Read this lesson slowly at least 3 times today.
That’s it. That’s my tip. Love
A universal assembly for true discernment
As the turmoil in the world appears to escalate, we are called more than ever to deepen our commitment to peace of mind as our primary goal. To that end, Carol Howe, biographer of ACIM co-scribe Bill Thetford and one of the first teachers of the Course, will share 40 years of teaching and counseling insight and experience on this all-important subject.
Each week, she will draw from the great wealth of material covered in her highly-acclaimed video course, See How Life Works, the one-of-a kind series designed to clarify:
1) The purpose and practice of ACIM
2) The ego’s origin and process of letting it go
3) Healing relationships
4) Real forgiveness and its rewards
5) The restoring power of acceptance
6) The true path to healing
7) Cultivating trustworthy guidance
8) Choices that matter and guarantee results
A Course In Miracles is a brilliant and powerful spiritual technology, designed to help us completely reprogram our original false beliefs and conditioning. A modern masterwork based on ancient wisdom, it delivers the deep peace and safety it promises when we do what it asks. Our work this month will focus on clarifying this practice that resolves even the most difficult challenges and assures greater happiness for anyone.
About Carol Howe:
Carol is one of the original and most experienced teachers of A Course In Miracles. A personal friend of co-scribe Bill Thetford, she wrote his biography, Never Forget To Laugh, and is also the author of Healing The Hurt Behind Addictions. Throughout her 40 year career with ACIM, she has helped many thousands on their journey to inner peace.
Read an article that Carol wrote about Bill Thetford for Awakening Together.
This is a recording of Michael Langford. In the recording he defines for us the words Awareness and thought for the purposes of Awareness Watching Awareness(AWA) Practices. The A through Z recordings on this website uses the AWA Practices found in his book The Direct Means To Eternal Bliss. These definitions given here by Michael Langford should be used when using the Awareness Watching Awareness Practices.
Listen to Michael Langford as he defines Awareness and thought
Some people feel fear, sacrifice or doubt upon hearing the idea, “There is no will but God’s,” but that is due to a lack of understanding. God’s will is what you are, life-awareness-intelligence-open-freedom. You are that, and in being that you are God’s will.
The funny thing is, you can’t stop being that (even though you can deny you are that), so you can’t stop being God’s will.
You are God’s will.
So now that we’ve got the truth out there, let’s look at the rest of this workbook lesson. There are three more important points in today’s lesson.
During the longer practice today, you are asked to “deal quickly with any conflict thoughts that may cross your mind. Tell yourself immediately: There is no will but God’s. These conflict thoughts are meaningless.”
This is the same teaching that we find in NTI 1 Thessalonians:
“When fear intrudes on peace, you will hear it if you are listening. There will seem to be a slight upset, a stab thrust upon your peace, and an immediate desire to deny the thought or feeling that has intruded on your peace. … Do not accept temptation to deny the interruptions to peace. Pick them up and look at them in joy. For you have recognized that which you were tempted to deny. Do not deny the thought that has occurred, and do not accept it. Set it aside because it is not true. And continue joyously on the path of peace.”
Today’s workbook lesson and NTI 1 Thessalonians outline the practice that heals our mind.
1. Look at it.
2. Let it go.
And if you do that with joy or with the heart, it will be twice as effective.
Here’s the way it works for me. Let’s say I feel some agitation that is caused by resisting what is. I say to myself, “I see this resistance.” Immediately I feel some relaxation, which is caused by acknowledging it instead of denying it. Next, I ask myself, “What do I really want?” I remember my purpose, my heart opens, and with the intelligent peace of the open heart, I let it go (which may look like letting it be).
This is the practice that consistently and gently lets go of ego until there is nothing left to let go of.
Another great thing about today’s workbook lesson is that it takes another step in teaching meditation. We are asked to close our eyes and relax during meditation, but there is a difference between meditating and falling asleep. For me, there is a thin line between the two, and I need a lot of focus to meditate without falling asleep. If I do not remain aware of the fact that I am meditating, I will fall asleep. I have learned to pull myself back into awareness whenever the mind begins to drift into sleep. This workbook lesson is teaching that skill, so if falling asleep is a challenge for you, pay close attention to the instructions in this lesson.
Finally, in “The Direct Means to Eternal Bliss,” Michael Langford writes: “For some people it might take a few days, others a few weeks and others a few months to start to feel something. At first it is subtle and you won’t know what it is, but you will know that you like it. It is pleasant. A new subtle feeling. You are beginning to feel: eternal life-love-peace.”
Tess Hughes said the same thing in the Awakening Together Satsang. That’s what today’s Course lesson teaches too. It says, “Joy characterizes peace. By this experience you will recognize that you have reached it.”
Think about how simple that is! You are literally reaching God/Truth when meditation feels pleasant. You might experience it as lack of stress or worry, as tingling in the head, as an open heart or devotional feel, as butterflies in the belly or tingling in the legs and toes. It could show up in another way too, but when meditation feels good, you are reaching God. You are doing it !!!!!
This is important, because some people fail to recognize success in meditation because they are looking for bigger bells and whistles. Truth is subtle and simple, but it will change you. It will awaken you. So stay alert and follow the simple instructions for meditation. That is all there is to it.
Based on the video, The Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Alan Carr
Gina Lake reads a passage from one of her channeled books, followed with a talk by her or a channeled session with Jesus about the passage.
Listen to this recording
Today we cross a threshold. We have stepped into a new level of commitment within ourselves. We are more willing for truth-realization today than we were yesterday.
Now we know that we crave pain and suffering, regardless of whether we experience that as grievances, stress, arrogance, unworthiness, guilt, jealousy, anger, suspiciousness, self-hatred, fear, worry, inertia, or whatever. We also know that we want happiness-love-freedom more than we want suffering. It is the latter realization that has ushered us across the threshold to a deeper commitment.
That’s today’s tip. We are more committed now. This has happened naturally as we have practiced the workbook lessons one day at a time. Today’s deeper commitment is one miracle in a series of miracles that are bringing us home.