Your distorted perceptions produce a dense cover over miracle impulses, making it hard for them to reach your own awareness. The confusion of miracle impulses with physical impulses is a major perceptual distortion. Physical impulses are misdirected miracle impulses. All real pleasure comes from doing God's Will. This is because not doing it is a denial of Self. Denial of Self results in illusions, while correction of the error brings release from it. Do not deceive yourself into believing that you can relate in peace to God or to your brothers with anything external. (ACIM~ T-1.1)
You know what is so fun? I have been playing in the yummy freshness of this moment now. Old insights are circling back up in my mind and life with renewed aliveness and much more depth.
Let me give an example. Recently, I have been corresponding with an amazing woman; teacher of God and all around inspiring being. We’ve been addressing addiction and food/body addiction in particular. Years ago, in the beginning of my healing with A Course in Miracles, I was graced with freedom the insanity of an upside-down relationship with my body, eating and food. And actually with yours as well, I compared myself with everyone I met. That craziness was lifted and I was able to focus on the business of healing my mind.
Finding what did work for me was, at times, an absolute miracle. I would walk into a book store and find myself picking up a book that I hadn’t known I came for and no recollection as to what I had come there for in the first place. I had a sense of being in the right place at the right time that was poignant and I would buy the book without question.
Or I would meet someone that would lead to a conversation about freedom and addiction and food and weight and I would hear myself speaking from a place of true gratitude. Often in those times, if there was a particular struggle I was having with my body or cravings, as we began communicating, in that sincere request for a true answer, a specific one to my specific issue would unfold during the conversation.
I discovered quite rapidly that the more I shared my experience with healing and freedom from the body/food monkey around my neck, the less I had experienced cravings and body judgments.
So, being the junky I am, I started facilitating groups and individuals in upholding a single-pointed spiritual foundation as core sustenance, as a replacement for the obsessive focus of a body/food addiction.
I saw how my unhealed mind, having obsessed about my problems with food and weight and how to get the perfect body and what to eat, how to keep from eating too much, what combination of foods, how to work out and how often, accompanied with a commitment to feeling ashamed and guilty and deserving of punishment, yet feeling like a total victim, helpless to change, hopeless in the face of societal requirement of lovability, had kept me exactly where I was. My judgments and beliefs had made me the person I saw myself as: weak, unlovable, unworthy, a waste of skin, taking up room that a more deserving person should have. I was wrong… that is all.
A fundamental principle in A Course in Miracles is that ideas leave not their source and that ideas increase when they are given away. We, being God’s Idea, remain in Him as He extends His love as Son. We are that Son; that very same Love. We therefore must allow our love to extend creation in order to know our Self.
We’ve all had so much appreciation for some miracle in our life that we couldn’t wait to share with everyone.
That’s how I felt. That’s how I feel, now. It’s the reason I blog.
I love God. I love Jesus. I love A Course in Miracles. I love you, my one Self.
So anyway, I am again finding myself with this awesome opportunity to share the miracle down the body/food addiction avenue.
You know we all come to A Course in Miracles with body addictions. We mistake them for ourselves. We are wrong. That is all.
The course turns us around and points us smack in front of our mind. We see without question that it is or identification with a false identity, in a life/death, duality based world in our mind that is the source of our pain. It trains us in a systematic way to dispel every belief you ever believed to be true, as false.
We see that our world is one of perception, but that everything that feel good comes from somewhere beyond perception, never from the thing or circumstance itself.
We come to see that learning to forgive is our most treasured tool in the reversal of a thought system based in fear back to the source of our being~ love.
Peace is the result of emptying our entire arsenal of fear thoughts onto the touchstone of forgiveness.
We are born anew.
“Let us be still an instant, and forget all things we ever learned, all thoughts we had, and every preconception that we hold of what things mean, and what their purpose is. Let us remember not our own ideas of what the world is for. We do not know. Let every image held of anyone be loosened from our minds and swept away. Be innocent of judgment, unaware of any thoughts of evil or of good that ever crossed your mind of anyone. Now do you know him not. But you are free to learn of him, and learn of him anew. Now is he born again to you, and you are born again to him, without the past that sentenced him to die, and you with him. Now is he free to live, as you are free, because an ancient learning passed away, and left a place for truth to be reborn.” (T-31.1)
I am going to be writing more about the healing of body appetites. It might be with this yummy woman, Lisa, I was talking about. A site about this is her idea. I am interested to see what comes forward. Grace has shown me that body appetites are misdirected miracle impulses. That in recognition of this fact, I open to act miraculously instead of ‘feed the need’,and look for magic soulions; to enliven and inspire rather than shut-off and separate into the dirge of the pleasure-pain syndrome.
I'll keep you posted as it unfolds. Thank you.
I love you!
I am a professional.
Atonement is my profession. It comes naturally. Once the desire for specialness has been abated, the communication that is creation is free to take its place. Or rather, to flow unimpeded.
Here’s my job; I accept the atonement for myself. Here’s how I do that. I am simply unwilling to see error in anyone including myself. Here’s where I join with Jesus. It’s a correction crusade. And it rocks! ~You can join~
By refusing to see error, a whole new world opens up before me. Everyone I see is like my favorite long lost aunt that I can't wait to catch-up with. So I treat these encounters with a level of respect and open-hearted acceptance that l learned from Jesus and how he has refused to accept my little opinion of myself, but rather relating to the magnitude in me. This is what I extend.
I teach only what I want to learn, so I teach only the love that I am and you are.
I see miracles happening everywhere. Where I used to see conflict between brothers, I now see the call for love and the opportunity for a miracle. I look to the spark of light within each brother and join them there, blazing the light with healing love… My holiness blesses them.
Whether or not they recognize this act of love is not my concern, healing my mind through seeing their innocence which is my own, is…. Forgiveness happens… “A miracle is a universal blessing from God through me to all my brothers. It is the privilege of the forgiven to forgive.”
I hung out in confusion for a long time; waiting for some miraculous event that would restore me to sanity. I studied the Course, prayed, meditated, did the lessons… But I still measured Heaven from a definition that placed it outside myself. Something that would happen “to” me once I was ‘good’ enough... It's all good...
Obviously, I didn’t see the trap this was; looping me back into the separation construct.
Till I did. I decided for happiness, truth, love, the peace of God.
Here’s the thing. Up till then, because I didn’t want to be in denial or be wearing rose-colored glasses, I kept reinforcing the belief in error by continuing to see it, judge my progress by it, then forgive.
Yes, I found relief. Yes, I felt better. However, I was making error real by claiming it, then forgiving... That is not looking past the error in acceptance of its falseness. .
See the conflict?
That’s a split mind. The Course is accepted completely, or not at all. It says if we aren’t experiencing constant joy, we have not decided for happiness, because happiness is a state of constancy.
I took Jesus as my coach.
He told me, “Deny the denial of truth”. He said, “Recognize your errors and choose to abandon them and follow my guidance.”
There! Clear as day! Recognize my errors and choose to abandon them and follow Him…
I finally listened. I abandon error in favor of truth.
“Forgiveness recognizes that what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred. It does not pardon sins and make them real. It sees there was no sin. And in that view, are all your sins forgiven… Forgiveness merely sees its falsity, and therefore lets it go. What then is free to take its place is now the Will of God.”
I was coached in-spirit to be happy and that joy was a better environment for learning than pain. I was already totally familiar with the contrast, I don't need any more lessons through pain. When I am dis-heartened or dis-spirited I have suspended my usefulness until I change my mind and Think with the Joy of Love.
Ya know, when you accept the Atonement as your profession. And you take the oath of office as a miracle worker, there are certain guidelines you follow.
“Spirit is in a state of grace forever.
Your reality is only spirit.
Therefore you are in a state of grace forever.”
THANK YOU.
I LOVE YOU.
Pick an experience… any experience. I pick resistance.
Resistance is funny, yet an effect tool deployed by the dark side. You want to do something that, when you do it, you feel awesome about yourself, but the mere decision to act makes your limbs go numb. Your mind goes blank and it seems you can’t remember why you wanted to do it in the first place. Any other time seems like it would probably be a better time for you. Why did you tell yourself you‘d so it anyway? You wish you hadn’t made the promise to yourself, because the one thing you are sure of is that if you cop out now, you’ll once again feel the horrid flogging of self betrayal. It’s just the program hard-wired into the world we see… That’s the merry-go-round.
I can escape the world I see, by giving up attack thoughts.
Resistance always means that I am in doubt of what I should do. I have made a decision by myself and created an agenda. This then furthermore must be fulfilled, because by doing this I am assigning it the value of my (and everyone’s) worth. It is the attraction to guilt. I have decided wrongly. I am not at peace. I made the decision by myself so I must now decide to ask the Holy Sprit to decide for God for me. I think of His presence in me and remember:
He leadeth me and knows the way which I know not. Yet he will never keep from me what He would have me learn. And so I trust Him to communicate to me all that He knows for me...
I let Him teach me quietly how to perceive my guiltlessness, which is already there. Learning applies only to the condition in which it happens of itself.
To escape the world pain, replaced by the happy world of forgiveness, which is already there, I but accept my brother’s quiltlessness. This is my atonement.
This is the same really as today’s lesson.
I can escape the world I see, by giving up attack thoughts.
Ya know, in this world we resist giving anything up, yes? What the Atonement shows me is that what I thought was real, that I give up, is not real, but that behind that shadow is the world I want.
I give up my attack thought and the light of my brother’s guiltlessness comes flooding in my mind. Truth is offered first to be received, even as God gave it first to His Son.
I apply the lesson; I can escape the world I see by giving up my attack thoughts about…….. I forgive and see the guiltlessness of all concerned within the apparent situation and peace is restored…
This is, as the Course says, when Atonement becomes real and visible.
I LOVE IT!
COMMUNICATION WITH GOD IS LIFE…
THANK YOU!
I LOVE YOU!
Isn’t this just the yummiest of moments in so-called time, to be a minister for God; to join ranks with the mighty companions of miracle workers on the journey without distance to the place we never left (God), navigating Love’s waters through fear’s cloudy sky? We just absolutely have to trust Jesus’ instruments to pilot the way, without which we would be lost.
I love it!
And isn’t if fun to see who shows up to take their place among the ministers…
A theme of my own this year has been "It is time to put away childish things..." I had to smile when Obama quoted it in his a speech. PERFECT.
I couldn’t help but think about what the Course says to remember as a prayer declaration of independence, in chapter 4:
“The Kingdom is perfectly united and perfectly protected, and the ego will not prevail against it. Amen”…
President Obama began his speech, in my opinion, placing first things first:
“I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful…”
When I think about today’s lesson: “What I see is a form of vengeance” and associate it with/in context of this conversation given by my brother Obama in his gorgeous commitment delivered world wide yesterday, I see the call to accounting I have assigned myself. Attack thoughts are the reason we see a world of vengeance and they won’t disappear with a new administration. I must consciously claim them; quit looking away. Look straight on at everything; including ideas like guilt, anger, worry, conflict, envy, which I see around me, regardless of how they seem to belong to someone else. They’re mine. Period. I apply the exercise given in the workbook:
“I see only the perishable.
I see nothing that will last.
What I see is a not real.
What I see is a form of vengeance.”
It is time to put away the childish ideas like blaming, complaining, one-uping, bitching and explaining myself. That story is over. No more trying to prove myself or justify my worth, accept it as it was established by God. Anger is never justified in any form! That is what the practice of the workbook is for; uncover, excavate, give over to the Holy Spirit and watch forgiveness dissolve them in the light of love… That’s my experience. It’s a miracle! Period.
There is no other way.
Jesus/Holy Spirit takes it from there. By lesson 31, we are handed our declaration of release: “I am not a victim of the world I see.” Are we ready?
Here are a few other things Obama said in his address yesterday that I was warmed to unite in:
“On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord… On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas…”
Now doesn’t that feel familiar? It’s just what I’ve been saying, yes? It is all about forgiving all the discord, conflict, petty grievances and false promises, recriminations and worn out dogmas. Isn’t it. We face ourselves, squarely, each one of us, and stand in a singular purpose for God and then extend our hand…
Here’s what Obama said:
He wraps up with a statement of continuity for ‘we the people’, referencing a historical quote: "Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)."
He then brings it present NOW by finishing with this:
“With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.”
In the spirit of continuity, I’ll wrap with this from chapter 21 of A Course in Miracles...
“Listen, and try to think if you remember what we will speak of now. Listen, - perhaps you catch a hint of an ancient state not quite forgotten; dim, perhaps, and yet not altogether unfamiliar. Like a song whose name is long forgotten, and the circumstances in which you heard completely unremembered. Not the whole song has stayed with you, but just a little wisp of melody, attached not to a person or a place, or anything particular. But you remember, from just this little part, how lovely was the song, how wonderful the setting where you heard it, and how you loved those who were there, and listened with you.
The notes are nothing; yet you have kept them with you, not for themselves, but as a soft reminder of what would make you weep, if you remembered how dear it was to you. You could remember, yet you are afraid, believing you would lose the world you learned since then. And yet you know that nothing in the world you learned is half so dear as this. Listen, and see if you remember an ancient song you knew so long ago, and held more dear than any melody you taught yourself to cherish since. Beyond the body, beyond the sun and stars, past everything you see and yet somehow familiar, is an arc of golden light that stretches, as you look, into a great and shining circle. And all the circle fills with light before your eyes.
The edges of the circle disappear, and what is in it no longer is contained at all. The light expands and covers everything, extending to infinity, forever shining, and with no break or limit anywhere. Within it, everything is joined in perfect continuity. Nor is it possible to imagine that anything could be outside. For there is nowhere that this light is not. This is the vision of the Son of God, whom you know well. Here is the sight of him who knows his Father. Here is the memory of what you are; a part of this, with all of it within you, and joined to all of it as surely as all is joined to you.”
I am Not Alone…
I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing…
I wonder what this means.
Yeah sure, I think I know in theory, but I’m not looking from theory anymore…
I get it… minds are joined... yeah, yeah…
The body's eyes always see the old story... the separate stuff... all labeled with particular meaning in tack...designed to not see… perpetuating the lie…yeah, so…
What is the meaning that is bestowed in time’s correction, which is my part in the Atonement, right here and now as I come to the lesson with open mind today?
He leadeth me and knows the way,
which I know not.
And He would never keep from me
what he would have me learn.
And so I trust Him to communicate to me
all that He knows for me…
THERE!
I apply the lesson, practice it as suggested allowing it to penetrate the world that I now appear to see now, and trust… I am the student. He is the guide. He has the big picture, which I see not. He orchestrates the effects of each mind turned toward the miracle for the real world.
I am responsible for my mind. I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thinking...
I am pure light. I am the Love of God.
This is the new story. Join me here, now… Be the love~ be the Joy of perfect happiness, be the bright light of the ministers of God, with me... It doesn’t take time. That’s just another old story. We are as God created NOW. It’s time to act that way; forgiving everything that shows up on the path of now and keeping the light on!
Try it. You’ll like it.
It’s miraculous how it works. We change our story to love and the world changes with it…
It works! It totally works~ every time! Don’t take my word for it. Take it for checking…and see if you don’t begin to see the world as bright and dazzling as you are being…
Here’s a boost start… Begin with me:
I am here only to be truly helpful. I come as a light, into a world that denied itself everything. I see only the good and the beautiful, as I am the light of the world, bringing peace to every mind through my forgiven sight…
I am perfect happiness.
I love it!
Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point...
I love this part in chapter 11 of the text about our thoughts: The world you perceive it cannot have been created by the Father, for the world is not as you see it. God created only the eternal, and everything you see is perishable. Therefore, there must be another world that you do not see…. Every loving thought the Son of God ever had is eternal. The loving thought his mind perceives in this world are the world’s only reality. They are still perceptions, because he still believes that he is separate. Yet they are eternal because they are loving. And being loving they are like the Father, and therefore cannot die. The real world can actually be perceived. Okay, are you ready? Wait for it…
All that is necessary is a willingness to perceive nothing else…
Here’s where I’m doing business now…
Now this:
Do I want the problem or do I want the answer?
Decide for the answer and you will have it, for you will see it as it is and it is yours already.
Isn’t that awesome!
Ya know, it’s interesting to note just how much I like to rest on my laurels…
I said I wanted the whole shebang and that I’d trade in everything I thought I had advanced to thus far.
I note that parts of my mind don’t feel they signed on for this. It’s definitely a feeling of out-of–control-ness. Here’s the funny part though, I am witnessing my operating system with a curious, non-attached eye.
It’s fun to watch my mind try to establish status quo with spiritual platitudes that have given me comfort for many years… while the love-powered light laser is zapping the he!! out of my little familiar little corner of the world. Its’ the disappearance of the universe of my thought system as it stood. and the groovy part is that I feel Jesus beside me. It so rocks!!!
Truth is, the eternal holds me comforted and secure, showing me that trust is warranted ~and all I want.
I am only light
Turns out, trust does solve every problem now.
I LOVE TRUSTING.
I love being impeccable to my word.
I gave my life to God; said I’d forget everything I taught myself and, be the demonstration of A Course in Miracles.
Here’s how it looks: I accept the Atonement for myself; do the lessons impeccably~ add nothing, and don’t interfere… I adore this lifestyle. I love every aspect of it…
Wow, mind watching… The thoughts; none of them neutral, are absolutely irreverent. Haven’t you ever noticed that as soon as you ask to learn something, you get more examples of how you DON’T know what you thought you knew? Well, I do.
Today was such a day.
“The idea for today is the beginning step in dispelling the belief that that your thoughts have no effects… Everything you see is the result of your thoughts. There is no exception to this fact. Thoughts are not big or little; powerful or weak. They are merely true or false. Those that are true create their own likeness. Those that are false make theirs.”
Key for me is not to attempt to understand or fit what the lesson into my life, but rather my life is the lesson. Practice, practice, practice… this is the only way to become a virtuoso. You can’t understand your way there. Believe me, I know, I’ve tried it. It is seriously a poor use of denial…
No thought are neutral. All that appears to happen in life is a result of thinking false or fear-based ideas or thinking with God; thoughts that are true and love based.
How do you feel?
Merely practice the lesson, lean back and let the miracle work.
Say to the Holy Spirit only, “Decide for me,” and it is done.”
Ok, here it is detailed out for us dummies, a little further on in the same section:
“Whenever you are in doubt what you should do, think of His Presence in you, and tell yourself this, and only this:
He leadeth me and knows the way, which I know not.
Yet He will never keep me from what he would have me learn.
And so I trust Him to communicate to me all that He knows for me.”
And that’s my new favorite mantra!
I LOVE IT!
Sometimes I feel like I ‘m signed up for ACIM lesson study for dummies. Today I was asked to post the next day’s lesson reflections before I wrap up the day so when those who follow the miracles blog as part of their lesson study, can jump-start their day with my reflections as well as the daily Course lesson, first thing in the morning.
Of course I said… YES. And I love this idea.
Then my mind went blank…
As I’m sure you’re aware, though, ego-mind always has a thought generator at the ready for just such occasions, willing and able to reboot the system, yes?.
Talk about images I have made~ every piddly-ass thing started bugging me. Things that don’t bug me tried to enroll me. Feeling images began as emotions of frustration and despondency. I didn’t recognize myself in the mirror (so to speak).
Then, as quick as it came, I remembered the lesson and applied it… what could be simpler? “My thoughts are images that I have made”. I literally started snickering. Those are not my real thoughts… merely images I have made in the dream… I am the dreamer; awake and alive and livin’ in God.
This lesson frees me proportionately to my willingness to be free…
Whenever I experience a period of seeming stress or resistance, lack or illness or frustration, listlessness … well, you know the list… The important thing to remember; no matter what the seeming conflict or upset is, it has NOTHING to do with the world outside myself. It’s always an inside job.
My thoughts are images that I have made…
It is so tempting to want to believe that stuff in the external world are causing the pain and disappointment and fear or whatever (FEAR) that shows up, and to justify particulars for the lack of accountability and responsibility for sight.
But it simply is not so. Here’s the key: whatever conflict, confusion, frustration, or lack of peace, with persons or situation or circumstance that are showing up in the world…NO MATTER WHAT they appear to be, they are reflecting the thoughts within the mind with which one is currently identifying..
The Course’s perspective on conflict is so very powerfully stated in lesson 333. I love it! Listen:
Conflict must be resolved. It cannot be evaded, set aside, denied, disguised, seen somewhere else, called by another name, or hidden by deceit of any kind, if it would be escaped. It must be seen exactly as it is, where it is thought to be, in the reality which has been given it, and with the purpose that the mind accorded it. For only then are its defenses lifted, and the truth can shine upon it as it disappears.
It is critical that we allow this idea to illuminate our mind. We are learning to discern that no one, nor any condition is doing anything to us. The battle is raging within and against the self. As we come to discern this and accept correction we rise above the battleground. Here we step aside and let the miracle save thousands of years in time for everyone.
Thoughts leave not their source and our Source is God, the cause of life and all therefore within. We, accordingly, are Christ, the effect.
Only the thoughts I think with God are real thoughts. The rest my thoughts are images that I have made.
God’s thought of us, His Son, is Perfect Love. Love, which created us, is what we are. Perfect love is what we are in truth. Perfect love casts out fear.
Yeah!
Moving is my agenda these days. Einstein said: ‘Nothing happens till something moves’… That’s me right now!
I change my mind and the world changes with me.
It’s perfect and I am so grateful that it is not the other way around. Aren’t you?
Life is shift and I am riding the wave of the miracle.
I LOVE IT!
Preference: this is just another word for separation, for delay and, well frankly, irresponsibility to being present now. Now is the only moment. Who am I kidding?
Wow it feels good to be home. Home is Heaven Now! It is the only place and in it I experience God everywhere and in everyone.
Apparently, this is a lesson I love learning from every angle. Last night, Cole and I went to coffee with a couple of Son’s of God. Ok, I’ll admit it. At the time it was going on, I forgot who I was having coffee with~ well, Jesus. I thought for a moment that the conversation seemed shallow, superficial, sorta empty…
What the bleep!?
Oh, sure, it was pleasant enough… but I could have been fully present; signed in and paying attention in class to ‘the face of Christ’. After all, don’t I understand that in any situation, it is but my presence that is either shining light or unavailable?
… Now this morning in I am experiencing a slight judgment hangover. And as I write I feel the miracle working its magic:
I Cop to the responsibility for sight, 100%, in every circumstance. Like judgment or preference clouding over perfect conversations with (apparently) miracle-workers, over seemingly meaningless conversations and coffee. I then remember it’s ALL ME, and recognize that whatever is not love is not real. Period. God did not create meaningless conversation, so it is not real…
God did not create a meaningless world.
I’ll tell you what; this yummy little excursion of mind into meaninglessness over coffee ~turns out to be pure bliss. I love sharing this as a sort of pay-it-forward debt exchange with my dear miracle-workin’ coffee buddies.
I love this from chapter 2:
Know first that this is fear.
Fear arises from lack of love.
The only remedy for lack of love is perfect love.
Perfect love is the Atonement.
I LOVE YOU!
God, help me to perform whatever miracles you want of me today…
