Hand-Me-Down Prejudice

Believe it or not, most of your prejudices aren't yours. But that won't excuse you from the anger they bring. Find out how to outgrow your prejudices and have a more peaceful existence in this mini podcast.

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:

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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? 

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Transcript

Hand-Me-Down Prejudice

The Grasshopper offered this up one day: “Your most conditioned reaction is your largest prejudice.”

It seems that most of our prejudices are involuntary, until we notice. Even after noticing, we may begin to justify our conditioned reaction. That’s usually when we look the most foolish.

Have you ever watched anyone defend their prejudice? The only people not cringing are like-minded morons.

Like most of our beliefs, we got most of our prejudices by accident. They were handed down to us through conditioning. The interesting thing to notice is that they aren’t really our prejudices, just some hand-me-downs we got comfortable wearing before we knew what a hand-me-down was.

Stop for a moment and think about what prejudice you own that your mother or father may have had. Now, perhaps, you can appreciate what kept the Hatfields and McCoys going at it for generations.

You were conditioned into a way of thinking and acting that may not be serving you well today. It could be attitudes about other races or cultures, religions, political parties, sexual preferences, the role of money in life, what other people should or shouldn’t be doing. The list of conditioned prejudices is endless.

The conditioning you got the most is your largest prejudice. What you may not realize is that it prejudices you from progress. Prejudices have the unique ability to keep you stuck where you are.

The first key to outgrowing a prejudice is to notice you have one. The second step is to stop justifying it. This takes continuous application – like home teeth whitening. It takes work on your part.

Here’s an everyday example of the ill effects of conditioning: Every time you post your prejudicial point of view online, under the guise of “the truth,” you’ve made another argument for your limitations, keeping you stuck and angry. if you like that feeling, keep doing what you’re doing.

If you’re tired of that angry feeling and tired of being held in place, notice that it’s your conditioning that’s arguing for your limitations, keeping you stuck and angry.

If you just got angry about what I'm saying and went into justification mode about your prejudice, you need attention the most – your attention. Notice that you’re the source of your own anger and your own stuckness.

If you ever apply that recognition, you're at the threshold of change where prejudice starts to come unglued and you are on your way to no longer being stuck and angry, and stuck with hand-me-downs.

All the best,

John