This decision is easiest to resolve when we ask for a way to see our Self and those that hurt us in a new light, so that we can overcome our pains by giving a gift of hope from what we learned. Its easy to forget, that underneath the games and stories is someone that we can have compassion for and whom we can learn to understand where they are coming from. They were hurt too, and so the way is to help ask for healing for both people and for all people who are in need. What it takes is a deeper look inwards, to what is really going on and to be honest with ones self as to what is true for you.
The message of our Father is to give service to our brothers, by being loving in our thoughts words and actions; and to follow our Joy in all we do. We go through difficult and dark times in our life both when we are young and old and we can easily forget that this is our Fathers message. We seem to get directed into the position where we seem to be forced to make a decision about our Self. That decision leads us in two directions. Towards, Am I what these people say I am? Or, am I loving and kind at heart with a hidden gift to share with the world; and thus NOT what others think I am? The decision that we choose to make about our Self, at each given moment in time, determines the outcome of our experience here on earth.
This decision is easiest to resolve when we ask for a way to see our Self and those that hurt us in a new light, so that we can overcome our pains by giving a gift of hope from what we learned. Its easy to forget, that underneath the games and stories is someone that we can have compassion for and whom we can learn to understand where they are coming from. They were hurt too, and so the way is to help ask for healing for both people and for all people who are in need. What it takes is a deeper look inwards, to what is really going on and to be honest with ones self as to what is true for you.
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I wanted to break down these 3 lessons that Jesus gives us in the Text of A Course in Miracles. I have found that these 3 lessons are literally stepping stones to the Kingdom of Heaven within us. We are ALWAYS in the kingdom, but we have forgotten, as we have clouded our minds with pain and past experiences that defend us from the Truth. As soon as we recognize that we are responsible for the loss of vision OF us being in the Kingdom now, we can take the steps to change it by changing our minds to think with God. We are only a few steps away from the recognition and acceptance of the Kingdom of Love as being here and now. We shift out of our painful life experiences, that are filled with suffering, blame, attack and anger....the instant we begin to learn to apply new laws and listen to a new voice. Below are the Laws of God that help us to do just that. Ahhhh California living has been so powerful for me. We are continually led through out this state not knowing where we will go next. We spent that last 2 weeks with an amazing brother and friend Tom Vargas in Los Angeles, and it was a blessing to be there for that time. We have been feeling the nudge to head up to Northern California as we were called to partake in an incubator for startups in Silicon Valley called YCombinator. We had no idea however, how we would get there, or where we would stay. So we trusted the process, and opened to where our next adventure would lead us. There was an evening when we were still in LA, knowing that we are in our first trimester of pregnancy now, where Tom and I both came together and declared that it was time for the next step! We prayed, we thanked God and we went to sleep. The next morning we woke up and I had received a message on my you tube channel. It had said " Hey , if you guys are wanting to have a place to stay in Central California you are welcome to stay at my place." We saw this as a sign and an answer to our prayers, and so we messaged him back right away. We had in our mind the thoughts of heading to Northern California any way, so this looked like our ticket there. Soon after I received this message, we called each other on the phone and exchanged many questions and answers only to realize this was the perfect fit for everyone!! The next question was, how do we get from Southern California to Central California with all of the "stuff" Tom and I had accumulated from our many homes here? We asked our new friend if he or any one he knew heads to Southern California and he said yes! This weekend actually...and it was currently a Thursday. He said he would work on it and get back to us. We are not meant to guess at what Truth is, or what God is, or what We Are. We are to learn to listen to a voice that speaks for Truth and to accept this Truth when it comes. Truth is NOT a mystery. It is NOT hidden behind some fanciful ideas or concepts of what we think it IS. When we ASK for only Truth, it is GIVEN us, and it floods our mind with Vision, Conviction and Perfect Understanding of what is far beyond what the eyes can see. This is God's promise to His Sons. And we are His Sons. He has given us the ANSWER to all questions, all conflicts, all confusions. If we are unaware of what the ANSWER is, it is because we are still asking for something else other that what God has given. Its helpful to ask our selves some questions to see where we might be "stuck" and inhibiting the free flowing nature of Gods Love. What am I asking for? What do I want to come of this? Our bedroom has double doors that open to our balcony that over looks the mountains of California. We are surrounded by nature and can smell the fresh crisp morning air moving through and around us. The sound that wakes me in the morning is the soft melodic songs of the birds. As I rested in stillness today before I woke, listening to the sounds, feeling the wind and snuggling in the arms of my man, I was aware of how incredibly blessed I am. As I listened deeper, I was reminded that I am blessed becuase I chose a blessed life for my self even in the midst of my own seeming "chaos". This was a choice of mind I made, it was an intent to serve, a new direction of thought, a focus of PURPOSE that I willingly said YES too. I was taught to trust this voice that speaks for this new choice in every moment, every where and in every one! By listening to this voice and consistently training to hear only this voice, I have welcomed a life of miracles; exponentially growing and expanding in my own heart and mind and out unto all the world. I am learning more and more that there cannot be a consistent joy unless there is shared purpose. Shared purpose is the foundation from which all miracles spring. It is the connection that makes people come together to see the same thing and share in the same happiness. Connection can only truly happen when it is Mind, joined in Will and Purpose with God and our brothers. I was asked a question on our Facebook Group for A Course in Miracles and I felt that it was a question I am sure many have on their heart and mind at some point. I felt to answer it here for deeper understanding for us all. I answered her first question which was a post on the main page, and then she asked another question during our discussion. I have both here for educational purposes: QUESTION #1: I was watching an ACIM video on Youtube (don't remember whose) and it was talking about the concept that only Love is real and everything else is a fabrication or projection (not sure of exact wording) of Mind. If that is the case, then what is the ACIM view on relieving suffering on the human plane? In other words, if pain and suffering aren't real, why have humanitarian efforts to help people? To accept death as an idea is to experience it instead of eternal life. On earth, death is the inevitable result of life, yet this life has an end, so it can not truly be Living; for True Life cannot die. This is why a "change of mind" is necessary, so that the mind shifts from this birth and death cycle, and onto eternal life. Death is a choice. It is a choice of Mind. We can choose Eternal Life in place of death in our own Minds, as we learn to listen to a guide that helps us discern between what is life according to the world and Life according to God. As we ask for and receive a correction of perception, our entire world changes, and we are able to effect it very positively. The acceptance of Eternal Life shows us what our purpose is, reminds us of what is True and restores us to sanity and peace. As we change within to a miraculous state of mind, this power and love is extended out and unto the world. As we are saved, we can save. Nothing could have prepared me for what has come forward since being in California. Its as if everything that I have ever shared, or taught or have given is being tested. I feel as if what I put out there as being "true" has swung back around to ensure that my words match my actions. I have been shown that I am not here to just talk about peace, but to purge my own mind of everything that is not peaceful and loving, and let my own self be healed. The only way to do so, is through exposing everything that is in need of the Light. Part of that process for me, happens to be through writing, and sharing in this blog. Tom and I arrived here in California with the intention to visit friends and go on an adventure. Nothing was planned. The instant we stepped onto the land we both felt "this is exactly where we are suppose to be and its perfect!" We were asked to trust and have faith that all would work out. We have, and it IS. We began this adventure in Frazier Park California, up in the mountains, attending some crops and truly exploring our ideas about our company MakeShyft R.D.A. We were no longer going to be non-for-profit, but a company at large. We were told that we were here to demonstrate a company that GIVES and a company that serves ALL the world, and so we are put on the SAME platform as all other companies. This made perfect sense as we are here to BE the demonstration. It also spawned in me time for stillness, contemplation and renewal around these new ideas. I often find that when I am in need of help the only thing I can think to do is pray. Prayer is the medium of miracles. It activates a channel within our minds and opens us to the infinite creative and healing power. To be on earth, is to have an ego and thus pain and suffering is inevitable. We all make and build an ego here and thus we have to UNDO it if we are wanting an solace, purpose or peace. The only way to undo the cause of suffering (ego) is through miracles/forgiveness. Since prayer is the activating agent of miracles/forgiveness/correction... then true prayer must be learned. Here is the "Song of Prayer" which is an extension of A Course in Miracles. If you wish to learn HOW to pray and to learn more of what prayer IS truly, then this is an excellent and helpful resource. Inspired by the recent death of Robin Williams. When a celebrity like Robin Williams commits suicide it offers a topic for communication. To use his life and his experience for us to learn, is the only helpful outpouring from his suicide. Because of this, I plan to look at this experience from a perspective that is reasonable, helpful and focused on the cause. What else would experiences in this world be used for- except to help, to heal and to learn? Robin Williams seemed to have everything. The money, fame, family, humor..everything. But he was still suffering. He still didnt get the helped that he needed. Why? Why is it that a man that so many revered, and loved and idolized by so many...falls subject to the temptation of suicide to end his suffering? To me this shows that we are currently NOT providing the citizens of the world with the tools and education they need TO heal themselves. They are expected to suffer alone, quietly, put on a smiling face, take anti-depressants and pretend everything is okay. This is NOT okay. There must be another way to look at this that allows us to understand how some one does that....and also to understand how we dont fall for the same pitfalls in dealing with our own bouts of suffering. I remember the first time I came across Akiane and I knew instantly that everything she paints and writes is inspired by God. The Perfection with which she works, is clear that only God could inspired it. She began painting and writing poetry when she was at the age of 4 and completed her most famous painting "the prince of peace" by the age of 8. She has been known in the world as a child prodigy. I felt inspired to write about her because she is a living demonstration of what can happen through us, when we listen only to Gods voice and feel His love in our heart. She expresses in this video below her deep love for God, and how through her relationship with Him she has been given this gift of painting and poetry. Now she is in her late teens and teaching others how to paint and do art as she has learned to do. Reba McIntyre is the writer and singer of this song. She shares that the chorus of this song "Pray for Peace" was whispering in her mind for weeks and weeks. Finally she listened and began to turn it into a simple song. She invited people from around the world to join her to sing this song, and the results of it are TRULY beautiful. This prayer that she is putting out into the world is being answered in us all. I cry tears of gratitude every time I listen. Enjoy. To look into the heart and to know the Truth is to stop believing what you think is True. Any judgment we make about anything, is only a judgment we have made upon ourself. If we dont like something or someone "out there" it is only because we don't like something "in here". This is the way perception works and the ONLY way. What you hold in your mind you project on to the world and you experience it there. This is true for everyone and in every circumstance. The Universal laws of Cause and Effect remain; even if we want to fight against them and defend against them through denial of our own need for mind training and practical forgiveness. If you are suffering, even a little bit...you are not seeing clearly and are in need of a change of mind. You need not defend your suffering, to any degree, you need to let it go. "Suffering definition from dictionary: the state of undergoing pain, distress, or hardship." What we give we receive. If we hate or blame another or see lack, we are holding it in ourselves. We must feel the hatred or guilt or lack in order to give it and project it onto some one or our world. You don't get rid of it by giving it away and by seeing the problem as real for you, you KEEP it that way.....ensuring that both people and the circumstance remains the same within your mind and experience here. This is not helpful but rather destructive to everyone involved. But the good news is, there is a correction to this whole dilemma and a permanent one. "Change your mind on what you want to see and all the world must change accordingly" A Course in Miracles The problem is not out there in the world, in some one else, or in the situation itself. The problem is ALWAYS in the mind. It is a perceptual error that causes conflict, confusion, doubt and fear. All of which can be corrected through the use of practical forgiveness. Forgiveness is a tool applied to the mind that corrects ones thinking. When the Source of ones thinking changes, so do all their thoughts as well. The effects (in the world) will inevitably change to align with the mind change. The Cause (mind) and the effect (in the world) can never be separated. Whatever the subconscious beliefs and thoughts of one person are, they will experience the results of those thoughts. This is why all unconscious/subconscious thinking must be made conscious! When we go to the Mind to correct the problem, it IS corrected as we have gone to the SOURCE of the error. The solution can then be experienced instead of the problem. "The problem" in that form will never return as the source HAS been corrected. The Source of ones thinking is always fear/separation OR love/unity. Our life shows us, when we are humble to recognize instead of arrogant to judge, what our current thought system is. If you recognize fear within and around you, this is the current thought system you are using. This is perfectly normal at first for all humans, we all have to awaken out of fear, but it is this recognition that is the "ding ding ding" within us that tells us we need to change the direction we are headed. The recognition of your need to heal, is the willingness necessary for "the problem" as you see it, to be brought TO Truth/Holy Spirit in your mind, FOR healing to occur. “Let me remember that my goal is God.” All that is needful is to train our minds to overlook all little, senseless aims, and to remember that our goal is God. His memory is hidden in our minds, obscured but by our pointless little goals which offer nothing and do not exist. Shall we continue to allow God’s grace to shine in unawareness, while the toys and trinkets of the world are sought instead? God is our only goal, our only Love. We have no aim but to remember Him. “Our goal is but to follow in the way that leads to You.We have no goal but this.What could we want but to remember You? What could we seek but our identity?” -A Course in Miracles Lesson 258 I have started to wake up in the morning and begin my day with an intention, a reminder of what is True. I find that for the rest of the day after my mind is focused in a direction where all the Universe can join me and help me- I am then certain that I can fulfill whatever is asked of me. If we could remember one thing in the morning, it is what our GOAL is and to ask ourselves "what is my goal for today" and then drop the question and sink into the heart and feel what this means for you. Open to insight, inspiration, imagery, emotions and excitement as to the direction you want to take. Prayer is the medium of miracles. A prayer does not have to be a long, drawn out divinely worded prayer. A prayer is truly an openness of the heart, to listen, to love and to receive. This can be had all through out the day and in all honesty, should be practiced in order to become a habit of response. You can pray when you are walking to your car, when you get up in the morning, or at the grocery store, when you go for a walk or in a conversation, at work or with children. Prayer can literally be a daily experience as it happens in the quiet of our own mind. It happens through decision, focus and intent. We are in continual communion with our Creator and our Creator knows exactly what we need before we even ask for it. Therefore, a prayer is more of a statement of gratitude to our Creator for being what we are and a knowing that he has already given us everything! In gratitude our prayer is heard, as it is a prayer of the heart. The Holy Spirit is the healer of all relationships. Establishing purpose within the mind of both, and guiding both gently towards the recognition of their shared holiness and power. It is the Holy Spirits function to heal our minds and reinterpret everything we think and see. It is our function to give our mind to Him FOR healing and forgiveness that we can BE happy. If we are not yet happy or healed of a problem in our relationships, we have yet to ask for or want the solution. The law will eternally remain. "Ask and you shall receive". This is very literal. When we truly ask, we truly receive. If we have not received, it is because we are asking for something else. So what are you asking for? if you are not asking for what you TRULY want? When we see our selves as small, less than, unprepared, uneducated, not spiritual enough or whatever judgement we wish to apply to ourselves, we are forgetting our innate nature. Our true nature is as God created us. God created us holy, equal and whole. Our Holiness is a literal power, a vision that births an entirely new world and experience. It is our identity that is the source of our thinking. Either our identity is seen as a limited body or a limitless creative soul. In truth there is no choice, we are God's Children, God's Souls, yet in this world of opposites it appears we have a choice. What we choose as our identity in Mind, we will experience the results of in our life. In our willingness to recognize our Holiness, one may have an experience of being Holy. It is the holy Spirits function to replace our old thinking with the Truth about us. Once this experience is welcomed it lights up the Mind, and one is compelled to share what has been learned as the light is a uniting, loving and gentle presence, here to bring God's Children together. When we follow the voice within that speaks for Holiness, we are likely to learn that our own happiness is not separate from another. There is not one person who is holier than another. We are all holy because God is, and we are His equal Children. The thought that often brings me back to the rememberance of my function here, is that "I am among the ministers of God." I am shown this in two parts. 1) what this means for me. 2) what this means for all of us. Firstly: I am a minister of God becuase this is the function God has given me. I am here to accept our Fathers Will, and in this unified purpose give the gifts my Father has given me to all the world. The key factor in this, is that the gifts are first intended for me to recieve, and then I give what I have recieved. In the giving, I receive even greater and the continuum of Gods Grace continues to expand. However if I do not give the time, willingness and focus to LISTEN within and accept my function and purpose in Gods plan, then I am doing it by myself and trying to make another "identity" for myself that is NOT the Truth as God created me. This will lead to suffering and intense conflict.... In October 2013, I joined dedicated students and Teachers of A Course in Miracles in Ibiza Spain, to celebrate the JOY of what we are and what God is. It was truly a holy and beautiful experience for me. I was a teacher at this years event and there was parts of my workshop that were captured on video. Every time I see this 30minute clip it makes me cry tears of happiness and gratitude for the memories of gifts given and received. I am grateful for this whole experience and everyone in it......including my mom!! As she, in the last few moment, decide to join me and come to Spain with me. It was so beautiful to have my mom there, sharing in these holy experiences with me. I feel so blessed!!! On our ACIM Study Group page, there was a question left and I felt it was one that every one has to unravel within themselves. For many have heard, through the spiritual community and especially A Course in Miracles, that "there is no one here" or "no one exits" I answered the question, and felt that this needed to be shared even more. Its time that all of us move beyond concepts, and into the realm of experience. I have shared my response with all of you below. Question: Is it just me, or does the teaching that no one is here make miracles pointless? I came across a quote in ACIM today and found that it truly spoke to me. I have read it many times and yet for whatever reason it appears to jump off the page at me and inspire me to write about it. "The world will change through you. No other means can save it, for God's plan is simply this: The Son of God is free to save himself, given the Word of God to be his Guide, forever in his mind and at his side to lead him surely to his Father's house by his own will, forever free as God's. He is not led by force, but only love. He is not judged, but only sanctified." ~ A Course in Miracles Lesson 125 I have watched the insistent nature of mind to look outside itself for the answers or help in some way. I have watched the immediate response to ask some one else if we do not have the answer to something. What this does, is it puts the authority into this world. The different editions of ACIM are: 1. The Thetford Edition of ACIM (Sparkly) 2. Complete & Annotated Edition of ACIM *** 3. Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP) 4. A Course in Miracles (CIMS) with pearls 5. UR Text (Original Edition) **Hugh-Lynn Cayce (HLC) **Notes The content of A Course in Miracles is the same for all, its the form that changes a bit. If you want to truly learn the lessons, you can through any version of A Course in Miracles (ACIM). To be "humble" means to be without the egos arrogance. "Be not afraid to heal" I hear in my mind. Healing is what this world is FOR. If we are not healing, what are we doing? We are swimming in a dream of fear. The purpose of healing, is correction and undoing of errors. As the undoing of errors occurs, so does the correction, the Vision of Christ return to our awareness. Christ, as being referenced here is a psychological term. It means a "change of mind" in the truest sense. A change of mind from ego (fear), to that of Christ (love). There is no avoiding the laws of perception. Either we are looking upon a world we made up, or looking upon the reality of Heaven that God created. One brings confusion and pain, the other freedom and complete peace of mind. We will focus on the later as our goal here, since healing of perception is the means. The vision of Love enables us to look upon a world and see the innocence in all our brother. It enables us to see the hand of God in all things, and to know that we are safe in our unity with God. This vision of Light leads us beyond the world of form that man created, and onto the world lit with the beauty of heavens grace where our true divinity is reflected here. I love the focus of this talk, it became very powerful through its spontaneous expression. In part One I share on the distinction between the rules of this world and the Laws of God. In part Two I reference chapter 6.5 from the Sparkly A Course in Miracles: “To HAVE, GIVE all TO all”. I share how this very law- to give as you would receive- is a practical Law of God, that we can apply to our mind and life. |
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