The Moment When Life Begins

A Course in Miracles tells us that in all moments we are making a choice between love and fear.  It is very simple, really.  All we have to do is choose love now.  And in the next moment, choose love now.

"When you look upon all things without judgment through the eyes of forgiveness, when you decide to embody only the reality of Love no matter what anybody else is doing, that is when life begins."  --The Way of Mastery p.79

Only we can be the master of our thought.  No one else can get inside our head. We must be the one to cease the endless fear thoughts the ego stirs up.   At times, this may seem difficult to do, however, this is only the fearful thinking of the ego, trying to convince us it can't be done.  It can be done. It must be done.

And what is our reward for this effort?  Why, it's peace, of course.  It's love. Happiness. Joy.

It's a chance to leave this "hell on earth" we create in our very own minds and enter into Heaven right here in our own daily lives.  Right here. Right now.

In most moments, most days, it's just a matter of noticing our thoughts.  When fear creeps in, when judgment takes over, we can make another choice.  "Choose again", as A Course in Miracles says. We can make that choice to flip the switch from fear to love.

Choose again.

But...some days it's harder to flip the switch.

Occasionally the darkness descends and won't be transcended easily.  When this happens, ask the Holy Spirit to help.  Give all your fearful thoughts over to the Holy Spirit.  If it helps, visualize yourself actually handing them over.  Or create a huge white light altar and place your fear upon it.  Spirit will take it from you and cleanse your mind. Sometimes this cleansing happens instantly.  Sometimes this process can take hours.  Vow to sit right where you are until your thinking clears.  Wait it out.  Every time a fear thought comes, turn it over.  Do it again and again if you have to. Here's an affirmation you can use:

"I accept the love of God."

Repeat this over and over.  Then spend some time just quietly listening with no expectations of hearing anything.  If there is anyone you can forgive for anything, do it.  Work at this process diligently, and I promise you, the fear will pass.  Love thinking will return.

Does this seem difficult?  Uncomfortable?  Insane?  Actually, it's insanity to live in torment, when a choice for peace exists.  It's insanity to live in fear when a choice for love exists.  There are people all over this planet choosing love, right now.  Join us.

This is when life begins.  

I See Only the Radiance

"For when I look upon you, I see not the very momentary dreams that you seem to think are lasting so long.  I see only the radiance of that which the Father has extended out of Love.  I see only that which has neither beginning nor ending.  I see only that which knows neither birth nor death.  I see only that which has no limitations.  I see only that--the light of which is already extended throughout all dimensions and all universes."--The Way of Mastery p. 70

When we are forgiving this must be our thought process.  We must look beyond this dream world where people behave badly and hurt one another.  We look to our higher truth.  We go into our minds and know the radiance of one another.  We know the loving intentions of our Father, the creator who created each one of us in his own image.  We are simply and truly only Love.  That is our truth and that is the truth of our trespasser.  What you see here now in front of you in this 3D illusory world is only a moment in time.  It's not the higher truth.  Look up.  Look beyond.  See only the radiance.  That is the place of forgiveness.

Turn it Over to the Holy Spirit

If it's judgmental, critical, unaccepting, unkind.....

Turn it over to the Holy Spirit

If it's upsetting anxiety-making, creating a knot in your stomach, jaw grinding...

Turn it over to the Holy Spirit

If it's sad, grief-ridden, loss-induced, melancholy...

Turn it over to the Holy Spirit

If it's painful, searing, humiliating, mortifying...

Turn it over to the Holy Spirit

If it's frightening, unsafe, makes you feel untethered, all alone and unsupported...

Turn it over to the Holy Spirit 

If it's rejection, unworthiness, self-criticism, or feelings of being unloved and under-valued...

Turn it over to the Holy Spirit

If it's lack, meager, not enough, little, reducing, insignificant, paltry...

Turn it over to the Holy Spirit 

If it's devastating, earth-shattering, bone-breaking...

Turn it over to the Holy Spirit

And when it comes back into your mind, as it most likely will...

Turn it over to the Holy Spirit, again and again, as often as needed. 

You were intended to be happy and joyful.  The Divine wants you to live with peace in your mind. You were created for so much more.  You are magnificence.  You were made from God-stuff.  You are in God's Mind.  You are fully, wholly, completely, perfectly...Love.

It's the Holy Spirit's job to keep you safe, supported, abundant and happy.  But he can't do his work if you fill your mind with fear.  Turn it over to him and let him help you accept and forgive the world. Accept the happiness you were always intended to have.  Be the Love you really are.

Allowing, Accepting, Trusting

Some beautiful words on allowing:

Allowance is not a passive acceptance of things as they are, but a recognition that there is something quite beautiful at work.  There is an intelligence, a love, that knows you better than you know yourself and is presenting you, moment to moment, with jewels and gems and blessings and lessons that something is weaving the tapestry of your life, and nothing is happening by accident.  -- "The Way of Mastery", p. 68

A Course in Miracles tells us that we never know what anything is actually for.  This means that many of the events in our lives are planned behind the scenes for us.  Sometimes, when we are in the midst of one of the painful events that come up during the course of our lives, it's really hard to understand that this was gently planned for our greater good.  In fact, often, we simply just can't see anything about the situation that feels that any good can come from it at all.

However, as they say, "time will tell".  As the years pass, we can look back on our most painful events and understand the why of it.  We see what we learned.  We see how we became a stronger, better person because of it.  Or, we see that we had the opportunity to learn, but didn't accept it.

No worries.  When we don't learn our lessons the first time, they come around again.  And again, and again.  They look and smell a little differently, but they are just another version of the same darn lesson giving us yet another go at it.  We keep getting the lesson until we get it.  

Life really is a classroom and it's all there for us.  Trust the process.  Accept what comes up. Turn anything painful and all fearful thinking over to the Holy Spirit. As Jennifer Hadley likes to say, "Let the Holy Spirit do the heavy lifting".  Turning it over is an act of allowing.  It's the miracle in action, that moment when we choose love over fear.

Then examine these events to see how you can learn and grow from them.  Try to keep your acceptance level high, your loving attitude intact and your mood in the positive.  This is how we grow.  This is how we become who we were really meant to be.  This is how we uncover our real truth.  We are spirit.  We are really only love.

It's Simple...We're all the Same

I woke up thinking about the Middle East this morning.  I'd just love to throw a big blanket over Syria and Iraq.  "Sleep, everyone, just sleep", I'd whisper into the blanket.  "Calm down, sleep and find some quiet."  

When everyone is finally sleeping peacefully, I'd continue my whispering.  This is what I'd say:

We're all the same.  

The Divine created each and every one of us in exactly the same way.

He made us all out of the same substance.

He made us all exactly in his own image.  We are just like him.  Every single one of us.

We are love.  That is what he is.  That is what we are.

He love us infinitely.  Yes, each and every one of us is loved infinitely by the Divine himself.

And the Divine gave us each a function.  That function is love.   

We have a job to do, an assignment, a purpose.  Love is why we exist.  

Exercise that love.  Put it into action.  Fulfill your purpose.  

Be who you were created to be.

Forgive.  Accept.  Love. 

It really is all just this simple.  We're all the same. 

Live in peace.  Nothing is more important than this.  Nothing.  

It's OK That We're Not OK

In a recent blog posting, Colin Tipping said:

"I love that line: I’m not OK, you’re not OK; but that’s OK! It captures the truth about who we are and the fact that we were never meant to be perfect. If we were, there would be no one to create opportunities for us to experience forgiveness. Our perfection lies in our imperfection.

I also love the following definition of Radical Forgiveness, which is along the same lines: It is the unconditional acceptance of what is, as is, because that’s how it is meant to be."

We're all together here in this world.  But we're also all together on the pathway home.  That's because, in truth, we're all part of the one universal mind.  We are one and collectively, we are learning and growing together. We grow through forgiveness and acceptance, which are, ultimately, only love.

Colin Tipping believes that we all cooperate with each other, creating situations that allow us to each receive our forgiveness lessons.  Of course, this cooperation occurs subconsciously, on the level of the greater mind.

At certain times in each of our lives, we are providing others with forgiveness opportunities.
Just as we are each sometimes annoyed, upset or hurt by others, we all occasionally annoy, upset or hurt someone else, too.  Every one of us is given the opportunity to forgive and grow many times in this lifetime.  And the more we overlook those opportunities, the more "in-our-faces" they get.  If we fail to forgive the first time, no worries, we'll always get another chance  But the next time it will be bigger and more painful.

The next time someone hurts your feelings, try to flop the situation around in your mind.  Are they at some level actually offering you a gift?

Have they volunteered to help you grow by giving you the chance to forgive?  Are these "devils" actually "angels" in disguise?  Can it be that their hurtful behavior is actually an act of love?

Forgiveness is much easier if you allow yourself to think in this way.

Mary Morrissey on Forgiveness

"Forgiveness removes in the mind a block in me of my awareness of God's presence." --Mary Morrissey