Healing Processes
As is often said, A Course in Miracles is not an
intellectual pursuit. It is meant to be lived. I can understand
the theory behind it, but if I want it to impact my life, I must
use it. I do this by forgiving daily, no, make that hourly. I
forgive every time my peace is disturbed in any way. I forgive
each time I fail to experience God in my daily life. There are
only two choices in all things; ego or God. I cannot have both,
and must choose. In order to get to that place, I must notice
which I am choosing. I must be aware.
Once I am aware that I am choosing ego, I need a process to help
me let that go. Sometimes it is as easy as noticing and almost
instantaneously choosing differently. Sometimes, I simply say
the name of God and in so doing, I invoke His loving presence
into my consciousness. Often times, though, I have a harder time
releasing an ego thought. I have some processes I use at those
times to help me achieve my goal. I am going to talk about them
here, and I invite you to share with me your processes, and also
your results with these processes.
Comments are welcome, please log in.
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Sun Jan 11, 2009
Rumi - Back Pain
This was so beautiful, I wanted to share it.
Muhammad went to visit a sick friend.
Such kindness brings more kindness,
and there is no knowing the proliferation from there.
The man was about to die.
Muhammad put his face close and kissed him.
His friend began to revive.
Muhammad's visit re-created him.
He began to feel grateful for an illness
that brought such light.
And also for the backpain
that wakes him in the night.
No need to snore away like a buffalo
when this wonder is walking the world.
There are values in pain that are difficult
to see without the presence of a guest.
Don't complain about autumn.
Walk with grief like a good friend.
Listen to what he says.
Sometimes the cold and dark of a cave
give the opening we most want.
A Year with Rumi by Coleman Barks
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Wed Dec 31, 2008
Ho'oponopono
This comes from Ben Gilberti. It is a good reminder of a really simple and effective healing process.
I haven’t mentioned Ho’oponopono very much lately, because once you know how to do it, you realize it’s really very simple, and all there is to do is to do it. There’s no reason to talk about it.
As those of you who are using it know, it’s an excellent extra way to practice all we've learned from ACIM. I practice it every day. Every day without fail. It’s become an essential part of my life.
But it’s not a big deal. It’s not a burden, or a difficult thing, or something that requires discipline or determination or perseverance or anything like that. Because it’s extremely simple and easy, and a very natural thing to do.
A few times a day, I’ll sit or lie down, so I can be quiet and undistracted, and I do it, over and over and over and over again. That’s how it’s practiced. And again, nothing could be easier or more natural to do. It’s nothing more than saying within your mind, while feeling their meaning, the Four Key Ho’oponopono Phrases:
1. I Love You.
2. I’m Sorry.
3. Please forgive me for whatever is going on within me that is causing this problem.
4. Thank You.
That’s it. That’s all there ever is to it.
When you say, “Please forgive me for whatever is going on within me that is causing this problem,” - - - the “problem” you’re referring to can be anything at all – it can be some problem or suffering or illness or difficulty that you are experiencing in your own life, or, much more often in my case, it can be some problem or difficulty that someone else is experiencing in their lives, or some problem a group of people are experiencing, or some problem in the world. There is nothing external to you. Oneness is real. If you take responsibility for it you can heal it. Not you per se, but the Divinity you invite into the situation through this process.
When I say "I Love You," I'm expressing my intent to turn from memories of separation to the Presence of Divinity. When I say, "I'm Sorry," I'm sorry for having turned my back on The Divinity in favor of the memories of separation that are causing the problem at hand. When I say, "Please Forgive Me," I'm asking The Divinity to erase the memories that seemed to make separation real. And when I say, "Thank You," I'm grateful that the memories are erased and Divine Inspiration can flow once again.
I Love You; I'm sorry; Please forgive me for whatever is going on within me that is causing this problem; Thank You.
Most often I’m doing it on behalf of someone other than myself; in fact very often for someone who has asked me to do some Ho’oponopono for them, or asked me to do a spiritual healing for them, and I’ll say: “I Love You; I'm sorry; Please forgive me for whatever is going on within me that is causing _____________ in ___________'s life; Thank You.”
If nothing else, at night when you’ve gotten into bed and will soon be falling asleep, run the process in your mind until you doze off. Do it for whomever comes to mind that has a problem or difficulty that they’d be blessed to be free of. It doesn’t take long. You can easily clear up whatever problems you might have, if you have any, and any distress or suffering that you may be aware of in your immediate or extended environment.
Sometimes I’ll even embrace the whole kit and caboodle with the phrase: “Please forgive me for whatever is going on within me that is causing any suffering anywhere in the world.” Remember the first principle of miracles:
T-1.I.1. There is no order of difficulty in miracles. 2 One is not "harder" or "bigger" than another. 3 They are all the same. 4 All expressions of love are maximal.
And any of you who have been using it consistently know that it does indeed work miracles. As a matter of fact even after all this time, it still keeps amazing me how miraculous the results so often are.
If this is all new to you and you haven’t learned it yet, just visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ho_oponopono_aloha/ where the “Files” and “Links” Sections of that Yahoo Group will provide you with far more than you’ll really need in order to learn all about Ho’oponopono and become comfortable and competent in practicing it with ease and confidence.
Much Love,
Ben
http://bengilberti.com
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Fri Apr 18, 2008
What is it?
I have had a rash for a couple of days now. It is on my right arm and around the waist on my left side. It is not horribly itchy but annoying and last night it was painful. I figured the pain was the result of being constantly irritated by my waistband on my pants. Then I thought about someone I know who had shingles and I wondered. So I googled shingles and learned very little except that it is usually on one side of the body. Uh, oh. It can also be painful. I looked for pictures of both shingles and poison ivy. They looked too much the same for me tell for sure. So I got out my pendulum and held it next to the affected area and it moved freely so I thought it couldn't be anything so serious as shingles. But still, it was on one side and it was painful.
Finally I got dressed for bed and as I am laying there I realized that it doesn't matter what this is. First, I didn't get it from anything outside me. I chose this. I may have used the poison ivy plant to get the desired effect, but I cannot have anything in my life that I don't want. So I looked at the rash again and thought what a grand rash it is. I loved myself for my creative ability and called it good.
Then I thought about the timing. Just recently I have been moving toward another shift and yesterday I made the commitment toward it. When I am threatening the ego thought system I often (on an unconscious level) set up something to bring myself back to its "reality" and the most compelling way to do this is to make the body sick. I checked in with myself and saw that it was not working. I don't feel like a body. This is happening to the body, but I recognize what is going on and I see that I have not grabbed hold of that total identity with body that sometimes happens when the ego is saying, "see, you feel that? you are a body.) Yay for me!
Then I felt a gentle thought in my mind. It said "allow all things". So that is what I did. I accepted the rash and knew that it is what it is. I sprayed it down with some benedryl spray and went to sleep. I still have a rash, but I don't have fear, doubt, and anxiety.
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Tue Feb 12, 2008
Healing the Past
Here is something interesting that happened yesterday. I started the day by spending a couple hours on the phone with my mind healing partner, Loretta and she gave me an idea. She was talking about how time is an illusion and that everything is happening at once. I know this is true and is the reason why it does not matter when we forgive. I have often “gone back in time” to forgive. I had a wonderful experience doing this with my mother. She has Alzheimer and doesn’t know me anymore, but mind to mind we had a forgiveness session about something that happened when I was a thoughtless young woman. I felt the release of the past and it was a beautiful thing.
So why not expand this process? I have been thinking about my children a lot because of writing my book on the subject of raising children. This is what I did. I started with my oldest son, Scott. I remembered myself carrying him in my womb and I returned my attention to how I felt at that time. I then allowed the Love that is God to flow through me to that child in my womb. I had no plan as to what was supposed to happen when I did this because, as Loretta pointed out, Love knows what to do. It knows what is needed.
I imagined myself a clear conduit that simply allows Love to flow through it unencumbered by egoic needs. It was a very lovely experience. Then I thought about a time when he was very young. We were visiting with a friend of mine who had children. All the kids were playing and we adults were talking. I decided to go to the store for something and got in the car to leave.
As I was driving away, I glanced at the rear view mirror and saw that child running as hard as he could to catch up with me. I felt a flash of guilt and then immediately projected it onto him. I thought, “Couldn’t I even go to the store without that child?” I stopped for him and told him that I was coming right back and he could stay and play but, of course, he wouldn’t let go of me. My guilt could not let me look at how badly I had scared him, so I became angry.
My idea was to send Love to Scott at this time in his life to heal what I was unable to cope with as a young woman. What I discovered is that I could not do it because I was still so caught up in the guilt of the moment. I had never forgiven myself for that moment and so my guilt and need to be forgiven was clogging up the conduit. So instead of directing Love to Scott, I directed it to that young inexperienced mom that I used to be. At first I didn’t feel anything, and when I asked Holy Spirit what to do, He gave me the idea that I needed to return in feeling to that moment.
I really didn’t want to do that. It was not my best moment and I felt ashamed. But the idea of being able to forgive and to heal both Scott and myself motivated me to do this. I went right back to that time and felt everything as if it were happening right now. The difference is that I was also the compassionate watcher.
I felt all the emotions, the fear of not knowing how to be a mom, the guilt at doing so badly at the job, and I saw the moment when I chose the ego solution of projection. I felt all the anger and frustration of being a mother and saw it as the child’s fault. I sent Love to that young woman and in sending Love, I forgave her in my mind. The shame I felt before was replaced by compassion. It was a very emotional moment.
Once I had cleared that old grievance against myself I was able to direct Love to Scott. It flowed freely and this time the tears were tears of joy. I continued doing this process for awhile using different times in Scott’s life when memory suggested it would be appropriate. It makes a great five minute Christ meditation. Healing in this way feels like expressing myself as Christ. I did a lot of self forgiveness as well, a lot of releasing of the past. I am going to do more.
I wondered if it made any difference to the Scott I know now, and once that would have been a big thing to me because of the guilt I was carrying around about how I raised him. But without that guilt which had melted away with the forgiveness I was able to hear the Holy Spirit assure me that the gift of healing was waiting for Scott. He would accept it when he was ready.
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Wed Aug 01, 2007
This took my breath away
I am probably not supposed to copy this much from another author, but I could not resist sharing.
The truth as told by Deepok Chopra:
Recently I had a patient with a very dramatic outcome. I just want to go over a couple of case histories to show how relevant this is. In fact, how relevant this is to not only our survival as a species, but the survival of our own planet.
This young patient that I had, (he was in fact from this area) - he was one day repairing an antenna on the roof and he picked up a wire, but it happened to be live and had 12,000 volts in it. He was immediately electrocuted. The mechanism of death for this is ventricular fibrillation which is an electrical event in the heart.
He fell from the roof 15 feet to the ground and as luck would have it he fell with the right impact at the right place with the right location of his chest with the right amount of angularity to restart another current and defibrillate. So it's as if God called him and then changed His mind.
And you ask him, "Bob, what happened?" He says, "I went into the gap." I say, "What was there in the gap?" He says, "It was sheer unbounded joy. It was absolute, total bliss." You ask him, "Were there any thoughts there?" "No. I didn't have a mind." "Did you have a body?" "No. I didn't have a body." "So what was there?" He said, "l was just aware. " You ask him, "What were you aware of?" "I was aware that I was aware. But it was pure wakefulness. I was grounded totally and completely in the experience of my own immortality."
So much so, that he now doesn't know what the meaning of fear is. In fact, not only was he lucky to have this experience, but like a true scientist, he started experimenting in this field of pure awareness. He would go into the gap. Now he knew how to slip into it, and from there he would put his attention on his leg which had completely burned. There was no muscle - nothing. His femur was exposed to the atmosphere. Over the course of 2 years, by diving into the gap, projecting his awareness from there, he has actually regrown a new lower extremity. Because he found that place from where everything was created. It's his own Self. It's his own Self.
And where is the Self? Is it in the brain? Is it in the body? Where is it? Because this is really the only important experience as far as the Vedic teaching of India is concerned. It's the only important experience. The Rishi says, "All your problems exist because you never paid attention to yourself, only to your experiences." And you're not your experiences. You're the one who's having those experiences. Enlightenment is not another experience. It's the discovery of the timeless factor in every experience. And who's that timeless factor? It's you!
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Fri Dec 22, 2006
How Does It Feel?
Two things that are very helpful to me are the thoughts, how does it feel and expose it to the light. How does it feel is important because my feelings are what tell me if some thought is an ego thought or a God thought. If it makes me feel peaceful or joyous, it comes from God. If it makes me feel anything else, it comes from ego. If I try to use reason to figure out which belief system I am using, I will get tangled up in the ego convoluted thinking. My feelings are a much more dependable barometer.
I was listening to Regina Akers on a recording she made on ACIM gather in which she was discussing portions of the Text. She would stop when a passage brought something up for her and say, "I want to expose this." That made a real impression on me. I started thinking about how when a light comes on in a dark room, the darkness vanishes. There is no struggle between light and dark, the light comes and the darkness is gone.
Shortly after thinking about this, I was having a difficult time convincing myself to release a grievance. I was at war with myself which is, of course, insane. I thought about the word expose and so I visualized myself standing with my hands out stretched. I began to imagine the grievance in all its manifestations as being in my hands. Then I visualized the Light of God all around me. I was exposing my dark thoughts to the Light and they were vanishing. Then I let myself feel the lightness of disappearing into God. I found this little process very helpful.
Now I am using the process only when I need to get clear on what actually needs to be looked at and holding it out one thought at a time is helpful for this. Otherwise, I just say I am exposing this to the light as a shortcut to the process and that seems to be effective, too. If you have a favorite process that seems to work, please share it with me. I will post it here and others can receive the benefit as well.
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Fri Sep 15, 2006
Forgiveness Process
Forgiveness was hard for me to understand at first. I understood that forgiveness is not about making something real and then trying to overlook it. At least I understood all the individual words in that sentence. I even understood why this could never work. My problem came when I tried to implement forgiveness as defined by A Course in Miracles. It just kept looking like I was really attacked, that someone really meant me harm. I could say that it didn’t matter, but I couldn’t make it not real in my thinking.
I knew that forgiveness is what it was all about, so I knew I had to get this. I tried all sorts of things. I used every process I had ever heard of. I used the forgiveness process in The Disappearance of the Universe. I used the processes I found in Pathways courses. I read about forgiveness, I wrote sermons about my successes, and my problems with it. Slowly, like peeling away the layers of an onion, I started removing all the blocks which kept me from understanding what was surely obvious. All of those blocks were put there by me to prevent forgiveness, because when I forgave every guilty thought, the ego would no longer exist for me. I had great resistance to the dissolution of the ego thought system.
What I have finally come to understand is that everyone, including me, is innocent. I don’t care what is said or done, they are innocent. I am innocent. Nothing can change this because God created us innocent, and so that is what we are. Everything else is a lie. I will not be deceived by lies. Whatever I see that is not innocence is a deception. I can choose to place my attention on what is not real, or I can choose to place my attention on the truth. It is the difference between choosing ego or choosing God.
Now that I know that all is innocent, forgiveness is no longer confusing. I don’t have to decide if the other person is innocent, and under what circumstances he may be guilty. I don’t have to figure out how he is innocent, or how I can logically move my judgment from guilt to innocence. None of that is an issue. There is no question of guilt or innocence. There is only innocence.
Here is an example of how this works in my life. I have one really major competitor in my business, and every once in awhile I run into someone from that company. Recently at a conference, I noticed that they had a vendor’s booth nearby. I went over and spoke to one of the salesmen. He was unfriendly and rude. I walked away thinking what a jerk he is. I had heard that people in this company were spreading rumors in order to discredit my company. I was building up a pretty good grievance toward the company and particularly this person.
As soon as I realized I was no longer peaceful, I took the issue to the Holy Spirit. I asked for correction because I know that if I have lost my peace, I have moved into wrong minded thinking. Soon, I had a little debate going with the Holy Spirit. I said I wanted my peace back, and He said I would have to forgive the thought that my brother could be wrong. I said that this is hard to do. I was angry because he was rude and probably responsible for spreading rumors. The Holy Spirit said that I am never upset for the reason I think.
“So what about the rumors?” I wanted to know.
“He is not his words, or his behavior,” the Holy Spirit said, “he is innocent.”
“But what about the harm his words can do to my company?” I asked.
“He is innocent.”
“Well there really was no reason for him to be so rude, and you have to admit, he was definitely rude.”
“He is innocent.”
Now here is the thing, I am losing the argument, and all the time I am starting to feel lighter, happier and more peaceful. I think this is because as I let go of the grievance I am able to see the light of truth.
Knowing that my brother is innocent, I only need to release my need to place guilt. I ask the Holy Spirit to come into my mind and correct my thinking. As I allow my mind to be healed, I am overjoyed to recognize my brother’s innocence. I am so relieved to know my own innocence.
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Sun Sep 10, 2006
Ho'oponopono-I'm Sorry, I Love You Process
I don’t seem able to speak Hawaiian very well, so I just call this the “I’m sorry. I love you.” process. I love this process and I find it extremely helpful. I will copy here the original email that got me started on it.
Two years ago, I heard about a therapist in Hawaii who cured a complete ward
of criminally insane patients--without ever seeing any of them. The
psychologist would study an inmate's chart and then look within himself to
see how he created that person's illness. As he improved himself, the
patient improved.
When I first heard this story, I thought it was an urban legend. How could
anyone heal anyone else by healing himself? How could even the best
self-improvement master cure the criminally insane? It didn't make any sense
It wasn't logical, so I dismissed the story.
However, I heard it again a year later. I heard that the therapist had used
a Hawaiian healing process called ho'oponopono. I had never heard of it, yet
I couldn't let it leave my mind. If the story was at all true, I had to know
more. I had always understood "total responsibility" to mean that I am
responsible for what I think and do. Beyond that, it's out of my hands. I
think that most people think of total responsibility that way. We're
responsible for what we do, not what anyone else does--but that's wrong.
The Hawaiian therapist who healed those mentally ill people would teach me
an advanced new perspective about total responsibility. His name is Dr.
Ihaleakala Hew Len. We probably spent an hour talking on our first phone
call. I asked him to tell me the complete story of his work as a therapist.
He explained that he worked at Hawaii State Hospital for four years.
That ward where they kept the criminally insane was dangerous. Psychologists
quit on a monthly basis. The staff called in sick a lot or simply quit.
People would walk through that ward with their backs against the wall,
afraid of being attacked by patients. It was not a pleasant place to live,
work, or visit.
Dr. Len told me that he never saw patients. He agreed to have an office and
to review their files. While he looked at those files, he would work on
himself. As he worked on himself, patients began to heal.
'After a few months, patients that had to be shackled were being allowed to
walk freely,' he told me. 'Others who had to be heavily medicated were
getting off their medications. And those who had no chance of ever being
released were being freed.' I was in awe. 'Not only that,' he went on, 'but
the staff began to enjoy coming to work. Absenteeism and turnover
disappeared. We ended up with more staff than we needed because patients
were being released, and all the staff was showing up to work. Today, that
ward is closed.'
This is where I had to ask the million dollar question: 'What were you doing
within yourself that caused those people to change?'
'I was simply healing the part of me that created them,' he said.
I didn't understand. Dr. Len explained that total responsibility for your
life means that everything in your life- simply because it is in your
life--is your responsibility. In a literal sense the entire world is your
creation.
Whew. This is tough to swallow. Being responsible for what I say or do is
one thing. Being responsible for what everyone in my life says or does is
quite another. Yet, the truth is this: if you take complete responsibility
for your life, then everything you see, hear, taste, touch, or in any way
experience is your responsibility because it is in your life. This means
that terrorist activity, the president, the economy or anything you
experience and don't like--is up for you to heal. They don't exist, in a
manner of speaking, except as projections from inside you. The problem isn't
with them, it's with you, and to change them, you have to change you.
I know this is tough to grasp, let alone accept or actually live. Blame is
far easier than total responsibility, but as I spoke with Dr. Len, I began
to realize that healing for him and in ho 'oponopono means loving yourself.
If you want to improve your life, you have to heal your life. If you want to
cure anyone, even a mentally ill criminal you do it by healing you.
I asked Dr. Len how he went about healing himself. What was he doing,
exactly, when he looked at those patients' files?
"I just kept saying, 'I'm sorry' and 'I love you' over and over again," he
explained.
"That's it?"
"That's it."
Turns out that loving yourself is the greatest way to improve yourself, and
as you improve yourself, you improve your world.
Let me give you a quick example of how this works: one day, someone sent me
an email that upset me. In the past I would have handled it by working on my
emotional hot buttons or by trying to reason with the person who sent the
nasty message.
This time, I decided to try Dr. Len's method. I kept silently saying, 'I'm
sorry' and 'I love you,' I didn't say it to anyone in particular. I was
simply evoking the spirit of love to heal within me what was creating the
outer circumstance.
Within an hour I got an e-mail from the same person. He apologized for his
previous message. Keep in mind that I didn't take any outward action to get
that apology. I didn't even write him back. Yet, by saying 'I love you,' I
somehow healed within me what was creating him.
"I later attended a ho'oponopono workshop run by Dr. Len. He's now
70 years old, considered a grandfatherly shaman, and is somewhat reclusive.
He praised my book, The Attractor Factor. He told me that as I improve
myself, my book's vibration will raise, and everyone will feel it when they
read it. In short, as I improve, my readers will improve.
"What about the books that are already sold and out there?" I asked.
"They aren't out there," he explained, once again blowing my mind with his
mystic wisdom. "They are still in you."
In short, there is no out there. It would take a whole book to explain this
advanced technique with the depth it deserves.
"Suffice It to say that whenever you want to improve anything in your life,
there's only one place to look: inside you. When you look, do it with love."
This is an example from my own life:
I was at a business conference last week. A friend called to talk about how the latest terrorist activity in England would affect our travel plans. I didn’t know anything about it because I don’t watch television or listen to news reports. I decided to check it out. As I listened to the newscaster go over and over the same report, I began to feel the fear grow in me. I remembered why I quit watching these things, and I turned it off. The problem with fear is that it is like a virus; once you become infected with it, it spreads all through your thoughts.
I started thinking about my son’s back problem. He was going to the doctor soon, and I was worried about what would be said. I remembered that my daughter had called with an update on her house which was still being repaired from the hurricane damage. The costs were higher than expected and I worried that she would not be able to afford to do all the work needed. The fear thoughts were like a program running in the back of my mind as I went about my business at the busy conference.
Soon I was in a funk, without really knowing why. I did know that I had lost my peace and I wanted it back. I asked the Holy Spirit to help me see what needed healing. Very quickly I realized where the problem started. I noticed thoughts like, “Some of these religious fanatics are really insane. No one is safe from them. It is just a matter of time before they succeed in another act of terror here in the US.” Then I asked the Holy Spirit to help me see what it was within myself that created terrorists. This is where the problem occurred, and this is where it must be corrected.
Together we looked at the terrorist file. I saw rage and fear, and intolerance. Then we looked at my file and I saw the same thing. I have moments of intense rage. Usually, I suppress it, but when I act on it I am a terrorist, too. I may not blow up buildings when I am enraged, but I cause pain and destroy relationships when I am acting out my anger. It is not a lesser act of terrorism because no one dies. It is only an ego device to camouflage rage as anger, annoyance, or frustration, but in truth no matter what the form looks like, if it is not God it is ego. Those are the only two choices.
I expressed my remorse at having projected my rage and intolerance in the form of terrorists. I asked the Holy Spirit to correct my thinking and to heal my mind. I expressed my love toward all. I asked the Holy Spirit to help me know that each terrorist is completely innocent no matter what his actions. I am completely innocent no matter what my actions, or even my thoughts. I was surprised at how quickly I regained my peace. I felt light and I smiled a lot. Ahhh!
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The Three Step Process
Dan Joseph has a wonderful little book called Inner Healing. In it he describes a three step process for healing our thoughts. This is the way he describes it:
• Acknowledging an inner block (any distressing thought or feeling)
• Becoming willing to prayerfully release that block
• Opening to an inner experience of divine comfort and peace.
"It's important to realize that these are just perceptions (or thoughts), and that God can inspire another perception." (http://www.quietmind.info/)
I have been using this process for several years now, and I would not be exaggerating to say that it has changed my life. Becoming aware of my thoughts and taking notice of the ones that are creating conflict in my life was a real revelation. I had thought that I had a handle on this, but I was wrong. The more mindful of my thoughts I became, the more I realized what a mess they were. If thoughts are creative, I had been creating absolute chaos. I had gotten so used to it, that I was only vaguely aware of how miserable I was.
Being mindful is the first step, and absolutely essential, but it is not enough. From this awareness I am able to move into forgiveness which is the second step. I ask the Holy Spirit to look at the thought that is blocking my awareness to loves presence, and to correct my thinking. This is where the miracle takes place as my perception is changed.
In the past this is where I had always made my error. I would look at the thought in need of correction, and then I would try to figure out a way to correct. It was like being lost in the woods and asking myself for directions out. To get out of the illusion, I need help from outside the illusion. By bringing my thoughts to the Holy Spirit, I get the help I need. My mind is changed. It is truly the miracle that A Course in Miracles is teaching us to achieve.
The third step is to allow myself to feel the love and comfort of God. I often need to remind myself to do this because I am a doing kind of person, and will skip over the feeling part. But the truth is, the third step is the point; it is the goal. I try to take a moment to move out of my head and into my feeling nature. I want to truly experience God’s love and peace.
This is my interpretation of this process. I really recommend that you read Dan Joseph’s book, Inner Healing to get a full appreciation of this wonderful healing practice. You can find it a www.pathwaysoflight.com . Also visit his website which is full of helpful lessons.
This is an example of how I have used the three step process in my life.
I overhear someone talking about me to someone else. I often use my emotions as an early warning sign. I feel angry, and threatened, and helpless to defend myself.
What they are saying isn’t really true and I feel indignant. I notice that I am no longer peaceful and I begin examining my thoughts. My thoughts go something like this: Why are they saying this? I didn’t do anything to them. They are hateful. They make me feel so bad. I wish I wasn’t here. I am going to leave and never come back.
Now that I am aware of my thoughts I take them to the Holy Spirit and ask Him to look at them with me. I ask that He give me another way to see them. As I do so, I feel myself calming down. I start to remember that I am still as God created me; perfect and whole and completely unaffected by anything they say. I remember that they too, are perfectly created and unaffected by what they say. I am being given the opportunity to choose forgiveness, to choose to see the innocence rather than to make guilty. It is like a knot has in my chest has been loosened and I can once again breathe easily.
In my gratitude, I take a moment to feel God’s love and comfort. I have my peace back.
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