Regina’s Tip for Lesson 15

Today’s lesson says:

“It is because the thoughts you think you think appear as images that you do not recognize them as nothing.”

NTI Ephesians teaches how the world of experience is made. It calls this process “the law of Love.” Through the law of love, thoughts are received into the mind. We don’t think the thoughts into our minds; we receive them, which is why the Workbook refers to them as “the thoughts you think you think.” Once a thought is received, we judge it as valid or invalid. If we decide a thought is valid, that thought is delivered into manifestation.

It is just as ACIM says:

“The are no idle thoughts. All thinking produces form at some level.”
(T-2.VI.9)

Since we believe a thought and then have an experience in the world that supports that thought, we think our thinking is right. What we don’t realize is the experience was created through believing the thought. It is the law of Love, which is the process of cause (believing a thought) and effect (experience).

Today’s lesson also speaks of light episodes that “symbolize true perception.” I experienced a light episode when my awareness shifted into an apple. During that episode, my awareness resided as the apple. I wasn’t Regina. I was the apple, and as the apple I saw an entirely different world. I experienced a world of light—living aware light, which is also love.

Please watch the following 3-minute video to hear more about this light episode:

Every thought that comes into the mind represents either the ego and its illusion or the truth. For most people, the vast majority of thoughts—nearly all of them—represent the ego and its illusion.

If you pay close attention to the thoughts that come into the mind, you’ll find attack, defense, guilt, blame, unworthiness, anxiousness, fear, envy, desire, righteousness, victimization, judgment, regrets, manipulation, selfishness and hate, to name a few. If you look at the world, you’ll find these qualities there too. That’s because these thoughts come from the ego’s illusion and these thoughts make the ego’s illusion. It’s a loop of cause and effect. Thought causes manifestation, and one type of manifestation is thought, so thoughts of a certain type create more thoughts of the same type.

Today’s workbook lesson says:

Every thought you have contributes to truth or to illusion; either it extends the truth or it multiplies illusions.

NTI Ephesians says something similar. It says:

Watch the thoughts carefully. Do not choose those which you would not deliver, knowing all that is delivered can be given back to you.

Today’s workbook lesson is a beginning step towards realizing that you do not want to believe every thought your mind receives, because many of those thoughts do not serve you, nor do they serve the world.

Regina’s Tip for Lesson 17

The first time I did this workbook lesson, I didn’t believe, “I see no neutral things.” I thought I saw a neutral wall, a neutral TV and a neutral trashcan, but that was only because my judgments were repressed.

When I did this workbook lesson again years later, it was as if I could remember all of my previous judgments about walls and TVs and trashcans, etc.

For example, I remembered thinking that white walls are boring and different color walls are better. I also remembered being disappointed in a friend’s taste when she built a new house and had all of the walls painted white. I remembered judging people for wanting 65” or 75” TVs, thinking they are too big and unnecessary, but I also remembered judging some smaller TVs as being too small. I remembered thinking trash cans should be inexpensive—after all, they’re just trash cans—and judging one friend for wanting a $65 stainless steel trash can for her kitchen.

Workbook Lesson 17 reminds me of the reading from NTI Luke 12, which said:

“Whenever you look at anything with the body’s eyes, there are thoughts in your mind about that thing. If you look at a chair, for example, you may think it is pretty, worn out, available, desired, not desired, clean, dirty, etc. etc. The thoughts that come into your mind seem automatic, without any awareness or evaluation on your part. You may make judgments about the chair based on your thoughts, and you may choose to sit there or not sit there based on your judgment. But you never look at, evaluate or question the thought you hold about the chair, and that is only a chair.

“The process that you call thinking, of which you are mostly unaware, goes on within your mind regarding everything in your world. You make unevaluated judgments about the work you do, the relationships you have, the pastimes you choose and the person you think of as yourself. These unevaluated judgments define everything and everyone within your world. And they are allowed within your mind without your awareness, your questioning or your evaluation.”

Workbook Lesson 17 and NTI Luke 12 remind us that we see no neutral things, because we see and experience everything through the filter of our thoughts, which are not neutral.

Regina’s Tip for Lesson 18

 NTI Ephesians teaches that thought is received through mind. “Mind” in this context has two meanings:

1. The receiving mechanism.
2. Attention.

To receive a thought is actually quite neutral. A thought isn’t given power until it is given believing-attention. Once it is given believing-attention, it is enlivened and becomes manifest in some way. One of the ways a thought becomes manifest is by coloring the way you see. This was taught in NTI Luke 12.

NTI Ephesians also teaches that what is received through mind is delivered through spirit. In this context, spirit is ‘vital substance’ or energy. In other words, once a thought is given believing-attention, it colors the way you see and it continues to have energy throughout mind. That energy becomes manifest and is received by others.

That is why you are not alone in experiencing the effects of your seeing. If you are seeing through a particular thought, you’ve given that thought believing-attention. Once you’ve given it believing-attention, it is shared.

 Regina’s Tip for Lesson 19

 Today’s workbook lessons says:

“Today we are again emphasizing the fact that minds are joined. This is rarely a wholly welcome idea at first, since it seems to carry with it an enormous sense of responsibility, … Despite your initial resistance to this idea, you will yet understand that it must be true if salvation is possible at all. And salvation must be possible because it is the Will of God.”

I once saw a movie about Helen Keller called The Miracle Worker. Helen Keller was both deaf and blind. Since she could not hear and she could not see, she didn’t know how to talk or communicate with others. This created great frustration in her, and sometimes she threw outrageous temper tantrums.

Her parents hired a teacher, who tried to teach Helen sign language by signing against her hand, so she could feel the signs. However, Helen didn’t understand and nothing changed.

One day, Helen threw a temper tantrum at the dinner table. She threw a pitcher of water. Her teacher forcibly took her out to the well to refill the pitcher with water. As she pumped the well, she continually stuck Helen’s hand under the water and signed water against the palm of Helen’s hand. She did this over and over and then, as if by some miracle, Helen understood. For the first time ever, she understood that what her teacher had been teaching was a way of communicating with others. Before, she hadn’t understood the concept of communication. When the concept of communication dawned on her mind, she became eager—really eager—to learn the sign for everything. Understanding the possibility of communication opened the world up to her.

I tell you this story now, because this is how it was for me when I scribed NTI Ephesians. I had been a student ofA Course in Miracles for about 2 years when I received NTI Ephesians. I learned about forgiveness through ACIM. I saw forgiveness as something that made me feel better, but really had no effect beyond that. When NTI Ephesians came, I understood the concept of salvation. I saw that what I give attention to affects me, yes … but beyond that, it affects others. I also saw that what I decide not to give believing-attention to frees me, and it frees others.

That was like my Helen Keller moment at the well!

Suddenly, I wanted to practice not giving believing-attention to every thought that could hurt anyone. I was excited to practice extending salvation to the world by not giving believing-attention to wrong minded thoughts in my mind!

So yes, I saw, “I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts” as an enormous responsibility, but it was a responsibility I was excited to embrace. Later, when I learned about why Prince Siddhartha left his family’s kingdom to seek enlightenment, I realized he was excited about the possibility of saving the world too. This responsibility can be highly motivating, because we realize we are not practicing spirituality for ‘me’ alone. We practice spirituality for everyone. It is as Ramana Maharshi said:

“Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world.”

Note: If you’d like to see Helen Keller’s realization at the well, search YouTube for ‘Water scene from The Miracle Worker,’ or for full context, watch the entire movie, The Miracle Worker.

Regina’s Tip for Lesson 20

 It is genuinely helpful to become more structured in your practice. Some people will find it difficult to remember to practice every half-hour. There are two ways to increase your chances of remembering:

1. Each time you practice today’s lesson, pause afterwards with a heart-felt intention to remember again in 30 minutes. Look at the current time and make a mental note of the next time you will practice the lesson.
2. Set an alarm to remind yourself to do the lesson every 30 minutes.

If you don’t use the alarm method for reminding yourself to practice, you may find that you sometimes forget to practice the workbook lesson. It’s possible a couple of hours may pass without remembering to practice. If that happens, don’t condemn yourself. Condemning yourself is never helpful. Simply practice the lesson right then, and then set an intention to practice again in 30 minutes or go ahead and set an alarm.

Regina’s Tip for Lesson 21

Today’s workbook lessons starts by saying, “The idea for today is obviously a continuation and extension of the preceding one.”

It is also a continuation and extension of the lessons before that.

Consider “I am determined to see things differently” in context with the tips from Lessons 18 and 19. When you see things differently, the world is affected differently. That realization can be incredibly motivating.

Remember Ramana Maharshi’s statement:

“Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world.”

Contemplate that as you practice the idea for today.

Regina’s Tip for Lesson 8

My favorite paragraph from today’s lesson is this one:

The one wholly true thought one can hold about the past is that it is not here. To think about it at all is therefore to think about illusions. Very few have realized what is actually entailed in picturing the past or in anticipating the future. The mind is actually blank when it does this, because it is not really thinking about anything.

Pause for a moment, and notice now is now. Then continue to pause, and see if you can find the end of now. Is there an actual boundary where now ends and becomes the past or the future?

If you look at your direct experience, you’ll notice that now never ends. It has no boundary. It is eternal.

Now doesn’t move. Experience comes and goes, just as thoughts come and go, but now is eternally unmoving and present.

Now is real. Yet most people miss now entirely, because they are thinking about the past or imagining the future. An important key to true perception is learning to recognize the reality of now, and to give attention to this present fact.

Do you have a clock or watch with a second hand? If so, try this exercise:

Watch the second hand as it moves around the face of the watch or clock. Notice the second hand moves, but now doesn’t move. Keep your attention focused on the unmoving now as you watch the second hand. Notice now is eternally present and absolutely real.

 Regina’s Tip for Lesson 9

The three most recent workbook lessons are “I see only the past,” “My mind is preoccupied by past thoughts,” and today’s lesson, “I see nothing as it is now.” These statements are true because of the decisions we make about what we see and experience. We make unevaluated decisions all of the time, and then we experience the world through those decisions. That means we aren’t experiencing a person, a thing or a situation as it is. Instead, we experience our past decisions about that person, thing or situation.

You can see this for yourself by paying attention to your experience. For example:

If you decide you don’t like a certain kind of person—for example, someone who talks a lot, or someone of a particular race, religion or political leaning—what experience do you have when you meet someone of that type?

If you decide that certain behaviors are unacceptable—such as being drunk, swearing or talking loudly in public—what experience do you have when someone does that?

If you decide it shouldn’t be as hot or as cold as it is outside today, how do you experience today’s weather?

If you decide that it’s bad to eat certain foods, how do you experience yourself when you eat them?

It takes very little looking to realize there is a direct relationship between the decisions you’ve made in the past and the way you experience things now. What you see and experience now is the effect of your past decisions.

Regina’s Tip for Lesson 10

Today’s workbook lessons says:

“’My thoughts do not mean anything,’ is applicable to all of the thoughts you become aware of, because those thoughts are not your real thoughts.”

NTI Luke 12 says:

“In every moment in your seeming interaction with the world, you are focused on thought. And because you see yourself as a separate entity within the world, you are focused on thoughts that seem to be generatedwithin the private mind that belongs to you.”

Both readings point to this:

You are not who you think you are, and the thoughts that speak to you as if you are this person, are illusions.

That is why your thoughts are meaningless. They appear to be self-centered, self-referencing thoughts, but the self they are centered on and referencing is not who you are.

Regina’s Tip for Lesson 11

The tip for lesson 1 defined mistaken perception as “perceiving and interpreting the world through a self-centered mental filter, known as the ego.”

Yesterday’s tip pointed out:

“You are not who you think you are, and the thoughts that speak to you as if you are this person, are illusions.

“That is why your thoughts are meaningless. They seem to be self-centered, self-referencing thoughts, but the self they are centered on and referencing is not who you are.”

NTI Luke 12 says:

“Right now, you think you are focused on the world. … Even your thought that you are focused on the world is an illusion within the mind. What you are focused on, and have always been focused on, is thought. In every moment in your seeming interaction with the world, you are focused on thought.”

These three readings point out why your thoughts show you a meaningless world. You do not look directly at the world as it is now. If you did, you would see with true perception. Instead, you interpret everything you see and experience through self-referencing thoughts, which are centered on a self that isn’t you.

In other words, the foundation for everything you see, in the way that you see it, and for everything you experience, in the way that you experience it, is a mistake.

Since the foundation for the way you interpret the world is a mistake—it’s based on a you that you aren’t—everything you see and everything you experience is misperceived. Your meaningless thoughts show you a meaningless world.

Regina’s Tip for Lesson 12

 Today’s workbook lesson begins by saying:

“The importance of this idea lies in the fact that it contains a correction for a major perceptual distortion.”

The major perceptual distortion is the idea that you are the person you think you are.

Today’s lesson asks you to look about yourself and say, “I see a ___________ world,” and fill in the blank with whatever descriptive terms happen to occur to you, regardless of whether the terms are positive or negative.

Have you ever considered what causes you to see something as positive or negative?

Self-referencing is what leads you to see something as positive or negative. For example, if you are a city dweller who works in an office all week and looks forward to Saturday in the park, you may see rain on Saturday as disappointing or depressing. If you are a farmer who raises vegetables in the dry climate of eastern Colorado, you are probably happy to see rain whenever it occurs.

Rain is just rain. It isn’t positive or negative. However, rain is perceived as positive or negative by self-referencing thoughts.

Today’s lesson says, “I am upset because I see a meaningless world.”

We could also say, “I am upset because I reference the world to a self, thinking I am that self, when I am not.”

Regina’s Tip for Lesson 13

Today’s lesson says that we are afraid of meaninglessness. It says, “The ego rushes in frantically to establish its own ideas” in the “empty space that meaninglessness provides,” because the ego is “fearful that the void may otherwise be used to demonstrate its own impo­tence and unreality.”

In other words, the false idea about who you are is held up and maintained by the meaning your thoughts give to everything you see and experience. There’s a fear this false idea about who you are will collapse, and you will no longer see yourself as the person you think you are.

To realize this for yourself, consider doing this extra exercise today:

1. Write down some opinions you’ve noticed yourself feeling passionate about recently. They could be political opinions, opinions about current events, religious opinions or opinions about the people and situations in your life. They may include opinions about what’s right and wrong or what should be done and what should not be done. The only criterion that is important is that you feel passionate about the opinion.
2. Look at each of the opinions you’ve written down on the list. As you look at each opinion, say, “This idea is meaningless. It has no meaning and no value at all. I can let this thought go completely, and never bring it up again.” Notice how you feel as you say this. You may feel differently with some items on the list than you do with others. Write down what you feel next to each opinion on the list.

After you finish this exercise, look carefully at what you felt as you practiced the exercise. Was it always easy to say, “I can let this thought go completely and never bring it up again,” or did you experience resistance to the idea of letting go of some of your opinions?

Resistance is fear. The resistance you experienced as you thought about letting go of some of your opinions isthe ego’s fear that “the void,” which is the space that is left when the false self’s meaning is taken away, may demonstrate “its own impotence and unreality.”

Your opinions are a means for maintaining the ego. The resistance you feel when you think about letting them go is an ego preservation strategy. That’s why today’s lesson says:

“It is essential, therefore, that you learn to recognize the mean­ingless, and accept it without fear.

It is essential to realizing your true Self, because in order to realize truth, you must let go of the meaning that supports and maintains the false.

Regina’s Tip for Lesson 14

Yesterday’s workbook lesson said:

“Recognition of meaninglessness arouses intense anxiety in all the separated ones. It represents a situation in which God and the ego ‘challenge’ each other as to whose meaning is to be written in the empty space that meaninglessness provides.”

That paragraph makes a useful point, but it isn’t wholly true. You aren’t actually separated from God—separation is an illusion—so it isn’t correct to refer to you as a separated one. Also, God does not object to the ego’s way of seeing—God allows it—so God does not challenge the ego. However, as we saw yesterday, it is true that the ego feels threatened by meaninglessness, because the false self maintains its identity and its seeming reality by giving value to thought.

It is also true that as long as the ego’s meaning is believed, God’s reality is hidden. In order to see the world as God created it, the ego’s meaning must be thoroughly denied.

That brings us to today’s workbook lesson:

God did not create a meaningless world.

When you deny the world’s horrors as you practice today’s workbook lesson, it might be helpful to realize you aren’t denying that ‘horrors’ are experienced in the world, because they are. You are denying that they are reality.

There’s a difference between experience (or appearance) and reality. For example, you experience your nighttime dreams, but they aren’t reality.

Spiritual awakening is recognizing the difference between experience and reality in a deeply meaningful and abiding way.

As you do today’s practice, give willingness to see through the experience of the world to reality. Be curious to know, “What is real?” Be willing for that curiosity to grow in you until it becomes a force that is so motivating, it drives you to drop the ego fantasy and realize truth.

Regina’s Tip for Lesson 1

Many people have completed the Workbook multiple times without achieving true perception. Gentle Healing provides a new way to go through the Workbook. This new way of going through the Workbook has been successful before, and it can be successful again.

What’s different with Gentle Healing?

The Introduction to the Workbook says, “A theoretical foundation such as the text provides is necessary as a framework to make the exercises in this workbook meaningful.”  (Italics are mine.)

Gentle Healing uses some sections from the ACIM text to provide a “theoretical foundation” for the Workbook exercises, but Gentle Healing also uses other texts and other teachings as part of the “theoretical foundation.” These spiritual resources are often easier to understand than ACIM, so the theory is more easily applied while practicing the lessons. My tips are a very important part of the Gentle Healing “theoretical foundation.”

What is true perception?

First, let me briefly explain what mistaken perception is. Mistaken perception is perceiving and interpreting the world through a self-centered mental filter, known as the ego. The ego is basically a mental program that has been built throughout your lifetime. It tells you who you are, what everything you experience is, and it gives self-referencing meaning to everything you perceive. Meaning that is created through self-referencing is mistaken perception, because it defines what you see and experience in terms of ‘you’ and what ‘that’ has to do with ‘you.’

Every person on earth has an individual ego. No two egoic filters are the same. Therefore, when any person perceives the world through the eogic filter, that person sees a world that is completely unique. Other people see the world differently, as it relates to them.

True perception is seeing the world clearly, without the egoic filter. Prejudice, bias, separatist judgment and individual self-referencing are removed from the way you see when you see with true perception.

True perception is a freer way of seeing. When you see with mistaken perception, you experience a lot of conflict and upset based on the individual interpretation of what you see. When you see with true perception, individual interpretation is removed, so you feel happy, at ease and in acceptance of what you see. You are no longer tied to the world in a reactionary way. You are free to be you, and what you perceive is free to be what it is. The world does not have an effect on you without egoic self-referencing.

Regina’s Tip for Lesson 2

Theory supports spiritual practice. Theory alone is not enough to undo the ego filter that has built up in your subconscious mind over this lifetime. To undo the ego and realize true perception, you must engage in properly structured spiritual practice. Reading Gentle Healing is not enough. It’s important that you practice the daily Workbook exercises in the way the Workbook asks you to practice them.

The mind has the ability to repeat the Workbook exercises without paying attention to the exercises. You can do the exercises while simultaneously being distracted from them. For example, you can say, “I have given that TV all the meaning it has for me,” while thinking about an email you need to write later in the day.

Distracted practice is an ego preservation technique. The ego will not be undone through distracted practice. Be sure to bring awareness to the practice by giving it your full attention. You don’t have to understand how the practice works. Mental understanding is completely unnecessary. You simply need to do the practice willingly while giving it undistracted, unhurried attention.

Regina’s Tip for Lesson 3

As you do today’s Workbook exercise, you might notice the meaning you have given to some things. You might think, for example, “I do understand that photograph on the table. That is my family on vacation last year.”

When you think you understand what you see, simply notice that you think you understand, and then continue with the exercise by being as indiscriminate as possible.

What you witness when you think you understand is your egoic filter. That is your individual way of seeing through the self-referencing program.

For example, if you say, “That is a photograph of my family on our vacation last year,” you think you know who you are, what belongs to you, what a vacation is, what the opposite of a vacation is and what time (“last year”) is. All of those ideas are merely concepts; they are not ultimate truths. Some of the ideas may be useful, but they are not genuinely true, and they can cause trouble.

The Introduction to the Workbook said, “The purpose of the workbook is to train your mind in a systematic way to a different perception of everyone and everything in the world.”

The “different perception” the Introduction refers to is true perception.

Today’s Workbook lessons says, “The point of the exercise is to help you clear your mind of all past associations, …”

Without past associations that were built through self-referencing, can you say:

• That is a photograph?
• of my family?
• on our vacation?
• last year?

Can you say any of those things without past associations?

The Workbook lesson says, “The point of the exercises is to help you clear your mind of all past associations, to see things exactly as they appear to you now…”

If you had no past associations, would you even know “That is a photograph…?” What if you saw that object right now, for the very first time, without any past associations of any kind? Could you describe it at all?

The Workbook lesson says, “The point of the exercises is to help you clear your mind of all past associations, to see things exactly as they appear to you now, and to realize how little you really understand about them.”

Is it possible that the understanding you think you have is covering up the reality of what you see? Is it possible there is something here that is incredibly amazing, and you do not see it, because you are looking through a mental filter that thinks it understands everything it sees?

Regina’s Tip for Lesson 4

As mentioned in the tip for lesson 2, theory alone is not enough to undo the ego filter that colors the way you see the world. To undo the ego and realize true perception, you must engage in properly structured spiritual practice. It’s important that you practice the daily Workbook exercises in the way the Workbook asks you to practice them.

Often, people do not practice the Workbook the way it asks them to practice, because as they get involved in their day, they forget about the Workbook practice. Forgetfulness is an ego preservation strategy. If you’d like to experience true perception in this lifetime, you need to overcome the ego’s forgetfulness.

Here’s a tip that will help you overcome forgetfulness:

When you finish the practice in the morning, make a decision about when you will do the practice next. If you want to, you can set an alarm for the next practice session. Each time you finish the practice during the day, make a decision about when you will do the practice next. If you make a conscious decision about when you will do the next practice session, you are less likely to forget to do it.

Continue to follow this tip about overcoming forgetfulness whenever it applies to any Workbook lesson.

Regina’s Tip for Lesson 5

 Today’s Workbook lesson asks us to apply the exercise to all upsets indiscriminately. As you do today’s exercise, you may notice a temptation to select certain upsets as worthy of this exercise, while quickly deciding other upsets are too small or unimportant to mention during the exercise. For example, you may decide to practice with the argument you had with a family member while deciding to overlook the minor annoyance you feel about the noise outside your window as you do the exercise.

Deciding some upsets are worthy of the exercise while others are too small or unimportant to mention is an ego preservation strategy. That’s why today’s lesson asks you to say to yourself, “There are no small upsets. They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind.”

The perfect peace of true perception has no upsets in it. Some people will argue this point, but that is only because they have not yet fully undone the ego filter.

You need not settle for less than perfect happiness, because perfect happiness is your right. Perfect happiness is your natural state, which you will experience when the self-referencing habit is undone.

If you learn not to self-reference during conversations with family members, and as a result, you no longer argue with family members, that’s great! However, if you still self-reference regarding noises in the environment, traffic patterns, smells and weather, you will still experience discontent and possibly outright rage. In order to experience “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,” self-referencing must end completely. (Ref: Philippians 4:7 in the Bible.)

This is what the Introduction to the Workbook meant by “transfer of training.” Transfer of training is learning something, and then applying what you learn in all circumstances, instead of just some circumstances.

As a reminder, the Introduction said:

“The exercises are planned to help you generalize the lessons, so that you will understand that each of them is equally applicable to everyone and everything you see.

“Transfer of training in true perception does not proceed as does transfer of the training of the world. If true perception has been achieved in connection with any person, situation or event, total transfer to everyone and everything is certain. On the other hand, one exception held apart from true perception makes its accomplishments anywhere impossible. …

“… be sure that you do not decide for yourself that there are some people, situations or things to which the [exercises] are inapplicable. This will interfere with transfer of training. The very nature of true perception is that it has no limits. It is the opposite of the way you see now.”

Regina’s Tip for Lesson 6

 Chapter 4 of A Course in Miracles says:

“The truth is true. Nothing else matters, nothing else is real, and everything beside it is not there.”

That statement from the text is highly related to today’s workbook lesson:

“I am upset because I see something that is not there.”

Looking at these two statements together can help us see just how severely perception is distorted through egoic self-referencing. Egoic self-referencing leads us to see “something that is not there,” and then it leads us to get upset about it. We literally throw away our peace because of something that does not exist.

This may be hard for you to believe. That is to be expected. The Introduction to the Workbook said:

“Some of the ideas the workbook presents you will find hard to believe, and others may seem to be quite startling. This does not matter. You are merely asked to apply the ideas as you are directed to do. You are not asked to judge them at all. You are asked only to use them. It is their use that will give them meaning to you, and will show you that they are true.

“Remember only this; you need not believe the ideas, you need not accept them, and you need not even welcome them. Some of them you may actively resist. None of this will matter, or decrease their efficacy. But do not allow yourself to make exceptions in applying the ideas the workbook contains, and whatever your reactions to the ideas may be, use them. Nothing more than that is required.”

Regina’s Tip for Lesson 7

 Today’s lesson begins by saying, “This idea is particularly difficult to believe at first.”

In yesterday’s tip, we reviewed the instructions from the Introduction, which reminded us that we do not need to believe the Workbook lessons; we merely need to apply them.

Whenever we come across a Workbook lesson that feels particularly difficult for us to accept, it might be helpful to review this paragraph from The Happy Learner section of A Course in Miracles:

“The truth is true. Nothing else matters, nothing else is real, and everything beside it is not there. Let Me make the one distinction for you that you cannot make, but need to learn. Your faith in nothing is deceiving you. Offer your faith to Me, and I will place it gently in the holy place where it belongs. You will find no deception there, but only the simple truth. And you will love it because you will understand it.