Accepting Inconveniences as a Part of Life

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Acceptance, Ericksonian Principles

snow on the road
Written By Eugene Morgan

Sometimes we think certain things limit us from doing what we want. So we try to plan for options that would put excitement in our lives. But the reality is that we will always have inconveniences in our lives. Inconveniences are a part of life.

We have to learn to accept everything that comes our way and learns to make adjustments upon their arrival. No one wants to feel physical or emotional pain.

Must of us would rather do without pain, but we can’t do without pain. Pain is a barometer to let us know how far we can go. It keeps us alive. The pain is telling us how much we can bear in a certain situation. So pain is good for us most of the time.




Conquering the small stuff First

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Bricks by the Bay 2011
Post Written By Eugene Morgan

Yes, it is hard to start a new project just as it is hard to complete one. If we just focus only on how difficulty it’s to start or complete a project then we won’t start or complete one.

It’s all right to look at the end (the completed project). We need to be teased a little to get the ball rolling. It helps to be teased to get the ball rolling.

Instead of being overwhelmed about starting a new project, break up the project into smaller and manageable projects. We have a tendency to only look at the entirety of the project, which creates overwhelming feelings.

When Views are influenced

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: change, Ericksonian Principles, Perspectives

Post Written By Eugene Morgan

After we have renewed ourselves visiting our loved-ones, we can take on the days ahead. Our unconscious mind is altered when we visit someone who we haven’t seen for a while.

It is because each one of us brings to gathering different points of view from different backgrounds. We’re changed a little after a gathering of people.

It’s interesting when we bring up what’s current in the news and develop a discussion and even a little debate about them.  We each have slightly different versions or more information about what’s now in the news whether it’s about taxes or politics.

 

 

Thanksgiving

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Appreciation, Ericksonian Principles

Thanksgiving, 25 Nov 2010. The table is ready... and so are the people.
Post Written By Eugene Morgan

Thanksgiving is a time to get together with families and friends. It’s a stressful time as well. Some of us have families far away to meet and some of us don’t have any families at all.

Thanksgiving is a time to catch up on what the other has done for the past year.  Some of us see thanksgiving as just another day. For however we see it, we can still be thankful for what we have in our personal lives.

Sometimes we are led to believe that buying or having more things will make us happy.  It is not true that money can buy happiness.

A reporter once asked a father, who lived in one of the poorest third world countries, about what made him happy, the father answered with a smile, his family— and that’s saying a lot.

 

 

Can Adults Learn From Children?

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: curiosity, Ericksonian Principles, Freedom, Perspectives, Simplicity

touch
Post Written By Eugene Morgan

What can we learn from children? A child likes to explore freely without limits. A child is not afraid to make a mistake when learning something new.

A child enjoys learning new things while playing. A child looks at things from a different view than an adult. Everything a child sees is from a clean slate.

Everything a child explores is new.  A child enjoys listening to stories. A child enjoys touching everything with his or her hands which includes tasting everything else.

A child can do anything, as long there’s a parent present to keep the child safe. Exploration and experience is a reoccurring theme that we can learn from a child. Scientists, archeologists, anthropologists, researchers are really children in grown up bodies.

How do we Define a Problem

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles, Frame of reference

Math
Post Written By Eugene Morgan

What is a problem?  What criteria do we use to define a problem? Our criteria are a set of values we place on our external and inner world that’s in some way affecting us.

What one person may think it’s a problem may not be a problem for another.  A problem is some kind of internal or external events we define by our criteria. It also depends on how much value one places on an event that’s being affected is how much one defines it as a problem.

We all experienced our ups and downs, but it’s the way we respond to events that determines whether we see them as a problem. If we do define an event that’s affecting us as problem, then we can ask ourselves how can we learn from this event, or how can we turn it around into something positive.

 

Surprise, Shock, and Affirmations

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles, Rigidity, Surprise

Surprise!
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.”

Accepting All Parts of Us

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Abilities, Acceptance, Ericksonian Principles

meditation
Post Written By Eugene Morgan

Do we know ourselves? If we knew more about ourselves, we could make better decisions. It’s all right to have our likes as well as know about our dislikes. It’s all right to have strengths as well as know about our weaknesses.

It’s all right to feel vulnerable in front of close friends. It’s all right to feel  secure in ourselves as well as know about our insecurities.  Life isn’t about being perfect but being genuine and honest with ourselves, which means to accept all parts of us.

We’re more accepting of each other when we show our humanity and our vulnerability than if we show our superiority.  Showing superiority is only a cover up for feeling inferior.

It’s all right to know that about ourselves, because when we see this superiority complex in others, we’re not so quick to react to them but to express our understanding and acceptance.

On Being Emotionally Free

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles, Resistance

Agony
Post Written By Eugene Morgan

What we feel is very important to us.  When we hurt emotionally, we need to feel our pain to heal.  Sometimes we raise our shields, when we don’t want to face a painful memory, or a painful truth about ourselves.

We need to feel the most, when it’s the most painful. It’s better to let go of painful feelings than to keep them inside us.  Emotion is energy in motion.  Feelings are like a pocket of air; we need to burp them out.

If we don’t burp them out, the air pocket creates more discomfort. Thus, we becomes more preoccupied with the discomfort and forget about what caused the painful feelings in the first place.  Let us be free of painful emotions and move forward.

We Live For Passion

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Kit flying scenes from the Morro Bay, CA Parade and Kite Festival, 25 April 2009
Written By Eugene Morgan

What are some of the things we’re passionate about? Our passions are our labor of love. Passion is a great motivator; it fuels our actions. Work, family, or some sort of hobby are one’s passion.

While we’re doing something else, we can look forward to the things we’re passionate about.  Life without passion is dull, we need passion in our lives; we live for passion.

It’s our favorite past-time sport like football, or the Olympics. Most of us are passionate learners. Passion is a good motivator for doing difficult chores.  For example, we can, after we clean the house, reward ourselves with one of our favorite passions.

Creative Exercise

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles, lateral thinking exercise

Open book
Written By Eugene Morgan

Sometimes we want ideas to come to us quickly, but that’s not usually the case. Instead of waiting for an idea, we can do various exercises to stimulate our minds.

One good exercise, is to read a book starting with the last page and guess or predict what’s on the previous page.  This exercise will help in getting us to think in multiple ways not just think one way.

Another way of enhancing our ability to come up with new ideas, is to first think of a problem, get a dictionary and close our eyes while opening the dictionary and point to a page. And then we open our eyes to see what word is pointed to.  Then we think of how we can use the word in relationship to solving a problem.

Happiness Requires Great Labor

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Acceptance, Appreciation, Ericksonian Principles

Happiness
Written By Eugene Morgan

If we know what things make us happy, why don’t we pursue them?  What stops us from pursuing what matters to us? What we want is just a dream, if we don’t pursue and make a plan.

We need a plan or a direction or a goal to keep on track on what we want in life.  How can we know about happiness if there is no rain?  Are the things we want in our lives will make us happy?  We’ve heard this cliché, “the grass is not always greener on the other side.”

Is life about being happy all the time or is life about learning, and making someone else happy. Happiness is something we do and something done to us. Happiness requires great labor if we want it.

In some many ways, we already have what we want; we just need a change in our attitude. A change in our surroundings is only temporary. But a change in our attitude makes us thankful for what we already have, that’s what makes us happy.

Start Today, Not Tomorrow

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles, Goal

@ Work
Written By Eugene Morgan

Procrastination likes to eat our time up. Why do we wait for tomorrow to start a new project, when we have today? We do expect tomorrow will come, but what is certain is that we have today.

Today is a time for productivity, because if we don’t start now, we will both stall on the project and start it a year from now or we won’t ever start a project at all.

This is why we have reasoning, because we can’t rely on a feeling to motivate us to start a new project; feelings come and feelings go. However, when we do start a project today, eventually our feelings will follow.

Give a little encouragement

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles, Praise

helping hand
Written By Eugene Morgan

When we see potential in others, we are really seeing potential in ourselves and that’s a good thing. If we encourage someone about his or her potential, maybe we can encourage ourselves as well to development something out of our potentials. Those who we encouraged will more likely encourage us. When this happens it creates a support system for one another. We all need support from one another because we’re all in it together. We need encouragement the most when we’re about to give up on a dream. Sometimes we need a little encouragement to get over the hump in our lives.

Body Knowledge

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Can you tell what body part that is?!
Written By Eugene Morgan

We don’t realize how much learnings we have acquired over the years because we don’t give it a second thought about it.  Since infancy we have discovered our right hand by trying to grab hold of our right hand with our right hand.

Then our right hand discovered our left hand when the right hand tried to grab hold of the left hand.  As a result, we learned to find our body in relationship with our body parts.

This is what Milton Erickson observed over the years starting with his baby sister and continued with his own children during their developmental growth.

He realized how much learning goes into learning just how to stand. This perked his curiosity when he had to relearn how to walk again.  When we became adults, all these learnings were long forgotten, but they’re still there inside us.

Deleting Our Past

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Emotions, Ericksonian Principles

Glint in the eye
Written By Eugene Morgan

There are things in our lives we wish we could delete. It is easier to delete a word or a sentence from our computer than to delete something in our lives that we don’t want to face.  These issues will always come up for us.  Pop psychology would call this “unfinished business.”

Feelings and emotions come up and we don’t know why.  We all experienced a tear flowing down our cheeks and we don’t know why that is.  We’re not thinking about anything particular that would cause that.

A sound, a word, an image can trigger something from our past.  There are  things we aren’t aware of or things we’ve forgotten about that can be a trigger from our past.

How can we put perspective on our unfinished business? Well, the past will always be in the past, there is no turning back. But current events in our lives that trigger feeling and emotions are just indicators that we must stand back and look consciously at what those are and deal with them properly.

Teaching and Learning

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles, Teaching

{6}52: Reading.
Written By Eugene Morgan

What’s the difference between teaching us something and learning something? Teaching ourselves something means guiding and directing and making sure we’re on the right track of things.

Learning is our way of experiencing something.  How do we react or act in certain situation is a learning experience, something we learn about ourselves.  Teaching the self and learning about the self, are two different approaches.

However, learning and teaching can also work hand in hand.  Teaching guides the way we learn about things, while learning show us things that can teach us about ourselves.

Down to earth Truisms

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles, Truisms

elliots sunrise5
Written By Eugene Morgan

What is a truism?  Truism is something we experience on a daily basis that we know it’s true.  For example, we know based on experience that the sun will rise.

When we throw a ball up in the air, we know it will fall down to earth. When the temperature drops, we wear sometimes to keep our bodies warm. When the temperature is higher than 90 degrees, we take off a layer or two of clothing to get comfortable.

When we’re hungry, we fix something to eat.  When we’re tired, we rest our bodies.  When we say we’re sorry to someone we hurt, the person’s resentment disappears.  Our experiences are self-evidence that truisms do exist.

What are your Desires?

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Desires, Ericksonian Principles

Alone with the great sky of water
Written By Eugene Morgan

Do we know want we want in life?  What are our desires? Have we asked ourselves what we really want in life? Sometimes, we go through life not knowing what we want or what we wish in our lives.

Perhaps we don’t give ourselves permission to even to think that way.  However, we do know what we don’t want and what we don’t desire, which lead us to the question of what do we want?  Is that a selfish question to ask?

There are needs not met because we’re not focusing on those things, we’re too busy with our jobs, our loved ones,  etc.  It’s easier to get distracted with those things than to focus on ourselves sometimes.  It’s okay to sometimes to be alone. If we can find the time to sit alone and close our eyes and listen to our thoughts then we might find what we really want.

Creativity, Learning and Wondering

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: creativity, curiosity, Ericksonian Principles, observation, Understanding

Galaxies
Written By Eugene Morgan

There will always be a battle between what we don’t see and what’s revealed to us. Creativity is not easily given away.  We must work for it. We have a lot of questions unanswered. Creativity is a glimpse of some of those answers that we seek.

Learning the wonderment of life is our entertainment.  Learning is entertaining.  Learning is seeking enlightenment. Life is our teacher; it’s a continuous learning.

When a flash of creativity opens up our minds, we experience an exhilarating feeling of understanding that we never experienced before.  Scientists, philosophers, spiritualists, and other leaders have given their lives for the quest of understanding and experience so as the rest of us, its human nature to search and wonder about life and how we play a part in the universe.