Use The Dash

Think of the dash as a pause and you'll have less unproductive reactions.

 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? 

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Transcript

Use The Dash

Every now and then I stumble onto an idea simply by looking at a word differently.

Years ago I started playing around with the word react. Instead of seeing it as one word, I imagined it with a hyphen: re-act.

That little dash got me thinking.

Normally, reactions happen almost automatically. You're walking through the garage, you spot a spider, and before you've even had time to think, you jump back and maybe shriek, "Eek!"

Your brain has already run the program. It pulled up the same thing it's used before.

That's a reaction.

But what if we split the word in two?

Think of re as "rewind." Like backing up a video.

Then comes act – the part where you choose what happens next.

Suddenly the hyphen becomes interesting. It's no longer punctuation. It's a pause.

And that pause changes everything.

You've probably heard the phrase "Take Two" on a movie set. The director calls it because they're going to shoot the same scene again. Same setup. Same actors. But this time they have a chance to play it differently.

Life gives us Take Twos all the time.

Maybe it's that familiar conversation with your boss. Or your spouse. A parent. A child. A friend. An ex.

You already know the script.

They say their line.

You say yours.

Before long, you're both performing the same scene you've acted out dozens of times before.

That's when the dash becomes valuable.

If you can catch yourself between the re and the act, you create a tiny space where you get to choose.

Do I really want to react the way I always do?

Or is there another way to play this scene?

Now, admittedly, this probably won't help much with the spider. Some reactions are just too fast.

But in most of life, we get more than enough time to use the dash.

Reacting to the same situation the same way guarantees the same ending.

Using the dash gives you a chance to write a different one.

So the next time life offers you a second take, don't just react.

Re-act.

When you take the opportunity to use the dash, you let Take Two work for you.

All the best,

John