The Grasshopper went “Annie” on me this morning when he said, “Sun in the morning, angels warning.”

It took me a few moments to process his offering and “Illumination” was the overarching message.

Whether the sun is visible or not, it’s always present. It may be obscured by a cloud, or shining on another part of our world, but it’s there.

The angel’s warning is not to fall into the trap that when illumination is not shining on you that it’s not available. It is.

Sometimes it gets clouded over by too much thinking, or gets crowded out by envy of others who we perceive live in a sunnier environment. You have as much access to illumination as anyone currently on earth, or who has ever lived.

Once you know it’s available, it’s just a matter of finding ways to sun yourself.

A quiet mind is the quickest portal I know to endless sunshine. When your mind gets quiet, you bask in the golden rays of illumination. As the Grasshopper reminded us in the past, “Serenity is the birthplace of creativity.”

There are many routes to a quiet mind and if you haven’t pursued one yet, I’m betting your disposition is less than sunny. Allow me to amend the words of one of the most famous sunshine sayings, “A day without orange juice is like a day without sunshine.” If you substitute the word “quiet” for the words “orange juice,” you have a proper warning.

If you are living under a dark cloud, I heartily recommend finding a way to a quiet mind. There are countless ways to get quiet; you just have to step off in the direction of your choice.

One of the easiest ways to begin is to take a few moments to notice what’s going on in your body. The more you focus on the sensations in your body, the less focus you have for the thoughts in your mind. Do my Relax in 2 Minutes routine which requires doing an inventory of your body parts and noticing the sensations going on in each of them. It’s just one of the ways to spread your blanket out on the beach and catch some rays.

Let any glimpse of sunshine act as a reminder that illumination is one less thought away.

All the best,

John

JOHN MORGAN COACHING
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You can’t see it on the horizon, so I’m asking you to take it on faith that it’s there. If you’ve already experienced it, you know I’m not making this up. If you haven’t experienced it yet, this warning sign may seem like it’s for someone else, certainly not you.

You will approach this fork in your life. The easiest way to know you are there is the attitude you have when you approach it. The telltale sign you are at the fork is finding yourself constantly asking the question: “Is this all there is?”

There aren’t road signs telling you where each fork goes, but you will head down one of these roads. Since I’ve been down both, I will label the destinations for you – Superficial and Substance.

It’s my experience that people rarely make Substance their first choice; it certainly wasn’t mine. It’s the road less travelled. Superficial is the one we most often pick. It’s like the main drag into Vegas – glitz everywhere you look. It looks like the Promised Land, but the road to Superficial is littered with broken promises.

The road to Superficial leads away from reward, or more accurately stated, away from a rewarding existence. It certainly looks like it will fulfill all our hopes and dreams, but at the risk of sounding sarcastic, “Dream on.”

Superficial simply put is: “The search out there.” It’s where the horizon lures you to, yet, one more grab for gusto and, again, you come up with a handful of air.

It’s really not our fault that we willingly travel this road. We’ve been conditioned to do so our entire lives. You can’t live in our culture and not be affected by the ever present promise that what you need is “out there.”

Sadly, it may take many crashes on the road to Superficial to convince you that you’re in a never ending bumper car race – a loop to nowhere.

It takes a lot of courage to say the following: “Stop the ride; I want to get off!” Your whole world view is at risk and you have to face the fact that you’ve been chasing your tailpipe.

Recognition that you are stuck on the road to Superficial is the first step to opening your eyes to the exit ramp for Substance.

The road signs for substance will lead you back home – “in here.”

“Out there” is filled with tasty treats and trinkets but lacks the substance you can only find “in here.”

You may not know you are stuck on Superficial Highway, so let me offer you this landmark: You’re there if, at the end of each day, you find that you’re still lost. Being lost takes many forms – Depression, drugs, detachment, divorce, denial, drowning your doldrums and many other things that don’t begin with the letter “D.”

When you end the search for superficial, substance finds you. You no longer attempt to fill a hole in your soul, but rather find out you were whole all along.

Substance feels better than superficial. It makes you comfortable in your own skin, and keeps you from continually skinning your shins to feel alive.

It’s not my intention for you not to choose Superficial, because the chances are good that you will. My request is that you keep this post in your glove compartment and use it as a roadmap where you get tired of being lost.

All the best,

John

JOHN MORGAN COACHING
ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING
LOSE WEIGHT & KEEP IT OFF
STOP SMOKING FOREVER
SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT EVERY NIGHT
IMPROVE YOUR SELF CONFIDENCE
I LOVE MY BODY
RELAX IN 2 MINUTES
FEEL FOREVER YOUNG
VIRTUAL MASSAGE

I’ve met special people along the way who have uncanny abilities of knowing something without knowing how they know. That list includes everyone I have ever met. We are all psychic.

When you have a flash of something that’s about to happen before it happens, you may label it coincidence, a hunch, a feeling, a vibe or something else. Some would call that experience psychic.

Regardless of the label, how does it happen? I don’t know “the” answer, but I do have a suspicion based on experience.

Perhaps a story would be helpful . . .

Years ago, I was a program director for a few radio stations and a consultant for a couple of others. There were a lot of people who reported to me over the years. One day while reflecting back on those days, it occurred to me that I never fired anyone I ever hired. I certainly had to let people go for a variety of reasons, but never anyone I ever hired. It wasn’t out of loyalty that I kept these people on; they were truly earning their keep. How did I know who to hire?

I also had the ability to know who was or wasn’t performing well in other departments at the stations, departments that I had no expertise with. At one station, they even sent the new sales people to me and asked for my evaluation.

Was I given some special gift? The answer is “Yes.” It’s the same gift we all have – The gift of attention.

I didn’t realize how I accessed this “psychic” ability until years later. It seems when you place your attention on another human being, you find out things about them without these things ever being vocalized.

Reminds me of another story . . . I was conducting a seminar in Burlington, Vermont about 7 years ago and was greeting people in the room before the seminar began. I came upon three young women who were clad in business attire. We were just exchanging hellos and pleasantries and out of the blue I asked, “Is one of you a really good dancer?” Two of the woman laughed and the third one turned a bit red. I asked what was so funny. It turns out that one of the women danced at a topless nightclub.

Her garb and her appearance were no different than that of her two friends, so there was no visual clue as to how I was clued in. If this was an isolated example, I would discount it. It happens frequently.

Placing your attention on someone means that when you interact with them, whether in person, on the telephone or via Skype, that you get out of the commentary in your own head and place all of your attention on them for a time. You can always reel your attention back in. When you are “all inside” with your attention, you have to rely on only the facts. And we all know that facts only tell part of the story. If you want to go deeper than the headline, have your attention move to another.

When you interrupt the commentary in your head and place your attention “over there,” you have access to information that you would never get in a tit-for-tat conversation or just by judging the facts.

If you have more insight into other humans than the average bear, I would place a large bet that you get your attention off of you and on to another more often than not.

It’s easy enough to practice. You can do it with any interaction you’re involved in. Just take a moment to stop evaluating what’s going on in your head and place that attention on another. Just listen and observe without judging or evaluating. With a little practice, you will open up a conduit between you and them that allows “other than conscious” information to flow. Don’t act too surprised if they express knowing something about you too.

The gift of attention attracts a wealth of information. It’s another application of the biblical phrase, “You get back what you give.”

All the best,

John

JOHN MORGAN COACHING
ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING
LOSE WEIGHT & KEEP IT OFF
STOP SMOKING FOREVER
SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT EVERY NIGHT
IMPROVE YOUR SELF CONFIDENCE
I LOVE MY BODY
RELAX IN 2 MINUTES
FEEL FOREVER YOUNG
VIRTUAL MASSAGE