"Forgiveness removes in the mind a block in me of my awareness of God's presence." --Mary Morrissey
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Mary Morrissey on Forgiveness
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
We Don't Know What Anything is For
Sometimes life just ups and knocks us to the ground. Most of us have this happen to at least once or twice in life. One minute we're rocking along, moving forward and the next minute we have lost something or everything that is very dear to us.
I call this the "stripping away" because in it we lose much of what we thought we needed to be okay. This can be a very painful experience to go through. Ultimately, however, it becomes a growing experience. It is through these stripping away times in our lives that we get to see who we really are. They show us that we are so much more than the things we think we need.
Sometimes a "stripping away" of the old is necessary for the new to create itself. Disease, divorce, debt, great disappointment and loss all serve a purpose. Of course, when these things are happening to us, and we are in the midst of the gut-wrenching pain, it is hard to see the silver lining in these clouds. But it is there and if we forgive and accept, we will ultimately come to know it.
Forgiveness opportunities come in both small and large packages. The small are so much easier. Like you, I vastly prefer the small. However, as I look back on my life, I know that the large forgiveness opportunities are the ones which have led me to become the searcher I am today. Life is often gently moving me forward in a better direction. But sometimes I get lost and place too much importance on the wrong things. This is when the "stripping away" comes in to show me what I have been unwilling to see. I guess sometimes I just need that swift kick in the pants, the one that knocks me to the ground, writhing and gasping. I know now that when I ultimately stand again, I will be standing taller and with the greater strength of Spirit coursing within me.
The fastest way to the other side of a "stripping away" is through forgiveness. Sometimes it can take a great deal of time to recover, perhaps years, but it is always a choice to recover right now, through a total and complete act of forgiveness and acceptance. For those of us who are unable yet to forgive in full, for whom forgiveness still feels like a bitter spoonful of medicine, we must do what we can and chip away at forgiveness, taking it sip by sip until eventually, we have accomplished it. For there will be no recovery without it.
Sometimes we are given the task to learn that we can survive the things we think we can't. If we apply acceptance to these moments in our lives, we can bounce back and not only survive, but thrive. It is a choice we are given, we can elect to be "stripped away" permanently and become bitter and small, or we can forgive and grow into something even better than we were before this experience. Happiness is attainable, but not without forgiveness.
By the way, I wrote about my most recent "stripping away" experience in my book, "Forgiveness is the Key to Happiness". It was a doozy. If you want to learn what happened to me and how I grew through it, the story starts on page 83 in the chapter titled, "Life Sometimes Tears Us Down".
I call this the "stripping away" because in it we lose much of what we thought we needed to be okay. This can be a very painful experience to go through. Ultimately, however, it becomes a growing experience. It is through these stripping away times in our lives that we get to see who we really are. They show us that we are so much more than the things we think we need.
"The seeming mysteries of life with their attendant experiences are, when rightly understood, blessings in disguise, for any experience that causes us to turn more firmly to the One Active Presence, "I AM," God in Action, has served us a wonderful purpose and blessing."--The "I AM" DiscoursesA Course in Miracles tells us that we "don't know what anything is for". When we are faced with circumstances that seem as if they are the annihilation of the self we have worked so hard to create, we must learn to forgive and accept what is happening to us. We must trust and know that everything we are creating in our lives is for our greater good. As the Course tells us, these events are not being done TO us, but they are FOR us.
Sometimes a "stripping away" of the old is necessary for the new to create itself. Disease, divorce, debt, great disappointment and loss all serve a purpose. Of course, when these things are happening to us, and we are in the midst of the gut-wrenching pain, it is hard to see the silver lining in these clouds. But it is there and if we forgive and accept, we will ultimately come to know it.
Forgiveness opportunities come in both small and large packages. The small are so much easier. Like you, I vastly prefer the small. However, as I look back on my life, I know that the large forgiveness opportunities are the ones which have led me to become the searcher I am today. Life is often gently moving me forward in a better direction. But sometimes I get lost and place too much importance on the wrong things. This is when the "stripping away" comes in to show me what I have been unwilling to see. I guess sometimes I just need that swift kick in the pants, the one that knocks me to the ground, writhing and gasping. I know now that when I ultimately stand again, I will be standing taller and with the greater strength of Spirit coursing within me.
The fastest way to the other side of a "stripping away" is through forgiveness. Sometimes it can take a great deal of time to recover, perhaps years, but it is always a choice to recover right now, through a total and complete act of forgiveness and acceptance. For those of us who are unable yet to forgive in full, for whom forgiveness still feels like a bitter spoonful of medicine, we must do what we can and chip away at forgiveness, taking it sip by sip until eventually, we have accomplished it. For there will be no recovery without it.
Sometimes we are given the task to learn that we can survive the things we think we can't. If we apply acceptance to these moments in our lives, we can bounce back and not only survive, but thrive. It is a choice we are given, we can elect to be "stripped away" permanently and become bitter and small, or we can forgive and grow into something even better than we were before this experience. Happiness is attainable, but not without forgiveness.
By the way, I wrote about my most recent "stripping away" experience in my book, "Forgiveness is the Key to Happiness". It was a doozy. If you want to learn what happened to me and how I grew through it, the story starts on page 83 in the chapter titled, "Life Sometimes Tears Us Down".
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Saturday, August 30, 2014
Bedtime Forgiveness Habit
Yet another reason to practice forgiveness each night before sleep...
"The student or individual who wants to leap ahead in the progress of the Light should never enter sleep until he has consciously sent Love to every individual whom he feels has harmed him at any time. This thought of Love will go straight as an arrow into the consciousness of the other individual because it cannot be stopped--there generating its Quality and Power which will as surely come back to you as you send it out."--The "I AM" Discourses
You get what you give. It's a universal law. When you give forgiveness and love to others, it comes back to you amplified. It will show up in your life somewhere, someplace, sometime. It may not relate to the actual person you have forgiven. That relationship may or may not be salvageable. It doesn't matter. If the love does not come to you through that relationship, it will find another way to express in your life.
Friday, August 29, 2014
You do not Know the Forces Playing on Another
More on judging, from the "'I AM' Discourses":
Judging is the opposite of forgiveness. When we forgive we "flip the switch" from fear (anger, upset, annoyance, hurt) to love. This moment when we forgive and flip that switch is what is called the "holy instant" in A Course in Miracles. It is the moment when the miracle occurs.
On the other hand, when we judge, we are flipping the switch back in the opposite direction. We are switching back to fear. We judge because we are filled with fears. We feel threatened by our world in some way, and so we judge. In many cases, we don't even know why we feel fear. Often, it is coming from our sub-conscious minds.
We have two kinds of work to do if we want to stop the habit of judging. First, we must be vigilant always in guarding and protecting our minds from any vicious and judgmental fear thoughts. As A Course of Miracles says, "choose again". It is always within our power to choose again when we find our minds filling with fear and judgment. When we see that we are starting to judge, we can make another choice, the choice for love.
Our second work is that we must ask ourselves important examining questions when we find ourselves judging. What is this fear I feel in this moment? Where is it coming from? Why do I feel so threatened by this person? What in my past is causing this moment to flare up so large in my mind? If we are judging it is because we are feeling "little". Why? What about this person and this event is so threatening to our own sense of safety? As we examine our fears, we can forgive and release them.
Again, as it says in the "I AM" Discourses, "the one who holds vicious thoughts to another is in reality destroying himself". This is why as we learn to stop the ugly, destructive habit of judging others and we begin to give out love instead, the world around us changes. It becomes a place of peace, first in our minds, and then that peace begins to out-picture in our worlds. And when peace comes, we begin to find our happiness.
"I tell you frankly, Beloved Students and individuals, there is not the slightest hope for you in heaven or earth so long as you persist in holding within your consciousness thoughts and feelings of criticism, condemnation, or hate of any description, and that includes mild dislike.
This leads us to the very vital point that you are concerned only with your own activity and your world. It is not your province to judge another, for you do not know the forces playing upon another or conditions. You know only the angle that you see of it, and I tell you that if an individual should be entirely innocent of any intent to wrong another, the individuals who send criticism, condemnation or hate to such an one are doing worse than committing physical murder. Why is this so? Because thought and feeling are the only Creative Power, and while such thoughts and feelings may not touch or harm their objective, they must return and bring with them the conditions sent out by the individual who sent them forth--and always with accumulated energy.
So after all, the one who holds vicious thoughts to another is in reality but destroying himself, his business and his affairs. There is no possible way of averting it, except for the individual to awaken and consciously reverse the currents."
Judging is the opposite of forgiveness. When we forgive we "flip the switch" from fear (anger, upset, annoyance, hurt) to love. This moment when we forgive and flip that switch is what is called the "holy instant" in A Course in Miracles. It is the moment when the miracle occurs.
On the other hand, when we judge, we are flipping the switch back in the opposite direction. We are switching back to fear. We judge because we are filled with fears. We feel threatened by our world in some way, and so we judge. In many cases, we don't even know why we feel fear. Often, it is coming from our sub-conscious minds.
We have two kinds of work to do if we want to stop the habit of judging. First, we must be vigilant always in guarding and protecting our minds from any vicious and judgmental fear thoughts. As A Course of Miracles says, "choose again". It is always within our power to choose again when we find our minds filling with fear and judgment. When we see that we are starting to judge, we can make another choice, the choice for love.
Our second work is that we must ask ourselves important examining questions when we find ourselves judging. What is this fear I feel in this moment? Where is it coming from? Why do I feel so threatened by this person? What in my past is causing this moment to flare up so large in my mind? If we are judging it is because we are feeling "little". Why? What about this person and this event is so threatening to our own sense of safety? As we examine our fears, we can forgive and release them.
Again, as it says in the "I AM" Discourses, "the one who holds vicious thoughts to another is in reality destroying himself". This is why as we learn to stop the ugly, destructive habit of judging others and we begin to give out love instead, the world around us changes. It becomes a place of peace, first in our minds, and then that peace begins to out-picture in our worlds. And when peace comes, we begin to find our happiness.
 |
| St. Germain--the source of the "I AM" Discourses |
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
"Forgive the World" -- What Does it Mean?
Forgiving the world...it seems like a daunting task. There's a lot of pain out there. In fact, there's a lot of suffering close-by. Where do we even start?
When it comes to forgiving the world, we need to look at how forgiving plays out in both our immediate world and the greater world at large.
Forgiving in Our Own Backyard In our immediate world, we can forgive the things that come up on an every day basis. Whenever we feel frustrated, angry or hurt by the people or events that surround us, we need to do a little forgiveness work. This can be done right on the spot, or it can be saved for a quiet moment later. I like to review my day each night in bed and forgive anything disturbing that happened.
Global Forgiveness Forgiving the world at large is a different kind of forgiveness. It means releasing attachment. It means that we watch what is happening in Israel, in the Ukraine, in Syria or wherever, from arms length, yet with an understanding that suffering is occurring. As we observe, we do not allow our thoughts to mentally sink down with fear and angst for the events that we see.
Just as we forgive the bullies in our immediate world, we also need to forgive the bullies of the world at large. And this we can add to our nightly forgiveness work.
Mind Work However, when we think about the victims, we must not become upset and focused on the unfairness of it all. Thoughts are creative and this kind of thinking holds the victims down. If we want their lives to improve, we need to see them in their strength and truth. We must hold the mental high ground with images of their higher source and true potential. (Of course, this doesn't mean that we refrain from providing the help needed. If there is something we can do, whatever it is, we can feel free to contribute.)
Remember that forgiveness happens on the mental plane. We must hold a vision that helps the victims and sufferers to rise up. It is our job to find the vision for peace. It is our job to forgive and to see love as a real possibility.
World Peace Starts at Home, Inside Of course, our biggest contribution to the healing of the world is the work we do on our very own minds. We must release our habits of judging others. If we want to heal the world, we must heal our own thinking first. When our minds become a place of peace, the world will reflect that. When we stop the attack thoughts that frequent our minds, when our minds become gentle, the world will too.
Remember that all minds are joined. We can lift others up. By filling our minds with love, we are showing others the pathway to peace. And loving thoughts have so much more power than fearful thoughts. It starts right here, right now, with us. Each of us has the opportunity to contribute to the forgiving and healing of the world.
When it comes to forgiving the world, we need to look at how forgiving plays out in both our immediate world and the greater world at large.
Forgiving in Our Own Backyard In our immediate world, we can forgive the things that come up on an every day basis. Whenever we feel frustrated, angry or hurt by the people or events that surround us, we need to do a little forgiveness work. This can be done right on the spot, or it can be saved for a quiet moment later. I like to review my day each night in bed and forgive anything disturbing that happened.
Global Forgiveness Forgiving the world at large is a different kind of forgiveness. It means releasing attachment. It means that we watch what is happening in Israel, in the Ukraine, in Syria or wherever, from arms length, yet with an understanding that suffering is occurring. As we observe, we do not allow our thoughts to mentally sink down with fear and angst for the events that we see.
Just as we forgive the bullies in our immediate world, we also need to forgive the bullies of the world at large. And this we can add to our nightly forgiveness work.
Mind Work However, when we think about the victims, we must not become upset and focused on the unfairness of it all. Thoughts are creative and this kind of thinking holds the victims down. If we want their lives to improve, we need to see them in their strength and truth. We must hold the mental high ground with images of their higher source and true potential. (Of course, this doesn't mean that we refrain from providing the help needed. If there is something we can do, whatever it is, we can feel free to contribute.)
Remember that forgiveness happens on the mental plane. We must hold a vision that helps the victims and sufferers to rise up. It is our job to find the vision for peace. It is our job to forgive and to see love as a real possibility.
World Peace Starts at Home, Inside Of course, our biggest contribution to the healing of the world is the work we do on our very own minds. We must release our habits of judging others. If we want to heal the world, we must heal our own thinking first. When our minds become a place of peace, the world will reflect that. When we stop the attack thoughts that frequent our minds, when our minds become gentle, the world will too.
Remember that all minds are joined. We can lift others up. By filling our minds with love, we are showing others the pathway to peace. And loving thoughts have so much more power than fearful thoughts. It starts right here, right now, with us. Each of us has the opportunity to contribute to the forgiving and healing of the world.
Monday, August 25, 2014
Do you wish people well when they walk through the streets of your mind?
Or is your mind a mind field?
When you think of others, do you think with attack or love?
Is your mind a dangerous place for others? If so, it is also a dangerous place for you.
What you give out, you get back.
If your mental habit is to attack and judge others, then...
you will be attacked and judged by others.
What are you offering to the world?
When your mind is a dangerous place, you are creating a world of fear.
When your mind holds love, you are creating a world of love.
Your thought is under your own dominion.
You choose your thoughts.
Don't let them choose you.
When attack thoughts come...
Choose again. Make a choice for love.
Again and again. Make another choice.
Create the habit of choosing love. Always.
Let love and a better world be your legacy.
This is how you create happiness.
Happiness in the world around you.
And happiness in your own mind.
When you think of others, do you think with attack or love?
Is your mind a dangerous place for others? If so, it is also a dangerous place for you.
What you give out, you get back.
If your mental habit is to attack and judge others, then...
you will be attacked and judged by others.
What are you offering to the world?
When your mind is a dangerous place, you are creating a world of fear.
When your mind holds love, you are creating a world of love.
Your thought is under your own dominion.
You choose your thoughts.
Don't let them choose you.
When attack thoughts come...
Choose again. Make a choice for love.
Again and again. Make another choice.
Create the habit of choosing love. Always.
Let love and a better world be your legacy.
This is how you create happiness.
Happiness in the world around you.
And happiness in your own mind.
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Look Up
Look to the higher place.
Whenever you meet someone, be sure to cast your eyes upward.
Upward to the place where the soul dwells, that higher self.
See only the beauty, the love, the truth in everyone you encounter.
Don't ever look down.
No matter what happens.
No matter what they do.
No matter what you do.
It's all only a dreamscape anyway.
But where you cast your gaze is how you shall dream...
Look down and you will dream of suffering.
But look upward and you will live the happy dream.
When you look for the beauty, the love and the truth in others,
you will live in that very same truth yourself.
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