Over The Rainbow – Recorded Version
Here is the recorded version of the Grasshopper Note for the week of 6-8-20.
Read the written version here.
Be Sociable, Share!
Here is the recorded version of the Grasshopper Note for the week of 6-8-20.
Read the written version here.
The Grasshopper joined me during my walk yesterday and delivered this obvious piece of wisdom: “When you overcommit, you under-deliver.”
When you keep adding to an already full plate, whatever you promise, if it ever comes, will be way late.
Think of any major building project you’ve heard about over the years. I think of Boston’s “Big Dig.” It was a major highway project begun over 20 years ago and I remember the politicians and the construction company citing budgets they would adhere to and dates it would be completed by. I also remember laughing aloud. It easily cost 10 times more than they said and completion was years behind schedule.
That’s under-delivering on the macro level, but what about commitments on the micro level – the ones we’re in charge of?
How often do you say “yes” when you know it should be “no”? You may think you are placating the person(s) being “yessed,” but the end result is disappointment. You gain the reputation of not being able to be taken at your word.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before but whenever you hear hyperbole from someone, run in the opposite direction because that person will inevitably disappoint. But you may not be a braggart but when you continually don’t come through, that’s when people discover they can’t count on you.
When “yes” is a lie, your nose may not grow but your reputation for disappointment will expand, and your under-delivering will get out of hand.
Which of these would you like to be known as?
1. He/She means well.
2. You can count on her or him.
When you do what you say you’re going to do, people will know they can count on you.
All the best,
John
Listen to the recorded version.
When I was a kid, I remember buying a book to help me increase my vocabulary. One of the words in there was “Cacophony.”
The New Oxford American Dictionary defies it as, “a harsh discordant mixture of sounds.” In short, noise.
You may be looking to create something new in your life but your creativity will be thwarted at every turn, unless you turn down the noise in your mind.
Creativity feeds on silence, not din.
When incessant mental conversations take up all the space in your mind, there is no room for a creative thought. Think of a walkie-talkie. When you push the talk switch, you cannot receive. The same is true with your mind. One of the secrets of the universe may be ready to come to mind, but you may be too busy blabbing to yourself to make room for it.
Want more creativity to enter your mind? Find a way to leave your thoughts behind, at least for a while.
If you don’t have a mind quieting practice, get one. There are many to choose from and they all work, when you work at them. One of them takes about 10-15 seconds and I write about it in my free ebook available at https://grasshoppernotes.com. Here’s an excerpt:
This “clean-up-your-thinking” exercise is one I learned by listening to a recording from Jerry Stocking. I met Jerry in 1988 at a seminar we were attending conducted by Dr. Dave Dobson.
Jerry writes books and conducts seminars and is a world-class teacher on how your mind works. This 10-second exercise came from one of Jerry’s students.
It seems like it could never work, but it does:
1. Move your eyes up and make a picture of something either a remembered or created picture. It can be of anyone or anything. It doesn’t matter.
2. Move your eyes down and left and hear an external sound.
3. Move your eyes down and right and feel a sensation going on
in your body. It could be as simple as your shoe pressure against your toe.Then, close your eyes for about five seconds. That’s it! You’re done.
How is this exercise effective? By getting you out of your head. You may be inside your head making pictures that are giving you unwanted sensations in your body. You may have feelings or sensations that are producing less-than-elegant pictures in your head or bothersome internal conversations. In short, noise.
When you get some spaces between your thoughts, which this exercise will produce, you quietly open the door to creativity.
You may have a better way, but no matter how great your mind quieting exercise is, it won’t produce results unless you use it, and use it often.
Allow me to leave you with this pearl of wisdom: “A noisy noise annoys an oyster most.”
Want more precious creativity? Clam up!
All the best,
John
Below is a recorded version.
I often refer to thoughts as “popping in.” I’ve come to prefer a new descriptive word for how thoughts come to my conscious attention: Arising.
Thoughts arise within us; they don’t come from somewhere out there, which “popping in” suggests.
Where do these thoughts arise from?
Two places, as best as I can tell.
1. Our Subconscious
2. Our Observer.
The thoughts arising from our subconscious are conditioned thoughts. We’ve had them before and we’ll have them again.
The thoughts that arise from our observer are new, and fresh as a daisy.
Our thoughts are not coming from the azure skies; they’re arising from within.
The thoughts that come from our conditioning are often laden with emotion and fear. The thoughts that arise from the unemotional observation of our mind at work are creative and eye-opening.
Want more creativity to arise? Recognize that the answers you long for are already in you, not out there in the skies of blue.
All the best,
John
Below is the recorded version.
Here is the recorded version of the Grasshopper Note for the week of 5-25-20.
You can also read the text by clicking here.
Below is the audio version of the weekly Grasshopper Note for 6-1-20.
You can also read the text by clicking here.