Celebrating Life

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Celebration
Written By Eugene Morgan

What is so important about celebrating living? Does it mean be glad that we’re alive? What does it mean to celebrate life? These are good questions to explore.

To celebrate life is placing value on one’s life.  Self-preservation is in our genes to survive, but not only to survive, but also to live as humans in a society.  As human beings we have many celebrations.

We celebrate births, wedding anniversaries, and we celebrate our achievements as well, like our first walk, our first word, and our graduations.  We have celebrations throughout our lives.

During celebrated events we  experience joy and happiness with a community of people who create meaning.

Journey Loves Experiences

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles, Potential

Journey to the Light..
Written By Eugene Morgan

We all have our own journeys we trek through; no one has the same journey. On some level, we all trek through our own journeys alone.

Trekking through our own journeys alone isn’t isolation from others. We trek through our own journeys together alone.

This means we each bear our own journeys, and we have made our own prior decisions to get where we are today.

Our own journeys in life are where we get our own experiences.  Our own experiences are powerful resources that cannot be taken away. These resources are raw stuff that inhabits each one of us.  The raw stuff that is ready for use.

A Peace of Mind or A Mind at Peace

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

to Have Peace of Mind...
Written By Eugene Morgan

Sometimes our minds are restless; we replay troubling scenery of our past, and we don’t want to let go. There is no peace of mind when we replay unpleasant events.  We think reliving the unpleasant event would somehow relieve us from the pain.

Some of us have tried to think the unpleasant feelings away, but only to find more negative thoughts. So how do we resolve this dilemma?  How do we get our minds in the state of peace?

First of all, we need a shift in our attention. In other words, we need to replace our thoughts with something else. Remember, we can only experience a small part of our reality. So while we’re focused on other things, our previous unpleasant thoughts will drop from our attention.

Let us think of something pleasant, or even an idea that can bring a peace of mind that we will lead to a mind at peace.

Experience is in the Detail

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Mosaic glasses
Written By Eugene Morgan

When was the last time we experienced something that enriched our lives? One of the things that can enrich our lives is having interests, or observing something that makes us curious.

Cooking, music, and classic cars are some of the different interests we have that enriches our lives.

In a social gathering situation, we may meet someone who has a particular interest in music who will share with us about the intricate detail of a particular genre of music. As we listens to the person, we are impressed and see how music brings joy to that person.   It’s the details that enrich that person’s life.

Pain means we’re still Alive

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

Do I love you, or is this feeling just a little pain?
Written By Eugene Morgan

We all tried to avoid pain as much as possible, but it would be terrible if we couldn’t feel anything. Our bodies communicate to our brains when we stubbed a toe or accidentally touched a hot burner.  If we didn’t have these experiences, it would be dangerous.

It would be a terrible experience if we no longer could speak, could walk, could hear, and could see.   Someone with a handicap who can’t move or walk, because of paralysis, would do anything to move, or to walk again.

Sometimes we take for granted all the things that we can do that we lose sight (no pun intended) of what is important in our lives.

Are We Normal?

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

scream and shout
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.

Bring value to Fun Time

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Playing Tag. (BTM)
Written by Eugene Morgan

When was the last time we had fun doing something?  Sometimes we have to force ourselves to get out of work mode and into fun mode.  We ought not to take life so seriously but we can seriously have fun.  It’s all right to give us permission to take a break and do something fun.

Life is not always about improvement.  When we have fun, we can get a chance to relax.  When we relax, we begin to free up new ideas from our unconscious mind, ideas that can be useful after our fun time.

Having fun is about renewing our energy, re-associating our perspectives. Having fun is also about giving ourselves a chance to be more of ourselves and become more attune with our inner world.

Life grows in Strength

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles, Potential

Wright Brothers' Plane
Written by Eugene Morgan

What makes us stronger is what life throws at us.  Life isn’t always easy; beside we would get bored if life were always easy.  When confronted with life challenges, we have the opportune time for growth.  Growth helps us build a foundation to handle better the next life challenge that comes our way.  Each time we go through a challenge we experience growth and from growth we learn something about the experience.  When the challenge is no longer in front of us but behind us we are stronger.

Living in the future Moment

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles, Future Orientation

Moment
Written by Eugene Morgan

Living in the moment is better than living in the past.  Is living in the moment better than living in the future?  When we’re in the moment we lose some sense of time.  We have all experienced being so focused on a task that we lose track of time.  We stop tracking time, when we’re so focused on the task in front of us.

Losing track of time means to let go of some external influences.  One of the benefits of being in the moment is that our anxiety decreases.  Our anxiety decreases because we stop worrying about what we need to do next.

So, is living in the moment better than living in the future?  That’s a good question, isn’t it?  We can live in the moment when we need a moment and we can plan the next thing when we need a plan.

Imagination

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

imagination
Written by Eugene Morgan

We can imagine anything we want.  Why are our imaginations so powerful? Our imaginations are powerful because we can make them real.  Before something is created, it has to be imagined first.  Everything that humanity created was first imagined.  No one is without imagination.  We have to use our imagination to function in society.  We are made to imagine, plan and then execute.

A Better Way of Thinking

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: creativity, Ericksonian Principles

creativity
Written by Eugene Morgan

We don’t necessarily have to think differently to solve a problem; sometimes we just need a different place to think.  Changing scenery is a useful approach to help increase creative thinking.  It’s about rearranging our patterns, which can break up and free us from our old way of thinking.  By focusing on a single idea we can stir creative thinking. If we just sit and allow ourselves to focus and degrade all external influences, our unconscious minds will begin to take notice.  We can just wait and see what comes up to the surface.

Plan a Change

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles, Goal, Responsibility

Spare change (48/365)
Written by Eugene Morgan

It’s up to us to make a change.  We have the power within ourselves to make a change, if we want to.  If we want to improve our lives, we then have to decide to improve it.  After we decide to improve our situation, we then can write-up a plan.  After a plan is in place, we then can execute the plan until it’s completed.

No other person can make the change for us. In other words, relying on someone to make a change is useless; it won’t ever happen.  When we rely on someone, we are giving away our power. Ultimately, we know what we want in life so it’s better to ask ourselves, “What do I want for my life?” and we then can make a plan and execute it, because within us we have the power.

“If you want it you must obtain it by great labor,” T.S. Eliot.

 

Expanding and More Choices

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Barriers, Biases, Choice, creativity, Ericksonian Principles

Balloon Fiesta # 1
Written by Eugene Morgan

When we expand our mind, we have more choices thus more creative freedom in our lives. Rigidity is our worse enemy. Rigidity in the dictionary means the lacking of flexibility. We all have some biases about something. At one time in our lives our minds were flexible and unstructured. But as we grew older, because we began to see how complicated and enormous the world was, we developed mental short cuts to simplify our world. But now it’s time for us to learn again. Expanding our minds is like filling a balloon up with helium, it begins to rise.  Our minds like a balloon are no longer tethered by gravity, they’re free and can clearly see everything.

Possibilities

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles, Potential

Possibility
Written by Eugene Morgan

Possibility is a lovely word.  Possibility means that there is a way; we just have to find how to get there.  Possibility means there are obstacles we must deal with.  Possibility means there is hope that we will succeed.  Possibility implies potential in us that can make things happen.  Possibility is like a locked door that opens— waiting for us to walk in.

Doing Our Own Thinking

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles, Freedom

Thinking RFID
Written by Eugene Morgan

It’s an internal process and a powerful experience, when we’re doing our own thinking. There is a feeling of freedom when listening to our own thoughts.  Erickson encourages his subjects to do their own thinking.  He gives them permission to deliberately think about their own thoughts.

From time to time, it’s all right to ask for advise on something.  But, after thinking it over, we still have to make the final decision and live with it. When doing our own thinking, we’re asking ourselves what do we think about this or about that situation.  Also, doing our own thinking is a private matter, therefore privacy gives us a sort of comfort without judgment in listening to what we’re really thinking.

A Re-Experience

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles, Experiential learning, Storehouse

Carolina Moments
Written by Eugene Morgan

In our lives each one of us have experienced something we learned that affected our lives.  It altered the way we think, it changed us for the rest of our lives.  We sometimes return to that moment in our memory banks to re-experience it.  We want to re-experience it because it was an important moment.  It probably made us change our career, or move to another state to pursue as a dream opportunity to learn more about the subject.  When we are struggling through difficulties, we can look inside ourselves and re-experience that moment in time.  That memory is like fuel that will help us get through the difficult times ahead.

How Resistant Are We?

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles, Resistance

Keys

Written by Eugene Morgan

How resistant are we for change?  When we’re presented with new ideas or new changes, we find ourselves resisting them.

Resistance can be a good thing but not so good a thing, depending on the context of the situation.  If someone is trying to indoctrinate us into a belief system that we’re unsure about, it’s okay to resist, especially if it can cause harm.

But how come we resist things that we know are better for us in the long run?

When Erickson couldn’t get through to his subject, he believed that he needed to continue looking for the “right key” to turn the tumbler to unlock and open his subject’s door of receptivity to welcome in new ideas.  We can learn to do the same and continue looking for the right key.

What Do You See

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles, Imperfection

Cool Mirror
Written by Eugene Morgan

When we look at ourselves in the mirror, most of us will find something we dislike about ourselves.  We have a certain image in our minds of how we should look.

Body image was one of the major themes in Milton Erickson’s work. He wanted to know just how his subjects think about their body image. He believed that how one feels about one’s body image depends on how one feels about the world. We wanted his subjects to understand that it’s all right to have small ears with a wide nose. Or it’s all right to have curly hair with a heavy chin.  Or it’s all right to have thin lips with very high cheekbones and one eyebrow lowered than the other.

If we were to see from the neck down, would we recognize our bodies? In looking at our body image what would we think would be our best features? Again, Erickson is asking us to accept ourselves.

We see in part

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Framed Sunset
Written by Eugene Morgan

Life is a sword that wounds, but cannot wound itself; like an eye that see, but cannot see itself,” Zen Master

We cannot see the entire picture, we can only see in part.  We see through our own unique perspective.  It’s good to learn different perspectives other than our own.  Learning other perspectives will help us integrate them to our own.  Learning other perspectives can be an enlightening  experience.  We don’t have to agree or accept every perspectives we learn but we can find similarities and differences in them.  As long as we bear our bodies we cannot see the entire picture, we can look at something through different perspectives. Looking at different perspectives may help us to find our own personal truth within ourselves and about ourselves.

 

Our Life is a Story

Published on by Eugene Morgan Category: Ericksonian Principles

Reading in Bed
Written by Eugene Morgan

Our life is a story; we all have a story to tell. There is usually a repeated theme that plays out in our lives.  Having a repeated theme suggest we still need to learn something from it. Although some things will always repeat because life is a cycle, it’s not linear.  During the day, the sun is out and during the night the moon and stars are out.  We’re born, we learn, we love, we reproduce, we live and then; we die. Just like a story, life has a beginning, middle and an ending, and in between the beginning, middle and ending; we live.