“Forgiveness is the key to happiness.”

A great practical lesson for the day.

Okay, here we go:

“Think of someone you do not like, who seems to irritate you, or to cause regret in you if you should meet him; one who you actively despise, or merely try to overlook. If does not matter the form your anger takes. You probably have chosen him already. He will do.”

“Now close your eyes and see him in your mind, and look at him a while.”

Try to perceive some light in him somewhere, a little gleam which you had never noticed.

Try to find some little spark of brightness shining through the ugly picture that you hold of him.

Look at this picture till you see a light somewhere within it, and then try to let this light extend until it covers him, and makes the picture beautiful and good.

This is an awesome lesson. Most people merely tell a story about other people, gossip, complain, or simply ignore a person saying “they don’t get it” or “they’re not in the same space that I am in.”

A lot of relationships get broken off at this point.

A lot of grievances start here.

A lot of justification begins here.

But this lesson asks you to LOOK AT HIM. Look at the guy that irritates you. Include him/her in. Stop ignoring the person. Stop trying to correct or change him. Stop thinking you are doing something different/better from him.

That guy is your savior.

The one who pushes all your buttons, who is a total screw up, who says cruel things to you, who attacks you, who tells you you’re fat, ugly and worthless … that guy is your savior.

Your enemy is your savior.

Your forgiveness of him is your forgiveness of yourself and the world.

THIS is how healing is accomplished. It’s very simple.

Find the light in them. Look beyond their body. Look beyond the past story you’ve been telling. Be present. Come with NO ideas of who you think the person is, or their relationship to you. Just see them in your mind, and find the light, the spark, and let it cover them.

“Perceive him now as more than friend to you, for in that light his holiness shows you your savior, saved and saving, healed and whole.”

Then…..

“Then let him offer you the light you see in him, and let your “enemy” and friend unite in blessing you with what you gave.”

“Now are you one with them, and they with you.”

“Now, you have been forgiven by yourself.”

This lesson is so damn good.

It asks me to love all things.

Jesus asks me to love my neighbor, my enemy and God.

Love everyone and everything.

Let go of judgment.

Forgiveness is the key to happiness.

It shows me that I’ve been wrong about everything. It shows me that all my grievances are false. All my stories are fiction, and that my brother is my friend and savior.

What a relief.

It’s a thrill for me to show up here daily, and to be reminded of the truth.

It’s important for me to remember to get my mind aligned with God, before I do anything else.

To take time, first thing upon waking, to remember my purpose, to remember my function, to pray, to read the daily lesson.

This morning, I forgot … and thank God my brother was there to remind me of the truth before I did anything stupid.

This morning I woke up angry at the publishing house I work with, and I was just about to send off a really nasty letter, and I opened my email box to write the letter and there was a message from my friend Hubert (who knows the situation with the publishing company, and how frustrating it has been) and he wrote:

Hi Lisa!

Don’t worry about anything. I think with AuthorHouse we are in the need of a miracle. All we can do is just pray and trust. It is an impossible situation. This all happens under the guidance of Jesus. It may happen “slightly” different that we expected it, but it happens somehow.

I rest in God.

Love, Hubert

I laughed out loud. All the anger in me dissolved in that moment.

I’m grateful for the guys that remind of the truth - who tell me to calm down, rest, pray and trust.

And then 2 seconds later, a message arrives by email from AuthorHouse (!!) telling me they are very sorry and that they overnight shipped my book yesterday so I will receive it today. (I was supposed to receive it 3 weeks ago, but it’s been one problem after another and I’ve been on the phone practically every day with them, trying to get this situation resolved).

Today’s lesson is:

I rest in God.

I am as God created me.

Last night I read a biography about Oprah and what impressed me the most is her persistence and consistency. She did not build that empire in a day. Oprah’s broadcasting career started while she was a senior in high school, in 1971, as an after school job at WVOL radio in Nashville. She has been holding a microphone ever since.

Also, I love:

1. her faith in God
2. her faith in people
3. her need to be helpful

She prays every day. She reads the bible every day. She talks to God every day.

She listens to God. She asks for His guidance on a daily basis. She says:

“It’s not so much a voice, as it is a feeling. If it doesn’t feel right to me, I don’t do it. I just listen to how I feel. If something feels right, I do it. If it feels wrong, I don’t. It’s really very, very simple, but you’ve got to be willing to take your chances doing stuff that may look crazy to other people. Or not doing something that looks right to others but just feels wrong to you.” - Oprah Winfrey

The other thing that I love is that she is so in tune with A HIGHER CALLING that she doesn’t have time for gossip, or to get involved in petty arguments, realizing they are a waste of time and energy.

Oprah is quoted in Redbook magazine:

“My prayer to God every morning on my knees is that the power that is in the universe should use my life as a vessel, or a vehicle, for its work. I’m always trying to figure out how to take the power I have and use it. The opportunity to have a voice and speak to the world everyday is a gift. And I thank you for allowing me this gift.”

I love it.

Have you ever noticed that when you are busy or creative, all your problems melt away? Suddenly you don’t even need therapy anymore! Suddenly, other people’s action don’t bother you anymore. When you are in the moment, creative in the Mind of God, you become so absorbed in your work that nothing bothers you.

I love Carlos Castaneda who talks about guarding your energy, not wasting it on meaningless arguments or self-importance - about closing up energy leaks which drain you of power:

One common link of these traditions is the understanding that we are not only flesh and bone, but also beings of energy who have the ability to transform ourselves–to heal, to travel to other realms, to create changes around us simply by shifting our own awareness. This ability to shape and mold reality is dependent on energy. While we are all born with a good amount of energy–hang around with any three year old to see this in action–we are not taught how to contain this energy. Usually we leave trails of energy everywhere we go–we give our energy away to people, leave energy behind in the places we spend time at, lose energy in interactions with our friends and lovers and family.

We spend most of our energy simply surviving, with not enough left over to use as fuel to break out of old habits and patterns. We are like walking colanders–filled with holes, leaking everywhere, not able to accept and hold energy because we have become so accustomed to letting it slip away. This allows us to maintain the exact amount of energy we are familiar with. The holes we leak our energy from are old agreements and patterns, places where we’ve unconsciously created a channel to something or someone outside of ourself. Since we allow our awareness to be constantly hooked by the outside world, we do not have the focus and energy necessary to make changes on either the physical or the spiritual realms.

“I am mistaken when I think I can be hurt in any way. I am God’s Son, whose Self rests safely in the Mind of God.”

How about that?

“I am mistaken when I think I can be hurt in any way.”

I love having the power to change my mind in every circumstance. If someone says something to me that is hurtful, or if a situation arises that makes me afraid … I remember: THERE IS ANOTHER WAY OF LOOKING AT THIS.

“I am mistaken when I think I can be hurt in any way.”

Nothing can affect me except my own thoughts.

You are always looking at your own thoughts, projected outward. All those people you see? They are not there. They are ideas that you hold in your own mind about yourself and the world.

Like looking in a mirror.

So instead of being afraid (or cautious) of people, places and things, you now say: BRING IT ON.

It’s fun to pull up crap from your mind and not react to it. It’s a happy game. You dive in head first. You go where it’s scary.

Have the courage to say your desire out loud. Let your private ideas be made public. Live with integrity and let your words match your actions and thoughts. All hell will break loose when you finally stand up and say “this is what I really want. I refuse to accept limitation.” Figures will come out of the woodwork to stop you and bring you down, which is just hidden crap in your mind that you’ve kept buried for years and years.

Don’t be afraid of people saying things to you.

Keep following Jesus.

Where before it was all nice-nice while you were the perfect wife, student, employee, husband, son, daughter, citizen … when you begin to break out of the role that you have made for yourself to keep everything in balance, you will encounter resistance.

If you don’t resist it or react to it, it disappears.

Because there is nothing outside of you.

So let everything rise to the surface. Don’t be afraid when someone is telling you you’re doing it wrong, or that you’re a failure. Don’t be concerned if people are disappointed in you. You can’t please everyone so don’t even bother wasting your time. Spend all your energy pleasing God.

To remember this is to remember the truth.

Is God pleased?

That to me is the barometer for behavior.

Is God pleased?

What this means is that I strive to be helpful. I do my best to not harm anyone. I don’t badmouth others. I don’t gossip. I don’t attack.

It’s what Jesus did and they hung him on a cross.

The other day I heard that many people are talking about me, saying I have a grievance … which made me laugh out loud. Has a rumor ever reached you that is entirely untrue? It’s funny to me that I am a topic of conversation. In that moment of hearing about myself, I realized that everything is perception and story. People hear what they want to hear, the details are clouded in perception, and then it gets further muddled when the story is told to another person, and by the time it get to the 4th or 5th person - and then back to you - it is complete fiction.

Truth will correct all errors in my mind.

To give and to receive are one in truth.

“I will forgive all things today, that I may learn how to accept the truth in me, and to come to recognize my sinlessness.”

I will forgive all things today.

That’s a good practical thing to do.

I will recognize my sinlessness today.

Truth will correct all errors in my mind.

I’m back on Paltalk.com on Sunday afternoons for 90 minutes (at 2pm EST) and you can listen any time by clicking the play button on the blue TalkShoe box over there in the right sidebar.

God’s peace and joy are mine.

Let me be still and listen to the truth.

More and more as you advance in truth, you come to realize that you are a whole range of emotions, none of which are good or bad. It’s all just energy. There is a season for everything. Beginnings. Endings. To start a new project. To end a job. To keep something. To give it away. To rush towards. To walk away.

What worked for you yesterday, no longer works for you today.

That’s why it’s important to get into the habit of talking with God - consistently & daily - because every day is brand new and you have to keep asking:

What do you need me to do now?
What now?
What now?
Okay, what next?
What should I say?
Where should I go?

Other people will attempt to keep you in box. People get frightened when things begin to change, when YOU begin to change. They try to hold it together so things stay the same. They will attempt to make you feel guilty … because when you change, everything changes (and people realize your changes affect them) and that can be scary for them.

Keep remembering there is nothing outside of you.

Those “people” are your own ideas, reflected back to you - like looking in a mirror - remnants of guilt rising to the surface. Just listen and don’t defend yourself - stay in a state of gratitude - and keep rushing towards Jesus.

Remember that as you change your mind, the world changes. Don’t try to hold it together. Keep striving for new experiences. Keep heading to the light: eyes toward Heaven. You asked for awakening. You asked for transformation. Don’t let anyone keep you in limitation - which are only your own past ideas of limitation.

Don’t be a slave to old ideas.

Let your mind expand.

There are no other people doing things to you, or saying things to you.

You are free.

You start depending on God. Trusting in His Word. Listening. Staying in communion. Going where God would have you go. Saying what He would have you say.

Loving like God loves.
Giving like God gives.

On earth as it is in Heaven.

Today’s lesson says: “Let my own feeble voice be still, and let me hear the mighty Voice for Truth Itself assure me that I am God’s perfect Son.”

I see it clearly when I blog. Sometimes I write a sentence or paragraph that 30 seconds (or 3 hours) later, I’m told to delete.

The way I write is I LISTEN as I go along. Sentence by sentence. Kind of like transcribing. But it’s not channeling. It’s listening and writing - and it appears simultaneous. A better word is AWARENESS. It’s not anything special. I watch my thoughts and my fingers type. You should try it.

There is a stillness, even though it is very active.

ACTIVE STILLNESS.

I’ve gotten a few of my readers to start blogs, and they all say the same thing: how amazing the process is to begin watching your thoughts.

Very quickly you realize: YOU WRITE SO YOU CAN HEAR WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS TO SAY TO YOU.

I love it.

Everything you do is for you.

I find that learning becomes easier - there is a quickening - when you put thoughts of truth on paper or when you say it out loud.

God’s peace and joy are mine.

Do you have a goal? What is your mission? Have you written it down?

God’s peace and joy are for you.

As you listen in stillness, God speaks to you.

He wants you to be happy. He wants you to do what you love. He longs to give you everything.

God’s peace and joy are yours.

Often times I meet people whose energy and focus is scattered all over the place. They don’t know what they want. They want a relationship, but they want to be alone. They want to be happy, but then they defend and attack themselves whenever an upsetting situation arises. They don’t have a direction. They are affected by external events and circumstances. They flow along from day to day, struggling, going nowhere.

The act of BEING STILL and LISTENING will give you a new direction.

It will give you a blueprint, a map, with instructions on it. It will show you where you are.

It’s a great experiment.

From HERE, you can get THERE. All you need is a map.

And the way the map appears in your life is for you to be still and to listen.

That’s all!

It’s so simple. This experiment will amaze you.

When you finish this exercise, you will have a map with a set of instructions that were specifically MADE WITH LOVE, hand-tailored for you.

Take out a piece of paper and write down your ideal life. Not someone else’s idea of your ideal life, but your idea about it. Forget about what other people think you should be doing. Forget about what you think is spiritual. What is your goal? What is your mission? What makes you happy?

Be free today.

The other day someone said to me: “Whatever you do, do it for the love of it.”

“Don’t do it because you think it will help the Academy. And don’t do it because you think it will help other people. Do it because it makes you happy. Do it for the LOVE of it.”

Great advice.

What I love to do is inspire people and make them happy. I love writing. I love teaching. I love talking about God and A Course in Miracles. I love extending light into darkness, and watching how easily darkness disappears.

Poof.

And watching everything transform into a radiant garden.

Read by the Master Teacher. Click to watch:

I’ll be on Paltalk.com every Sunday afternoon for one hour, from 2pm EST-3pm. All you need to do is download the free software to listen.

The room is ACIM Gather.

A Course in Miracles.

I hope to see you there.

love, lisa

Happiness is what you ARE.

It’s God’s gift to you.

It’s not something you do and it’s not something you strive for … it’s what you are, as God created you.

There is a huge difference between knowing yourself as happiness and trying to set up a life that makes you happy. These two things might sound the same at first glance, but they are as different as day and night.

Knowing yourself as happiness is to feel joy within. It is to feel happy for no reason at all. You feel like dancing, hugging, smiling laughing, kissing and telling friends, family and strangers that you love them.

It’s an energy within you that is not containable, like a river overflowing. It’s the Love of God and when you know it, you’ll want to sing.

It will take you by surprise.

Everyone has experienced it at some point in their life. You suddenly have no cares, no worries, no anxiety and you feel happy.

You might even say to yourself: WHY AM I SO HAPPY?

Because it seems to have no source. All of a sudden, out of nowhere you feel like: “Wow, it’s a beautiful day! I feel alive!”

Trying to set up a life that makes you happy means you don’t know yourself at all, and that you believe that external things - money, relationships, a job, a house, a car, a vacation - can make you happy.

HUGE DIFFERENCE.

External things will not make you happy.

They might make you happy for an hour, a day, or a month or even six month (highly doubtful), but people, places and things will not make you happy forever. Feel free to experiment with this. Get something that you have always wanted. A new relationship. A house. A new body. Money. It will thrill you initially, but at some point, the old fear starts to creep back in. You begin to feel doubt. You begin to feel overwhelmed by the house. You begin to feel afraid by the responsibilities of the new job. You start to feel anxiety that eventually you will lose this thing you worked so hard for.

Why is this? Because nothing in form lasts forever. A body dies. Relationships end. A house crumbles. Jobs disappear. Things break. People move on. Businesses go bankrupt. The economy changes. Gas prices go up. Airline prices go up. Food prices go up.

Suddenly, the thing that felt so secure is not so secure anymore.

The only thing that will truly make you happy, consistently, is to know yourself as God created you. Real lasting happiness comes from knowing you are Mind, Spirit, Light and Eternal. You’ll be instantly happy when you see God in everything.

Happiness is your natural inheritance. It’s what God gave you when He created you.

So you don’t have to go searching for it. It’s in your already. It’s what you are. He gave you everything you need to be happy, now.

Today, all you need do is REMEMBER this fact.

God, being Love, is also happiness.

“Let me remember love is happiness, and nothing else brings joy. And so I choose to entertain no substitutes for love.”

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

Did you read that?

I love it:

LOVE IS HAPPINESS AND NOTHING ELSE BRINGS JOY.

!!!!

Nothing else brings joy.

!!!!!!

AND SO I CHOOSE TO ENTERTAIN NO SUBSTITUTES FOR LOVE.

Today, I will make no substitutes for love. I have it already. Love is what I am. Happiness is what I am. I don’t need to work hard to find it. I don’t have to be younger, better, cuter, richer. I have it now. It’s in me. It’s what I am. It’s God’s gift to me.

I seek but what belongs to me in truth.

“Love is my heritage, and with it joy. These are the gifts my Father gave to me. I would accept all that is mine in truth.”

Message from Carrie Collins

I am compiling a book of God stories. I need your help to make it happen. This will not be a religious book. I intend it to be of a universal nature, so it does not matter your religion or your system of devotion, or your spiritual path. It does not matter what name you use to identify our Source.

I am requesting a story of your own personal experience with God. It could be a story of awakening, or a story of being guided by Spirit. Or, an inspirational experience in which you knew without a doubt that God, a Supreme Being or Creator is real. I will also accept stories of feeling one with creation, an experience of miraculous healing and stories of Angels helping or guiding you.

Your story needs to be true and about your personal experience. Please do not judge your story, just send it.

Send your story to Godstories.cc@gmail.com

You may send your story in a Microsoft Word attachment. Please include your name, age, profession, city and state and country. I will also need your address which will be kept confidential. I will need to send you a letter granting me permission to publish your story if it will be included in the book. If you do not wish to have your name published, please let me know and your name will not be published. I would, however, like to give you credit for your story.

Also include in your story the circumstances surrounding your experience.

You may read my personal God stories in my blog and specifically the post titled, ‘Fear, who cares”, lightburdens.blogspot.com/2008/03/fear-who-cares.html

I hope to receive stories from all over the world, from people of different religions, cultures, backgrounds and ages. I will gladly accept stories from children as well. Stories from children will be included in this book or a different book, depending on how many I receive.

The goal of this book is to heal and inspire. I want people to know that it does not matter where you live, what you do or who you are, that everyone is entitled to receive the divine love of our Source. And that we are all within and at one with the same Source.

I hope you will join with me to fulfill this goal.

Love, Carrie

We are on review lessons. Today would be a good day to re-read the Introduction to Review III of A Course in Miracles which asks you to be consistent and devoted to practicing the lessons every day and every hour exactly as stated.

“Learning will be hampered when you skip a practice period because you are unwilling to devote the time to it that you are asked to give. Do not deceive yourself in this.”

DO NOT DECEIVE YOURSELF IN THIS.

“Unwillingness can be most carefully concealed behind a cloak of situations you cannot control. Learn to distinguish situations that are poorly suited to your practicing from those that you establish to uphold a camouflage for your unwillingness.”

If you say you do not have time to practice the lessons in the morning or there are too many distractions, be honest with yourself. Could you get up an hour earlier in the morning before anyone else is up?

If you say you are too busy, be honest with yourself. Busy doing what? These lessons ask that you:

“Attempt to give your daily two ideas a brief but serious review each hour. Use one on the hour, and the other one a half hour later. You need not give more than just a moment to each one.”

So the question is: are you so busy that you do not have a moment?

Then you need to slow down. This is a RED-LIGHT indication that you need to make time. It’s exactly like the stop lights on the streets. You don’t go barreling through a red light, do you? You stop. You don’t justify and make excuses by saying that you don’t have time to stop. That would cause chaos and accidents - which, by the way, is EXACTLY what happens when you don’t stop in your own life.

You are asked to stop every 30 minutes. Just take a break. Stop what you are doing. And do this:

“Repeat it (the daily lesson), and allow your mind to rest a little time in silence and in peace. Then turn to other things, but try to keep the thought with you, and let it serve to help you keep your peace throughout the day as well.”

You could even practice these lessons at the red stop lights while you are in your car!

Just get in the practice of stopping every few miles. Use the brakes once in a while. Stop your planning, organizing and worrying … for a moment. Just stop and rest in God. You’ll begin to see the miracles which are all around you, but which you couldn’t see because you were too busy speeding through life.

Here are today’s review lessons:

God’s Will for me is perfect happiness.

I share God’s Will for happiness for me.

I share my Father’s Will for me, His Son. What He has given me is all I want. What He has given me is all there is.

Salvation is my only function here.

My function here is to forgive the world for all the errors I have made. For thus I am released from them with all the world.

My part is essential to God’s plan for salvation.

I am essential to the plan of God for the salvation of the world. For He gave me His plan that I might save the world.  

If you are busy, stressed, overworked, tired, lonely, sad, depressed, angry, etc. .. you will notice that just by taking a moment to stop what you are doing and to open A Course in Miracles and read the daily lesson, it changes the quality of your day.

It stops the flow of thinking and puts you in a brand new place, instantly.

Reading the workbook lessons catapults you out of darkness and you’ll find yourself standing in light.

“Every moment of your life is infinitely creative
and the universe is endlessly bountiful.
Just put forth a clear enough request,
and everything your heart truly desires must come to you.”

- Shakti Gawain, Creative Visualization

I love today’s lesson. It reminds me of the most important things:

I am spirit.

I will accept my part in God’s plan for salvation.

“I am God’s Son. No body can contain my spirit, nor impose on me a limitation God created not.”

“What can my function be but to accept the Word of God, Who has created me for what I am and will forever be?”

That’s it. My function is to accept the Word of God.

That’s it.

That’s my part in God’s plan for salvation.

All I need do is to remember that I AM WHAT GOD IS, and the rest of the plan is given to me freely and in specific detail.

I don’t have to plan for my own safety or protection. I don’t have to worry. I need do nothing.

My function is to accept the Word of God, which means to accept myself as He created: healed, whole, and perfect.

There is no one to teach to. Nothing to do. No one to save.

All addictions are healed. All body problems disappear.

As I accept my part in God’s plan for salvation - which is to accept the Word of God - I am told where to go, what to say, and to whom. He sends the lonely ones to me. He sends me the sick and the frail and the weak. I need do nothing. I don’t have to set anything up. I don’t have to find anyone who needs help.

I rest.

So when someone comes to me, I do nothing, except BE MYSELF as God created me, which is not a doing, since it’s what I am.

I am perfectly myself.

That’s it! That’s the whole plan.

My part in God’s plan for salvation is to accept the Word of God, Who has created me.

That’s it.

The my whole part in God’s plan for salvation.

What could be simpler?

Forget about your body. God did not create a body. He created you.

You are Spirit. You are Mind. You are the Light of the World.

Accepting this is your part in God’s plan for salvation.

I am one Self, united with my Creator.

Salvation comes from my one Self.

By Tanja Seely
from The Light Has Come

Lesson 112

Light and joy and peace abide in me.
I am as God created me.

I can’t get over how brand new I am. Just brand new. It’s not a comparison, just an absolute knowing that something new is happening to me, or something very ancient. There is a calm in me that won’t move, no matter what seems to be happening, and a certainty that has washed over me. I am amazed. I am grateful.

Today is a review lesson, and these lessons are so great. They are short and sweet. Easy to remember and good reminders in and of themselves.

I am the home of light and joy and peace.
I welcome them into the home I share with God, because I am a part of Him.

I will remain forever as I was, created by the Changeless like Himself.
And I am one with Him, and He with me.

Its beautiful. Today the Master Teacher said: “I don’t know why you wouldn’t teach this. There are those who are waiting for you.” It’s these sentences that he says ever so quietly that hit me like a ton of bricks. I know he is talking to me. And that being said, now I am passing it on. If you are doing the lessons, and when you read this blog I assume you are, then you have no excuse not to teach this message. You are the savior of the world. You are expected and waited for. Eager minds are looking for you to declare yourself. You need to teach this to hear it. You need to teach this to experience that there is nothing outside of you. So what are you waiting for?

In case you think that you don’t know what to teach or how to teach: let it be miraculous. All that is required is for you to show up. It’s your willingness that matters and that has a tremendous effect in itself. You will be shown where to go, what to say and to whom. But it is time to stand up and declare yourself. And no matter how long you have postponed this moment, and are still postponing it, it is inevitable. You need to teach this. You.

Today, as you are doing your lessons, open up the text of A Course In Miracles. Just open it up at random and see where you end up. You will be amazed. It is always right on. Then go back one page and start reading. It’s what I do and I ended up in Chapter 15:

IV. Practicing the Holy Instant

This course is not beyond immediate learning, unless you believe that what God wills takes time. And this means only that you would rather delay the recognition that His Will is so. The holy instant is this instant and every instant. The one you want it to be it is. The one you would not have it be is lost to you. You must decide when it is. Delay it not. For beyond the past and future, where you will not find it, it stands in shimmering readiness for your acceptance. Yet you cannot bring it into glad awareness while you do not want it, for it holds the whole release from littleness.

Your practice must therefore rest upon your willingness to let all littleness go. The instant in which magnitude dawns upon you is but as far away as your desire for it. As long as you desire it not and cherish littleness instead, by so much is it far from you. By so much as you want it will you bring it nearer. Think not that you can find salvation in your own way and have it. Give over every plan you have made for your salvation in exchange for God’s. His will content you, and nothing else can bring you peace. For peace is of God, and no one beside Him.

Be humble before Him, and yet great in Him. And value no plan of the ego before the plan of God. For you leave empty your place in His plan, which you must fill if you would join with me, by your decision to join in any plan but His. I call you to fulfill your holy part in the plan that He has given to the world for its release from littleness. God would have His host abide in perfect freedom. Every allegiance to a plan of salvation apart from Him diminishes the value of His Will for you in your own mind. And yet it is your mind that is the host to Him.

I read this right before I went to bed last night and there is no greater way to end the day. What you just read shows you how simple salvation is and that there is no need for you to consider yourself a student and not a teacher. You are both. As you teach, you learn. It is really that simple. You need to teach his message. You need to expose yourself as what you are. You need to do that for the salvation of the world. You need to do that for yourself.

from The Light Has Come

Light and joy and peace abide in me.

“I am the home of light and joy and peace. I welcome them into the home I share with God, because I am a part of Him.

I am as God created me.

“I will remain forever as I was, created by the Changeless like Himself. And I am one with Him, and He with me.

On the hour, remind yourself:

Light and joy and peace abide in me.

On the half hour, remind yourself:

I am as God created me.

Miracles are seen are in light.

Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one.

I didn’t do the lesson yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it’s true. I didn’t even open the book.

But now I read the Introduction to the review lessons III, and I’m laughing because it’s talking about practicing the lessons every day and not skipping practice periods and “learning will be hampered when you skip a practice because you are unwilling to devote the time to it that you are asked to give.”

Ooooooooooooops.

I was on automatic pilot yesterday. It would be more appropriate to say: GOD PILOT, with me in the passenger seat, along for the ride. It was the first spring day here yesterday in Wisconsin - more like summer - and I felt like I emerged from a shell. I didn’t even know I was in a shell. But yesterday: I emerged from it. I suppose it’s like the worm who doesn’t realize there is another reality until he emerges from the cocoon as a butterfly, with wings to fly.

I was outside all day. I was with friends all day, sitting out in the sun. I went for a two hour walk with my neighbor’s dog Buddy (who I haven’t seen all winter and who went completely Berserko-Happy when he saw me). He was jumping six feet in the air, he was so excited. We walked for two hours and everything feels new to me. My legs are sore. I’m tanned. I feel great.

I gained a ton of weight this winter. I didn’t even realize I was gaining weight, until yesterday when it was brought to my attention that none of my summer clothes fit. Duh.

I’m laughing. It will come off fast. I’m not worried.

Always, always, always … there is forgiveness.

Always, always, always … there is a new beginning.

In every situation there is another way of looking at things. So to take my weight situation: I can either spend my time beating myself up that I gained weight, thinking of all the ways I could have been more attentive this winter OR I can start with a new beginning here today and not even think about the past.

These are always the choices.

1. to drag the past into the present moment, spending your time thinking about your failures and mistakes.

OR

2. to let today be a clean new slate where you begin to make new choices.

Looked at this way, the choice is simple.

So what if you made a mistake? How long are you going to drag it with you? Do you keep thinking about the mistake and what a failure you are OR do you step into the solution.

Every time you are having a thought about anything, you can switch gears and be thinking about something else in that same space.

When you feel bad, you can switch gears and make a gratitude list.

When you are lonely, you can switch gears and call a friend, pray, practice the lesson (or write to me!)

There is always another solution in every single moment.

So I’m not going to beat myself up for missing yesterday’s lesson. But I’m going to start now, and get back on the horse.

“Those practice periods that you have lost because you did not want to do them, for whatever reason, should be done as soon as you have changed your mind about your goal.”

*These practice periods are planned to help you form the habit of applying what you learn each day to everything you do.

Do not forget how little you have learned.
Do not forget how much you can learn now.
Do not forget your Father’s need of you,
As you review these thoughts He gave to you.

Miracles are seen in light.

Miracles are seen in light, and light and strength are one.

A friend wrote to me yesterday saying that it is “odd that you keep Endeavor Academy a secret in blog world.”

I read the sentence and realized that

a. it’s no secret.
b. I rarely blog about anything in my physical world anymore.

I don’t tell you that I go to Starbucks every day. I don’t write about conversations that I have with people. I don’t write about work. I don’t write about what I’m eating. I don’t write about my marriage. I don’t write about my friends. I don’t write about all the books I’m reading, or the movies I watch.

I did that for 3 years and at a certain point I started boring myself. Chronicling the details of my own personal life seems so junior-high. Who cares what I eat? Who cares about the conversations I have with other people? Who cares what people are saying to me? Who cares what I do during the day? I can’t imagine anyone being interested in it.

I started this blog back in November 2004 and I blogged every single day about every single detail. For 3 years. I wrote about the academy. I wrote about other people. I wrote about grievances, doubts, uncertainty. I did not focus very much on A Course in Miracles. I had about 100 readers and not a single person ever wrote to me that they were being changed by what I was writing. In December 2007, I realized that I mostly wrote about things that were PAST or things that were FUTURE (things that are not real!) which is the opposite of what I am being asked to do by Jesus, which is to be present.

To relate only to that which is eternal: Mind, Spirit, God, truth.

Then something clicked and I started to see things clearly for the first time. I began to know myself as God created me.

As my thinking changed, the blog changed.

I made a decision to a new format of doing the workbook lessons for one year, all 365 days, in 2008 starting January 1, 2008.

And now I get letters every single day from people telling me they are witnessing miracles in their life and starting to think differently because they are practicing the lessons from A Course in Miracles.

I’m not actually doing anything anymore. Just reminding you constantly to become aware of your thought system - the way you think - and to make a decision to change your mind so that you think with God.

And the result? People are realizing A Course in Miracles works when you do what it asks.

This is far more rewarding to me than telling you what I’m eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I prayed to be made useful. I want only to be truly helpful and to make you happy … and this is what I use this blog for now.

Personally, I love the new format because it brings me into presence every day. It brings me into the now. It brings clarity into my mind.

There are no secrets here. If you have a question, I am always available. You can ask me anything. Write to me.

lisanatoli2@gmail.com

Anyone who has stumbled upon this blog and who has written to me knows that I tell all. I hold nothing back. If you ask me a question, I will answer it. If you are curious about the details of my life, ask and I will tell you.

For me, it’s far more interesting to write about truth.

Occasionally I get asked to speak at an AA meeting “to tell my story” and I usually spend 5 minutes on the “story” part - what those in the program call “the-drunk-a-log” - and I spend the next 25 minutes talking about the solution in a way that might be useful and helpful to others, how I’ve changed, how addiction is a disease of isolation, how getting a sponsor was the most valuable part of the program for me, how I’ve become more honest, how I began to form a relationship with God, how I pray every day, and reach out to others when I need help, etc.

Because all stories in the physical details are the same. I drank. I fell down. I was depressed. I drank some more. I made some really stupid mistakes. I said some really stupid things. I fell down some more. Then I went to this party. I vomited. I kept drinking. I made more stupid mistakes. I couldn’t quit. Then I found a solution that works.

If details interests you and you want to know me better, write to me:

lisanatoli2@gmail.com

I’ll be your friend. If what is going on in my marriage interests you or you want to hear about Endeavor Academy or what I’m eating, write to me.

Because I refuse to use this space chronicling the day-to-day details of the physical world - something that has no meaning - and which I did for 3 years.

Gorgeous for God is for the daily practice of the mind training of A Course in Miracles.

To inspire individuals to be as God created them … perfect.

But maybe it is time for me to write a post about Endeavor Academy, and my terrific gratitude for the Master Teacher, and for the brothers - 250 teachers of God from around the world - and to write about my experience here … because it’s been a tremendous gift and it is no secret.

Actually, I just realized: I’ve HAVE written about it - and posted it here on my blog - it’s in the section About Lisa Natoli.

My entire story is there, and has been there all along.

I did accidentally leave out of the story that I have two amazing sisters in New Hampshire - Lori who is my twin and Leslie who is one year younger. I completely spaced it and did not write about them. I have been blessed with great friends and family.

I have two adorable, funny, generous sisters and that’s not in the story.

I did forget to write about that in my book - SORRY! - but it’s no secret.

“I am as God created me.”

“Let us declare this truth as often as we can. This is the Word of God that sets you free. This is the key that opens the gate of Heaven, and that lets you enter in the peace of God and His eternity.”

I am as God created me.

You know this is true. You know Who you are.

If you have come this far with the workbook lessons, you know the light that you are. You can’t fool me. You know you are Spirit. You know you are a Mind, One with God. You know you’re not a body. You know your perfection. Perhaps it fades from your awareness at times, but you definitely, by now, have caught a glimpse of it.

So, you know who you are.

This is another turning point in A Course in Miracles. From here it’s all about purpose, function and giving. Once you know Who you are, there is nothing left for you to do except extend that truth to others.

God needs you. The world needs you.

The world needs light. It needs hope. It needs you.

“The healing power of today’s idea is limitless. It is the birthplace of all miracles, the great restorer to the awareness of the world.”

Practice today’s idea with gratitude.

This is the truth that has come to set you free.

This is the truth that God has promised you.

This is the Word in which all sorrow ends.

How could God be made manifest here except through you?? Think about it. Here is the Lord’s Prayer:

Thy Kingdom Come.
Thy Will be done.
On earth
As it is in Heaven.

ON EARTH.

You are what God is.

Say this out loud, and let the light of this statement transform you:

“I am God’s Son, complete and healed and whole, shining in the reflection of His Love. In me is His creation sanctified and guaranteed eternal life. In me is love perfected, fear impossible and joy established without opposite. I am the holy home of God Himself. I am the Heaven where His Love resides. I am His Holy Sinlessness Itself, for in my purity abides His Own. “

If you said this out loud, chances are … you felt it!

It gets right into your cells. You will feel it. Like a chill running through you.

Try it. Say it out loud.

Let the truth of this statement - I am as God created me, I am complete and healed and whole - change you.

Today we make a great advance to truth by letting idols go, and opening our hands and hearts and minds to God today.