Thursday, June 26, 2014

Let It Go

Here is the plain and simple truth...you can never be happy if you are judging and holding a grudge against someone else.  That is how this world works.  It's a universal law.  It just is.  

And yes, I know that it can seem scary to forgive.  It is the unknown pathway.  And we grasp on to our grudges and betrayals.  We cherish them...and nurture them...and our lives become all about them.  I know, I know.  I've been there.

The thing is, here's the truth.  Judgment and grudge-holding are the source of guilt in your life.  And guilt leads to separation from your Source.  

This is not happiness, this is life at it's smallest, most restricted and contracted.  It's not really what you want.  It's only what you think you want.  You simply don't know how to be otherwise.  No one has shown you a better way and a reason to follow it.  

But here it is, right now, right here...  

If you let your judgments and grudges go, you will be happier.  That's it.  So very simple and yet so very big.  You can be a happier person.  Your life can be easier for you.  You can feel safe and cherished in this world.  You can feel trust that you are protected and loved.  You can experience inner peace.  It's all there for you and you just have to do one simple thing...

Let it go.  



Repeating again from yesterday's post, because it bears repeating:

All this is so much bigger than holding onto that miserable pain-inducing, tight-fisted, life-long grudge against that most annoying someone in your life.  This is huge.  This is everything.  Do you see that?  Let it go.  Let it go.  LET IT GO.  Choose to live a happy life.  Choose to know your real truth.  Choose to be so much more than the smallness you are living now.  Forgive and be happy.


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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Forgiveness is for YOU!

"Each time you forgive, you take yourself deeper into the purity of your own consciousness."  ---The Way of Mastery p. 25

Forgiveness is for YOU!  

It's not something you do because you ought to, or you think you should.  You don't forgive because way back when your Sunday School teacher told you to.

It's not something you do for others (although forgiveness is very healing for everyone else).  You don't do it because long ago your mother told you to forgive your sister when the two of you argued.

It's not something you do to heal the world, although it does contribute to the healing of the world.

It is simply for YOU.  It is through forgiveness that you discover your own magnificence.  You discover that you are loving and good inside at your core.  You are connected to the divine and that purity and innocence flows in your veins.  It is only as you forgive the world around you, however, that the awareness of your own beautiful divine nature begins finally to dawn on you.

When your forgiveness work begins to congeal into a new way of seeing the world, you subconsciously start the process of actually forgiving yourself.  You learn that if purity is at the heart of everyone you've forgiven, then it is at your own heart, too.  You begin to see yourself differently.  You recognize your inherent goodness and wisdom.  It is there, and actually has always been there.  But it is only as you practice forgiveness that you are able to recognize its presence.

And as you forgive more and more in your everyday world, your life begins to change.  It becomes easier, Lighter.  Good things flow to you.  Life's lessons become gentler.

You begin to see that you can trust life to take care of you and that allows you to accept more peace.  You understand inherently that you are safe.  That everything that is important in this life begins with forgiveness and love.  That as you forgive and love, you are tapping into the essence of your purpose.



And this makes you want to go further in your forgiveness.  So you probe into your past wounds and release and forgive.  You see the distorted, false, difficult world around you and you accept, accept and accept even more.  You release the old false beliefs that blocked you from seeing the truth in your heart.

More peace flows in.  Life lightens even more.  And one day you know that you have reached the beginning of living what A Course in Miracles calls "the happy dream".   It's not all always perfect, but it mostly is, and you know in your core that as you continue to live in forgiveness, it will become more and more so.

You've found happiness.

All this is so much bigger than holding onto that miserable pain-inducing tight-fisted life-long grudge against that most annoying someone in your life.  This is huge.  This is everything.  Do you see that?  Let it go.  Let it go.  LET IT GO.  Choose to live a happy life.  Choose to know your real truth.  Choose to be so much more than the smallness you are living now.  Expand into love.  Forgive and be happy.



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Tuesday, June 24, 2014

What Really Occurs When You Forgive?

I am preparing this week to lead a discussion group class on the third chapter from "The Way of Mastery".  The topic of this chapter is forgiveness.  I have read this chapter over and over, many many times in the past, but I find that each time I read it, I get new lessons.  This little section below jumped out at me this morning and I had to share it with you:

"What really occurs when you forgive?
You are a conduit of energy.  To the degree that the conduit is in working order, the energy can flow so radiantly that the conduit actually becomes transparent.  That is, it no longer blocks.  There is no barrier or limit to the Light.  
When you judge, it is as though you contracted and made the walls of the conduit smaller, just like building up rust in your pipes.  And the flow becomes less and less.
As you forgive judgments, it is as though the rust in the pipes is dissolving.  It is as though the walls of the pipe that are carrying the liquid of God's Love begin to expand and become thinner and thinner and more transparent.
Judgment is contraction.
Forgiveness is relaxation, peace, trust and faith." --Way of Mastery p. 33  
I really do feel this.  When I am in a state of un-forgiveness or judgment, I feel a tightness in my chest, a density to my physical body, a heaviness.  However, after I forgive, I feel light, happy, comfortable and easy in both my body and mind.  And the more I work at forgiveness, the more I experience this.



I experience the most happiness when I am doing the most forgiveness work.  When I am truly practicing what I call a "forgiveness lifestyle", I find that I almost feel like I am walking on air.

A "forgiveness lifestyle" means that every night before I go to sleep I scan my mind to see if there is anything that happened that day that I can forgive. This is what I call forgiving the present  (see here for more).

It also means that I am constantly alert to the workings of my mind, looking to see if any old memories of hurt, anger or upset rise to the surface.  When I do, I forgive and release them (using techniques you can find in my book, "Forgiveness is the Key to Happiness").  This is forgiving the past (see here for more).

It also means that I am constantly thinking, ruminating if you will, looking deep into my mind in search of the false beliefs I have created in my mind as a result of these past memories.  False beliefs are beliefs such as:  "I'm not worthy." "I'm not love-able."  "I don't deserve to have good in my life."  "I am a bad girl."  "I am stupid."  "Nobody likes me."  "I am ugly."  "I am poor."  "I am sick."  (see here for more on understanding and forgiving false beliefs).

There are many more false beliefs but these are a few key examples.  If we are to really and truly forgive ourselves, we need to dig up these false beliefs and root them out of our minds with our forgiveness.  This is self-forgiveness, of course.

Forgiveness is mental and physical freedom.  It opens the door to inner peace.  Without it, we simple can not have peace.  However, with it comes the peace that leads to true happiness.





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Monday, June 23, 2014

"All events are neutral. They merely provide you with a chance to choose love."



As a student of A Course in Miracles, I like to look at life here as a classroom and I try to use those times in my life when I feel hurt or angry as opportunities to learn and grow.  

"What if you merely chose the "insane" way, according to the world, of looking at one who has just done that act as a brother or sister who is crying out for help and healing?  What if you chose to look upon them as one who does not know how to live in this world without being of this world, who does not know the way to self-forgiveness, who does not know the truth of the Light that lives within them, and who does not recognize their great power to create whatever they want in a way that is not hurtful to anyone?  What if you chose to look upon them with compassion rather than reactivity?"--Way of Master p. 30

When something brings me pain, I try to realize that I have drawn this event toward me so that I can learn and grow from it.  It is in the act of forgiveness and acceptance that I become more magnificent.  My forgiveness opportunities are really the gems of my life.  They are my gifts to myself because in each one I can choose to become smaller and less effective in my world, or I can choose to open myself up to the reality of my truth as a glorious and powerful source of love and healing in this world.







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Monday, June 16, 2014

There's a Script for Our Lives

I loved Jennifer Hadley's posting this morning.  In fact, I loved it so much I sent the link out to all the members of my Way of Mastery class.  Then I thought I'd share it with you, too.  To see it on her web-site, click here.  I have also included the entire posting below.

It's so great to be waking up!


"I’m continuing in this series I started about my experience of waking up. One of the most pivotal points for me was realizing that there was, as A Course in Miracles calls it, a script. There’s a script or plan for each of our lives. It’s very complex and every part of it is highly intentional. We wrote it. There’s not one choice in our life experience that isn’t written by our own Higher Holy Spirit Self.

The more loving I became, the more I practiced forgiveness and non judgment the more clearly I could see that there was not one thing in my life that was random. I began to have a level of insight, flashes and bursts of clarity about what was most important and how life worked. The more loving, patient and generous I became, the more I began to have a 4th dimensional awareness.

The more I practiced forgiveness, the more clearly I could feel, see, hear and know the truth beyond the illusion, the more I began to understand it, the less confusing life was for me.

I began to understand how life works from a spiritual perspective, rather than a worldly perspective. I began to see that what the world taught was false. Only Love is true. Love is all there is.

ALL of our life lessons about Love because Love is ALL there is.

When we make unloving choices we are, essentially refusing to accept the lessons of Love that we’ve worked so hard to present to ourselves. Each time we choose to be unloving, we’re rejecting ALL of our experiences of the past that have taught us to be loving, kind and generous. And this is the cause of our suffering. If we didn’t suffer when we make choices that are loving we are harvesting EVEN MORE learning from everything that we’ve learned so far.

My life began to be a series of challenging opportunities to choose Love. They were INTENSELY challenging for me. I became more and more committed to finding the Love in my heart and choosing from that Love. It was not easy. I began to experience miraculous healing. The level of healing that I’d always dreamed of became mine. I began to feel truly free. I began to see my family and friends changing too. I began to feel and see my finances healing. Everything became much easier.

It was ALL the result of deepening my spiritual practice. EVERYTHING I have is the result of that.

I finally began to value that which was truly valuable and my life was healing from the inside out.

The plan for your healing is there. You can activate yourself onto the fast path. It’s up to you.

The ONLY way I know to get on the fast path is through a dedicated spiritual practice.

Spiritual practice saves time. Time is for learning. If you stop refusing the learning and repeating it over and over again, you can heal at a quantum pace. Spiritual practice is the only way I know to do that.It IS miraculous! Are you willing to live the miraculous plan that is encoded into YOUR script? When would you like to start?How about now?"--Jennifer Hadley
- See more at: http://jenniferhadley.com/2014/06/waking-up-part-13-realizing-theres-a-plan/?

Brilliantly put, Jennifer!   

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Are You a Spiritual Warrior?

In church this morning, my minister said this:

"Forgiveness is the action of a spiritual warrior."--Reverend Liz Luoma

It is true that forgiveness is not for the feint of heart.  Real forgiveness work requires determination and fortitude.  Real forgiveness involves a willingness to look deep into your own soul and in that looking you may see much that you would rather not look at.

But it is in that looking that the true growth comes.  Only in that looking are we able to  understand and release the mental blocks that we have created in our minds which keep us separated from our Source and from our oneness with each other.

 

I want to be that spiritual warrior.  I want this to be the life in which I finally break through to a higher level of mind.

So I just keep doing my forgiveness work.  I forgive every day.  And I often work to forgive my past.  And I look deep inside my mind and examine my thinking.  Even when it means that I have to mentally relive some of the more painful moments in my life.  As I forgive on all these levels, I find greater happiness in all aspects of my life.  This is my forgiveness lifestyle.  I hope it will be yours, too.



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Thursday, June 12, 2014

It Takes One to Know One

"There is nothing you can be aware of in the energy of another that you have not known in yourself.  There is nothing another can say or do, or even imagine themselves capable of saying or doing that you have not also known.  Again it takes one to know one.  When you perceive another acting out of hostility or fear, the only way you can recognize it is because you have been there."  --Way of Mastery p. 27
Some people just push our buttons.  That's how we like to think of it.  But what is really happening when we feel activated by the behaviors and attitudes of others?

When others annoy or irritate us, we feel that way because we are actually annoyed or irritated at the parts of ourselves we recognize in them.   Say, perhaps, we watch another person acting selfishly.  We identify their behavior as selfishness.  We are judging them for behaving badly.  However, the only reason we know what that behavior is about is because we ourselves have known selfishness in our pasts.  Perhaps we are even occasionally selfish in our present, too.  This behavior repels us in ourselves and that is why we feel put off by it when we see it in others.

We like to judge others because that puts the blame outside of ourselves.  It gives us the perception that they are wrong, or bad, or too this or too that--but that we ourselves are good, right and perfect.  We project our own weaknesses onto the world outside of ourselves and this allows us to feel better about who we are.  However, this behavior is only contributing to our feelings of separation.  

Again, it takes one to know one.  Or as Colin Tipping likes to say, "If you spot it, you got it."  The next time you find yourself judging someone else, take a moment to look deeply into yourself.  Ask yourself, "Where in my own mind do these same attitudes exist?"  "Where in my life have I acted out in this same way?"



And then let your judgments go.  Release and forgive.  It's so much easier to forgive others when we see that they are merely doing the same things we do.  We're all human.  We all slip up.  We're each here, simply learning our lessons.  Give others the freedom and support to learn their lessons in their own way, in their own time and place, without our interference or judgment.  This is what they need.  This is what we need.


Switch from fear and anger to love, understanding and support.   Remember that as we forgive them, we are forgiving ourselves.  Yes, you heard me right.  When we forgive someone else for behaving selfishly, we are actually forgiving ourselves for our own selfish behavior.  This is why forgiveness is essential if we want to be happy.  We can only forgive ourselves as we forgive others.
 




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Thursday, June 5, 2014

Another Ego Trick--Attachment

I've been writing lately about ego tricks.  These tricks are ways the egos uses to create separation between our spiritual selves and our earthly selves.

One trick the ego likes to use is attachment.  Here's how it works.  You get offered a choice.  Perhaps, "Do you want the red or the blue?"  You think about it a bit.  Actually, you could go either way, But finally, you choose blue.  "Oh," the ego says, "that's a fine choice.  A very fine choice.  In fact, you have excellent taste.  The fact that you knew to choose the blue makes you special. I'm glad you want the blue.  In fact, you should want the blue very badly, because wanting the blue makes you very special.  Now let me tell you a little bit about the blue.  It is a little harder to get the blue.  You have to work a lot harder to get the blue.  You have to do certain things.  The blue is a little illusive.  It might not come to you easily.  In fact, it might not come to you often or at all.  But that's okay.  Just wanting the blue makes you so very special.  And maybe if you try this....or that... or this other thing...you can have the blue."  And so it begins.



We spend our lives in pursuit of the "blues".  And we get more and more attached to having blue.  We work harder and harder for blue and we believe that when we finally get blue we will have happiness.  But ultimately one of two things happens.  Either we get the blue only to discover that it doesn't make us happy, or we never really get the blue and so we never feel satisfied because our goal of having blue is thwarted.

Here's where forgiveness comes in.  We can be happy without blue in our lives.  In fact, blue actually has nothing to do with our happiness.  But we do need to release our belief in blue.  We need to forgive blue for all the damage, disappointment, fear and upset it has brought into our lives.  We need to see that the only possible source of happiness comes from love and that love is acceptance.  And that includes acceptance of what is--whether our lives include blue or not.


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Tuesday, June 3, 2014

There is No Love but God's

There can never be a difference in what you really are and what love is.  Love's meaning is your own, and shared by God Himself.  For what you are is what He is  There is no love but His, and what He is, is everything there is.  There is no limit placed upon Himself, and so are you unlimited as well.  --A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 127
 When we are able to truly understand that we are only love, forgiveness becomes easy.  When we know that we are one with God and that we share fully and completely in his love, we know that the same is true for all others.



Looking at others with the truth of love in our eyes, forgiveness is only natural.



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