Thank you for reading my blog. I don’t know who most of you are but sincere thanks to you for reading my stories.

Today marks 5 years of getting insights and putting them down for public consumption.

“Insight” is the operative word about these writings because all but a handful of them are about me.

Gaining insight and sharing it is a very personal experience. I haven’t gained insight into the world until I’ve gained insight into myself.

When I do a self critique of my work, I sometimes get the impression that it sounds “preachy.” In defense, I can tell you, with certainty, that I am preaching to the choir. I am leveling any charge at myself before I offer it to you.

I truly believe that you can’t be right for others until you are on the road to being right with yourself. That is always a journey and never an arrival; that’s why I’ll always have something to write and offer insight about.

I’m looking inside at me and trusting that there is a part of you that can relate to that observation.

When I write “you,” I mean “me.”

I encourage you to write about your insight. It’s soul cleansing of the highest order and if others benefit by it, it’s an added bonus.

Thank you for reading about me and perhaps finding some insight into you that you didn’t previously see.

All the best,

John

JOHN MORGAN COACHING

LOSE WEIGHT & KEEP IT OFF

STOP SMOKING FOREVER

ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING

I LOVE MY BODY

SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT

IMPROVE YOUR SELF IMAGE

RELAX IN 2 MINUTES

FEEL FOREVER YOUNG

VIRTUAL MASSAGE

I believe there is a battle going on between “self-righteous” and “getting right” and one is the hands-down winner. Can you guess which one?

Self-righteous is defined as having an unfounded certainty that one is correct or morally superior. Getting right is the absolute certainty that we’re doing it all wrong and acting to counter that certainty.

Self-righteous wins most of the time and, yet, the victories feel hollow because we know we’ve cheated to get the win.

Please don’t begin to count the times you’ve avoided getting right in order to remain self-righteous, because you would spend the rest of your waking days counting. It would be better to notice self-righteous the next time it shows up and interrupt it. That way, we have a chance for getting right to get a few more wins.

Getting right begins with us. We have to get ourselves right before we present ourselves with certainty to others. Too often we let self-righteous pretend to be us and we present a distorted view of the person known as you.

Getting right is based in verifiable certainty. Quoting famed astronomer, Carl Sagan, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”

Self-righteous, by definition, lacks evidence.

Getting right is noticing that we’re playing dodge ball with the evidence, and each time we avoid getting hit, it makes us more self-righteous.

Shifting metaphors, we’ve got to right our own ship before we can sail with any certainty.

Getting right doesn’t mean getting perfect; it means heading in a direction of verifiable certainty.

Getting right requires steps; self-righteous is staying stuck in the smug.

I don’t know what getting right is for you, but you do. If you don’t takes steps in that direction, you’ll remain in a pile of self-righteous do-do.

All the best,

John

JOHN MORGAN COACHING

LOSE WEIGHT & KEEP IT OFF

STOP SMOKING FOREVER

ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING

I LOVE MY BODY

SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT

IMPROVE YOUR SELF IMAGE

RELAX IN 2 MINUTES

FEEL FOREVER YOUNG

How often do we spend time reinforcing what we know? That’s not learning; that’s practicing what we currently believe.

We are unlikely to learn something new when we postulate what we already know. Reminds me of a story . . .

I listen to a golf analyst on TV who asks the reporters following the players on the course questions he already knows the answers to. In my opinion, he does it in an attempt to appear more knowledgeable in the eye of the viewer. He asks the question as though he doesn’t know the answer and when the reporter validates his observation, he gets his kudos. “Does that putt have about 1 foot of break in it, Bill?’ “Right you are Harry, 1 foot of break.” He does it all the time.

You could argue that he is letting the viewers in on his knowledge of the golf course and adding to their experience, but he’s not learning anything new.

A teacher telling you only what they already know is like a parrot. When they set the environment to one of discovery, you both learn.

Every moment with another living creature can be a learning experience if we shed the mantle of what we know.

What we know gets in the way of what can be known.

When we only impart what we know, it’s a one-way communication – top down, if you will. We are so focused on what we have to say, we miss half of what’s being communicated.

Other people are a learning laboratory. They can teach us so much if we’re willing to become students of human nature.

Know-it-alls are done learning and it’s hard to learn from them because the environment they set has the feel of a long, drawn out sermon. If someone’s making you snooze, you both lose.

If you truly want to learn something new, pay attention to who’s in front of you, then every encounter can be a teachable moment.

All the best,

John

JOHN MORGAN COACHING

LOSE WEIGHT & KEEP IT OFF

STOP SMOKING FOREVER

ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING

I LOVE MY BODY

SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT

IMPROVE YOUR SELF IMAGE

RELAX IN 2 MINUTES

FEEL FOREVER YOUNG

The “Bucket List” has been described as the things you want to do before you die. I have an alternate view. I believe many people have those things catalogued as things that have to happen before they live.

In other words, we put off living until we do one or more of the things on our list. That list of things may never happen; in fact, they have a good chance of not happening. So you die without living.

I wonder how many people on their death bed lament that they never went to Hawaii. My guess is few or none.

It seems the real goal is to fill up your bucket with living, not to postpone living.

When “X” has to be in place for you to live, you lessen your chances for living.

I believe the creation of a Bucket List indicates that people are dying to live, but are putting that living off to some future date.

Here’s a novel idea: Live now!

Each moment presents us with the opportunity to live now, but we ignore that invitation hoping that we’ll get a better offer somewhere down the line.

Please continue to make lists of things you would like to do; they are tasty carrots that keep us motivated. Just don’t make the mistake of waiting to live in the process.

Final thought: If you are waiting to live, your bucket has a hole in it.

All the best,

John

JOHN MORGAN COACHING

LOSE WEIGHT & KEEP IT OFF

STOP SMOKING FOREVER

ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING

I LOVE MY BODY

SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT

IMPROVE YOUR SELF IMAGE

RELAX IN 2 MINUTES

FEEL FOREVER YOUNG

I’ve never considered myself a relationship expert but I do have an observation worthy of consideration.

If you have been in any sort of a relationship that had a less than happy ending, the following idea has to fade away from your belief system in order for your feelings about that relationship to resolve – “I played no part.”

There is tension still held with many relationships that have long since been over, even with people who have since died.

We have relationships with all sorts of people – Parents, partners, friends, clients, neighbors, co-workers and family. When one of these connections disconnects, you will hold tension as long as you buy into “I played no part.”

The denial of your role in the relationship unraveling keeps that role alive. You may attempt to bury it, but like a beach ball you can’t hold it underwater forever. That tension will surface.

You may make an elegant case about not playing a part, and you may even enlist people to agree with you, but a part of you will remain disagreeable as long as you disagree that you played a part.

You may have even evolved to wanting nothing to do with that person, but the tension will remain if you continue to play this game.

You may even appear civil if you happen to be in their company, but the underlying tension keeps you from making a real connection. The postscript on the encounter is that it still feels tense.

The remedy is to find and acknowledge your part. It may have only been a cameo, but until you acknowledge you were in that film, the tension will not fall to the cutting room floor.

Notice how easy it is to acknowledge their part. It has to become that easy for you to recognize yours as well, otherwise the tension will continue to swell.

I don’t believe you’ll ever arrive to the point of forgiveness until you acknowledge your part. The good news is you don’t need to announce it to the world, only admit it to yourself.

This admission will pave the way to leave that tension back in the day.

All the best,

John

I need an infusion of ___________. Fill in the blank and you’ll find your magic bullet – the one that, if you got it, you’d probably wind up shooting yourself in the foot with.

Lots of people fill in the blank with money; businesses use the word “capital.” Tired people cite “energy,” and wallflowers say “confidence.”

There are so many ways to fill in that blank, but I suggest that you leave it blank by letting it fill up on its own. That happens by asking a question rather than making a statement.

“What do I need an infusion of?” opens you up to more possibilities than a narrow statement of conjecture.

When we look for solutions, we too often fish in a very small pond. That leaves us with limited fish to fry. The usual practices bring the usual results.

A question takes you to a bigger fishing hole with a sea of possibility.

Take the lottery winner or the failing business owner who gets a “needed” loan as examples. Both get what they think they need – an infusion of money or capital. If the business keeps the same practices in place, how long before they need another infusion? If the lottery winner’s mindset about money doesn’t change, how soon will they turn into MC Hammer?

Get in the habit of being curious. Ask questions rather than making statements. Stop knowing the answer that won’t work for you and wonder about the one that will.

Infusing yourself with mother’s little helpers or Red Bull may get you over the hump, but continuing those practices gets you humped.

Start to wonder and let your mind wander through infinite possibilities rather than fixating on short-term fixes.

Most people do not learn from their mistakes; they just repeat them by looking for a specific infusion.

Our patterned mind comes up with patterned solutions. Asking questions allows our curiosity to take us deep sea fishing. It’s a way to fill in the blank with long-term solutions rather than the resulting confusion of temporary infusion.

All the best,

John