We Have It Backwards

Have you ever felt that you were looking at life through a telescope backwards? You're not alone. It causes prolonged pain and illusion. Discover how to shorten your emotional pain in this mini podcast from John Morgan.

Grasshopper Notes are the writings from America's Best Known Hypnotherapist John Morgan. His podcasts contain his most responded to essays and blog posts from the past two decades. 

Find the written versions of these podcasts on John's podcasting site: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1628038

"The Grasshopper" is the part of you that whispers pearls of wisdom that  seem to pop into your mind from out of the blue. John's essays and blog posts are his interpretations of these "Nips of Nectar." Others have labeled his writings as timeless wisdom. 

Most of the John's writings revolve around self improvement and self help. They address topics like:

• Mindfulness
• Peace of mind
• Creativity
• How to stay in the present moment
• Spirituality
• Behavior improvement

And stories that transform you to a wider sense of awareness that presents more options. And isn't that what we all want, more options? 

John uploads these podcasts on a regular basis. So check back often to hear these podcasts heard around the world. Who wants to be the next person to change? 

Make sure to order a copy of John's new book: WISDOM OF THE GRASSHOPPER – 21 Days to Creativity. These mini-meditations take you inside where all your creative resources live. And you'll come out not only refreshed but recommitted to creating your future. 

It's only $16.95 and available at BLURB.COM at the link below. https://www.blurb.com/b/10239673-wisd...

Also, download John's FREE book INTER RUPTION: The Magic Key To Lasting Change. It's available at John's website  https://GrasshopperNotes.com

Transcript

We Have it Backwards

What if what you were living a mirror image of your life and not life itself? Did you ever notice that your reflection looks different in a mirror than it does on a photograph? 

The mirror does provide great, unbiased answers, but backward images. That’s why they spell the word “ambulance” backwards on the front of the ambulance. When you see it in your rearview mirror, it appears to be spelled in forward fashion and you can recognize it quickly and pull over to let it pass.

You're living your reflection rather than your life when you associate with your thoughts and disassociate from your feelings.

When you associate with your thoughts, you are once removed from reality. Your thoughts aren’t reality, only a report on reality. Your thoughts aren’t you, only a report on who you “think” you are. Your thoughts are patterned loops that are repetitive and illusionary. 

Pretend for a moment that you recorded a bunch of statements into a recorder and then played them back on loop mode. Then imagine how silly it would be to call that tape recorder and its sounds, you. They are once removed from you.

You have misidentified yourself as a tape recorder. Imagine your tape recorder standing in for you in your wedding photo or in a family group shot. That’s how ridiculous it is to think of yourself as a bunch of recorded loops. You are much deeper than that. The first step in reaching the depths of you is to disassociate from your thoughts. They are not you; they pretend to be you and you let this impressionist live your life.

We also tend to chase away the sensations that show up in our body that are associated with emotions. We want to disassociate from them. When we do this, we extend the time the emotion sticks around. We have many ways of disassociating – denial, alcohol, drugs, food, and endless other diversions. Our purpose seems noble – to get away from pain.

The fastest way to relieve the pain of a splinter is to remove the splinter. There is pain involved with removing a splinter but it is much shorter in duration than the other methods – walking around with it for days, weeks, months, years, taking pain killers to make the pain subside as we continue to carry the splinter, denying it’s there, or the worst – talking about the pain with everyone who is willing to listen and still doing nothing about it.

The fastest way to let an emotion move through you is to accept it and feel it. Notice the sensations it produces in your body and sit with them. Let them have their natural flow through your body. You can prolong your torture by slowly wading into cold water or you can take the plunge. The plunge is always the quickest way to reach past the cold sensation.

Feeling the emotion in your body has nothing to do with telling yourself a story as to why the emotion is there in the first place. The story prolongs the torture. Constant storytelling to yourself and others about your emotional state is drama of the highest order. It doesn’t work. Accepting and being with the pain and allowing it to move at its own pace through you is always the quickest route. Its natural pace is always the fastest way through. All of our plans to mitigate it, elongate it.

It’s OK to be sad, angry, fearful, etc. We have been sold such a bill of goods that we shouldn’t experience our emotions. The experiencing of our emotions puts us in touch with our body which always lives in the present moment. Being in touch with our body takes us away from being associated with our thoughts which always prolong our pain.

I'll close with a line Shakespeare never wrote:

“Associate or disassociate: that is the answer.”

All the best,

John