On Day 261, I shared a story about the joy I felt when I recognized a fly on a toilet seat at a truck stop in New Mexico. I say “recognized,” because the joy didn’t come from what the eyes saw or what the mind defined those images as. Joy came from natural recognition—life-awareness recognizing life-awareness. It wasn’t one recognizing another. It was one recognition—Self-recognition.

Today’s reading refers to “the seeing that recognizes the Christ.” That seeing is the recognition I’m referring to. It doesn’t come from thinking metaphysical thoughts. It comes from a natural light in the mind that shines forth and sees only itself—only light…only life….only Self—and there is no thought in it.

I remember a conversation I had with some spiritual students around a dinner table one evening several years ago. Some felt that when we become enlightened, we suddenly know everything that can be intellectually known. They said the enlightened are Einstein-like in their knowledge, and they can tell the future, etcetera. It was a very grandiose idea of enlightenment.

Today’s reading says:

We know only that the truth is true, but in knowing this is all Knowledge given, for there is nothing else to know.

In other words, the knowing that caused my heart to leap with joy when I saw the fly on the toilet seat is  true knowledge. That recognition is the only knowledge that has any real value at all. That’s why Ramana Maharshi used to ask people who had incredible book knowledge, “But do you know the Self?”

Today’s reading also says:

Seek only the truth and the truth will find you.

That means that whenever you notice attention is not with truth, shift attention to truth. By keeping attention with reality—with life-awareness—you come to recognize life-awareness in all.

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

One key to effective discernment is knowing what to give attention to and what not to give attention to, because it isn’t meaningful; because it isn’t real, because it is temporary instead of eternal.

A second key to effective discernment is letting feeling guide the decision above.

Thinking can be extremely deceptive. You can’t trust thinking to help you discern the wrong-mind from the right-mind, but you can trust feeling.

Whenever you feel content, open, and free, you are in the right-mind. Whenever there is an interruption of any kind to content-open-free, you are giving attention to the wrong-mind.

I chose the word “content” instead of happy or joyous, because sometimes humans are serious, such as when they are looking at a problem that needs to be resolved, and sometimes humans are sad, like when a loved one passes away, etcetera. However, the right-mind is content with seriousness when seriousness is appropriate and content with sadness when sadness is appropriate, etcetera.

Contentment is an underlying permanent feeling. Sometimes other feelings are appropriately present too, but when one is with the right-mind, the other feelings do not cover  contentment. They are present with  contentment.

If contentment is lost (covered up), attention is with the wrong-mind.

A third key to effective discernment is self-honesty. You can lie to yourself about whether you were content or not while you were swearing at the driver in the car next to you, but lying to yourself will not help you reach the freedom that is called enlightenment. Self-honesty is a very important key.

Today’s reading says:

When any thought does not feel like Love, you may put it aside as false.

That is another way of saying, whenever you do not feel content-open-free, attention is with the wrong-mind. You can disregard what you are giving attention to—because isn’t meaningful; because it isn’t real, because it is temporary instead of eternal—and return attention to the right-mind and to truth.

The reading also says:

Existence cannot be denied, because it is.

Sometimes, when believing-attention goes deeply into false ideas, we can have deep feelings that are not anything like content-open-free. Sometimes content-open-free can be so far from our current experience that we can’t recall the feeling those words point to. However, there is one intuitive knowing-feeling that is never covered up. It is always present, and we can always turn our attention to it. That is existence.

In any moment, no matter how angry you are, … no matter how guilty you feel, … regardless of how ashamed you feel, and etcetera; in any moment you can notice that you exist. In fact, you couldn’t be angry or feel guilty, etcetera, unless existence was there to feel it. So, in any moment you can turn attention from whatever has captured attention and focus on existence instead. Simply notice that right now you exist, and keep attention there.

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

You cannot read today’s reading from the idea, “I am a person,” and understand it. “I” cannot mean “me and not others.” “I” must mean consciousness, and it must include all things in manifestation as  “I,” or the meaning in today’s reading will be lost.

For example, today’s reading says:

The world that you see comes from the thoughts that you think.

That doesn’t mean, “Hey, Regina. The world that you see comes from the thoughts you think.”

Regina is a character. That sentence speaks to consciousness, and consciousness experiences itself as each character.

We are one consciousness, and the world appearance comes from us as one consciousness.

Before reading today, take a few minutes to contemplate one consciousness. Realize you are not the character you identify with. You are consciousness. Everyone and everything is one consciousness, and you are that.

Don’t think about this idea. Just be with it. As today’s reading says:

The thinking mind cannot follow this thought because the thinking mind believes in separation, …

If any part of today’s reading is not clear to you, ask inner wisdom for clarity.

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

Today’s reading is too good to read quickly. It begins with a reinterpretation of Jesus’ crucifixion. Many of us were taught that Jesus died for our sins. Today’s reading says that Jesus “released the sins of the world as illusion … and returned himself to the Awareness of God,” and then it asks us to make the same decision.

Are you ready to give no more meaning to illusion?

Are you ready to give all of your love and attention to truth?

Today’s reading shares a couple of ‘tests’ we can give ourselves in order to be honest with ourselves regarding our own spiritual progress.

First, we are asked to notice how we feel about others. If there is anyone we “do not love truly,” there are misperceptions in our mind that still need healing.

Next, we are asked to notice if some things in our lives have higher priority than other things. If some matters have more meaning to us than others, we do not yet see all things as God. The only exception to this test is when truth has more meaning than illusion.

I hope you decide to read today’s reading slowly and contemplatively. I recommend taking notes as you read today.

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

Today’s reading opens by saying:

We proclaim the Word of Life.

A word can be a declaration, so the essence of the statement above is this:

You are Life!
(said with great declaration and emphasis)

Today’s reading also says:

God is an awareness that is pure,
because it looks on only that which is wholly true.

This is God. And God, as an awareness, exists within you.

That means that when you see life and only life, you see with God-awareness.

Here’s an example:

Recently, while traveling in New Mexico, I stopped to go to the bathroom at a truck stop. When I went into the toilet stall, my heart leapt with great joy when I saw a fly resting on the toilet seat. It actually took the mind another second or two to realize it was looking at a fly on a toilet seat in a truck stop. When that was realized, I laughed, because I knew most humans would not understand the great joy I felt.

The joy was natural and spontaneous, prior to thought. It was God-awareness leaping for joy when it recognized its Self. It didn’t see a fly on a toilet seat in a truck stop. It saw life-awareness!

Life-awareness experienced life-awareness and felt great joy being aware of itself.

On Day 254, I gave the example of a tree as a representation of the enlightened mind. I said that the tree does not judge the people who gather under it, and the people who gather under it do not affect the tree. Of course, the tree does not see people gathered under it. In order to see people, the tree would need a brain. However, the tree does see. Actually, it would be more correct to say that the tree knows. The tree knows the life-awareness that is gathered under it as people, and the tree experiences joy. That joy is the joy of life-awareness in the presence of life-awareness.

For more understanding, watch this 3-minute video about my experience as an apple.

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

Please read and contemplate the following commentary in the same way that you read and contemplate the Thought of Awakening. The commentaries are designed to enrich your understanding.

~Commentary on True Practice~

Intellectual knowledge or intellectual spiritual teachings are helpful only to the degree that they lead the one seeking to practice. When one is engaged in practice, one is not so concerned with intellectual understanding. One wants only to practice. This means that one’s heart has become big, or his desire for inner peace or knowledge of Self has become more full.

When one’s desire is not as full, he seeks intellectual teaching. Intellectual teaching can serve two purposes:

Intellectual teaching can be used to water desire so that it grows into more fullness and leads to practice, or …

Intellectual teaching can be used to satisfy the ego’s idea of “I am spiritual” and it can lead to more and more intellectual reading and seeking without many intervals of true practice.

True practice leads to awakening, because true practice is not believing ego. Since belief in ego is the only problem, not believing ego as self is true practice, and true practice is the solution until solution is no longer needed.

~From our Holy Spirit

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

You are abundance now. This has always been true, regardless of your material or experiential situation.

Most people do not realize the power of their abundance. Your abundance brings every experience to you exactly as you experience it. Abundance produces illusory experiences and provides for truth-realization, depending on where you focus attention.

That means that your choice about where to focus attention is very important. Everything that is given in manifestation and the way in which it is experienced is an outcome of attention.

Although it can seem like there are many things to place attention on, there are really only two options. You can place attention with illusion or you can place attention with truth. Your experience comes from that decision.

The good news is that you can change your mind about where you place attention. You can change your mind anytime regardless of current circumstances.

Whenever you realize that you’ve placed attention with illusion, and you want to place attention with truth, simply shift attention now. Your experience will begin to change when you shift attention, because you’ve decided to use abundance differently.

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

On Day 251, we read stories about Job and Peace Pilgrim. Job and Peace Pilgrim were not confused about what abundance is. In the story about Job, the wrong-mind (represented by Satan) was confused about what abundance is. Since the wrong-mind thought that abundance was found in manifestation, it thought Job would curse God when his manifested abundance was taken away, but Job did not curse God when manifested abundance was taken away. Job continued to praise God, because he knew true abundance.

Today’s reading says:

Teach yourself only that your abundance is now,
without any separation from you,
and you teach yourself everything that is true about you.

Another way to say that is:

Teach yourself that you are  abundance now,
and you teach yourself everything that is true about you.

If you were fully enlightened, there would be no confusion about this. Abundance is what the enlightened know, see and feel. However, the mind’s concepts block one’s awareness of abundance with ideas of lack. Ideas of lack can look like this:

• I am not good enough.
• To be good enough, I have to …
• To feel fulfilled, I have to …
• I will be happy when …
• I don’t have enough …
• I can’t be happy because …
• You just don’t understand the burden I live with.
• I need ________ (fill in the blank with a material or experiential idea)
• Things should be different than they are.
• Etcetera

Some spiritual teachers say that unhappiness is caused by our belief in lack (& then go on to teach how to attract what you want). It’s true that unhappiness is caused by our belief in lack, but it isn’t caused by our belief in material or experiential lack. Unhappiness occurs because we are unaware of our true nature. One who is Self-realized does not experience lack; that one is happy regardless of his/her material or experiential situation in form.

Today’s reading says:

It is true that there also seems to be something else within you…something that does not seem to be light, but dark…

Whatever you find inside that feels different than divine abundance is an untrue concept about what you are. You know these ideas are untrue, because when you believe them they block natural happiness.

Remember this:

Whenever you are not happy
or content with what is,
you are touching a false concept.

You touch false concepts with attention. Attention feels and experiences, so when you touch a false concept with attention, you feel and experience that concept. It’s like tasting food. When your tongue touches food, you taste it. In the same way, attention tastes the concepts it touches.

Today’s reading says:

It is okay to stand within it for a moment and feel it. But then remember that I have taught you that the judgment comes only from you. Decide in that moment to choose to see your Self truly. Then reach within your mind, and turn on the Light.

Judgment is the decision or declaration that something is real or true.

If you are the one deciding a specific concept is true, you are the one who can choose to decide differently.

You choose to decide differently by removing attention from the concept and placing attention with your true Self—with awareness or existence.

Some people may wonder if today’s teaching is different than rest-accept-trust. It isn’t.

When today’s reading says, “turn on the Light,” it doesn’t mean that you should stop feeling whatever is being felt. It means:

Notice awareness or existence
as you feel a temporary experience.

When you choose to focus attention on awareness or existence during an emotional experience, you make a decision regarding which is true and meaningful. That decision is made by where you place attention.  When you place attention with awareness or existence, you “turn on the Light,” because by placing attention there, you’ve decided that life-awareness is supreme.

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

NTI 2 Peter is about abundance. Take a few moments to write down what abundance means to you. If you were to live a life of abundance, what would that look like?

Please complete this exercise before reading the rest of this tip.

~ ~ ~

On Day 136 and Day 202, we learned that the law of attraction is a distortion of truth. Today, we will learn that the ego’s ideas of abundance are a distortion of abundance.

Today’s reading defines abundance as “full awareness of your divine nature.” We often call that awakening or enlightenment. The reading also says, “Abundance cannot be defined in any other way.”

Look at your list of abundance. Are there material ideas of abundance on that list? Are there experiential ideas of abundance on the list?

Whenever the mind tries to define abundance, it thinks about material or experiential ideas. For example, for one personality-type, the mind’s list of abundance might look like this:

– Plenty of money so I am financially secure until my death
– A nice house to live in with beautiful furniture and art work
– A swimming pool, a well decorated meditation room, an art studio
– The time and the money to travel all over the world
– Physical health for me and my family

Today’s reading says that abundance “cannot be defined within the limits of the world.” That means the previous list, or any list of material and experiential ideas, is a distortion of abundance.

If you look at the dictionary definitions of abundance, you will see that none of the definitions use the term “unlimited.” They may say, “a large quantity of” or they may say “ample quantity” or “a relative degree of plentifulness,” but the dictionaries do not define abundance as unlimited.

Any material or experiential idea of abundance is a limited idea  of abundance. Therefore, it is not full, complete or unrestricted abundance.

If you look deep within your heart, you will find that your heart is not interested in limited abundance. The mind is interested in limited abundance, because in the pursuit of or the attachment to limited abundance, you maintain identification with the mind.

The heart is only interested in true abundance, which is abundance beyond all limits and beyond all definitions. It is “full awareness of your divine nature.”  It is abundance that transcends the world entirely.

The reading says:

For this reason, quiet the mind whenever it seems to stretch to imagine abundance within the world. When the mind is stretching in this way it is stretching to limit itself even more.

Those who believe that material or experiential abundance will fulfill them are identified with the temporary body-personality-mind as who they are. That is the limit that mind’s ideas of abundance put on you. The mind’s ideas of abundance limit you  to a temporary manifestation.

Do you want to be limited in that way, or do you prefer to know true abundance as what you are?

The reading also says:

It is through witness that you know. That which you taste as witness cannot be forgotten…

In other words, spend time noticing life-awareness. It is through the direct knowing of your Self that you know your Self. You cannot know your Self through the mind’s concepts, no matter how lofty those concepts might be.

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

Today’s reading is another collection of pithy statements for contemplation. Here’s how I recommend reading NTI 1 Peter 5:

1. As you read, write down any statements that stand out to you as especially important or meaningful.
2. After you have finished reading, go back and contemplate the statements you wrote down.
3. Write what comes to you as you contemplate those statements. If you are guided into deeper journaling, follow that prompt.

It’s likely you will have a very insightful experience with today’s reading if you contemplate it as I’ve recommended. Don’t feel like you have to contemplate every sentence in the reading. Ask inner wisdom to help you know which sentences/paragraphs are for you.

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.