politics

A Valentine’s Gift For You

Learn to Love Yourself – A Valentine’s Day Gift

Do you feel loved?  Do you feel un-loved? 

Feel love by connecting to the unconditional, non-judgmental love that is within.  Choose to go there! You DO have love within, no matter if you THINK someone loves you or not. You are loved no matter what you think!

The truth is; you are loved, loving and lovable.  It may feel hard to accept that reality but why not try?  Close your eyes and repeat to yourself:

 “I am Loved, I am lovable and I am love.”  Repeat this statement to yourself.  Place your hands on your upper arms and hug yourself.  Keep telling yourself that you ARE loved, Lovable and Loving.  Continue to hug and stroke and affirm the love within.   

If there is anyone in your mind that you hold a grievance about, extend love to them.  Why not?  You do yourself a favor because when you extend love, you also have love by holding it in your mind . 

Accept your reality as a loving radiant light and extend it out to ALL. That includes your family, friends, colleagues, the U.S. Congress and Senate and the world.

If you are depressed or suicidal it is crucial to cherish the beautiful SOUL that you are!

Write the following down and place it where you can see it several times a day:

I am the light of the world.

I am spirit, loved and loving.

Being love I extend it to all.

Our nation is going through turmoil right now.  The truth is, there is always turmoil but when we give someone a smile; a wave of the hand or offer to hold a door open, we are giving love. And as we give, we receive the same inner appreciation in our mind and heart.

When we remember to be kind and loving, our journey is peaceful and joyful.  Love is eternal, formless and never ending so it cannot run out. You cannot run out of love.  You can give away all you want and it is never gone. It is like the bottle of sherry in a Christmas movie I saw once:  it fills up as soon as it is emptied and it never inebriates.

A daily reminder of the love within, will set the belief in your mind. The ego part of your mind will not believe it, but that does not mean that it’s not true. In fact, your ego mind will tell you the opposite and deny the reality of what you are.

You have the power to change your beliefs and thoughts. We all have made mistakes, and have regrets from the past but has remembering or beating yourself up made you happier? When you are in a hole, stop digging.

Forgiveness is remembering you are spirit living in a human body in a classroom called the world.

The Course In Miracles tells us God is love. You do not have to believe in God, just believe in love. Whenever you have a loving thought, you are an extension of love and you are the creator of your life and your world.

You are the light of the world and you are LOVED – allow yourself to feel it. Give this gift of understanding, acceptance and mercy to yourself.  When you give love you are holding it in your mind, so it is yours. Exclude no one from your love — and importantly include yourself.

See a Course In Miracles Workbook Lessons – http://www.acim.org

 #46. God is the Love in which I forgive.

And Lessons #171 through 180: God is but Love and therefore so am I.

Ego Mode: The Virus Blame Game

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After listening to a wonderful youtube presentation by Tim Wise and Lyn Corona, (see the link below)  I realize how addicting the ego voice is.  We are in “ego mode” when we search for and MUST find something or someone to blame.  We want to blame the pain and fear on something!  The source of inner pain and even bodily pain is from listening to the ego…believing this faulty thinking is right and then choosing to be in ego mode.  All depression, anxiety, worries and guilt are caused by believing the ego.

We are all addicted to something, alcohol, sex, TV, News, gambling, food, air, gossip, but everyone is addicted to one thing: the inner voice we hear in our minds:  the ego.  The false voice.  We also ALL have an alternative however.

Right now we have the coronavirus circling the world.  Who are we going to blame? Some foreign people, the military, all the Politian’s?  It is the ego part of our mind doing the blaming and we believe it because we want to!  We need to blame and project onto someone so we can feel better.

The ego is attracted to pain because it means the body is REAL, the world is REAL and we are important.  It keeps us trapped in the dream of being a body in the illusion.  We are a puppet of the ego when that happens.

When we decide we are tired of this blame game because of the pain it causes, we look within and see, according to the Course that our only problem is the separation we feel from God.  That is impossible.  We cannot be separate from God because we are In God at this very moment, but we don’t think we are.

If we choose blame, we are continuing the separation from God because that is what we did to Him when we chose the ego.  Yes, the “tiny mad idea” in the Course tells us we chose the ego to be separate from God.  If we blame ourselves or feel guilty from separating from God we are still listening to the ego mode and we are in the blame game.

The solution: We take a deep breath, step aside from the ego in your mind, take the hand of Jesus – the Holy Spirit that connects us to God and say:  “I am as God Created Me, help me see this differently.”   See A Course In Miracles, Workbook Lesson 110.

We insist on finding a “bad guy” to blame because we don’t want to take responsibility for the decision to separate from God.  We do it every time we blame someone and make them the guilty one.  We do unto them, what we did unto God.  But we also do it to ourselves.

You are NOT separate from God because that is impossible.  But in this dream we “believe” we are.  To get out of the dream of pain ask Jesus:

“I am stuck, take my hand, help me see the way you do.  Help me let go of this judgment and blame I place on ______ as I let go of my projections, believing the ego’s lies that hurt me.”

The tiny mad idea that we can be separate from God is just that…..a mad idea!  An idea is not real.  You are not a puppet.  You are a Mind, an innocent Son of God with the power in you to follow the loving kindness in your heart, holding the hand of Love and going home to Heaven where you really are and have always been.

Here is the YouTube video with Tim Wise, Lyn Corona and others from the School for A Course in Miracles, discussing the Corona Virus:

 

http://www.acim.org  Weekly Lessons – Lesson 110 – I am As God Created Me

Lesson 110: I am as God created me.

Other websites:  http://www.miraclecenter.org

http://www.facim.org

Remember your Reality:  You are LOVED and you are LOVE!

 

 

 

Good Politics: The Service of Peace

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If you are depressed over the current politics in our Country I want to share with you a hopeful message!  I am not a Catholic but I honor all messages of inclusion and peace for You, Me, Everyone and the World!

I recently watched a video called “Pope Francis, A Man of his Word.” If you need some inspiration I highly recommend it.  The 52nd World Day of Peace was January 1, 2019. Pope Francis’s message was:

“Good politics is at the service of peace.”

He made several points but the first was “Peace be to this house.” What he was saying was “peace for our family, our house, our communities, our country, our continent and importantly our common home our world.”  Here is the link to his message to paste in your browser:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/peace/documents/papa-francesco_20181208_messaggio-52giornatamondiale-pace2019.html

Here is a summary of what he said that was so inspiring for all people of Faith regardless of their religion of spiritual beliefs and especially as our politics take the stage for the next year and we watch the debates and delve into the upcoming election we might keep his thoughtful recommendations in mind.
He expanded on several pertinent points by suggesting that “charity and human virtues along with service of human rights and peace be the basis of politics. He suggested those running for office should recall the “Beatitudes of the Politician” which were proposed by Vietnamese Cardinal François-Xavier Nguyễn Vãn Thuận, who died in 2002.
Here they are:

Blessed be the politician with a lofty sense and deep understanding of his role.
Blessed be the politician who personally exemplifies credibility.
Blessed be the politician who works for the common good and not his or her own interest.
Blessed be the politician who remains consistent.
Blessed be the politician who works for unity.
Blessed be the politician who works to accomplish radical change.
Blessed be the politician who is capable of listening.
Blessed be the politician who is without fear.

He suggests that every election and re-election, and every stage of public life, is an opportunity to return to the original points of reference that inspire justice and law. One thing is certain, “good politics is at the service of peace. It respects and promotes fundamental human rights, which are at the same time mutual obligations, enabling a bond of trust and gratitude to be forged between present and future generations.”
Watching it was like a breath of fresh “political air.” If we look for and vote for those who from all appearances, seem to hold these values we would have leaders that we, the world and future generations deserve.

He also brought up political vices: dishonesty, self-service, corruption, exploitation and denial of rights and plundering of natural resources for the sake of quick profit to name a few. Good politics inspires and promotes participation of the young and trust in others and fosters confidence that we can all work together for the common good.

Politics at the service of peace finds expression in the recognition of the gifts and abilities when everyone contributes his or her gifts to help build trust especially in our times marked by mistrust and rooted in fear of strangers. The world has a need for security rather than nationalism and division.

There is a need to reaffirm that peace is based on respect for each person, whatever his or her background.  Peace entails a conversion of the heart and soul; it is both interior and communal; and it has three inseparable aspects:

1. Peace with oneself: Rejecting inflexibility, anger and impatience; by showing “a bit of sweetness towards oneself” in order to offer “a bit of sweetness to others”;
2. Peace with others: Family members, friends, strangers, the poor and the suffering, being unafraid to encounter them and listen to what they have to say;
3. Peace with all creation: Rediscovering the grandeur of God’s gift and our individual and shared responsibility as inhabitants of this world, citizens and builders of the future. When any of our brothers and sisters suffers we are all affected. God sees with his heart. Even the atheist shares the same love. Maybe that’s the only common bond we all have, the bond of God’s love. Other than that we are free, even free not to love Him.

Here is more inspiration:

Lesson 194: I place the future in the Hands of God. (paste the link in your browser)

Lesson 194: I place the future in the Hands of God.

 

 

Feel Loved this Year

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You are loved!  Most of us do not allow ourselves to feel it.  Why?  Don’t we believe we are lovable?  You ARE loved, warts, gifts and all!  Give yourself the gift of feeling it.  Really feel it.   Go to a silent place within, close your eyes and feel yourself being held, as if you were a small child again.  Feel yourself being rocked gently and a soft hand stroking your cheek and telling you that you are loved.  Feel the care and sweetness in your heart.  That is how God loves you.  Your spirit is love and as bright, as soft, pure and innocent like this blossom.

I invite you to go to the A Course In Miracles website and listen to Lesson 109, I rest in God, being read to you as you close your eyes.

Here is the link to paste in your browser:   https://acim.org/workbook/lesson-109/

The Course offers 365 lessons, one for each day of the year.  We being at lesson number 1 and  read a lesson per day and on the 109th day of the year we learn we can and DO rest in Love, in God and can be at Peace.   We just need to accept it.  At the end of the 365 lessons you will never be lonely again or feel unloved…….when you remember your true identity – God’s Holy Precious Son.

Happy New Year!

Peace is Release – Release is Peace

 

IMG_2998The Course In Miracles says that each decision that you make is one between a grievance and a Miracle.  Every decision is actually a judgment!  Every thought can be one of inclusion or exclusion.  The inclusive thought brings inner peace.  The exclusive thought brings separation and guilt.  It is hard to believe that a judgment can bring guilt but it does.  We heap guilt upon our souls with every seemingly insignificant harmless judgmental thought.

But guilt is not harmless.  It ego eats at your soul.  The ego is addicted to  “sugar” – and its sugar is judgmental thoughts, grievances, grudges, jealousy, resentment, worry and the distraction of controversy.   The ego seeks to keep you in guilt rather than in the arms of the Holy Spirit and Love.  You will never be happy until you look at the ego and examine its hold on your life and how it colors your perceptions.  The ego is not your friend. and its job is to make you miserable and feeling separated and alienated.

When you feel the gnawing sense of un-ease in your gut, just retrace your previous thoughts.  What situation or judgment has you by the throat?  What is it about?  Is it a worry a gripe or a grudge against someone, a relative, friend or possibly yourself?

Just LOOK at the unease.  Bring all the details into awareness and imagine holding the hand of the Holy Spirit.  Say:  “Look at this with me.  Help me see it differently.”  When we share all the details with the Holy Spirit we are taking it out of the ego’s clutches.

Now Wait!  You have brought it to awareness.  It is no longer festering below in the unconscious ready to percolate to the surface at a moments notice.

This Looking help with the RELEASE.  The release is the process of letting go.  You have given it to God.  Breathe into the letting go to speed it on its way.

The RELEASE comes with looking and by passing the ego.  The ego is no longer in charge of the gripe or the grudge or the upset.

Release is Peace!  Peace will arrive!  The grudge, grievance will lessen and at some point you will laugh at the silliness you put yourself through.  We do it to ourselves!

See: A Course in Miracles lesson 78.  Let miracles replace all grievances. 

” Perhaps it is not quite clear to you that each decision (judgment) that you make is between a grievance and a miracle.” 

You are LOVED!!

Visit:  http://www.acim.org  – click on workbook lessons

 

 

Quite your Holy Mind

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The Course in Miracles tells us that the memory of God comes to the quiet mind.  Is your mind quiet?  Do you want it quiet?  If so, then why isn’t it?

This is an age old question but the answer is simple:   We can’t have a quiet mind if we are judging people.  Judging is the ego’s primary goal and it keeps us in separation and guilt.  We cannot enter God’s Presence alone.  We need to take along our “brother” (the brother we are judging) which means the ACCEPTANCE of Him/Her/Them i.e. everyone.

We are judging people if we cannot accept them as Holy and therefore we are outside of holiness as well.

Look at the judgments and above all – do not judge yourself for making them or the ego has you by the throat.  When you judge yourself (good or bad) you are making the error (the ego and the body) real.    When we hang onto the hate, grievance, upset we are keeping it, the ego’s hate ALIVE!

But we have a purpose in keeping the grievance ALIVE?

When we see the other person, in our dream as separate and split off, they serve as scapegoats for the part of our self we do not want to accept or recognize.

If you don’t see others as holy…..you are not holy.

Judgment is purposive.  It keeps us unholy and bound to guilt.  If we were holy we would be One with God, with Love and we would disappear.  Our individuality would be zero.  We are afraid of Love.  We want to stay unholy, keep the ego and our judgments in order to stay in the world and be FAR away from God….away from Love.

Freedom lies in looking at the hate with Jesus/Holy Spirit beside us.  This is a Course in attaining the light by looking at the darkness.  We expose the darkness by taking gentle steps.  Look at it and going to the quiet center with Holy Spirit say

“I see this anger/hate/fear/grievance, but I don’t want it anymore.  It is keeping me away from peace, from God and from Love. Help me see it differently.  Help me recognize it is a projection, it is not real, this is a dream and a script I chose to experience when I * separated from God.”

Peace is attained by each one of us looking and undoing the hatred in ourselves.  Self-hatred creates guilt and guilt protects us from love.  Joy is finally recognizing you are FORGIVEN and all GUILT is GONE!

*  We NEVER left God.  We just think we did when we chose the ego.

You are HOLY whether you think you are or not and you are LOVED.

Reference: A Course In Miracles – Chapter 11. God or the Ego, Section III. From Darkness to Light.page 198.

http://www.acim.org

http://www.facim.org

 

See Love or the Call For Love

See either Love or a Call for Love

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The United Nation’s International Day of Peace is Saturday, September 21. Imagine all the people in all Nations of the World stopping for 24 hours to think about Peace! Peace with other countries, counties, family and neighbors! We don’t have to hate. Do we? Do we have to judge or condemn? If a trusted adult tells us that others are offensive we may tend to believe them especially when we are young. We are taught and most of us believe and accept but we certainly don’t have to. For example my mother was prejudiced against a certain race. I had played with some of these kids at school and liked them so I did not accept her belief but I did obey her and not go to their house. As it turned out my sister married a man of that race and low and behold, she changed her mind. A mind is a beautiful thing to change. Mom was a lovely person but she accepted her conditioning and passed it on. It reminds me of the Roger’s and Hammerstein South Pacific song, “You have to be taught.” But we do not have to accept society’s teaching. Hate is a choice.

Could it be that a part of our mind enjoys hate? Think about how you feel when you are in the “hate” emotion. Doesn’t it make you feel strong and powerful and above all right! Years ago I worked in an office with a young man who was mentally impaired. He was from a rich family and he annoyed me and I disliked him. Looking back after years of spiritual work I wondered what that was about. I think I hated him because he reminded me of my own mental impairment. I always thought I was stupid! We project onto others that which we have inside yet do not want to see or admit. It is projected out and seen elsewhere but heaven not in me! When I think of him now, I send love to him wherever he is and I believe his soul receives it. I know mine does.

Hate and anger are harmful to the hater in many ways.  Have you ever tried to be nice when you didn’t want to? What does that type of mental activity do to the brain/body? Check out the Every Day Health website, https://www.everydayhealth.com/news/ways-anger-ruining-your-health/ this site document from various studies, the side effects of hate and negative emotions on the heart and brain, creating stress hormones causing depression and even inflammation.   The ego is the “Master Judge” in our mind that runs our lives until we understand we are in fact miserable and see through the fog and decide to change our thoughts and choose peace. The ego very wisely uses projection and hate as a road block to love. We choose the ego until we decide not to. We however have a choice because we are a decider!

Hate is offensive.  When we see angry people it is very ugly and distasteful. We feel a churning inside. TV and movies offer a heavy diet of violence and hate an onslaught to the nervous systems.   To be honest we need to admit the hate we see reflected in the world outside, is also within. If we can admit that then we are no longer in conflict and it dissipates. Instead of pulling the “wool” over our eyes we just look honestly and in looking, it dissolves. If we don’t fight it or put up obstacles we avoid a pile of buried guilt being placed deep within the psyche to emerge unexpectedly, which it will. Look squarely at the angry person and see either love or a call for love.

Try it. You will access a place of peace. You do not need to say aloud “I love you” merely think it.  Your mind is choosing love instead of the ego’s automatic response of disgust or hate.   Anger is their momentarily condition but not their reality. In giving love, you receive it. You don’t know what or if you will “do or say” anything.  The situation will depend on wisdom within from the higher Self within.  You can always think LOVE.

This quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln: “To defeat an enemy, make him a friend.” You could also say “To defeat “my(ego)self”, make myself a friend and see love or a call for love.”

If I exclude love from others; I am excluding love from myself. With compassion we no longer condemn.

We are the same, we all ONE people. The Spark of the Divine is within everyone, so I challenge myself to look for it in others and REMEMBER…..It is also with ME!

A Course In Miracles, Lesson 187 – I bless the world because I bless MYSELF.

http://www.acim.org   (click on workbook lessons)

 

Am I a Body or Spirit?

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We are born into a body, in a particular family of certain circumstances but we seek the answer to the age old question:  Who am I?  We learn (gradually) we are much MORE than a body.  We are NOT who we THINK we are!  Many spiritual paths lead us to our true identity and ultimately HOME!

The Course In Miracles, tells us we are Spirit and little by little we come to understand that YES, that is true.  Our eternal spirit does reside in the body for now.  I have come to learn lessons that my Soul needs to learn.  So whatever lessons come – they are the ones I need to learn.  They are important lessons and once I have learned them I get to go HOME.  I am happy to learn them!  Well……some lessons I may not like  – BUT if I know those lessons will help me – why wouldn’t I want to deal with them.  I am happy to be in a body because it allows me to BE HERE NOW!  We are really caretakers (or not) of our Soul-Spirit and so let us be loving caretakers of this eternal jewel within.

However, as the lessons come, I am helped immensely when I REMEMBER I am in fact SPIRIT.  With that knowledge I can be at peace!  The more I remember, the more peace I will have.  When your body has a problem, which it will, it is a chance to say:  NOPE – NOT ME! My body has a problem but I don’t!  Yes, I will take care of the problem but I always have that inner gentle smile that says “I am an eternal Spirit.”

We take care and “fix” the body and do whatever we can to stay in the world and learn soul lessons that are sure to come.   A elderly friend became sick recently and the sickness was such that she decided NOT to “fix” her body!  That was courageous but I know the time will come when I will make that same decision.  I will know what the right thing to do is when that time comes.  I will leave knowing I did the right thing as the eternal Spirit I am.

Workbook lesson 199. I am not a body. I am free, is a wonderful lesson to explore the feelings of not being the body.  You can go to http://www.acim.org and click on lessons and then close your eyes and listen quietly to let it sink in.

Remember, you are a decision making Mind!  You have the power to choose!  You have two choices:  Love or Fear.  You can listen to the ego’s fear or listen to the Holy Spirit’s grace and faith. It is that quiet voice inside and it always brings peace!

Isn’t it great to know you have a CHOICE which voice to listen to?  That is why you are not a victim.

http://www.facim.org – Lesson 199 –

“I am not a body.  I am free. 

I hear the Voice That God has given me, and it is only This my mind obeys.”

God Blesses YOU!

You Are Pure Consciousness

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“The mind of an enlightened human being is flexible and adaptable. The mind of an ignorant person is conditioned and fixed.”  Ajhan Sumedho, ‘Don’t take your life seriously’, Buddhist Publishing Group

As a student of non-duality, a friend recently loaned me the above book. Ajahn Sumedho. Ajahn, (“teacher” in Pali) was born Robert Karr Jackman, July 27, 1934, in Seattle. He is the senior Western representative of the Thai forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism. A bhikkhu since 1967, Sumedho is considered a seminal figure in the transmission of the Buddha’s teachings to the West.  During the Korean War he served for four years from the age of 18 as a United States navy medic. He graduated in 1963 with an MA in South Asian studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Per Wikepedia

A Course In Miracles has many similarities with Buddhism and the one that stands out from all others is our judgment of ourselves and others. I don’t know about you but I’ve been fixated on politics, our nation and world conditions since the January changes in government. Chaos and change happens in our lives and that creates nervousness and anxiety, the opposing poles of inner peace.   Ajahn says the world is: “just the way it is!” Accept! We are not at peace when we judge anyone; feel superior or inferior to others.”As Babies we were not born with a self-view. That is developed over our lifetime. We therefore become a “created concept” and we suffer and seek answers to the suffering.

Whatever our self-concepts are we are not that!  When we choose, we can acknowledge innate pure consciousness to receive wisdom. Wisdom operates through the marriage of awareness joining with consciousness. Suffering is the theme in The Four Noble truths. Judgment is suffering. As we become aware of pure consciousness, judgments shift and soften: “so it is” or “like this” to pure subjectivity. The ego personality says: “I like this or I don’t like that.” It is my choice then, should I get caught up in the annoyance, suppress it or try to change it? I know I want my way but can I be assured that will bring me peace? Until I can accept the world is just ‘like it is’ and ‘what is just – is’, I am the one choosing to suffer. Buddha called it Dukkha.

When you say: “I AM pure consciousness uncreated” your mind is at rest. Say it slowly with eyes closed. Say it slowly with eyes open. Pure consciousness does not have a sex, nationality or a world view. It means, I AM – not a permanent body; rather I am eternal, consciousness. Consciousness is behind awareness and when melded spark an awakening experience, like the Buddha, or Christ .

Contrast this with the impermanent, unsatisfactory “not self” that we think we are. The idea of “me and mine” created out of ignorance and separation from pure consciousness. The personality and life circumstances always change. You don’t stay the same person as the ego personality is reactive.   Old age is another seeming failure but pure consciousness does not age. Awareness transcends the conditioned ego state. If we continue to give our allegiance and beliefs to the ego rather than to our natural pure awareness, we will suffer – until we tire of it.  We can see seek refuge in awareness and pure consciousness.

As we look at national and world conditions, be aware and say: ‘so it is.’  The Course calls it our script.  It just is and we can view it through the ego i.e. suffering or Awareness i.e the Holy Spirit.  Consciousness is stainless, it cannot be contaminated. I am reminded of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, working for peace yet staying in pure consciousness throughout the tumult of his life and Jesus who assures us we are “As God Created Us” and not the thing or ego we created.

Perhaps we will become enlightened as insanity propels us to approach pure consciousness; non-attachment vs pure hell.  The Holy Spirit within that is the alternative voice to the ego.

As the months and years unfold, our mindful practice, whether with Buddhism or A Couse In Miracles workbook lessons, will guide us to the wisdom and peace available at the center of our One luminous being.

See A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson 45. God is the Mind with which I think

http://www.facim.org

http://www.acim.org

http://www.miraclecenter.org

 

The Elusiveness of Peace and Joy

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The Elusiveness of Peace and Joy!

Do you want peace and joy?  Of course you do.  As least you think you do until you have a judgment or an upset that you won’t let go of.   You are upset because something was done to you and you feel you are in the right and the offending party should go to hell.  Or places like that.  Right?  OK – Let’s say you are right but do you still want peace and joy?  You can’t have it if you want someone to go to hell or hold onto an upset that you will not consider in another way.

I know someone who is holding onto a grievance.  He was actually attacked, pushed up against a fence and would have been hit if someone hadn’t interfered.  Why did the perpetrator assault him?  He had responded to an insult with his own insult and that angered the attacker and so he took matters into his hands, literally.  Who started it?  It doesn’t matter.  What matters is how we now find the peace that eluded us the first moment we reacted.  That will be the subject of another article and an important one but for now let’s look at how we can obtain the peace we want.

We have not found peace by remembering and replaying the event because we are stuck in our thoughts and we are sure we are in the right.  But are you happy being in the right?  Would you rather be right or happy?  Currently whenever we see that person or think of them we are unhappy.  Ask yourself: Do I want peace and joy?

If the answer is YES, then decided to STOP believing the set belief you have in your mind (just for a moment) and choose another way to look at this?  Say:  “OK – I’ll look at this another way for the sake of my own peace.”

*“Begin to think of that (person) brother who has been denied by YOU the peace and joy that is his right under the equal laws of God.  You have denied them to yourself and now you claim them as your own. Think of this brother a little while and tell him in your mind:

My brother peace and joy I offer you,

That I may have God’s peace and joy as mine.”

We don’t think that just because we have denied peace and joy to someone that in so doing we are in effect really denying them to our self.  If you hold hate or a grudge in your mind, you are the one HOLDING the hate and the grudge in yourself.  You are the sufferer.  Do you think your brother is suffering?  We don’t know but we do know you are.

Would you rather say to that brother?

My brother, misery and suffering I offer you

That  I may have the ego’s misery and suffering as mine.

Which version do you choose?  If the word God bothers you, take it out.  God won’t care.  That mystery is love and love never condemns.  It doesn’t know how to.  Make a copy of the pledge and paste it around the house.  Take yourself on as a student and train yourself to accept that peace and joy is your inheritance and that you are worth it.  You are worth it and you will experience peace and joy when you offer it to others and especially to the one you are upset with or have judged or who has offended you.

* The above quotes come from the spiritual book, A Course In Miracles, Workbook lesson 105 God’s Peace and Joy are Mine.  Visit  www.acim.org  go The Workbook lessons and then when the lesson comes up, click on “hear” and listen to the entire lesson and close your eyes.   Choose peace!

Hint: When you give you also receive!