Yes.

Now is the time.

Here is the place.

Big news this morning - an offer to do an AUDIO SHOW FOR THE DAILY LESSON OF A COURSE IN MIRACLES, which is what I was praying for.

It will be 30 minutes. Every day. The link will be here on this site.

All you need is a little willingness and a copy of the book A Course in Miracles.

If you don’t yet own the book (you will need it!) you can buy it on Amazon, click here:

“Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how…. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.”
— Agnes de Mille

There are usually many emotions that go along with hearing that the world is not real, that it’s a dream.

The first emotion is complete absolute disbelief. This usually results in attack of some kind towards the messenger. Most people stay in disbelief mode for a long time, offering all the scientific “facts” why the world is real and solid. But once the idea that you are dreaming has entered your mind, you cannot go back. A light has entered the darkness and that is enough. You will begin to catch glimpses that everything really is you. You will begin to see that as you stand as an OBSERVER, conflict disappears.

The world stops.

Have you ever seen the world stop? It’s something else entirely. You’ll want to see this for yourself. Have you ever seen the world disappear? The reason I don’t have to be concerned about giving you “proof” that the world is a dream is because you will see it for yourself.

Like Truman, in the movie The Truman Show, once he has seen the stage light fall from the sky, he sees clues everywhere. After that, his eyes begin to open and he sees the cracks everywhere. He thinks he’s going crazy. He’s still not sure what is going on, but he’s an OBSERVER now. He’s looking, waiting, watching.

All the characters rush in to tell him he’s nuts. They tell him to go back to the way he was before. To have a beer. To take a vacation. To relax. He realizes he stands alone, very lost in a foreign place. He doesn’t know who he can trust. He doesn’t know who his friends are. He doesn’t know if his wife is his wife. He stands in a place of uncertainty about everything.

What if you knew you were dreaming?

What if you knew that everything that happens to you first begins as a thought in your mind, and then projects outward appearing as something real and solid.

WHAT IF?

First you’d say to me “you’re nuts”, then you’d say “I’m worried about you”, then you’d say “this is crazy”, then you’d say “stop with all the foolishness” … but in the wee hours of the morning or night, while you are lying in bed, you’d think to yourself …. what if this is true?

What if everything that is happening in my life happens because I’m thinking it?

What if everything is just a mirror reflection of my own state of mind?

You will lie in bed pondering the WHAT IF question.

You might lie in bed thinking - THIS IS THE STUPIDEST THING I EVER HEARD. I’M NEVER GONNA READ LISA’S BLOG EVER AGAIN - but you will be thinking about it. The thought has entered your mind.

Wouldn’t you be curious - even if only secretly - to experiment to see if what I am saying is actually true? to stop all your doings, if only for a moment, and become an observer. To experiment. To look at your thoughts - to look at your life - and ask yourself the question: in all honesty, am I getting the result of my thinking?

The second emotion is absolute utter fear. You think “What does this mean for me? What’s the purpose of living then, if this is a dream?”

Exactly. What is the purpose?

Good question.

Following fear is the worst possible anger you will probably ever experience. The mind starts to loosen, and suddenly there is seemingly no comfort and no place to stand on solid ground. Life seems meaningless. Things usually get broken at this stage in the game, accompanied by a lot of shouting and swearing.

Some people automatically think this gives them the liberty to do whatever they want - drink, kill, be irresponsible, do whatever they want - forgetting that I said: THIS IS YOUR DREAM. You will get the results of your thinking. You cannot escape your own thoughts. There is no exception. Cause = Effects. If you hate, you will see hate in your life. Plain and simple. If you harbor attack thoughts, you will see attack. If you manipulate or have ideas of manipulation, you will have characters in your dream manipulating you.

The world is a big mirror reflection for you to see where you are in your own mind.

If you love, and give only love, all the characters “magically” transform to reflect back to you only love. Try it. You’ll be amazed. You’ll realize it’s not magic or miracles at all. Just a natural process of cause and effect.

Once you calm down, you realize the next stage is TOTAL EXCITEMENT.

At this level, there is a new stirring in you. Like butterflies in your stomach, where you start to feel different. This means you’re coming alive.

Realizing that everything that happens to you is by own choice and decision, you’ll be more careful with your thoughts. You will step back before responding. You will observe instead of charging ahead. You will become more reflective.

You will give only that which you want to receive. Love, gratitude, joy.

Instead of projecting a world, you will extend the love you feel.

See? Big difference in the way you now conduct yourself.

You have found the cause of all your problems along with the solution: in your own mind.

This is the area of MASS CLEAN-UP. Like Boston’s Big Dig. You just keep digging and excavating what should not be there. You have a master plan, and that is to get the crap out of your mind. To get rid of attack thoughts. To get rid of guilt thoughts. To stop manipulating. To stop reacting.

Basically, to just stop.

Bring in the big trucks.

My favorite line in A Course in Miracles is “only appreciation is an appropriate response to a brother.”

It’s totally uncompromising.

If you want to be happy, stop correcting other people. Stop judging them. Stop attacking them.

If you want love - AND ONLY THAT - it should be the ONLY thing you give. It should be your one & only reaction to everyone and everything.

Love, and your world will transform into Heaven.

“Only appreciation is an appropriate response to your brother.”

So on a practical level when someone is screaming at you, or telling you to do something you don’t want to do … you stop. Realize it’s a dream. Realizing the guy standing in front of you is you. Stop. Don’t react. Take a moment to remember the truth. Remember that ‘only appreciation is an appropriate response to a brother.”

If you can remember this sentence, you will have remembered everything.

Or maybe you need to just choose one word, and stop before you react, and remember that one word. That will be enough for you to choose a different reaction.

You will remember there is nothing outside your most holy creative mind. You will remember how much love you have to give. You will remember that you are here as a blessing.

Jesus said “This world is not my home” and “my Kingdom is not of this world.”

He was a complete alien and stranger here. He said “the Son of God has no where to lay his head.” What do you think this means?

To me it means I don’t belong here, and yet, I have much to give and there is work to do.

My heart is filled with love. My cup runneth over, literally. I cannot contain the love I feel. I must express it. I must extend it. It’s not for me alone.

So what do you do, on a practical level, once you know you are dreaming? How the hell do I know? This is your dream. What do you want to do?

You can do anything you want. You can be anything you want. Nothing is stopping you.

Every time it seems like some external factor or person is stopping you, remember those are simply ideas of your own limitation. And since you can’t stand the guilt of your own attack against yourself, you create other figures in your dream to blame that for your own limited.

That game gets really tiring and boring after a while. Suddenly comes a moment when you realize there is no one to blame except yourself.

You can spend all your time telling me I’m crazy OR you can begin taking responsibility realizing the awesome adventure you are being placed on.

Most people spend most of the energy correcting other people, wanting to be right. You can do that … OR … you can spend your energy having the most awesome life ever.

Think of the possibilities for yourself.

Think about all that energy you’ve spent trying to hold your life together. Think about the energy you spent trying to make people love you and like you. Think about how tiring that is. Think about what you really want.

This is where it gets fun.

Think about your ultimate fantasy goal. The thing you really want, but have never achieved because people, places, events and things are stopping you.

“I’d be happy if …”
“I’d feel alive if ….”

I can’t answer the question for you. But go deep into your own thought system and dig out your most awesome idea, the thing you really want for Christmas and your birthday. Think about it. Nothing is stopping you anymore. You’re dreaming. You can’t stop reacting to things as if they affect you. It’s all just you. Nothing is stopping you anymore from going through the ceiling of this very limited place.

Now, one step further. What is the EXPERIENCE behind the fantasy you are going after. it’s never about the physical thing. it’s always about an experience. Perhaps you are searching for

FREEDOM
COMFORT
LOVE
ADORATION
PEACE
JOY
SAFETY
A FEELING OF HOME

There is an experience you want. Something you crave.

Now every day - starting today, starting now - find ONE ACTION STEP to bring you that experience. Start today. If you want a relationship so that you feel loved, do something today that makes you feel loved. Call a friend. Be nice to yourself.

If you want to lose 50 pounds, what is the experience you want that you think losing 50 pounds will bring you? perhaps you are more active. More confident. Maybe you eat healthier. Maybe you feel secure. So find one action step today that brings you that experience.

If you want to make more money, so you can live a life you love and do cool things, what’s the experience you want? Find one action step to be living a life you love and doing cool things today. One action step a day. Every day.

It’s all about experience.

It’s all about being totally present, in this day.

Most people keep waiting for something to happen to them. For unexpected love to walk through the door. Or to receive an inheritance, or win the lottery, or get a job promotion. Waiting, waiting, waiting.

Today signifies the end of waiting. Today you begin being fully present.

You stop the blame game. You stop being a victim.

You look at what you really want, and realize it’s possible for you.

Forget future goals. There is no future. There is only today. What do you want? What is your goal? What is the experience you are looking for?

Begin it.

Why waste time making other people wrong when you could be creating something brand new for yourself?

This is the adventure.

If this interests you and you want to learn more, you can buy my book. Click here:

I don’t tell you it’s a dream to scare you. I tell you it’s a dream because a) it is a dream and b) I want you to awaken to the vastness of the universe and the exciting possibility of that which lies within you. YOU ARE PURE CREATION. YOU ARE A MIND CAPABLE OF GREAT THINGS. If this is a dream, imagine what this means for you?? Life becomes a happy game you play. You would not react at all to anything. Sadness would become impossible for you. Fear becomes impossible. You are now observer and participant, fully consciously aware that you are directing this whole show. THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS TO BE AWAKE. No one is doing anything. Nothing is happening. When you stop, you will see in that instant, everything else stops along with you. When you don’t react, nothing else reacts. Try it. See for yourself.

But as long as you are unaware that you are dreaming, you will believe random things are happening to you that are out of your control. To realize you are dreaming and that you are the dreamer of the dream places causation where it belongs: in your own mind. Here lies total freedom. Pure creation. Here’s where “miracles” occur.

Here’s some great quotes:

Reality is an illusion, albeit a persistent one. –Albert Einstein

Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion. —Albert Einstein

How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state? —Plato

I believe in everything until it’s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now? –John Lennon

All that you see or seem, is but a dream within a dream. —Edgar Allan Poe

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. —Buddha

Hope is a waking dream — Aristotle

This phantom world gave you false signs
But you turned from the illusion
and journeyed to the land of truth. —Mevlana Rumi

People fancy they are enjoying themselves,
but they are really tearing out their wings
for the sake of an illusion. — Mevlana Rumi

Those who have compared our life to a dream were right . We sleeping wake, and waking sleep. ~Michel de Montaigne

A wise man, recognizing that that the world is but an illusion, does not act as if it is real, so he escapes the suffering. —Siddharta

You create your own universe as you go along. The stronger your imagination, the more variegated your universe. When you leave off dreaming, the universe ceases to exist. — Winston Churchill

Matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration. We are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There’s no such thing as death, life is just a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. –Bill Hicks

The most dangerous thing is illusion. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“He who dreams of drinking wine may weep when morning comes; he who dreams of weeping may in the morning go off to hunt. While he is dreaming he does not know it is a dream, and in his dream he may even try to interpret a dream. Only after he wakes does he know it was a dream. And someday there will be a great awakening when we know that this is all a great dream. Yet the stupid believe they are awake, busily and brightly assuming they understand things, calling this man ruler, that one herdsman–how dense! Confucious and you are both dreaming! And when I say you are dreaming, I am dreaming , too. ” —Chuang Tzu

The life of this world is but comfort of illusion. —Koran 3.185

Some men look at things the way they are and ask “why?” I dream of things that are not and ask “why not?” — George Bernard Shaw

This world we think is real is merely an illusion generated by our own minds and doesn’t actually exist. It is a holographic illusion. And by manipulating our sense of reality that belief in what is real manifests itself as a three dimensional holographic illusion. If we start to realize that we are creating that reality we dont like we can take control of our consciousness back from the manipulation; deconditin from the reality we believe in and create a completely different illusion. It will still be an illusion but a nicer one. —David Icke

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. — Henry David Thoreau

Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake. — Henry David Thoreau

The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up. —Paul Valery

I dream my painting, and then I paint my dream. — Vincent Van Gogh

The fundamental delusion of humanity if that I am here and you are out there. —Yasuntani Roshi

A hallucination is a fact, not an error; what is erroneous is a judgment based upon it. —Bertrand Russell

All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible. — T.E. Lawrence

We live in illusion and the appearance of things. There is a reality. We are that reality. When we understand this, we see that we are nothing. And being nothing, we are everything. That is all. —Kalu Rinpoche

Nor do I hear in my imagination the parts successively, I hear them all at once. What a delight this is! All this inventing, this producing, takes place in a pleasing, lively dream.’ — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Resolution Revolution: A Better Way to Start Your Year

December 28th, 2007 by Christine Kane

The regulars at the gym are already joking about it.

“Have a good workout now,” they say. “Cuz next week, it’ll suck in here.”

That’s because all the folks who have - yet again - made their New Year’s Resolutions will show up. They’ll stick around for a while. Then, around St. Patrick’s Day, the regulars get to have their old gym back.

Last week, I overheard a radio talk show. The hosts were discussing the most common New Year’s Resolutions and the average success rate. Among the most common were Get Organized, Be More Spiritual, Lose Weight, Quit Smoking, and Spend More time with the Family.

I don’t know about you, but this kind of To-Do List approach to life transformation does little to inspire me. And it doesn’t surprise me at all that the success rates were pretty depressing.

Why Resolutions Don’t Work

The reason most resolutions don’t work is that they address only one level of your life. The DO level. It’s the DO-HAVE-BE model. “I will DO this thing.” (i.e., Lose weight) “So I can HAVE this other thing” (Self-Esteem) and I can BE this thing. (Confident.)

The average New Year’s Resolution doesn’t address the core of the issue - the “BE” level.

The best order for creating positive changes in your life is the BE-DO-HAVE model. This means you start from the BE level. When you begin changing on the BE level of your life, then the DO level and the HAVE level follow more easily.

When you start only on the DO level, then all the blocks on the BE level will often become the obstacles you can’t overcome.

A Better New Year’s Ritual

Several years ago, my friend Kathy and I decided that, instead of making resolutions, we would pick a word that would guide us throughout the year. It would be our touchstone. It would remind us of living our lives at the BE level.

This didn’t mean that we didn’t take action. It meant that our actions were inspired from the BE level. In fact, I took more action than ever with this new approach!

Since then, I’ve included this idea in my newsletter at the start of each New Year - and the response is always huge. Last year, I blogged about it. Now, I regularly hear from people who have created big changes in their lives because they focused on one word.

How to Choose Your Word for 2008

Look through the list below if you need some guidance. Get quiet over the next few days. And pick a word for the year.

Just one word. That’s all.

Then, hold that word in your mind throughout the year, and let your word guide you to take action.

For instance, let’s take one of the examples above. Let’s say you are one of the many people who would normally choose “Get Organized.” You look around to see clutter and crap all over your life. You’re tired of the chaos. So, you think, “I need to get organized. That should be my Resolution this year.”

But then you read this blog. You decide to try it.

You sit with your clutter. You spend a few days pondering words that will inspire you. You realize in an “Ah-Ha!” moment that you tend to cling to lots of things. You’re scared to let go. So you choose the word “Release” because it inspires you in a bigger way than “Get organized.”

So, every time you approach your clutter you remind yourself of that word. “Release,” you say softly. You start to let the clutter go. Eventually, you realize that you’re still holding on to lots more than just physical clutter. You realize that you hold onto resentment at old relationships. “Release,” you remind yourself. You realize that holding on is affecting your diet and health. “Release” applies to some of the extra weight you’ve gained as well. Throughout the year, you can see clearly how much you hold on. “Release” is your touchstone. It grows you throughout the year. It becomes your guiding force, not your harsh standard.

Your clutter became your teacher simply because you shifted your intent towards it. This wouldn’t have happened if you’d opted only to “Get Organized.”

What word to choose?

Many people know immediately which word resonates with them. For others, a little contemplation is required.

I’ve compiled a list of possible words below. As you read through them, see if one stands out for you. It’s tempting to choose four or five, believing that you can do it all! (Or that you’re too messed up to narrow your flaws down to one helpful word!) I recommend that if you can’t choose just one, narrow it down to no more than three.

One is ideal. It gives you focus. If you master that one word, you can choose another one in June.

Compassion
Delight
Generosity
Effortlessness
Wealth
Gratitude
Abundance
Creativity
Willingness
Change
Growth
Freedom
Mastery
Kindness
Health
Presence
Acceptance
Courage
Confidence
Self-Love
Action
Forgiveness
Forgive
Release
Trust
Knowing
Patience
Friendship
Fun
Grace
Laughter
Love
Expansion
Exploration
Adventure
Openness
Discipline
Awe
Awareness
Risk
Gentleness
Choice
Spirit
Prayerfulness
Power
Allow
Artfulness
Attention
Beauty
Joy
Focus
Ritual
Heal
Order
Clarity
Pioneer
Peace
Laziness
No
Yes
Deliberateness
Commitment
Savor
Integrity
Listen

written by Christine Kane

Last night (this morning?) I had a dream that i was walking down a corridor in a big building, like a mall or a high school, and then I met a girl who started walking with me and talking. We walked and talked and laughed. She wanted to know about me. She was asking questions. Then she had to use the bathroom, and suddenly she had a little boy that was with her. So they went into the bathroom and I tried to find a seat to wait for her, and I as began to sit down I realize I was in a bar. I started to sit down but the bar girl told me if I wasn’t going to buy a drink I couldn’t wait at a seat at the bar. So i went into the next room where a girl was lounging over 3 separate chairs. The chairs were movable and they were orange, white and blue. They were not attached, but rather in like a triangle configuration about 2 feet apart from each other. Her feet were in one chair. Her torso was in the second chair and she was stretched out so that her head was in the third chair. She looked very uncomfortable. She was reading. Or at least trying to read. Mostly she looked uncomfortable, like it was taking all her energy and concentration trying to twist her body to be in 3 chairs. I asked her nicely if I could use one of her chairs to sit in. She looked really mad, but then gave me one. First she sat up in the one chair and pushed the other chair away. Then she sat on a couch with another girl. I started reading a book, waiting for my friend, when there was a tugging on my pants. I was wearing white courdoroy pant. I looked up and it was the second girl tugging me towards the other girl on the couch. She was really mad! Apparently she was trying to get my attention, and was really mad that I took her chair. She was pouring water on the floor in attempt that it would flow like a river towards me. But the water was all around her feet like a big puddle. She started screaming at me. My friend came back from the bathroom. I stood up. The girl kept screaming. I said ‘I’m sorry, but I’m not getting into a fight with you.” She said that I was going to fight with her. I said, no I am not. She kept yelling. I didn’t pay attention which made her even more mad. I said to my friend, let’s go. We left and as soon as we were out of the door, I said, run! So we started to run to the next door, and we could see the other girls were following us. We kept running. It was one room after another. Big open rooms with with white floors and gym doors like in a high school gym. We kept running. They caught up with us, and the girl with the chairs was practically losing her mind in anger. I stood there watching her. Her eyes were yellow. Then she turned into a man. A big ugly man, who was really mad. Then he pulled out a gun and pointed it at me. I just stood there, realizing he was going to pull the trigger and that in a few minutes there was going to be a lot of blood, and I just stood there, helpless, looking into those yellow eyes, saying to him in my mind: i love you, i love you, i love you.

And then I woke up.

And the dream never happened.

There is nothing to fix.

There is no story to tell.

I woke up and the dream disappeared. I seemed to be in one location where real things seemed to be occurring, but when I woke up, and the whole scenario disappeared … poof … into thin air.

Most people don’t even remember their dreams in the morning.

I use this as an example to show you that it doesn’t make any sense the way we tell other people what is going on in our life. Who cares what happened in my nighttime dream? Who cares what happens in my daytime dreams?

You, who are reading this, probably lost interest within the first couple of sentences, thinking “who cares about a stupid dream? Why is she telling us this?”

But you you realize this world is a dream? The stories, people and places are literally are not there. Nothing happened. Nothing is happening. You wake up, and the dream never happened. People did not do things to you. There is no story. You won’t remember anything at all, except the present condition you find yourself in which is the eternal Love of God.

You will forget everything that ever happened to you when you wake up.

There will be no story.

There will be only love.

You would see how utterly ridiculous it is to try to figure out and fix your dreams once you wake up. You will be laughing that you ever tried to solve your problems, because you will be awake and you will see that none of it happened. You will be laughing.

You notice how when you try to tell people a nighttime dream, most people blank out immediately and are not interested in hearing the details? (unless they are dream experts looking for symbols and clues of what lies hidden in the unconscious). The reason for this is that most people automatically know “it was just a dream.”

This is a dream.

You notice you never die in a dream?

You notice that even when bad stuff happens in the dream, when you wake up in your bed in the morning you realize you are completely unaffected?

Nothing happened. You were perfectly safe the whole time.

You wake up in your bed and you think “thank God, it was a dream.”

That’s what will happen when you wake up from this nightmare. You’ll say “Thank God! It was only a dream.”

So remember that next time you go into a long detailed explanation of what is happening in your life. It didn’t happen. You are trying to make sense of something that, in a minute or a few years or a thousand years, you will wake up and not even remember.

You can be totally happy. You don’t have to react to dream figures. You can just look them in the eye and love them totally.

Great blog post today about A Course in Miracles over at Tony’s blog.

“Saying it’s a total dependence on God, will have you nodding your head, yes, yes. But to be completely bereft of an answer, unable to deal with anything that is going on around you, yet being strangely at peace is something else.”

I love it.

To read the rest of the blog, click here:

The joy of being a complete fake, completely in the dark, not knowing anything. 

I got some GREAT messages yesterday from people declaring their commitment and dedication to complete all 365 lessons of A Course in Miracles in 2008.

So, I will be a guide and inspiration, and your personal trainer.

This forces me to do all 365 lessons … and I am grateful. Like a fitness trainer who reaps the benefits of helping clients work out. She ends up getting in shape herself.

I’ve completed the workbook several times, but truthfully, the past few years I’ve been a little slack in my practicing. So this is the year. 2008. I’m not sure exactly the form it will take - whether it be audio, or insights or reminders to practice - I am not sure yet what I will do specifically BUT I DO KNOW:

You must do the work for yourself. I am not going to do the work for you. You must do it. I am asking that you make a commitment to read & practice the lessons first thing in the morning BEFORE you turn on your computer in the morning.

By the time you get to this blog, I want you to have already read the lesson for yourself.

I am committed to inspiring and helping you to get through the ceiling - through your comfort zone - to another higher realm of possibility. Imagine waking up every morning feeling vibrantly alive with passion and excitement that you are doing exactly what you love and living the absolute greatest version of yourself. Uncovering all the old habits and revealing the light and treasure that is YOU.

That’s 2008 here at Gorgeous for God.

I love this message from a reader the most:

I have not been DAILY in the Course for the last 2
years.
I couldn’t find anyone to join with me so I put a lot
of time into Conversations with God (read 13 books),
Abraham Hicks, and was attending a Science Of Mind
Church and took three credited courses.

All that being said, I LOVE MY BLUE BOOK!!!! I have
been doing the daily lesson this month and ahhhh it’s
good to be back home!!! And of course, when you pick
up that book - whoa…..your life starts shifting and
stuff comes up!!! Yikes!

Great message. When you pick up A Course in Miracles - whoa - your life starts shifting and stuff comes up!!! Yikes!!!!

In the best possible way. I would appreciate it if you could tell your friends, forward this message, tell people about this website, post messages on internet boards that there will be some major transformation going on in 2008 FOR FREE! and if you know someone who is in a rut or depressed or needs help, please tell them to come on over here.

I want to be VISIBLE this year. I want to demonstrate that A Course in Miracles changes lives, because it has drastically changed my life. I want to travel. I want to stand face to face in front of you. I want to see you. I want to hold your hand.

I want to be physically present in front of people this year. To be active. To move out of my comfort zone, and to be physically walking this world with Jesus.

I am going to start January 1, 2008 with the workbook lessons of A Course in Miracles. If you would like to participate, I want to hear from you personally.

drop me an e-mail message at: lisanatoli2@yahoo.com

Why send an e-mail message to me? TO DECLARE IT OUT LOUD. To make it known in your own conscious mind what you intend to do. Most people when they make an “intention” or a “new years resolution” keep it to themselves as a secret in case they fail or decide to quit halfway through.

If you want to participate, I want to hear from you.

I want to know that you intend to do all 365 lessons. I want to know that you are making a real commitment. If there is no interest (or even just little interest or half-hearted interest), then it’s not going to be worth my time because I’ve already completed the workbook.

If you decide to do this, all 365 lessons in 2008, there are some requirements:

1. weekly e-mail checks in, where you write to me once a week to let me know how things going with you
2. buy A Course in Miracles before January 1, 2008
3. buy Gorgeous for God before January 1, 2008

So please let me know.

Energetically and physically, I am wasted today.

I literally take on the whole world - every emotion that every person on the entire planet feels, I feel it - all wrapped up in my body.

Sadness, sickness, worry, loneliness, fear, anger, doubt.

I feel everything and sometimes it sucks.

What it means to be the savior is to remember the truth in times like this. Because if you allow yourself to be pulled down into the low frequencies, you are just like everyone else.

Most people think about so-called negative emotions: “I have to look at it, feel it, understand it, analyze it, tell my friends about it, solve it, talk to my therapist about it, write about it, wonder about the cause, look at my childhood issues, take a sick day, take a vacation … and once I have figured out the cause of this emotion, then I can let it go.”

Why not just rush to the END GOAL and let it go now??

If the goal is that you will eventually be happy, why not just be that now? Why do you have to talk to your friends and therapist in effort to understand what is going on inside of you?

Just let it go.

In you is the power to rise above all your problems, and you do this for everyone. This is the gift you give to the world. You do it for everyone.

I read somewhere that when you quit an addiction, you actually make it easier for other people to quit their addictions because their mind is your mind. You don’t just do it for yourself, you do it for everyone.

You get out of your own depression to make it easier for other people to get out of their depression. You wipe away your doubts so that other people lose their doubts.

WHEN IT HAPPENS IN YOUR MIND, IT HAPPENS IN THEIR MIND.

When you get into the high frequencies of love, everyone comes with you.

A Course in miracles says: “For every 5 minutes spent listening to the truth, 1000 minds wake up and 1000 years are saved.” This is how healing is accomplished. It is not done by words or teaching. It’s not done by trying to fix things or “heal” things in the usual way. Healing is accomplished as you leave the earth and rise to Heaven.

Get with God.

Forget everything.

Align your mind with God.

Just for a moment, stop sequencing time. Stop thinking that things will not change for you for a couple of weeks or months or years. Realize the new moment for the new beginning is now. It’s right here. It’s right now.

Take some time to be with God. Write in a journal. Get quiet. Just stop.

STOP.

Stopping is great advice. It allows other things to pass. Just stop. Stop thinking of the past. Stop thinking of the future.

STOP.

Rise above your humanness.

Stop being like you were yesterday. Stop trying to figure things out, and let something fresh, new & exciting come into your clean mind, washed of all your old beliefs and habits.

Let something new come to you today.

The only way I know to allow this to occur is to get quiet. Shut off the computer. Shut off the noise. And be quiet. Sit with a pen and paper. Give yourself total freedom away from the distractions of your mind, if only for 20 minutes.

Here is Eric Hoffer:

“In times of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.”

So forget everything you think you know about anything, and simply be present.

Let new learning come to your wholly open mind.

You will notice, when you first begin to practice in this way, that things that you have already learned come into your mind. That’s why you have to practice. It takes great learning to unlearn all the things you know, and yet it’s the simplest thing in the world because you UNLEARN by making a decision to be an empty slate. Your mind becomes wholly willing to see things differently. Your mind stops striving and planning.

Just stop.

Trust me.

Stop trying to go forward. Just rest a while.

Got a great message from Anita this morning that said:

BESERKO!!!!!!!!!!
I already feel like crap because of all the sugar…my tongue is sore, my gall bladder is doing flip flops and I am still hungry, hungry, hungry!!!
GOD! Let it be over!
I love you………………………….

hahahaha. I am over here laughing. I agree with her totally. Oh my God. Too many chocolate covered cherries. Too many frosted Santas. Aaaarrrrrgghhhh.

Merry Christmas.

For Christmas this year I want a personal trainer, a gym membership and a personal chef to keep my calorie intake at 1200 a day.

There really is something about sugar being a drug that sends the body’s chemistry completely out of whack. Scientifically, I don’t know what that is, but it’s true thing.

There really is something about having someone (besides yourself) around to motivate and inspire you and kick your butt …

So it’s Christmas morning. It’s really a day like any other day, when you think about it. We give it the meaning it has for us. We carve it out as a special day of the year. It’s not even really the day Jesus was born. Many think his birth is in autumn. No one really knows the exact day of Jesus birth day but almost everyone agrees it is NOT December 25th. The date is not mentioned anywhere in the bible.

In the bible it says the night Jesus was born “country shepards living out in the fields, keeping over their flocks by night” and during this region from December - February it was too cold to keep flocks of sheep out at night.

But we’ve carved this day out - Christmas - as a symbol of the day to celebrate and remember his birth.

The celebration of Christmas originally began as a pagan holiday that the Romans invented. Here’s some interesting info:

A far more likely scenario is that Jesus was born in the autumn, around the time of the biblical Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:34-36), when Joseph and Mary would have traveled to Jerusalem to keep the Feast along with thousands of other Jewish families. This also helps us understand why in the town Bethlehem, a few miles to the south of Jerusalem, “there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7)-the town would have been crowded with other travelers keeping the Feast at this time of year. (For additional biblical evidence that Jesus was likely born at this time and not on or near Dec. 25, request our free booklet Holidays or Holy Days: Does It Really Matter Which Days We Keep?)

The Oxford Guide to Ideas and Issues of the Bible (Bruce Metzger and Michael Coogan, editors, 2001) say that “Christmas, Twenty-five December was by the fourth century (A.D.) the date of the winter solstice, celebrated in antiquity as the birthday of Mithras (an ancient Persian god) and of Sol Invictus (the `unconquered’ sun god). In the Julian calendar the solstice fell on 6 January, when the birthday of Osiris (the Egyptian god of the dead) was celebrated at Alexandria. By about 300 CE (A.D.), 6 January was the date of the Epiphany in the East, a feast always closely related to Christmas.

“The earliest mention of 25 December for Christmas is in the Philocalian Calendar of 354, part of which reflects Roman practice in 336. Celebration of Christ’s birthday was not general until the fourth century; in fact, as late as the fifth century the Old Armenian Lectionary of Jerusalem still commemorated James and David on 25 December, noting `in other towns they keep the birth of Christ”.

Modern Christians should be shocked that as late as the mid-fourth century not all Christians had yet begun celebrating the pagan festivals of Christmas and New Year’s. The Oxford Guide also notes that Christmas has its roots in the winter solstice, celebrated anciently as the birthday of the sun and the Persian deity Mithras.

“In the Julian calendar the twenty-fifth of December was reckoned the winter solstice, and it was regarded as the Nativity of the Sun, because the day begins to lengthen and the power of the sun to increase from that turning-point of the year. The ritual of the nativity, as it appears to have been celebrated in Syria and Egypt, was remarkable. The celebrants retired into certain inner shrines, from which at midnight they issued with a loud cry, `The Virgin has brought forth! The light is waxing!’

“The Egyptians even represented the new-born sun by the image of an infant which on his birthday, the winter solstice, they brought forth and exhibited to his worshippers. No doubt the Virgin who thus conceived and bore a son on the twenty-fifth of December was the great Oriental (i.e., Middle Eastern) goddess whom the Semites called the Heavenly Virgin or simply the Heavenly Goddess; in Semitic lands she was a form of Astarte (also known as Easter). Now Mithra was regularly identified by his worshippers with the Sun, the Unconquered Sun, as they called him; hence his nativity also fell on the twenty-fifth of December” .

Nowhere in the New Testament can you find one iota of scriptural evidence that Jesus or any one of the apostles ever kept Christmas or taught anyone to keep this pagan celebration.

Would Jesus keep Christmas today?

Faced with these historical facts, and God’s clear instruction about mixing pagan practices with worship of Him, we can conclude only that Jesus would not keep Christmas today. Christmas is, in fact, an affront to Him.

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA. Crack me up.

Yes, Jesus wants us to celebrate him, just as much as he wants us to celebrate EACH OTHER … but not as a ritual based on laws, tradition or rules.

To read the entire article, click here.

Why am I telling you all this?? To remind you to keep it simple. Today is a day like any other day. We, as humans, have added the meaning.

I love you. Today and always.

We should be celebrating Jesus every day of the year. We should be giving gifts every day of the year. We should be with family and friends every day of the year.

The reason the holidays are so stressful for so many people is because it’s artificial holiday. We rush around trying to make it look like something out of Country Living magazine or Better Homes and Gardens. We try to make a dinner table that would make Martha Stewart proud.

When, really, in truth, we just want to relax.

So try to relax today. It’s a day like any other day. It’s Tuesday. It’s December. It’s a beautiful day to tell the people you love that you love them. Just like yesterday, and just like tomorrow.

Merry Christmas.

HOLIDAY EATING TIPS

by Craig Wilson, USA Today

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they’re serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It’s rare. You can’t find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It’s not as if you’re going to turn into an eggnog-alcoholic or something. It’s a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It’s later than you think. It’s Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That’s the whole point of gravy! Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they’re made with skim milk or whole milk. If it’s skim, pass. Why bother? It’s like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people’s food for free. Lots of it. Helllloooo?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year’s. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you’ll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don’t budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They’re like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you’re never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don’t like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?????

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it’s loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost.. I mean, have some standards……

10. One final tip: If you don’t feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven’t been paying attention. Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.

Remember this motto to live by:

“Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, glass of wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming “WOO HOO what a ride!”

Here’s my favorite Christmas song. It’s written for his son Zachary, which is really the little baby Jesus.

Click here to listen: A BABY JUST LIKE YOU

A BABY JUST LIKE YOU

The season is upon us now
A time for gifts and giving
And as the year draws to its close
I think about my living

The Christmastime when I was young
The magic and the wonder
But colors dull and candles dim
And dark my standing under

Oh little angel, shining light
You’ve set my soul to dreaming
You’ve given back my joy in life
You’ve filled me with new meaning

A savior king was born that day
A baby just like you
And as the Magi came with gifts
I’ve come with my gift too

That peace on earth fills up your time
That brotherhood surrounds you
That you may know the warmth of love
And wrap it all around you

It’s just a wish, a dream I’m told
From days when I was young
Merry Christmas little Zachary
Merry Christmas everyone

It’s Christmas Eve. The busiest shopping day of the year. Everyone out frantically racing around for last minute gifts and stocking stuffings, spending money they don’t have.

What is your most memorable gift?

Can you remember the piles and piles of material gifts you’ve received over the years? Can you name them? Do you still have them?

It’s important to remember this as you race around trying to find a gift to buy … worrying about money you don’t really have to spend. What are you really giving? You are giving of yourself. The ACTION OF GIVING is more important than the giving itself.

That’s the true meaning of Christmas.

It’s about remembering love. Remembering Jesus. Being with friends and family.

You basically want to show someone that you spent the time thinking about them, that you care, that you put some thought into a gift.

Christmas has become equated with $$ money … which is why I want you to think about memorable Christmas gifts. What gifts were your favorite? Most lasting? And why?

My very favorite Christmas gift is my grandmother’s wedding ring given to me last year by my mother. It’s my all-time favorite thing in the world. It comes with a story of forgiveness which is why I love it so much. It makes me remember how much I love my mom, which makes it a beautiful thing to behold.

My other favorite gift is a 4-CD John Denver album given to me by my dad and his wife Jean. It was THEIR CD, not something they’d bought specifically for me, but which they owned for a year or two and knew that I loved. So they gave it to me.

That was a great gift. I listen to it practically every day (I LOVE JOHN DENVER!) and they gave it to me years ago.

Memorable gifts.

I got a can of Illy coffee last year from Max and that’s a memorable gift because I wasn’t expecting a gift from him, so the fact that he remembered me and thought about me and spent the time wrapping it really caused some MAJOR CHRISTMAS WONDER in me.

One of my favorite Christmas’s was one year when Bastiaan filled an entire tree full of gifts for me. That was a shocker because we had very little money, but he had gone to GoodWill and and he probably spent no more than $20 dollars, but he wrapped every little single thing and it looked like the Christmas of my childhood. To wake up in the morning and see a pile of gifts like that made me cry. He’s written a love letter. He’s made me some CD’s with music. He must have worked for weeks to give me a Christmas like that and wrap 100 gifts.

To think that Santa is not coming and then to wake up on Christmas morning to see that he did arrive, that’s a good gift.

I used to live in NYC and a couple years it was too much of a hassle to travel to New Hampshire to be with family, so I stayed in the city with my friend Rick. He’s gay so there was never any romantic involvement, but we were best friends. On those Christmas’s I’d sleep over at his place on the couch. We’d go to church on Christmas Eve. He always had a tree and would keep the lights turned on all night for me. We’d open small gifts in the morning and he’d cook breakfast.

Memorable.

My sister Lori gave me a jewelry bookmark a few years back - nothing more than a piece of plastic with some beads on the end which probably cost her $1 and it’s my favorite thing in the world. It’s in my Course book and I see it every day and think of her.

And Leslie. Dear Sweet Leslie. My adorable baby sister who always bakes - cookies, peanut butter balls, butterscotch candy - things that you simply cannot buy in a store. I always kind of lose my mind a little when Leslie walks through the door because you know she’s got something good with her, packed in tissue paper in a Tupperware container.

So the point of this blog post is TRY TO RELAX A LITTLE. The best gifts don’t come with a price tag. We’ve heard it said over and over and over, but it’s actually true. The best gifts are the ones that are memorable and nine times out of ten have nothing to do with going into debt or breaking the bank.

Think about angels. What do they give? They don’t have money so they give gifts that are “otherworldly”. They give of themselves. They heal. They show up. They surprise you.

Be an angel this year and give the best give you can possibly give, yourself:

These are so good.

99 cents a box at Walgreens. My sister Lori would say: “to die for.”

Bastiaan singing and playing the piano:

Welcome in my arms, click to listen

Okay. This is frigging amazing. Did you know that science can change brainwaves so that you function better, are more peaceful, more relaxed, more focused? Did you know this?

Somehow. I did not.

Yesterday Max was telling me about a science show on PBS where scientists have figured out a way for blind people to see by transmitting pulses through the tongue, because apparently any surface of the body will do when it comes to “seeing”.

One scientist, Bach-y-Rita, reasoned that because the nerves carrying messages from one part of the body to the brain are identical to those carrying messages from other body parts, it might actually be possible, even in adulthood, to substitute one sense for another.

To read the whole article and to watch a video, click here.

The possibilities are endless. Since hearing about this my mind has been going beserk in a million directions. This means it’s possible to rewire the brain … period … without machines or devices. Because if it’s possible for the blind to see with a machine then it’s possible for the blind to see without a machine. It’s simply a matter of figuring out how to change the pulses that go to the brain.

Right? This makes perfect sense.

So I did some searching on biofeedback and here’s the definition: “Neurofeedback is direct training of brain function, by which the brain learns to function more efficiently.”

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Um. Excuse me. Does everyone already know about this? Am I the last to know everything? Was I sleeping or passing notes during science class???

This tells me that you can actually change your brain patterns, and change your thinking.

More info from the EEG website on Neurofeedback (click this link for full article):

I’m kind of losing my mind over here. This means that everything that is happening to you is simply a chemical reaction and pulses based on stimulation THAT CAN BE CHANGED.

You can change your brain waves and change your life.

Did you see the movie What the Bleep? This reminds me of that movie. Where everything is just stimulation that causes you to act/think in a certain way. The trick is to not react/act when it appears like something is occurring.

You are simply having a chemical reaction based on brain activity, which seems to cause your heart to beat faster, your palms to sweat, your mind to race. Etc.

But you can change all this by redirecting those brain waves.

Do some rewiring.

I have a friend who used to overeat and who used to think about food nonstop and through training her mind to a new way to think, you can put a piece of cake on the table in front of her and she doesn’t even notice it. Or she’ll take one bite, and then not be interested. She changed her brain pattern. Cake and food no longer causes a chemical reaction.

I’m no scientist, but this is all very exciting to me right now.

It’s possible to disrupt brain patterns, and redirect them.

I’m pretty certain the way to rewire the brain to be healthy, happy, peaceful is to be constantly in the PRESENT MOMENT OF NOW.

I’m fairly certain this short-circuits all the other brainwaves - the impulse to judge, the way a mind hangs on to a grievance or worry, the brain wave that wants to organize a story, and plan. I think when you are totally present, all other systems shut down.

Think about how you might be thinking of a certain situation all day long - wondering what happened, what went wrong, what you could have done, what so-and-so did, what so-and-so said … but suddenly something dramatic happens, like someone rushes in with an emergency or the phone rings or there’s a fire and suddenly you forget the story.

How did this occur? It seems to me that the brain waves were scrambled. One minute they were all “organized” in a row, thinking linear, trying to sequence time, and suddenly there was a catalyst introduced into the mind making you “lose your train of thought” and suddenly your attention is focused entirely on something new.

We’ve all had this happen. Where one minute you are depressed, and then something happens, and the next minute you are engaged in some activity and you forget all about the depression.

Brain waves.

I’m totally amazed.

I’m well aware that my mind is the determiner of my body and how it functions, etc. (mind-body connection, chakras, energy) but the idea that you can see through your tongue is kind of flipping me out a little, in a very excited sort of way.

I am totally in love with Christine Kane. She is the perfect role model, the perfect woman, the perfect friend, and she totally inspires me.

She wrote a great blog post yesterday about being courageous. Read it by clicking here. Here is her list of 66 Ways to Build Courage:

1 - Paint your nails green and leave them that way for a week. If you’re a guy, you get extra credit for this one.

2 - Look at your life as an experiment. This takes the ego out of new things you try.

3 - If you’re always spontaneous, plan something in advance and stick with it. If you’re a meticulous planner, do something spontaneous.

4 - Quit your job.

5 - Start a blog.

6 - Sign up for a Retreat.

7 - Take a painting class.

8 - Learn a new language.

9 - Join Toastmasters.

10 - Begin yoga.

11 - Do something ridiculously tourist-y in your own town.

12 - Get up in the morning after having a bad day yesterday. Encourage yourself to begin again.

13 - Give money away.

14 - Invite your friends over for dinner and don’t use silverware.

15 - Look into people’s eyes when you’re in public - on the street, buying groceries, etc.

16 - Hire someone to do a regular task you can’t stand doing. (i.e., mowing the lawn.) Use that time to write or draw.

17 - Play music more. Watch TV less.

18 - Get rid of everything in your home that’s not an Absolute Yes. Everything!

19 - Put on a goofy smile and look at other drivers when you stop at lights.

20 - Write a novel in a month.

21 - Think of one thing you’d love to ask one of your heroes, and then call her office - and ask her the question. (The goal is not necessarily to get through - but to let go of the fear of not getting through!)

22 - Ask for what you want - rather than complaining about not getting it.

23 - Go bowling.

24 - If you never host parties or dinners - invite friends over once a month for dinner.

25 - Teach a workshop on something you know how to do.

26 - Start a mastermind group with at least two other people.

27 - Learn to invest your money.

28 - Decide that your desire to be happy is an adequate reason to say no to requests of your time. (I knew someone who had cancer who said, “The best part about cancer is that now I get to say no to things and have a great excuse.” Don’t wait until you have this kind of “excuse.”)

29 - Be bad at something. Do it anyway.

30 - Make requests. Don’t complain.

31 - Join a writer’s group.

32 - Hire a life coach.

33 - In a social situation, sit in one place and allow people to come talk with you instead of running around the room “networking.”

34 - Worry less. Act more.

35 - Take a last-minute trip overseas.

36 - Enter a writing contest.

37 - Start your own business.

38 - Ask someone out on a date.

39 - Start a podcast.

40 - Sign up for my January Great Big Dreams e-Seminar. (Email christine@christinekane.com for details.)

41 - Make a business card for yourself.

42 - Eat at an ethnic restaurant you never considered before.

43 - Respond. Don’t react.

44 - Get some music from another culture. Sit down and listen. Really listen.

45 - Listen more. Talk less. Especially to your kids. (Remember that listening doesn’t mean waiting to say your piece.)

46 - Take a swing dance class.

47 - Hire a physical trainer.

48 - Start a book club.

49 - Test-drive a luxury car. Act as if you could buy it if you wanted it.

50 - End a relationship that drains you or hurts you. You deserve to be happy.

51 - Start a prayer list - and pray every morning.

52 - Go to a nursing home and visit people who need company.

53 - Quit smoking.

54 - Take different routes to work each day.

55 - Get lost on purpose. (When I first moved to my town, this is how I learned my way around. On Sundays, I’d drive into the downtown area and give myself an hour to get lost and then found again.)

56 - Wake up at 5am and write.

57 - Assumptions are the enemy of success. Question them often.

58 - Excuses are the enemy of action. Stop making them.

59 - Admit when you are wrong.

60 - Write a fan letter to someone who’s not famous - a teacher, a grocery store clerk - anyone who delights you or touches you.

61 - Pick one incomplete in your life (cluttered attic, article you want to write, craft you want to begin) and do it for 15 minutes a day. It’s more courageous to do something for a small chunk of time and do it again the very next day - than it is to sit back and say it can’t be done because you don’t have enough time.

62 - Participate in an open-mic night.

63 - Join a spiritual circle - a church, a center, a class. Don’t worry if it’s the “right” one - just try it out.

64 - Go vegan.

65 - Pay the toll of the person behind you. (Or for their coffee!)

66 - Run for President.