Post Written By Eugene Morgan
“Set peace of mind as your highest goal, and organize your life around it.”— Brian Tracy
Rigidity
When We’re Challenged
Post Written By Eugene Morgan
When we are challenged or we challenge ourselves, it may mean that we want to break through our rigid ideas. Being challenged gives us the opportunity to break free from our own restrictions. Being challenged means to go beyond our comfort zone. Being challenged means to find out what we’re made of. Being challenged is about self-discoveries. If we challenge ourselves, there is an opportunity for possibilities. Being challenged implies that there is more potential inside us than we know. If we take on the challenge, then growth is inevitable. If we take on the challenge, then learning something is certain.
Creativity and Choices
Post Written By Eugene Morgan
Creativity is another opportunity to have more choices in one’s life. Creativity is thinking differently than before. Creativity is revelation to something that we don’t know about. Creativity is the result of our imagination. Imagination is the expression of our creativity. Creativity is permissible. Creativity is without judgments. Creativity is a tool to help to get around the closed doors— rigid thinking. Creativity is another form of choice. Creativity helps us to see beyond what seemed at the time impossible. It is in the way we think about things that we have an opportunity and ability to expand our mind.
When It’s Time for Discipline
Post Written By Eugene Morgan
It is time for discipline when we’re too tired to go on. It is time for discipline when we don’t have time to spare. It is time for discipline when emotions and feelings are controlling us. It is time for discipline when our rigid ideas are keeping us away from what we wish to do. It is time for discipline when we began to doubt our self and ability. It is time for discipline when we begin to feel uncertainty. It is time for discipline when we’re disorganized and undisciplined. Discipline helps us move on in spite of life’s difficulties. We need discipline in our lives to keep us together in time of need.
Bringing Down Rigidity and Uplifting Possibilities
Post Written By Eugene Morgan
When we bring down rigidity, we can see clearly the direction we want to go in our lives. Sometimes we frame things in a way we can’t see the alternatives.
When we exercise our minds to look for alternatives, our scope of the event enlarges. When we enlarge our scope, then we see possibilities.
We see possibilities that we didn’t see before because of our rigid frames of reference. Possibilities were always there, we just weren’t looking for them.
Once we see what’s possible, we can never resort back to the rigid frames. Let us open our minds for new possibilities to our lives and rekindle and stimulate motivation to do what we’re meant to be.
You Have The Power Within To Follow Your Own Path
Post Written By Eugene Morgan
Our internal resource is our power to move things in our lives; resources that we have acquired over our lives through our experiences.
As long as we’re learning new experiences, we’re accumulating our power. The problem for most of us is learning to get access to our resources to help us to succeed in life.
Our limited frames of reference, our biases and our limitations tend to get in the way. These are the challenges that we have to contend with thus freeing some of these things so we can use what we already have within.
We tend to give our power away when we don’t follow our own path in life. The power within us can free us from our biases, only if we open our minds up for new ideas and follow our own path.
Surprise, Shock, and Affirmations
Post Written By Eugene Morgan
Being surprise is a temporary moment when our minds open up and want to grab hold of something meaningful before the moment of surprise disappears.
Milton Erickson uses shock and surprise with his students and his subjects to get them out of rigid mind sets. His subject is caught off guard and is looking for something to make sense of what just happened.
Erickson would say something shocking or surprising to his subjects. This awakens the unconscious mind, and is ready for a suggestion.
The suggestion helps break up the rigidity of the conscious mind and appeal to the unconscious mind.
So the next time we find ourselves surprised or in a shock, we can say to ourselves positive affirmations, such as “I have a vast storehouse of experiences and knowledge forged with integrity.” “I am unique in every way.”
Craft it Out of a Routine
Written By Eugene Morgan
When it comes to our craft or whatever we do in life, there’s always room for growth. It took us a long time to learn a craft. When we’re learning something new, it is usually conscious learning, and once it’s learned it becomes unconscious.
In other words, whatever we learn eventually becomes routine; we don’t think about it anymore because it’s out of our consciousness. But some routines are good, and for the most part, are satisfying enough to no longer think about improving them, such as, standing or walking is something we do everyday.
But there are some routines we may want to improve on, like speaking in front of a group and developing listening skills. Routines can make life dull, but if we keep improving our craft or take up something new, then it can make a difference in our lives.
Are We Normal?
Written by Eugene Morgan
What is normal? It depends on the context of the situation. We understand that it’s okay to see a toddler with a temper tantrum. On the other hand, when we see an adult displays a temper tantrum like a child would, then we know that’s not normal. All of us have exhibited behavior that witnesses have questioned.
Milton Erickson defines abnormally as anything that falls into the group of useless behaviors. Useless behaviors are developed from the rigidity of our conscious minds that prevents our unconscious minds from using their storehouse of experiences. Experiences are our resources that we can use to aid in change.
Getting Back to Riddles & Puzzles
Written by Eugene Morgan
Riddles and puzzles’ function are to stretch our minds. Riddles and puzzles are a good exercise for the mind. Riddles and puzzles are not designed to give up answers easily. We have to work for them. Sometimes, we give up too soon and get upset with ourselves, only to kick ourselves after looking at the answer in the answer section of the book.
However when we do work for the answer to a puzzle, we’re rewarded with “aha moment” —a feeling of satisfaction, a glimpse of enlightenment and understanding, and with a gold nugget of new perspectives. Milton Erickson enjoys using riddles and puzzles to help the subjects to expand their minds.
Fearing Little is the Only Way Out
Written By Eugene Morgan
“And what do you need to fear? Very little that you need to fear.” Milton Erickson
Fear is a feeling. Fear saves lives. Fear is paralyzing. Fear speaks the truth about something. Fear speaks lies, too. Our assumptions about things can fuel a fear. Fear, if not felt, is projecting into something threatening that doesn’t exist. Fear is very real but a perceived danger isn’t. There are big fears and little fears. Big fears are unmanageable but if broken down into smaller fears— manageable. Erickson, says in his above quote, there is very little that we need to fear.