Dr. Amy Johnson Blog’s

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I’ve been so excited to share this conversation with you.I talked with Lee Davy a couple months ago. (He took a while to get the recording to me.)And even mid-conversation I knew this would be a great one to share with all of you.I think it’s because he really pushes me. He challenges me in

This is my new favorite metaphor for what’s going on within us.There’s a hare. It is quick and sharp but easily distracted. It darts around, seemingly with purpose…and then it stops unexpectedly, forgets where it is, or changes course.If you compare the hare to our inner experience, it’s reminiscent of something like a knee-jerk reaction,

If you told a child that you needed to cope with the holidays, they’d think you were crazy.Adults in stress and worry, missing the wonder of the season, aren’t crazy. They are innocently, very simply turned around a bit.Please watch to see how anyone can re-turn. Anyone can return to the childlike way in any

So many of you are feeling into the Truth of what I share.You’re seeing that you are well and thriving by default. That you’re feeling your moment-to-moment thinking brought to life within you; that the world out there doesn’t create your experience.It makes sense that your mind is like a snow globe, settling down when

Back in June I was a guest on Human Being TV, which is a great little YouTube channel devoted to sharing the Three Principles understanding.We talked about the fact that we are born habit-free, with a design based on our shared, innate health.We talked about what habits really are and how change really happens.We talked

The first time I heard that I was “living in the feeling of my thinking”, I thought: “No kidding”.  As my kids say (usually with a frustrated eye-roll), “I already know that.”The second time I heard it, I thought: “Seriously, this again?”The third time, it felt like all thought stopped. My mind got incredibly quiet

Every profession has rockstars.You know, those people in your field who are as kind and down-to-earth as they come, but in whose presence you feel like a tongue-tied loser.As a graduate student, one of my professional rockstars was Daniel (Danny, to those who actually knew him) Kahneman.My field of study was social cognition–how information about social life is

No experience is off limits.Nothing you do will make you immune to feeling things you’d rather not feel.But what if there’s an even better definition of freedom?Seeing how thought and feeling work allows you to still go through the full range of human experience…but this time, with freedom. Related posts: No related posts.

If you missed The Freedom Series referred to in this video, catch it here. Related posts: No related posts.

A conversation about All Things Change Related posts: No related posts.

It kills me to hear people doubting whether change is possible.They say things like “I’ve tried everything”, “I’m too deep in (to my habit or anxiety)”, “I don’t know if it will ever happen for me”.Change is not only possible–it is part of the human design. We are designed for constant, natural change.If your own

Remember the game Operation?You have to get that little plastic body part out of that very confined space without touching the walls. If you touch the walls…BZZZ. You get a quite jarring buzz and a red light.See why this game is an excellent metaphor for what’s going on within you when you feel stuck in a

What if you absolutely knew like you knew your name that feelings don’t require fixes or solutions?What if you knew with absolute certainty that all feeling passes naturally and effortlessly like weather passes through the sky?How do you suppose your day to day experience would be different? There would be zero attempts at changing how you feel.

What in the world do a safety net and a water slide have to do being human?I’ll give you a hint: it’s really good news.It’s about being okay in anything we feel. It’s about innate, never-wavering safety and temporary thrills.Please watch to see more. Related posts: No related posts.

The type of learning that leads to life-changing, foundation-shifting change isn’t intellectual.You don’t need to be “smart” in any traditional sense. You don’t need good conceptual comprehension, a good memory, or to be able to retain or recall information.Those things may have mattered in history or chemistry class, but they don’t matter at all when it

When anything in life looks incredibly complicated there is only one thing going on: you’re in your thinking, conceptual mind. You’re “in your head”, as they say.From our heads, we want to know how.  How is the biggy. We also want to know why, when and where. We want steps, plans, strategies and guarantees.That doesn’t mean

Gratitude and Giving Thanks can be something you do. They can be a verb, something you generate or look for.But did you know that they are also who and what you are?They are you, underneath the surface stuff thoughts and feelings. They are there for us to feel in any moment.You can be blessed with a

In honor of US Thanksgiving next week and upcoming holidays worldwide, I’m excited to (re)-share the game of Dysfunctional Family Bingo with you. I first learned about DFB from Martha Beck (who heard about it somewhere herself) almost 10 years ago and I’ve shared it many, many times around the holidays.The reason I keep sharing is that people LOVE

I recently had a conversation with my friend Micheal Hilton about ending habits.Micheal knows a thing or two about ending habits via the understanding that I share–he is a former drug and alcohol addict who walked away from all substances several years ago upon learning the No-Willpower Approach and the understanding behind it.Micheal asked to

I”m excited to share a conversation I recently had with the awesome Lydia Wente that she has dubbed “It Doesn’t Matter How you Feel (& Other Ways to Be Happy)”. I love that “it doesn’t matter how you feel” is one of the things Lydia took from our conversation.Because it doesn’t matter. Not really. And definitely not for

We’ve all been in that place of thinking we need to decide or figure something out that we just can’t decide or figure out.We can’t see what we can’t see, until we can.But what do we do in that period of not seeing? We often scratch and claw at an answer, trying desperately to see

I’m always having conversations with people about the fact that we feel our own mental dialogue, and only our own mental dialogue, all day every day.Life is an inside-out experience, coming from within our own minds, not from the world around us or from the things happening to us.And I totally get that that can

I don’t have enough space here to list all the wonderful things about the book, Whose Mind is it Anyway? by Lisa and Franco Esile. But I’ll list a few: This little book sneaks essential truths about human life into a FUN, quirky, creative package.You’re likely to experience an inner space and quiet–the voices in your

Oh geez, here I go again telling you that your mind makes stuff up.But I want to take it a step further, because I really want you to grasp the enormity of this.What if everything you’ve ever thought–simply by virtue of it being a thought that passes through your mind–is biased and slanted? What if

Another video!It’s an excellent question: If our thinking is so subjective, so ever-changing, influenced by our moods and a million other things, why does it FEEL so true?Why does it look and feel as if our conclusions are clear and obvious reflections of reality?If it’s helpful to let thought and emotion flow through us, why

I have two conversations for you this week. Both are about seeing how our human experience unfolds within and through us, moment-to-moment.Which should you check out? Both! But let me give you a little low-down on each so that you can make the best decision for yourself.The first conversation is with Lydia Wente, lifestyle coach

I have a video to share with you this week!It’s a conversation I had with my friend, colleague, and almost-fellow author, Lisa Esile (her book Whose Mind is It Anyway? co-authored with her husband Franco, is coming out in June) about breaking habits and seeing life new ways.Lisa is a “mind expert” in her own

Every article I write points at the same basic truths. Each article is a different way of looking at how our human experience is created moment to moment by our own thinking.This week, I wanted to take a step back and revisit the basics that I’ve seen be so helpful for so many people.Enjoy the

I wanted to share a webinar I did in July. The topic was Rising Above What No Longer Serves You. (That also happens to be the theme of this year’s Being Human Weekend Workshop.)I really, really loved this conversation, especially where it goes in the second half as the other participants join in. I know it’s not

Please watch this 9 min video about the Second Annual Being Human Workshop in Ann Arbor this October. I’m really excited about it and I hope you’ll take the leap and choose to join us for a life-changing weekend.You can find out more here (after you watch the video, of course!)  Ready to sign up? Related

My client and colleague, David Hamilton, recently interviewed me about understanding and ultimately having a different experience of anxiety.But as these conversations tend to go, what started off as something kind of specific to one human experience (anxiety) quickly expanded and unfolded into a look at the bigger nature of being human. David and I talk

“The day you cease to travel, you will have arrived”—Japanese saying I heard somewhere The more you think about yourself, the less content you tend to be. You intuitively know this to be true, don’t you?  It works in reverse as well: the more content you are, the less you tend to think about yourself.Just look

Did you know that your mind operates like a plastic sifter? Watch me and my goofy co-star explain. Related posts: No related posts.

Here’s the third video in the 3 part video series I put together to talk more about the Being Human Retreat next month.My kids wanted to be in on this one.As I say at the end, whether you join us for the retreat or not, I will do anything I can to help you snag

Another big insight that changed everything (the first one is here): It’s All Thought.Like A–L–L of it. That was the part that made a difference. Everyone knows that thought affects our experience. But that thought is the only thing we ever can experience…that’s a bit different.I also talk a bit more about the format of the

I was interviewed last week by my friend Lisa Esile (you know her…she’s the one who wrote that really cool piece about her year of silence that I shared with you a couple weeks ago).Anyway, Lisa teaches and writes about very similar things that I teach and write about. We have a lot in common

There are some people you can’t easily avoid, much as you might like to. That’s the bad news.The good news is that they don’t have to get under your skin quite the way they do. No offense, but they get under your skin because of how you think about them, not because of who they

Here’s the fifth video in the Enlightenment Lessons series: On Bad Days. It’s a good one.If you missed the first four, they live here. Related posts: No related posts.

Time moves. Quickly. Quite unfairly, it often appears to speed up the older you are.But there is a way to combat that time-fly that doesn’t involve a time machine. It’s being fully in your life today. Moving right in, inhabiting your moments and experiences.Here’s an easy rule of thumb:Experiencing your thinking about life = time

Here’s the fourth video in the Enlightenment Lessons series. If you missed the first two videos, you can find them here. Related posts: No related posts.

Here’s the third video in the Enlightenment Lessons series. If you missed the first two videos, you can find them here. Related posts: No related posts.

Things happen to us that we can’t control. All the time.But we do have some control over what we bring to the table: how we prepare, our qualities, our attitude. And we do have some control over how we respond to those chance things that happen to us.It’s like the old joke about the guy

Readers over at YourTango have asked me a bunch of love and relationship questions. I finally answered some of them.This one is from a woman who says her happiness is tied to how others see her. She feels powerless and at the mercy of others’ approval for her own happiness.Been there? Related posts: No related

What’s the truth about your self-sabotage?Are you really out to get yourself? Or do you simply need a little more thought, awareness, and maybe a new plan? Related posts: No related posts.

Want something from a relationship?More of something? Less of something? Here’s exactly how you get it. Lean in real close…GIVE it. Confused? Watch the video.And if you have a relationship that could use some Radical 911, sign up for the course later this month hereHere are the full details for the Radical Relationship 911 program,

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Do you know it’s all about you?Yep. Sorry.But there is good news, too… Related posts: No related posts.

I have a favorite new visual for calming my mind and getting to the “bottom” of things.Like the bottom of a swimming pool, actually…It’s calm at the bottom of things. The trick is keeping the waves down so that you can notice the calm.Can you float on the surface all still and quiet-like? Sounds relaxing,

This is a repost of a video blog I filmed back in November of 2010. That’s old. And I filmed it in my car, waiting to go into the dentist. But that imperfect style is the point, as  you’ll see…Here’s a purposely imperfect post dedicated to my awesome client whose family story is “Perfect or Fuck

I was recently interviewed by David Trotter of Launch52.(Check out Launch52. It’s cool. His free Guide to Re-launch your Life is very personal and very concrete).We gab about my ebook Taming the Thoughts that Run Wild, how to Tame your own thoughts, how to experience complete emotional freedom in your life, and how to Create.  Yeah,

Dressing up and Playing make believe rocks.Maybe we could all do a little more of it in our everyday life. You know, as a way to create what you want.Act as if and before you know it, you’re not acting. Hope you enjoy my buggy guest host…Want some help playing ‘make believe’ in your life?