Some are already working on their list; others are waiting for tomorrow, or the next day, or certainly by Monday. Resolutions for the New Year are a yearly event that comes in, like the New Year itself, with tons of fanfare and then a quick exit.

It’s yet another attempt to “re-solve the puzzle.”

“This time I really believe it’s going to work. I know it didn’t work last year, the year before, or even on my 30^th birthday, but this year is the year.”

As human beings, we are a bundle of beliefs that run our lives – many of which we got by accident. Perhaps a question that I ask at my seminars will be helpful . . .

What’s the right way to hang toilet paper?

I’ll bet you had an instant answer. Most do.

I once did a radio talk show where people argued about this topic for 4 hours. If the show was longer, they would have still been arguing.

People have beliefs about toilet paper and the way it should hang. Most beliefs are inherited. You had nothing to do with them getting in your head and running you. Many of you had the belief locked in place even before you knew what a belief was.

The same is true for most beliefs. You weren’t born with them. They were given to you, and you live your life in accordance with them. No one asked your permission to give you their beliefs. And notice how you argue for them.

Most resolutions go counter to our beliefs. Here’s a belief that most people own a version of – “Eat everything that’s on your plate.” Your conscious resolution goes to war with that established belief. Guess who has the biggest army? You lose the battle of the bulge, again.

I will offer you a resolution that has a better chance of working. Notice your beliefs!

Don’t beat yourself up about them. Remember, most of them aren’t your fault. You got them by osmosis.

Many people associate beliefs with their religion. If you have a belief about anything (including toilet tissue), you have a religion. The question many never ask is: “Is my religion working for me?” If the answer is “No,” you need a new religion.

A new way of doing things begins with an examination – a recognition.

Resolutions keep you on the surface. Examination takes you below decks where all the real work is being done.

The recognition of a belief is often the catalyst for outgrowing it.

Don’t get caught in the blame game. That will keep you on the surface, and at war. “If my father had been more industrious, I wouldn’t be so lazy. Damn him!”

It’s better to notice the indolent behavior in yourself without judgement or justification. The noticing makes us a witness to the behavior, rather than a participant in it. This witnessing of our belief/behavior opens a gentle space for new ideas to seep in.

The more noticing you do, the more space you create. The more space you create, the more room there is for something new to become a part of you – a new belief – one that is truly yours and works for you.

Making resolutions are useful to give you a direction to head in, but they are not the vehicle that drives you – beliefs are.

An unexamined belief will stay in place no matter how many notebooks you fill up with resolutions.

This New Year, take the time to notice and notice what happens.

Happy New Year!

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

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

http://HypnosisForDogs.com

After corresponding with an old friend last night, The Grasshopper visited with this musing:

“The life you live and the life that lives you are totally different.”

A meaty piece.

“Life is Good” was one of the offerings in the email. Besides being a trademarked, upbeat phrase, “Life is Good,” also suggests that there is a corollary – “Life is Bad.”

Life is neither. Not the life that lives you. Reminds me of a story . . .

My 3 boys all love Star Wars. They were weaned on the original trilogy. We had so many Star Wars toys in the house that one of our storage closets is still called “The Star Wars Closet.” I had not seen the movie with them. I didn’t get to see it until a few years later at a drive-in movie we all went to. I was curious as to what had so captured their attention. Aside from being introduced to the special talents of Harrison Ford and the great special effects, it was a traditional good versus evil story on the surface. Beneath the surface lies its real magic – The Force.

The Force is the energy that lies within all of us – life itself. The message of the movie is that The Force is neutral and can be used for any purpose – good or evil. It’s like electricity. It can light up your house at Christmas time or electrocute a careless caroler who steps on a bare wire. Electricity’s only intent is to flow. The same is true for the life that lives us.

The life we describe to others, our life, is what Eckhart Tolle refers to as “our life story.” That saga is never to be confused with life itself. There are many sad and glad life stories but only one life.

Life flows into our life story but our life story never changes life, but can hide it from our view.

When we get so caught up in the story of our life, we miss the opportunity to allow the magic of life to flow into our mind and body. We divert life from these areas by being so enmeshed with the thickness of our story, that we cannot see or feel The Force.

Discovering and reconnecting with life smoothes out our life’s story.

If your current drama is taking you for a bumpy ride, it’s time to take a time out and call on the road grader known as life.

Take the time to discover life today. It’s the force that powers your Millennium Falcon
and can turn a mundane existence into an adventure.

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

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

http://HypnosisForDogs.com

How do you know you are alive? There are lots of clues but one of the biggest is our emotions.

If you’re anything like me, you find that your emotions use your mind and body as their playground. While they are playing, there is a certain aliveness within us that we don’t often recognize. This aliveness acts as a fuel.

It propels us to do things – some worthwhile; others not.

One of the primary emotions is fear and it has the highest octane. It’s the one we feel the most. The late Dr. Dave Dobson claimed it was the only emotion we were born with. He said all the other ones were derivatives of fear.

Motivational guru, Tony Robbins held seminars encouraging people to turn their fear into power. That’s certainly one alternative.

What do you do with your fear? If you’re like most, you ignore the actual feeling and just talk about it. That has two consequences:

1. You water down the aliveness that fear brings.
2. You keep the insidious thought of fear alive in your mind.

What you do with fear is the difference between being alive and feeling alive.

The walking dead are alive; they just don’t feel it. They talk about it.

Ignoring our emotions, or pretending they are not there, is a prescription for misery. Again, most people attempt to talk this misery away. That’s like trying to talk a dog off a meat wagon.

The lesson worth learning is to use our emotions to fuel our lives and our aliveness.

There is no need to find out “why” you are emotional. That just leads to more talk. And as Dr. Robert Anthony taught me many years ago, “You’re never upset for the reason you think.”

It’s best to notice the feeling of the emotion in your body. Where does it register? It’s usually somewhere along the midline from our throat to our bowels.

Once you sense where the emotion lives in your body, you can give it your full attention and then just watch what happens.

When you feel the sensation attached to an emotion, you are using its fuel to propel you towards actions you may not have taken had you kept the idea of the emotion cooped up in your head.

This is not to be confused with psyching yourself up. That’s a poor use of energy. It usually has meager, temporary and, oftentimes, counter-productive results. It’s just more talk.

Locating and feeling the sensation of an emotion triggers your aliveness and moves you through the emotion to a more peaceful place. You may never get there if you don’t give your emotions the recognition they deserve.

How alive are you? It depends on how much attention you’re willing to give to your emotions. They bring the fuel to drive you towards peace, and the actionable answers a peaceful state brings.

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

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

http://HypnosisForDogs.com

I have come up with the next hot, reality TV show – The Biggest Coward.

You bring in people from all walks of life, all ethnic backgrounds, all economic and social strata, and have them compete for the coveted title of “The Biggest Coward.”

One precondition to appearing on the show would be to know the contestants’ biggest fear. You would put them through a number of exercises to activate that specific fear and the audience would judge each contestant on how well they handled the situation. The person with the lowest score would be “The Biggest Coward.”

Here’s why the show wouldn’t work. No, not because it’s cruel. All those shows are cruel. The reason it wouldn’t work is because the same fear would win week after week.

Fear of snakes? Fear of heights? Fear of Death? Public Speaking?

Those apprehensions are mere puppy chow compared to the Granddaddy of them all.

What is it you ask?

It’s the perceived ridicule that would accompany an apology.

The Biggest Coward cannot come up with the courage to apologize. They make the cowardly lion look brave. The ridicule they perceive that would come with an apologetic admission freezes them into a cowering corner.

Lack of authentic apologies is rampant in our society and it causes radiating pain for all who encounter the ridicule fearing, Biggest Coward.

What causes this fear? It’s conditioning. The Biggest Coward has been conditioned, more than most, to believe that the image of themselves they carry around in their mind is who they really are.

It’s not a pretty image. But they have no idea that this guiding force of image they carry around is an illusion – one in which they believe. They act out this image time after time, oftentimes to their grave.

The Biggest Coward carries an image that drives feelings of not being worthy. They want to hide that image from everyone at all costs because to be found out would cause additional pain.

They usually go the extra mile to make people like them, and they succeed. They rarely do anything that needs an apology because, if they did, that would expose their worthless feelings and cause them ridicule.

But being human, they do things that require apologies, ones that never come. Oh, they are masters of the conditional apology. You’ll recognize it as a version of the “I’m sorry but . . .” apology. Most times they just pour on after-the-fact kindness to the offended person so that they never have to amend the grievance with a fear worse than death – an authentic, heartfelt apology.

They are world class under the rug sweepers. Facts scare them and they rarely deal in them, especially in areas where amends are in order. When cornered, they will deny, obfuscate, play conversational dodge ball and eventually shift blame to you.

It’s sad to watch and painful to experience.

The remedy, like the game of golf, is simple but not easy.

When this person discovers they are not their illusionary image, they realize there is nothing to hide anymore. They don’t need to be forced to apologize in an “interventionist setting.” They simply need relief from the repetitive thoughts in their head that keep their behavior frozen in place.

Once they begin to glimpse that there is something to them other than the repetitive, ridiculing content of their conditioned mind, their behavior begins to thaw and apologies begin to naturally flow.

Your authentic self always sends forgiveness to your conditioned self. You just have to find this place of peace to start the process.

It begins by noticing you are not the thoughts that occupy your mind. They are like traveling gypsies who only rent space there. You are the rightful owner who can evict them on a moment’s notice just by noticing.

Start noticing who you really are today and watch the Biggest Coward melt and fade away.

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

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

http://HypnosisForDogs.com

Here is The Grasshopper‘s early Christmas gift to me. I thought I would share my gift with you.

“Patterned thinking delivers repetitive thoughts, and then our ego comments on them – the same way every time. It is one remote control device communicating with another. Nothing new enters our mind until we notice our robotic circle of thought.”

Merry
Christmas!

John

‘Tis the season of giving. That’s quite visible on the surface layer. What’s not as observable is the withholding that goes on. It’s more of what you don’t give that has an effect on you.

This goes well past the notion of gifts. The Grasshopper woke me up early this morning with this little nugget wrapped in a bow:

“Whatever you begrudge another, you deny to yourself.”

Imagine this letter:

Dear Santa,

This Christmas I want peace and joy for everyone except the neighbors with the unleashed dog that takes a dump on my lawn.

Hope you enjoy the milk and cookies.

Love,

Johnny

Who are you rooting against? You may as well replace their picture with yours as long as you hold on to that position. There is a direct proportion of self wounding that goes along with what you withhold from another.

If you send a mixed message of “I wish you well,” you can only expect mixed results. You may not see this consequence written in the court house law books, but, nevertheless, it has the force of universal law. In short, if they lose, you lose.

You’re right, it doesn’t seem fair, but remember another gift from The Grasshopper:

“Fair is a Fairy Tale.”

On this we can agree; all wars have casualties. What may not seem as noticeable is that the victor and vanquished are one. They both suffer.

When you begin to recognize everyone as a part of you, begrudging can be seen for the insanity it truly is.

What are you begrudging another this holiday season? Of this you can be certain – whatever it is, it won’t show up under your tree either.

The message I would like us all to take into the holidays and throughout the New Year is this:

Give what you want to receive.

All the best and Happy Holidays!

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

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

http://HypnosisForDogs.com

Who among us hasn’t had an “ah-ha” moment?

Sometimes it’s about something small and sometimes it’s on a grander scale, but we all get them.

It seems the best use of the moment is to put it to use. Reminds me of two stories . . .

I do most of the cooking when I’m at home. I use the oven quite a bit. When the timer goes off, I open the oven, bend down and reach in and get what was baking or broiling. Anyone who cooks will tell you there is a wave of heat that hits you in the face if you don’t delay your bending and reaching in about 5 seconds to let the oven heat dissipate. I’m embarrassed to admit that it took me about 10 heated facials to put my revelation into effect.

I book a lot of hotels for our seminar business. There is a lot of exchanging of paperwork via email and FAX. Many hotels want a copy of the front and back of your credit card to insure that it’s valid. Every time I would book a hotel, I would either go looking through old paperwork for a previous copy I had sent to someone, or rescan the credit card (both time consuming processes).

Sadly, it took over a year for it to dawn on me that I could scan it once and keep it in a file called “credit card copy” and just put it back in there after I was done faxing. It would be readily at my fingertips.

You may refer to me as a slow learner or just plain dumb. I’ll accept either label. The good news about revelations is that they can be quite useful if we recognize them as such and use them.

Then I got a revelation from The Grasshopper about personal revelations.

“A true revelation isn’t something you talk about and then do. It’s the other way around.”

You don’t write your book about revelations until you act on them, otherwise they remain “good ideas” filling up your journal, eventually becoming “what if’s.”

Revelations are precious gifts. When you don’t use them, you’re in effect not offering thanks to the part of you that sent them. If you get in the habit of not saying “Thank you,” the gifts have a way of coming your way less often.

In this gift giving season, remember to say “Thank you” for gifts great and small. The best way to show your gratitude is to use the gift.

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

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

http://HypnosisForDogs.com

“Discover the energy that creates your light” was the most recent message from The Grasshopper (the part of you that lets the truth slip out from time to time).

We have all had the occasion to be around people who light up a room. It could be at a formal or informal gathering. This should not be confused with someone who wears a lampshade or has a polished act. They, for the most part, use artificial lighting. The light that reaches others is a natural light that glows effortlessly. We all want to be illuminated and warmed by their light.

Here’s one of life’s best kept secrets: Everyone has this light but most of us find a way to put a drain on it and, as a result, it doesn’t shine so brightly.

Powering your light to maximum wattage is a 2 step process.

1. Discover the energy source.
2. Find the short circuit curbing this energy and fix it.

Discovering your energy source begins by just taking the time to notice that you are being powered by something. Call it a battery. Sense that energy by simply putting your attention on it. Focus on a part of your body right now and just feel the sensation that’s going on in that part of your anatomy. Pick your hands or feet for starters. Just focusing your attention on a part of your body makes you aware of the energy that’s flowing through it. It’s always there; we just don’t notice. For coaching on this process, I recommend my CD RELAX IN 2 MINUTES.

The drain on our light is the amount of time we spend in our head. Every time you go to “think things over,” again, you siphon off precious energy and your light remains at low wattage. The more time you spend inside your head, the more often you blow a fuse.

You can short circuit your short circuiting by plainly noticing that you’re doing it.

Noticing our thinking apparatus at work is something we rarely do. Our thinking is on automatic pilot generating the same draining thoughts over and over. When we notice our thoughts as an impartial observer, rather than as an unwitting participant, we make a direct connection to our energy source. This is when we shine.

Practice noticing your thinking machine at work. Thinking is the biggest drain of your energy. When you begin to notice, you begin to glow a little brighter.

How you will know this, comes from internal and external clues. Internally, you will feel more peaceful and have a warmth about you. Externally, people will begin commenting on your light. It may take the form of a question or statement such as, “Have you lost weight?” “Are you wearing your hair differently?” “You seem very cheerful.”

They can’t quite figure out what’s different about you but they recognize the difference. You’re beaming more brightly.

If you’re looking for a New Year’s resolution that lasts, make it your mission to discover the energy that creates your light. It’s a truly positive addiction.

Go ahead, I dare you. Make Tinkerbelle jealous!

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

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

http://HypnosisForDogs.com

“What you want gets in the way of your happiness.” What an odd statement, thought I. It came from The Grasshopper and it took a bit of quiet time to get an idea where it points.

Our want machine can be like a spoiled child. “I want what I want and I want it now!” Never mind that it may be toxic to your well-being or short-sighted, we want it and we know best.

Look at a long-term wish. How come it hasn’t happened? There are a number of answers available. Here’s one:

“You under wished and are hanging on.”

That which we manifest in our world comes from a creative source more creative than we are. We stifle that creativity when we get too involved in the process. We take a Picasso and turn it in to a paint-by-numbers.

Reminds me of a story I’m currently involved in . . .

Our company has hired a direct response TV marketing firm to create a commercial for one of our products. My business partner and I both have radio and TV backgrounds. Like anyone within a profession, we look at it with different eyes than someone who did something else for a living. We know the jargon, have the experience, and were successful in our broadcast careers. We have no experience in direct response TV marketing. The temptation is to tell these people what to do. We have resisted that temptation. Our experience, although vast, is tangential to what it is they do. By being the “pain in the ass” client, we may come out with a prettier product, but one that doesn’t sell. What we want may get in the way of our happiness, so we got out of the way.

Directing your creative source is like your high school drama coach giving acting pointers to Meryl Streep.

What if your Fairy Godmother said, “I’ll give you way more than what you want and bring you greater happiness if you just give up your specific wish.” Do you know how low the odds are of us saying yes to that request? We want what we want, and we know best.

Does this mean to stop setting goals? No, goals are healthy and great carrots to keep us moving in a positive direction. The trick is to not be so closed minded as to what a successful outcome has to specifically be. You may be staring at happiness on your front porch and not invite it in because it doesn’t look like the stickman drawing in your mind.

Here’s a suggestion: Set an intention and stop scheming.

That’s a polite way to say, “Get out of the way.”

There may be something waiting for you that’s “way better” than what you doggedly want. You just have to clear a space for it. That simply means, letting go of what you know.

“More Creative Gifts Come To The Ignorant” probably wouldn’t be a best-selling book title, but it would contain a universal truth.

Here’s to not knowing what happiness will look like.

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

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

http://HypnosisForDogs.com

Are you less than whole? My guess is most would say yes.

There seems to be an empty space in most of us that wants to be filled. The truth is that space wants to be noticed.

We treat this space as emptiness when, in fact, it’s wholeness.

The conundrum is we want to fill it up when it’s already full.

Wholeness sends you signals that get misinterpreted. You begin to think you are missing something and go on a trek to find the Holy Grail out there somewhere.

The thinking goes like this: “When I find whatever I am looking for, the emptiness will go away.”

The trap is that your discovery temporarily completes you on a conscious level and you feel full. It’s much like eating Chinese food, an hour later you want more.

The internal knocking you sense is asking you to come inside and discover that you are whole rather than empty. Staying on the surface has you chase one empty lead after another.

We never become less. We only believe we do. Our natural state is wholeness.

Discovering wholeness changes our concept of emptiness. Emptiness is now recognized as a natural space in the ebb and flow of life that wholeness easily fills.

Discovering wholeness ends the wild goose chase that our concept of “less than” leads us on.

The choice is yours. You can continue to fill up on empty calories and stay hungry, or you can discover the natural nourishment of whole foods.

It’s the difference between artificial and real, and you can taste the difference.

All the best,

John

http://JohnMorganHypnosis.com

http://GrasshopperNotes.com

http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan

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

http://HypnosisForDogs.com