I am sitting in Maine outside on a golf cart near an electrical outlet, so I can get internet service. Where there’s a Will, there’s a way!
It’s a beautiful morning. It’s been great for me to “unplug” and not use my computer or cellphone 24/7. I like it a lot, just to get out into nature and back to simplicity.
“I loose the world from all I thought it was!” – A Course in Miracles
I’m at my mom’s camp for 10 days, all by myself, and it’s marvelous. I am doing a whole lot of nothing – sitting near the ocean, reading a lot, sleeping in, eating simply – things that were grown locally here, and relaxing like I’ve never relaxed before.
For a week now I’ve lived in my bathing suit and short shorts and haven’t driven my car once. The ocean is a half a mile away, so I bike. Suddenly there’s no need or necessity to do anything.
There is supposed to be a hurricane today or tomorrow, but it doesn’t look like it from where I sit. It’s blue skies and sunshine and massive amounts of gratitude. The waves are gigantic so maybe something is coming. Whatever happens, it’s all good in the hood.
A couple of days ago I realized there is no more “rising up”, no more ascension, no more “higher,” no more “above the battleground” and no more journey. There’s no levels. There’s no differences. It’s all just one thing – God.
I’m home. I made it. WE MADE IT. All is well. All is accomplished. This is the place I spent my life searching for – here with God, living the message of Jesus in my daily life – love, joy, happiness and freedom. That’s it! There’s nothing more! That’s it
I was searching for something that was inside me the whole time!!! HAHAHA. It’s so funny to me. I’ve traveled the world, studied, and read a million books only to come to the final realization that everything I always wanted and needed was inside me the whole time.
And the excitement for me is that life keeps getting better and better and easier now that I know I have everything and I have no needs. Everything I need is given by God, and was given by God, and is here and now.
My only need IS God, and He’s here. What other need is there?
The search is over.
Can this be taught and learned and accomplished by anyone? I suppose it can because I learned it. I was at the point of total despair with nothing.
SO.
There you have it. If I was led out of the depths of darkness and addiction, then it’s possible for anyone and everyone.
As I try to think back to what I “did” – how it happened for me – how I went from darkness to light – how did it happen? It started with a desire for something new to occur and a willingness to let the past go and my whole story with it.
And to allow every day to be a brand new beginning.
And that was it. The Holy Spirit – the Lover of Life – did the rest.
I did a little. He did a lot.
When I think back, all I did was ask for something new to happen. I ASKED FOR A NEW EXPERIENCE. I asked for happiness because I really wanted it. I really really really wanted it. I wanted to feel happy. I wanted to feel peace. I wanted to have an active happy creative life, doing things I love, and to bring joy to others. I asked for that. And He took care of the details.
So that was my “formula” for success – I found out what I really wanted and I asked for it and He gave it.
I love you a lot. There’s no need to struggle nor be afraid because everything you have ever needed, wanted, wished for, hoped for is within you.
Here’s from Joel Goldsmith:
“We must begin to relax from seeking our happiness in the outside world, seeking it through persons, circumstances, or conditions, and acknowledge, ‘There is a kingdom of God within me, a kingdom I have not yet come to know or experience. There is a capacity of spiritual awareness, spiritual discernment, within me that would let me see this world as it is.’ Then, as we learn to live in this withinness only a few periods a day of a a few minutes each, it expands of itself into more minutes and more periods. But give this inner capacity, this inner power of spiritual discernment, an opportunity to come out. ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ That is the message of the Master: to stop being concerned about the outer affairs of life.”
“We want to remind you of the most important part of Deliberate Creation: Creating is not about making things happen through action. In fact, creating is not about making things happen at all. Creating is about allowing the thing that you desire to happen, and the allowing happens through Energy alignment,not through action.” – Abraham-Hicks
I don’t know where this came from – it says Author Unknown – but I love it:
I got up early one morning
and rushed right into the day.
I had so much to accomplish
that I didn’t have time to pray,
Problems just tumbled about me
and heavier came each task
Why doesn’t God help me?
He answered, “You didn’t ask.”
I tried to come into God’s presence
I used all my keys at the lock
God gently and lovingly chided,
“My Child, you didn’t knock.”
I woke up early this morning
and paused before entering the day
I had so much to accomplish
That I had to take time to pray.
Abraham-Hicks say that 17 seconds is what you need of pure thought with no distraction or resistance to create something.
Have you ever tried 17 seconds? It doesn’t sound like much, BUT TRY IT.
17 seconds.
Try for 17 seconds to hold one pure thought with no interrupting thoughts.
You’ll be amazed by how much the mind tries to contradict itself, and if you can get 17 seconds of pure thought, you’ll see the fabric of your life change before your very eyes.
Have you ever read an entire Course in Miracles workbook lesson and been 100% focused on it (and nothing else)?
My mind is constantly wandering and distracted, and it’s a fun practice to watch my mind to see how much I can train it to think like God.
To stay totally focused on the one thought that is presented to me each day in the workbook lesson and to allow that to be my complete dedication for a few minutes of every hour.
It does take discipline and practice and effort, but it’s completely worth it because when you get to 17 seconds, you’ll start to be happy.
You’ll start to feel lighter and brighter.
And when you start to feel lighter and brighter, it means you’re rising up out of the density of the world into joy, vibrating faster, and there in that beautiful place of power where there is no resistance or opposition: miracles occur.
Do try this at home. 
”Just to get your attention we want to give you some physical comparison; 17 seconds of pure thought is equivalent to 2000 hours of action. If you are working a regular 40 hour a week job, that is about what you work in a year. 17 seconds equals 2000 action hours.” – Abraham-Hicks
If this sounds interesting to you, it is discussed in more detail in the book “The Amazing power of Deliberate Intent” by Abraham-Hicks
This book – God Calling – is the best.
My friend Max gave this to me as a gift years ago, because he’s awesome.
God Calling, By “Two Listeners” and A.J. Russell
THE LAW OF SUPPLY
The first law of giving is of the spirit world. Give to all you meet, or whose lives touch yours, of your prayers, your time, yourselves, your love, your thought. You must practice THIS giving first.
Then give of the world’s good and money, as you have them given to you. To give money and material things, without having first made the habit daily, hourly, ever increasingly, of giving on the higher plane, is wrong.
Give, give, give all your best to all who need it. Be great givers – great givers. Give as I have said My Father in Heaven gives. He who makes the sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. Remember, as I have told you before, give according to need, never according to desert. In giving, with the thought of supplying a real need you most closely resemble that Father in Heaven, the Great Giver.
As you receive, you must supply the needs of those i bring to you. Not questioning, not limiting. Their nearness to you, their relationship, must never count. Only their need is to guide guide you. Pray to become great givers.
from God Calling, A.J. Russell
Here is this week’s recording of The Max and Lisa show which I thought was amazing.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/maxandlisa/2010/08/18/the-max-and-lisa-showa-course-in-miracles-rad
Our friend Adrian Gale showed up and he talked about how if you’re waiting to have an experience of God, or joy, or love or peace … how to have it … today. And how to keep having it.
And it’s so simple you won’t believe it. You can stop waiting for a miracle because what you want is here now, just waiting for you to claim it.
If you want only love, you’ll see only love because you’ll GIVE only love.
It’s that simple. The “secret” is contained in that sentence in capital letters, in red.
It’s no secret. It’s simple.
If you’re tired of waiting for something to change in your life, cick here to listen to find out what you can do:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/maxandlisa/2010/08/18/the-max-and-lisa-showa-course-in-miracles-radio
This is the recording from last Tuesday night of The Max & Lisa Show. I thought I posted it, but apparently I didn’t. So here it is.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/maxandlisa/2010/08/11/the-max-and-lisa-showa-course-in-miracles-radio
This is a good one – Chapter 15 – The Holy Instant.
“Can you imagine what it means to have no cares, no worries, no anxieties, but merely to be perfectly calm and quiet all the time?” – A Course in Miracles
We talk about allowing everything to be exactly as it is, without trying to force being happy. If you’re not happy, don’t pretend to be. Just see what comes up for you, and if you don’t like the way you feel, decide if you can”choose again” a different way of responding and seeing.
A Course in Miracles is a systematic way to train your mind to see things differently. That’s all it. It’s about knowing yourself as God created you. It’s not complicated. It’s simple.
Here is last week’s recording.
We are also on tonight at 8pm EST. We’re on every Tuesday night at 8pm EST. You can listen in live, and call in with questions and talk to us in person.
Ask anything you like.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/maxandlisa
Here’s the call-in number for tonight:
1-347-677-1827
I really like this article (below) by Wayne Dyer. It’s about forgiveness.
One of my favorite sentences in A Course in Miracles is “Forgiveness does make lovely, but it does not create.”
HA. Rock the house. You can be a lovely human being who is quick to forgive (and that’s nice), or you can be the Son of God who shares the power of God to heal all thing. You get to decide.
Think about that. Forgiveness DOES make lovely, but it does NOT create. I love that. It means if you want to get to the space of creation, you must go beyond forgiveness.
That’s a pretty radical idea because everyone thinks forgiveness is the highest point you can attain, but it’s not, it’s the lowest. Remember, A Course in Miracles “remains within the ego’s framework, where it is needed”
You must go beyond everything it teaches. A lot of people get stuck in the teachings, which will make you a splendid fine beautiful human being, but you’ll still be trapped in time and space … and this Course is designed to lead you OUT of time and space, out of the world, straight into the heart of God where there is only love. The time you take it is up to you.
This is the point where you take 100% total responsibility in realizing there is nothing outside of you, so there’s nothing to forgive. IT’S ALL GOD. IT’S ALL LOVE. So there is only celebration and rejoicing. What is there to forgive in the Presence of God?
Everything else is illusion – your own nightmare – and does not exist.
I think of forgiveness as the ceiling in time and space. It’s the highest point in the world, but it’s also the lowest point in creation. It’s as high as you can go as a human being in the world – but remember, the mind-training of A Course in Miracles is to LEAVE THE WORLD (beyond this world is a world I really want) and then you go STRAIGHT THROUGH THE CEILING and there is God, there is love, there is creation.
And in that space, there is nothing to forgive. Where is forgiveness if there is no past no future, and no story?
I was having dinner with my friend Ram Dass not long ago and talking about forgiveness, a subject I’m studying for my new book. He leaned over and said to me, “Wayne, I’ve never believed that it’s up to us to forgive anyone. That is not our role.” Let this profound statement sink in and think about how it might apply to your own experience. First, we have to face the notion that in order to consider forgiving someone we must have been blaming them for something. We must have anger, resentment, blame, even hatred going on in order to feel the need to forgive. Forgiveness is really an act of letting go, releasing the anger, the hatred, the bitterness, the thoughts of revenge that we have been carrying around. We can do this letting go without even encountering the person we want to forgive. It was one act of profound forgiveness toward my own father, whom I never saw or talked to, that turned my life around from one of ordinary awareness to one of higher consciousness, achievement, and success beyond anything I had ever dared to imagine.
We forgive by releasing all resentment, anger, and bitterness and thus set ourselves free from the negative feelings that weaken us. First we have to get past blame. Then we have to learn to send love to all. One of the great lessons of forgiveness is the report of Jesus’s words on the cross: “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” They really did not know the harm they were doing to themselves and to all of us. Meet hatred with love.
Taking all the anger and hatred that is standing in your way and replacing it with love is the most healing thing you can do. Fill your soul with love, rather than anger and so many things will change in your life. None of us needs revenge, but we all need love. It is all we really have to give away. I advised a recent caller to my radio show to contact the abusive father she hadn’t seen or spoken to in 30 years. Finding the courage to call the show was the signal to her that she needed to heal her painful past. Rather than saying, “I forgive you,” and opening old wounds, all she needs to do is say, “I’m here, I care about you, and I send you love.” She has the power to heal and set both of them free.
This is Day 3 from the 6-week coaching program.
The program for members contains 42 daily topics, 42 audios, plus private one-on-one interaction.
I like this lesson a lot because it shows the immediacy of the miracle – it doesn’t take any time at all – IN GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE – and like the first miracle principle says “There is no order of difficulty in miracles.”
All it takes is willingness, because there’s only ONE ROOT (conflict) and once you get that out, all the problems in your life will disappear because the root has been removed.
“This course is simple.” – A Course in Miracles
Enjoy.
“Perhaps it is not yet quite clear to you that EACH DECISION THAT YOU MAKE is one between a grievance and a miracle.”
- A Course in Miracles, Lesson 78
“Today we go beyond the grievances, to look upon the miracle instead. We will REVERSE THE WAY YOU SEE by not allowing sight to stop before it sees. We will not wait before the shield of hate, but lay it down gently and lift our eyes in silence to behold the Son of God. HE WAITS FOR YOU behind your grievances, and as you lay them down he will appear in shining light where each one stood before you.”
-A Course in Miracles
AMAZING!!!!! You know that guy or girl who pushes all your buttons?? The one you hate?? The one who causes your blood to boil in anger?? Well … THAT’S YOUR SAVIOR – waiting for you on the other side of your grievance. He’s calling you to Heaven. He’s standing in the light – he’s already back home with God – while you’re standing in the dark holding on to a grievance about him!!!!!
Boy, do I love A Course in Miracles!!
You think that “other” person doesn’t get it, and that they’re just denser than dense and meaner than mean, but if you’re standing holding a grievance, THEN YOU’RE THE ONE WHO NEEDS HELP, NOT THEM. They’re totally fine. They’re already home in Heaven, waiting for you to drop your resentment and join them where they stand in the light. They’re whole and perfect, and you’re holding yourself in hell while you think they should be different.
I am not sure if you have yet noticed, but there is an ACTION ELEMENT in every single workbook lesson. Only once or twice in the Course does Jesus say “wait silently” but mostly what he’s asking is for you to shift your thinking to see a situation/person differently. It requires an ACTION, a shift, an active involvement on your part to allow your seeing to be reversed so that you can see what is truly there.
It’s NEVER about trying to change the person or situation – never, never, never – because the person/situation is NOT REAL. But if you see it and it’s causing you a grievance, then you DO have to change your mind to see it clearly. Are you starting to get this? Exciting, right?
Everyone gets to be EXACTLY as they are – they get to be the biggest pain in the asses they want to be. Because they cannot affect you when you have made a decision to see everything through the eyes of Christ. You’ll just be watching them like you’re watching a movie. Thinking, “OH THAT’S NICE.”
You don’t have to react to anything anymore. You don’t react to the characters in a movie as if they are real, do you? You just watch the action and it doesn’t affect your life in any way. You’re not participating in the conflict – you’re just observing it, and you realize it has nothing to do with you. It’s just up there on the screen. You don’t have to solve anything or fix anything because it’s just a movie.
And this is how you want to get thinking about your life. None of it’s real. You don’t have to fix anything or solve anything. But you DO need willingness to see it differently if it’s causing you pain.
But what could possibly bother/upset you if none of it real?
“Would you react at all to figures in a dream you knew you were dreaming? Let them be as hateful and vicious as they may, they could have no effect on you unless you failed to recognize IT IS YOUR DREAM.” -A Course in Miracles
These first two weeks (of this 6-week program) are all about clearing the space so that the Holy Spirit can build a rock solid foundation for the Temple of God… IN YOU.
Today is Day 3 and we’re clearing a space for our Father’s house which has many mansions, and pulling up the roots so it can be built.
“The basic decision of the miracle-minded is not to wait on time any longer than necessary.” -A Course in Miracles
“Miracles are everyone’s right, but purification is necessary first.” – A Course in Miracles
“Each day should be devoted to miracles. The purpose of time is to enable you to learn how to use time constructively.” – A Course in Miracles
So this 6-week program is a dedication to use every day to do the work that Jesus is asking and not “wait” for “something” to happen. We’re building it now. We’re doing the work. We’re not “waiting” for a “miracle” to happen.
It’s exactly like building a house. It doesn’t just magically happen. Someone had to get their hands dirty. Someone had to create the plans. Someone had to clear the space and pull out the roots to make room for a house. Someone had to lay the foundation. Someone had to build.
And that’s the work of A Course in Miracles. Your participation is NECESSARY and REQUIRED. Only YOU can do the work. Helpers are sent in who can shine a light, show you where the potholes are so you avoid them and show you where the shortcuts are so you can get to your destination faster, but ultimately, YOU HAVE TO DO THE WORK. No one can do it for you because you’re the only one who knows the way your mind works and “the power of decision is your own” – and that’s a beautiful thing.
You have now located the Source of all your power – in you. I can’t change your mind for you. Only you can do that.
“ALL shallow roots have to be uprooted, because they are not deep enough to sustain you. The illusion that shallow roots can be deepened and thus made to hold is one of the corollaries on which the reversal of the Golden Rule, referred to twice before, is balanced. As these false underpinnings are uprooted (or given up), equilibrium is experienced as unstable. But the fact is that NOTHING is less stable than an orientation which is upside down. Anything that holds it this way is hardly conducive to greater stability.
The whole danger of defenses lies in their propensity to hold misperceptions rigidly in place. This is why rigidity is regarded AS stability by those who are off the mark.”
I want you to see this. You have to literally pull up the ROOT that is causing all your grievances and problems and not just push those problems aside.
MIRACLES ARE EVERYONE’S RIGHT, BUT PURIFICATION IS NECESSARY FIRST.
A Course in Miracles is ALWAYS practical. It’s not some spiritual mumbo-jumbo, it gives clear instruction about what to do to see immediate results. I love it.
Last year I encountered the dandelion flower for the first time in my life. I never really knew what the dandelion was until I actually had a lawn to mow. Not knowing the root of the dandelion, I thought I could just mow my John Deere over them and lop off the yellow flowers. So I did that. It took me a couple of hours, but I did it. And you can guess what happened. I looked out the window, one hour later, and the whole lawn was covered in yellow dandelion flowers again!!!!!!!
WHAT?????????????
So I went out there to look more closely, and that’s when I realized that a dandelion has a DEEP STRONG ROOT with many flowers, so if you cut off one flower, there are many more flowers ready to bud and rear their little yellow heads. The only way to get rid of a dandelion once and for all is to dig out the root.
And so it is with all your problems. You can’t just fix them one by one. Because more will be back by this afternoon. They’re endless!! They’ll just keep popping up until you gut out the root.
A Course in Miracles says “Conflict is the ROOT of all evil.”
That’s why before I had you sign up for this program I asked if you were willing to give up conflict. All of you said YES. That was the requirement for being in this 6-week course – a willingness to give up conflict.
Because until you have done that, nothing can change.
Without pulling up the root, problems can change momentarily, and you will think “there I fixed it, all solved.” But as you may have noticed, just a couple of hours later (or even sooner) there is another problem staring you in the face!!
Until you pull up THE ROOT OF CONFLICT – your mind will make up more images of conflict for you to deal with. It’s never-ending. The way to be done with conflict is to be done with it. It’s like quitting cigarettes or alcohol. You decide you don’t want it anymore, that it’s a terrible habit, and you give it up.
When you pull up the root of conflict, all your grievances will disappear, because grievances are the yellow dandelion flower and when you pull out the root, they’re gone.
Just as the yellow dandelion flower doesn’t exist without its root, all your problems don’t exist when there is no root to support it.
1. Do Workbook Lesson 78: “Let miracles replace all grievances”
This is a continuation of yesterday’s topic about how to turn grievances into gifts. It’s very much like alchemy – you don’t change the starting object by trying to fix it (your problem), it simply transforms. The elements are exactly the same, but the form is now different. It’s a miracle!
2. Now look at your list of grievances. Look at the work you have done for the past 4 days, and instead of trying to fix those problems one-by-one, I want you to realize all those grievances are like dandelion flowers with one root: CONFLICT.
Today, start uprooting that root by taking a close look at it. It might seem deep and strong, but A Course in Miracles says it’s “shallow.” It can easily be pulled up with your willingness to be done with conflict, once and for all.
You might experience fear or resistance as you are making a decision to give up conflict. Don’t fight yourself. We’re still at the beginning.
Today, begin considering if you’re ready to do this. It’s one thing to SAY you’re done with conflict, it’s a whole other ballgame to actually DO IT. Today, simply be honest – look at where all your problems come from – and ask if your ready and willing to let them all go.
Basically today, just keep it simple. You’re just looking out over the plot that is your life with all your stories and a past and a future, you’re wearing your construction hat, your surveying the land, you’re seeing what it looks like, and you’re asking yourself what needs to be done to clear the space before the construction crew comes in to start building the temple.
Hi here,
A couple of weeks ago I went to Boston to visit my friend Vicki Poppe, and she has a really beautiful Wednesday night Course in Miracles group that starts at 6pm EST in Quincy. I was there for it and she does something that I loved a lot – she has the whole group spend about 20-30 minutes just being still and listening. JUST LISTEN.
And to see what comes up for you.
Listening is different than meditating. It’s not about having a still mind. It’s just about being present and listening. Set aside some quiet time, turn off the distractions and just sit quietly and … you got it … listen.
A lot of Course groups that I’ve been to do a lot of talking and I really liked just being with other Teachers of God and just LISTENING. There was no other instruction given. Just be still and listen
Just listen.
So, if you feel like joining from the location where you are – it’s tonight and every Wednesday night at 6pm EST (of course, you can do it any time you like – my favorite time is mornings – but I also really like knowing there are others out there at the same time as me joined in one single purpose)
And if you feel like writing to me about what the experience of Listening was like for you, I welcome that. I’d love to hear from you.
Also, someone else in the group opened up the idea of having “a course buddy” – someone you can talk to on the phone or meet with to talk about A Course in Miracles.
If you’re interested in this, let me know -because there are people in Boston who really want to start connecting with others over the phone. I can pass your name and phone number on to Vicki.
Love, Lisa
