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Gentle Healing Year 1 ~ Lesson 101

May 28, 2019 By Jacquelyn Eckert

Lesson 101, God’s Will for me is perfect happiness.

Two days ago the tip for Lesson 99 led you in an inquiry. As part of that inquiry you were asked to “Notice the difference between thought and awareness. Notice which causes all kinds of trouble and suffering, and which is peacefully present. Notice which is you and which is not.”

I hope you were able to see, at least briefly, that you are awareness, which is peacefully present. This seeing helps you to understand what today’s lesson points to…there is no sin.

I prefer to help you SEE something is true, rather than just deliver the information intellectually. If you can see that mind and awareness are separate, and what you are is awareness, you will have a realization that transcends the belief in sin, which goes far beyond an intellectual teaching.

Today’s workbook lesson says that “suffering is causeless. Joy is just, and pain is but the sign you have misunderstood yourself.” MISUNDERSTOOD YOURSELF.

This is why awareness-watching-awareness (AWA) is such an important part of our practice. Through AWA you consistently (albeit subtly) attain more and more realization that you are awareness, not thought. Be sure to practice AWA for 10-15 minutes each day. Also use the 5 minutes per hour to watch awareness. When you can’t give a full 5 minutes, at least spend 3-5 seconds noticing yourself as awareness. Through AWA your identification will shift from body-mind to awareness, and that shift changes everything, even if nothing else changes.

Another way to disengage from seeing yourself as body-mind is to “abide as your Self.” Ramana Maharshi gave this guidance frequently. But what does it mean?

It means abide as life-intelligence-awareness instead of as a body-mind.

How do you do that? You will learn to abide as your Self by practicing the Loving All Method, which is assigned as part of your homework this week. Please read that assignment carefully this week, preferably several times. Find what questions you have and bring them to our next meeting. We want to take the Loving All Method seriously so we can live from it.

Practicing the Loving All Method is the same practice as the vow of Happiness taught in Chapter 15 of “The Untethered Soul”. Both are the same as forgiveness as it is taught in A Course in Miracles. So, let’s get a clear understanding of these three as one, and then go forward from this week clear on how to live from happiness/love/forgiveness

Gentle Healing Year 3 With Regina-Week 123- 5/29/19

May 28, 2019 By Dawn Fernandez

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Regina Dawn Akers guides a group of committed students who would like to make consistent, gentle progress toward genuine peace, joy and love.

Audio & Homework~Week 16~Gentle Healing Year 1 with Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert and Connie Poole

May 28, 2019 By Dawn Fernandez

Facilitated by Aggie Mitchkoski

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Homework for next week:

Homework Assignment A: Workbook lessons 101-107 including Jacquelyn & Connie’s Tips. Review your visualization plan daily. Here’s a direct link: https://awakening-together.org/dev2/interact/gentle-healing-group/jacquelynandconnie-tips-year-1/

Homework Assignment B: Read The Loving All Method, which can be found in The Direct Means to Eternal Bliss, Chapter 12 or at this link:

https://albigen.com/uarelove/most_rapid/chapter12.htm

Homework Assignment C: Practice Awareness Watching Awareness for 10-15 minutes.

Audio & Homework – Week 69 Gentle Healing Group Year 2 with Anne, 5/28/19

May 28, 2019 By Dawn Fernandez

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Anne Blanchard guides a group of committed students through year 2 of Gentle Healing who would like to make consistent, gentle progress toward genuine peace, joy and love. This group meets weekly and all members are committed to specific assignments and practices between group meetings.

Everyone who has completed year 1 Gentle Healing and is willing to make a commitment to deepening even further into healing/awakening is invited to join this group.

Gentle Healing Year 3 ~ Daily Contemplation #111

May 27, 2019 By Regina Dawn Akers

Please read and contemplate quotes #349-352 in The Seven Steps to Awakening with your inner teacher. This is the last quote today:

The mind veils the real nature of the Self and creates an illusory appearance with many branches, flowers and fruits. Destroy this illusion by wisdom and rest in peace.

Note: The next Daily Contemplation will be available tomorrow morning after 2am ET at this link.

Gentle Healing Year 1 ~ Lesson 100

May 27, 2019 By Jacquelyn Eckert

Lesson 100, My part is essential to God’s plan for salvation.

The other night I met an Indian man who wanted to know what I had achieved thus far through spiritual practice. I told him that I am happy. He didn’t seem to think happiness was evidence of progress. Maybe he would have been more impressed with stories about physical healing or divine visions. Oh, I’ve had those experiences too. I guess I could have told him the apple story. ~ha ha~ But when he asked what I have achieved thus far through spiritual practice, the answer that came to me as evidence of genuine progress was the answer I gave, happiness.

Along the way to Self-realization some people may have some tremendous experiences that seem to be proof of something divine, but to me the simplicity of genuine happiness is the greater boon. To be happy no matter what appears to occur or not occur is a sure sign of detachment from the world and detachment from thought. It is a sure sign of awakening to realization of one’s real nature.

Happiness, openness, and confidence are the true mi inracles of awakening. When one isn’t feeling happiness, openness and confidence, something has gone wrong. An untrue thought has gained attention.

Root cause inquiry begins at unhappiness. Whenever we are not perfectly happy, it’s a good idea to look to see what untrue idea is driving us.

Sometimes it is easy to see what you’ve believed that’s causing unhappiness, and it’s easy to let it go. However, especially in the beginning, it often takes effort to uncover the ideas that block our happiness and even more effort to let them go. That’s because we’ve taught ourselves to believe some really crazy stuff, and some of these ideas have been very heavily learned.

Today, regardless of what you experience, contemplate the fact that happiness is natural, and unhappiness is the sign that you are believing something that isn’t true. This is always the case. When we accept this as true, we begin to respond to unhappiness appropriately. The appropriate way to respond to unhappiness is to look, uncover and release an untrue idea.

One Week Left to Nominate Someone to the Member Board of Trustees

May 26, 2019 By Regina Dawn Akers

You have until the end of the day on June 2 to nominate someone to the Member Board of Trustees or support someone who has already been nominated.

Who’s been nominated already?
To find out, go to the Nominees page on our website under To Read on the menubar.

How do you support a current nomination or nominate someone new?
Contact us and let us know who you’d like to nominate or support.

Where can you find more information about the nomination process?
Click here for full details about the nominate process.

Thank you for getting involved in our election!

Gentle Healing Year 3 ~ Daily Contemplation #110

May 26, 2019 By Regina Dawn Akers

Please read and contemplate quotes #345-348 in The Seven Steps to Awakening with your inner teacher. This is the last quote today:

Some arrive at this understanding soon, others after a very long time.

Note: The next Daily Contemplation will be available tomorrow morning after 2am ET at this link.

Gentle Healing Year 1 ~ Lesson 99

May 26, 2019 By Jacquelyn Eckert

Lesson 99, Salvation is my only function here.

Let’s simplify today’s lesson:

“Truth and illusions both are equal now, for both have happened. … [This seems true, because the] mind that sees illusions thinks them real. … And yet they are not real, because the mind that thinks these thoughts is separate from God.”

The pathway to salvation lies in the paragraph above. The key lies in “the mind that thinks these thoughts is separate…”.

Take a moment to notice your mind, meaning your thoughts. It doesn’t matter what they are. Notice them, whatever they are.

Next, notice what is aware of your thoughts; that is, notice awareness. Can you see that thoughts and awareness are separate? What I mean by that is, you can point (with inner figurative pointing) at thinking and say, “That’s thought,” and you can point at awareness and say, “That’s awareness.” They are different.

Now look at these two, thought and awareness. Which one is you? Which one can you look at and which one is you looking? You can decide to focus on a thought or let it go. Can you do the same with awareness, or is awareness what you are?

Look, and discover these answers for yourself.

Look at all the trouble thoughts conjure up. For example, every murder begins with a thought. Does awareness conjure up any trouble at all?

Look. Discover the answer for yourself.

When we infuse thoughts with attention, we enliven them. You can watch how this happens. Notice how a thought becomes more alive and the story grows deeper as your attention is more engrossed by it.

Is this true for awareness? Is awareness enlivened with attention or is it naturally alive even if you give it no attention?

Look. Find the answer for yourself.

If thought must be enlivened but awareness is naturally alive, which is illusion and which is real?

I said that the pathway to salvation is found in this:

“And yet [illusions] are not real, because the mind that thinks these thoughts is separate …”

The pathway to salvation is noticing that mind is separate from you, and you are real but thoughts are not.

Contemplate this tip today. Notice the difference between thought and awareness. Notice which causes all kinds of trouble and suffering, and which is peacefully present. Notice which is you and which is not.

5/26/19 ~ Movie Watchers Discussion Group: Dark Night

May 26, 2019 By Dawn Fernandez

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Rev. Jay McCormick led this group discussion with this month’s movie called Dark City, a sci-fi thriller, where the character John Murdoch find himself awakening in a hotel bathtub, and is suffering from amnesia. Following clues, he runs across a horrific murder and encounters pale men in trench coats. He gets entangled in a police case while exploring a dark, enigmatic city that seems to always be in night time. These ‘strangers’ in trench coats conduct experiments to discover the human ‘soul’. John accidentally discovers hidden powers of his own mind which eventually lead to a face-off with the strangers who enslave the city.

Here is a link to the play sheet that Jay McCormick created for the movie. Read play sheet for Dark City.