Surprise, Shock, and Affirmations

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 […]

“I win Olympic Championships”

Written by Eugene Morgan “Out of a wheelchair I win Olympic championships all the time.” Milton Erickson As you can see from most of Erickson’s quotes, he’s good at turning a phrase. It’s interesting how he links “a wheelchair” with winning “olympic championships” together. The message he wants us to get is that in spite […]

Seeds of Ideas

Written by Eugene Morgan “There is nothing more delightful than planting flower seeds and not knowing what kind of flowers are going to come up.” Milton Erickson Erickson enjoyed planting seeds of ideas to his patients, students and subjects to get them into another training of thought.  When we get stuck into certain train of […]

We Appraise Things we Learn

Written by Eugene Morgan “And all of our days we are learning things-learning how to appraise them, how to assess them, how to feel about them.” Milton Erickson When we watch an event unfold before our eyes, we tend to automatically appraise the event based on our background experiences.  How much value we put into […]

Athlete with signs of Potential

Written by Eugene Morgan “Little is really known of the actual potentials of human functioning.” Milton Erickson Erickson is correct that we don’t know how far we can go with our potentials.  We don’t know our actual potential until it is fully developed.  We can’t find out what those potentials are until we do something. […]

Today Was Once Tomorrow

Written By Eugene Morgan “People always have that tendency to put off working on a problem to tomorrow,” Milton Erickson. Working on a problem isn’t always fun and games. When we put off working on a problem, it stays in front of us. It never leaves our sight. It hovers around the top of our […]

“But You Do Like Reality”

Written Eugene Morgan “You don’t want a charming movie to end, you don’t want a flower to wilt, but you do like reality.” Milton Erickson Sometimes, we like to keep our fantasies alive.  In fact, some of us would rather live inside our heads. We create fantasies because we are trying to fulfill an unmet […]

Diversity and Acceptance

Written by Eugene Morgan “I think the faults that you recall in human beings give their charm to that individual that enable you to recognize and remember that individuals,” Milton Erickson No one is perfect.  We all come in different shapes, sizes and colors.  Perfection is an internal standard that blinds us from what is […]

Very Charming Stuff, Capacity

Written By Eugene Morgan “It’s very charming, the capacity that we have if we’ll only learn to use other areas of our brain.” Milton Erickson   When we begin to use other areas of our brain, our ability to do things increases.  What do we suppose what other areas of our brain is Erickson taking […]

“Enough In the Way of Bad Luck…”

Written by Eugene Morgan “Enough in the way of bad luck can occur, so that you don’t need to add it yourself.” Milton Erickson What makes matter worse is when we start to panic about something, instead of taking a deep breath and relaxing for a moment. Erickson is telling us in the above quote […]

Learning Starts With Us

Written by Eugene Morgan “In a learning situation you have to do your own learning,” Milton Erickson It is important to note that we have to do our own thinking, develop our own understanding.  Ultimately, no one knows us better than we know ourselves.  Everyday, we live with ourselves for the rest of our lives. […]

Potentials Restore Well-Being

  Written By Eugene Morgan “The potentials within a person can restore well-being,” Milton Erickson In the above quote, Milton Erickson uses the word “potentials” in a noun form.  The noun form of the word “potentials” defined in the dictionary as “something that can be develop or become actual.”  Erickson deliberately uses the plural form of […]