Imagined Life

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Imagination
Post Written By Eugene Morgan

“It’s time to start living the life you’ve imagined.”

– Henry James

When we start living the life we’ve imagined, we’re deliberately taking control of our lives. We’re not waiting for opportunities instead we’re looking for opportunities. There will be obstacles getting there but it will be well worth the struggle because we can look back and see what we have accomplished over time.  During our journey we will learn lessons along the way. However, we must be realistic on how we’ve imagined our life so we won’t be disappointed when we do get there.

The Process Of Change

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Change - Its A New Year
Post Written By Eugene Morgan

If you don’t like your outcomes, change your responses. ~ Jack Canfield

What it all boils down to, is making changes. It is easier to complain than to make a change.  Disappointments will weigh on us if we don’t try. It is better to try and fail than to not try at all. Changing is about letting go of the old and taking on the new. We’re satisfied with ourselves when we know we’ve made an effort in making progress. Instead of looking back on the time we have wasted doing nothing, we can look back on the progress we’ve made.  We see that progress was time well spent in the long run because we built a solid foundation to help us to continue on the process of change.

 

Pleasantries and Unpleasantries of Life

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Are you caught in between the patterns of life?

Post Written By Eugene Morgan

It is in our human nature to constantly find an easier way or short cut in dealing with the unpleasantries of life. We forget that up to now in our lives, we have gone through life difficulties. We have accumulated experiential learnings that we can tap into when we’re confronted with another one of life’s difficulties. Going through life’s difficulties is what makes us stronger. Sometimes fear can distort our realities from the assumptions we have made about the problem. The unpleasantries of life are all part of life and not the only part. It is all right to experience the pleasantries of life, however, pleasantries of life is not the only thing in life we experience.

 

 

 

The Person Who’s Always There

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Out there somewhere

Post Written By Eugene Morgan

Each and every one of us has someone in our lives that affected us in a positive way.  The person has been a great support through thick and thin. When we were in self-doubt that person had faith in us. When we were down and out that person had lifted our spirit. When we were lonely that person had kept us company.  The person was there at the beginning when our great  ideas seemed stupid. The person was there during our failures and the person was there during our successes. The person was honest with us when we needed to know the truth. The person was strong for us when we were vulnerable.

Wishing To Go Back

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Streetlight sepia

Post Written By Eugene Morgan

If we’re wishing we were a younger than we are now or to go back in time, then we’re trying to find another excuse for not doing something worthwhile today in our lives. We don’t have to regret the time we’ve lost yesterday or 10 years ago. Our life is a continuous journey. It doesn’t end when an important event happens in our lives instead we change from it and continue on our journey to meet the next big thing. The next big thing will affect and change us to create deeper and meaningful experiences.

 

A Brand New Start

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Now this looks like butter .....

Post Written By Eugene Morgan

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” – Carl Bard

It is never too late to start, if we start now.  Our regrets will be eclipse by starting now. So we no longer have to keep dreaming about what we want to do with our lives. When we do something worthwhile today, then we can look forward to doing it again tomorrow, the next day and so on.  We’re molding our future by starting in the here and now. The future will take care of itself, while we have fun with the only one thing we know, is today.

 

We Own It

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Can We Fix It?
Post Written By Eugene Morgan

Owning something means taking responsibility for the work we do. When something is broken, we fix it or get someone to fix it. We get a sense of pride, when we take on the work as our own. When we think and dream about it, we’re making the work our own.  Not only can we experience pride in our work, but we can also experience a sense of satisfaction in our work. We look forward to doing the work because it has become a part of us now. It is all right to allow ourselves to enjoy what give us self-worth.

Ignorance And Confidence

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Confidence

Post Written By Eugene Morgan

“To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.” – Mark Twain

In other words, we don’t have to know everything about the subject for us to do. We just need confidence and be unafraid to get our hands dirty to find out about things.  If we learn everything first, then it would take a long time to try. But confidence allows us to go ahead with things in spite of not having all the information.  We just need just enough information for us to proceed with things and through trial and error we will learn something about what we’re trying to carry out. The information we gain through trial and error is most valuable.

When We Feel Vulnerable

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Hearts, so vulnerable

Post Written By Eugene Morgan

It is all right to experience the feeling of vulnerability. Showing vulnerability is being transparent. Most of us can identify with vulnerability because everybody has it. Some of us hide vulnerability more than others because some of us think it is a sign of weakness. There is a place and time to put ourselves out and there is a place and time to retreat. If we want to build a stronger bond in our relationships, then we should reveal more about ourselves. We can start by sharing and revealing ourselves with our relationships.

Praise The Effort

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Praise Springs Forth As the Earth Buds
Post Written By Eugene Morgan

It is important that we praise others and ourselves for our efforts. It can be lonely sometimes when it comes to working on something new. So, we need the praises and support of others along the way.  Our efforts sometimes seem to be not enough when we first start out. But if we continue to hang on long enough, then we will see that our efforts are paying off. We just got to wait and see and not be too quick to give up. We will always meet resistance on different levels when it comes to doing something that’s unfamiliar.

 

Experience The Senses

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Day 151
Post Written By Eugene Morgan

The best way to learn is by experience. We can read a manual all day long and have gain knowledge but that knowledge won’t do us any good if we don’t use it through our experiences. We discover more things if we’re experiencing them ourselves. Experiencing life by touching, seeing, smelling and tasting are best way to break up rigid thinking and biases. Rigid thinking and biases are just a short-cut way to interpret reality or our model of the world. Since we’re unique, one’s model of the world is different from another’s model of the world.

Pain and Pleasure

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

IMG_0100

Post Written By Eugene Morgan

“Pain is not punishment; pleasure is not reward.” ~  Pema Chodron

Pain doesn’t have to be in the context of punishment just as pleasure doesn’t have to be in the context of reward. We all have experienced growing pains when we’re learning something new or when we’re struggling. Some pain can be useful. Our body and mind are constantly communicating to us what is painful whether that’s physical and/or emotional. If we’re sitting a certain way too long, our body will let us know, and then, we make adjustments. Pain is good. We all used pleasure as a reward after completing a difficult task. It all depends on how we use pleasure that’s important to us.  We experience pleasures everyday. A nice brisk walk can be pleasurable for one person while reading a good novel can be pleasurable for another.

 

 

Staying On Track

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

On the tracks by Thoreau's place

Post Written By  Eugene Morgan

When we feel like we’re off track, that may mean that we have forgotten who we are and what we want. From time to time, we need to re-center ourselves by going inside ourselves. We need to get back to who we are as unique people and to remind ourselves that we are unique individuals with different perspectives of the world. It is better to be more ourselves than to try to be someone we admire. It is all right to be our best self and let other see that, because then, they will feel freer to be themselves. We all have foibles but we also have strengths that can help us along the way while contributing to something bigger than ourselves.

 

All The Time It Needs

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Endurance patience
Post Written Eugene Morgan

“Patience has all the time it needs.” ― Allan Lokos

If patience has all the time it needs, then impatience waits twice as long. A mind of a patient person is quiet while a mind of an impatient person is stormy. Impatience builds pressure in the human body while patience experiences freedom. Impatience only focuses on the destination while patience enjoys the journey. Patience accepts reality easily while impatience causes disruption. It takes practice to be patient while by our nature we’re impatient. So let us experience more patience while experiencing very little impatience.

Things Coming At Once

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Sunny Room in old Apartment
Post Written By Eugene Morgan

When too many things are coming at us at once, we then can sit back and rank what  thing is most important. When we find what thing is most important, we then can do that one thing until it is completed, and then, we can move on to the next important thing. It is a lot easier this way than wondering what to do next without direction or purpose. When we’re prioritizing we begin to find out our purpose in doing what we’re doing. When we have a purpose, especially in what we’re doing to help others, then it become a labor of love.

It Was Always There

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

136/365 - Blind Spot

Post Written By Eugene Morgan

“How many things have to happen to you before something occurs to you?”
― Robert Frost

We will never see the whole picture of our lives. We all have blind spots. So every time things happen in our lives, we don’t have to react but to find an understanding. Denial is another blind spot. Denial means not wanting to know. Denial is a defense mechanism to protect the ego and is another way of coping without an understanding and/or insight.  But there will come a time when we will experience the “aha moment” and something will occur to us that can be life changing. This usually happens when we just give up our rigid thinking for a moment as our minds open a little wider to see what was always there.

 

Risk And Trust

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Leap of Faith
Post Written By Eugene Morgan

“Vital lives are about action. You can’t feel warmth unless you create it, can’t feel delight until you play, can’t know serendipity unless you risk.”
― Joan Erickson

Risk is the courage to act in spite of our fears. We can never grow if we don’t act. We have become immune to many things we have done up to now because they have become part of our lives. However, when we’re trying something new, we feel some discomfort. When we get into unfamiliar territory, we become anxious about whether we should continue, or reconsider our decisions.   So we sit on the fence about things. Every risk we take always has some sort of personal growth.  But when we do take risks we begin to discover and learn something about ourselves and feel confidence in ourselves. Risking is not only learning to trust one’s self but also trusting others.

What’s Your Legacy

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Labor Legacy

Post Written By Eugene Morgan

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
― Dr. Seuss

In the beginning of our life we’ve learned how to talk, walk and do many other things using our brain and body. When we’ve reached the middle of our life we begin to look back on the body of work, whatever that might be, and hopefully be proud. Then after we’ve lived a long life, we can think about our legacy and how it has and will affect others after we’re long gone. But at the end of our lives we can smile and be grateful that we’ve received the gift of life that we have given the freedom to live our lives because of others countless sacrifices that became their legacy and body of work.

Hang In There

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Hang on!

Post Written By Eugene Morgan

If we just hang in there a little longer, then may be we will see from a distance clearly the ending. When we’re going through a difficult challenge, it is easier to give in and give up than to stay on track.  It is not easy to keep up consistency in everything we do, but we got to make an attempt. And yes, we will slip up at times, but we can get ourselves back up from the ground, get the dust off our paints and continue on down the road of experiences and learning. It is the journey that’s the greatest reward not necessarily the ending.

 

 

The State Of Happiness

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Happiness

Post Written By Eugene Morgan

“I’d far rather be happy than right any day.”

―  Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

There are facts and there are opinions about facts.  We don’t need to convince another if we are right. When we want to always be right all of the time, it presupposes that everyone else is always wrong which may cause division and alienation. It’s all right to have an opinion about things but it is also all right to respect the opinions of others. We can agree to disagree but we can also find common interests.  We can just be happy while enjoying the company of another without trying to convince the other our point of view. Happiness is a state of being. We don’t have to do great things to be happy.