the criticism comes from professional jealousy and some of it seems right on point. Some consider him all show. Others think he’s a bully. And many believe he preaches what he doesn’t practice. We all have an opinion. Here’s mine:

I think Dr. Phil is the Ross Perot of Psychology and he has tons of homespun relatability. I also think he is masterful at cutting through and identifying the problem situation in short order. People like Dr. Phil. I’m not a fan.

The area where he comes up short for me is in the solutions he offers. These same solutions can be gotten from any seasoned bartender or hairdresser. If you’re a struggling couch potato, “get a J-O-B!!” If you’re a philandering spouse, “Keep it in your pants!!” If you’re an excessively doting parent, “You gotta’ let them go!!”

Duh!!!

This solutions void is not isolated to Dr. Phil. It permeates the psychological community. You are given a solution without a plan to get there.

Here is the bottom line on problems – they are yours to solve. After you have paid for the best advice you can afford, it always comes down to the same thing – it’s your problem to solve. I’m not sure that’s being fully communicated. I think the psychological community performs three admirable services:

1. They let you know you are not alone with your difficulty. Many others have it as well.
2. They provide an unbiased ear. It’s not their issue, it’s yours.
3. They have the benefit of their experience to offer solutions that have worked before.

The missing link is a workable plan. They don’t have one to offer you that you haven’t already thought of and failed with yourself.

The biggest roadblock I see to implementing a plan is the area of focus. Most professional advice gets you to focus on discovering your problem by exploring the past. That is helpful to a point but it mainly gets you stuck focusing on an area that is of little help. Quoting Eckhart Tolle from A New Earth:

“There is nothing wrong with psychoanalysis or finding out about your past as long as you don’t confuse knowing about yourself with knowing yourself.”

Therein lies the crux of the ongoing difficulty. The focus has been on you and your personality – the conditioned you. It’s a false front – an imaginary you. Imagine for a moment having therapy done on a hand puppet you are holding and then you can see clearly the limitations of traditional therapy. They’re working on the part of you that you made up and got comfortable with. No lasting solution will be found there.

Quoting the late, Dr. Dave Dobson: “We are our own best therapist.” He was addressing reaching a solution.

There are many qualified people to tell you what’s wrong with you, but only one is qualified to fix it – YOU!

The fixing solution is to get the mind noise of your problem to subside, so that the part of you that has the real solution can be heard.

Mind quieting has been solving problems since the days of the ancient sleep temples. The off ramp that we got onto somewhere along the way that suggests we will solve difficulties by adding more noise (talking about them ad nauseam) has a pathetic batting average.

Investigate a method of mind quieting that makes sense for you and practice it until it becomes second nature. This plan will deliver more solutions than a season’s worth of Dr. Phil.

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

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

According to the Encarta Dictionary, the word, “homonym” is defined as “a word that is spelled or pronounced in the same way as one or more other words but has a different meaning.”

Such is the case for sowing and sewing.

“You reap what you sow” is a familiar expression. One not as popular is, “You sew what you reap” – especially if it’s not to your liking.

How much sewing are you doing? My guess is more than your fair share. Sewing is putting together what has come apart, or stitching things together.

Both are hard work often with lackluster results. Perhaps an example would be helpful . . .

Suppose you are sewing pieces together that just don’t work – like plaids and stripes, or attempting to join two friends you like but who don’t cotton to each other. Your design is going to sit on the shelf and your matchmaking will be a disaster. In planting terminology, you have sown an unworkable combo and you will reap the same results with each similar effort.

The mind’s solution to putting together what has come apart is to sew it together again and give it another go. You may have failed to notice that this sowing soil has lost its enriching qualities. Anything planted here will grow apart again and again.

Are you sewing a broken heart?

It can’t be done. You’re attempting to sew something that can only sew itself. Your attempts will have it come apart time after time. The snafu is that you have given your attention over to mending. What you focus on increases. That means your life long focus will be on mending. That’s why things come apart for you, so you can mend them – again. It’s a script that will repeat itself like the storyline of a bad soap opera.

Mending a broken heart begins by focusing your attention on the feelings associated with the break. What emotions come up for you and where do you feel them in your body? Paying attention to the feelings in your body allows them space to be fully felt and not cramped into a corner of your mind. When you fully experience the sensations associated with the emotions, you are sowing a new crop in fertile soil. This new crop will produce material you can use to sew something new together – something that’s solidly stitched and will sell.

When we sew together the same old patterns, we get the same unattractive outfit. Fruitless sewing or mending is keeping everything in your head. You are sewing the story together again to keep it alive. Once you discover that storytelling isn’t going to solve it, you can turn it over to the invisible mender – your body and its innate intelligence.

Stop sewing and begin sowing.

Sow the feelings into the fertile soil of the body instead of into the hardpan of the mind and find out how quickly you can mend. Then discover what beautiful tapestries you can produce.

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

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

The Grasshopper spoke to me on July 4^th and I wrote down his words:

“Spiritual discovery is a process of removal. Seeking enlightenment may be the goal but that’s just asking the question. The answer becomes apparent when outward seeking ceases and we dedicate ourselves to dismantling our illusion.”

Some pretty heady words on the nation’s birthday.

So where is the beginning point for taking apart our illusion?

I believe it starts by relabeling the voice in your head. Noticing that voice, with all its criticisms and pronouncements, is not you is the first place to begin work.

Begin to recognize that that critical voice is not you but an abusive tenant that rents a room in your house. They’re noisy, seek constant attention, and will verbally berate you and tell you what to do every chance they get. That’s all they know how to do. The first step in getting that tenant in line is to notice that they aren’t you. This separation is a powerful step because most people don’t know that the voice in their head is not them.

Just by noticing the voice with its repetitive thoughts as being a separate entity, begins to calm it down. You realize you are no longer dealing with you but a loud, blustering imposter. You now recognize that voice for what it is, and that’s when it ceases to have power over you.

This step takes diligence because your noisy roommate will double their efforts to convince you that they are you once you discover they are not. Noticing that it’s just a noisy tenant gives you greater ease in tuning them out. Once they realize that nobody’s listening, they begin to calm down.

Recognizing that you are not your thoughts is the first step of spiritual discovery. Like everything else, some get it quicker than others. Quickness is not the goal; getting it is. For most of us it remains a worthwhile work in progress.

Separate yourself from your thoughts today and notice how quiet it can get.

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

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

I must confess that I am not a big fan of fireworks. I realize that puts me in a woeful minority of the population that’s marching to the beat of a different firecracker.

I’m not forming a support group, nor am I protesting the use of fireworks. They are beautiful displays and they have their place, but the “boom” has been off that rose for me for a long time.

In the field of personal development, there is a wing that’s focused on instant change. I must admit that at one time they had my attention as well. They have very explosive workshops dedicated to everything from get rich quick to eradicating your fears in a weekend. They are a lot like fireworks with tons of “ooh-ing and aah-ing.” And when it’s over, there’s not much left other than the memory. They do offer strategies to take with you, but few are motivated to follow-up without the rocket’s red glare generated by the pep rally atmosphere. These performances are grand to witness and also have their place.

It got me to thinking about AH-HA moments. They are not explosions. They’re more of a popping through the soil like a flower first seeking the light. It’s a gentler process. The reaction we have to an AH-HA moment may contain the excitement of fireworks but the learning event itself is more natural.

Personal emergence follows nature. It’s a process. We have the tendency to judge it only by the sudden burst through the soil but there are deeper roots to this progression.

The difficulty is we are too focused on results without doing the requisite work. Our cultural conditioning encourages us to look for a pocket full of fairy dust rather than immerse ourselves in the rich soil of growth.

When our focus is outward, we seek fireworks. When our focus is inward we experience the soft implosion of discovery.

The red, white and blue truth is “it” isn’t out there. You can keep searching, but the horizon will keep moving away from you with each step you take towards it. You can’t get there from here.

If you want true independence, find a strategy, philosophy, discipline or teacher that takes you inward. The rewards are greater and longer lasting than any “sigh in the sky” experience.

Happy 4^th of July!

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

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