A universal assembly for true discernment
Revs. Glen Ganaway and Yolanda Mapes, who are interfaith ministers, share a delightful, funny and inspiring hour of A Course in Miracles. Come join in on the fun, the laughs, and the music while unlearning the ego through the lessons and chapters of ACIM. You can find out more about the Mighty Companions on their website: www.themightycompanions.com
Please read and contemplate quotes #581-584 in The Seven Steps to Awakening with your inner teacher. Here is the last quote:
All your problems arise because you have defined and therefore limited yourself. When you do not think yourself to be this or that, all conflict ceases.
Note: The next Daily Contemplation will be available tomorrow morning after 2am ET at this link.
Willingness is the state of wanting to awaken to truth and being mentally, emotionally, and spiritually ready to do it. It is a call from awake consciousness and a direct link to awake consciousness. When we focus on our willingness, we are in direct communion with awake consciousness. By communing with awake consciousness, we merge with awake consciousness. Focusing on our willingness is the simple way to awaken.
When we focus on willingness, we are consumed with one purpose. When we focus on the mind, our attention is scattered among many purposes. These many purposes are called distractions, because they all have one thing in common: they distract our attention away from our call to awaken.
When we focus on the mind and become distracted by its thoughts, we get lost in points of experience. We experience emotions that are different from truth. Forgiveness is the process of removing attention from points of experience and returning our focus to truth.
Today’s reading teaches a process for forgiveness. It is a simple process that can be used over and over. It can be used each time we find ourselves lost or stuck in an experience that is different from truth. Here’s how the process works:
1. Recognize you are experiencing an emotion that is different from truth and this is an opportunity for forgiveness.
2. Put the story aside temporarily in order to quiet the mind. I do this by writing the main points about the story in a journal. Writing the main points on paper helps me empty the mind—to get the story outside of me—so I can relax into a quiet mind.
3. Once the mind is quiet, or relatively quieter than before, turn your attention to your willingness or to your spiritual aspiration. I do this by asking myself, “What do I truly want?”
4. Focus on your willingness. Let attention linger there. Notice what your willingness feels like. Relax into it. Let yourself go deeper into it by being with it—by communing with it.
5. When you feel deeply in touch with willingness, describe the obstacle that you are ready to transcend. For example:
“I am experiencing worry and fear. I am worried that I will have to fight in order to get this project completed on time, and I don’t want to fight. I am worried that I will offend people as I do what I have to do. I am worried we will not complete the project on time. I am worried that if we do complete the project on time, they will put me in charge of the process permanently and that will just create new things to worry about.”
At this step, it’s important to stay in touch with your willingness. Emotions may arise in the body as you recount the obstacle. Allow whatever arises to be there. Do not judge yourself or the emotional experience; do not attempt to manipulate it or change it. You are in a healing space now, and whatever arises is coming up for healing. Let it be, and stay with your willingness.
6. Once you are in the healing space, any number of experiences may occur. I cannot tell you exactly how healing will happen. Trust whatever happens. Don’t think it is supposed to look a certain way or be different than it is. If you find yourself seeing the obstacle more clearly, look at it. Your clarity regarding the obstacle is a part of the healing process. If you begin to see the situation differently, accept the new point-of-view. If your feelings begin to morph into other feelings, allow them to shift and change. If you begin to realize guidance, trust the guidance. If you feel to grab a pen and journal, do that. If there is a prompt to practice inquiry, follow that prompt.
7. Do not try to force forgiveness, and do not try to rush through the forgiveness process. Be willing to stay with the process until you feel intuitively that it is complete for now.
8. Optional: I like to conclude a forgiveness process with, “Thank you.”
I recommend printing this tip for future reference.
Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.
To know your true Heart,
which is the one Heart,
you must forget your self.
You cannot realize
the desires of the one
when you see yourself
as separate and apart from it.
To forget your self,
surrender into Desire.
Ask of it,
“What do you want of me?”
Hear your true Heart answer.
~From our Holy Spirit
Participants from this recent retreat shared how they are taking their next step with God, with Truth. This was a time of sharing inquiries, insights and challenges, listening to others, or just knowing that we are in community as we find that undefended place within ourselves that longs to be free. This program was facilitated by Anne Blanchard.
Weekly Sunday Gathering with Rev. Jacquelyn EckertTitle: “What distracts you from the singular thought of God?”
Description: Sri Muruganar said, “As long as we do not free ourselves from the state of inattention in which the unified state of the Self that exists as pure consciousness is subverted through the ego, the state of love that is the fullness of the Real, free of all differentiation, will not be experienced in the heart.”
NTI Luke asks, “What distracts you from the singular thought of God?”
Rev. Jacquelyn discussed how listening to and believing thought is the distraction that keeps us in a state of inattention and keeps us from experiencing the fullness of the Real.
Reader: Glenda Carberry read NTI Luke Chapter 3.
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Michael DeForbes led our Sunday morning meditation. Michael is a student of Helen Hamilton. His guided meditations are based on the direct path, which is an integral part of our teachings here at Awakening Together.
Enjoy this powerful, deep meditation into ever-present peace and the now of the Noumenon which had the theme of embracing all aspects of the self.
All there is, is What Is. Just as it is.
Realize there is no separation.
Then there is peace that is beyond understanding.
Perfect Brilliant Stillness.
Beyond the individual self.
Stop focusing on words and concepts.
Look where the pointers point!
Be still.
Realize Perfect Brilliant Stillness.
Just as it is.
This enlightening book study, which isn’t a book study at all, is led by Regina Dawn Akers.
In this program, we watched and discussed a selected TED talk. TED talks follow a unique format. Speakers at TED events have a maximum of 18 minutes to share their messages, which are delivered in highly polished, succinct speeches. TED talks are delivered by people from all walks of life on a multitude of subjects. A great many of these talks are about the insights gained by ordinary people–insights gained through extraordinary experiences or based on their contemplation of the ordinary events of their lives. Either way, their insights are genuine—not based upon theory or dogma, but through experience.
The title for this Ted Talk is: “Change Your Story, Transform Your Life.” The Speaker is John Sharp.
Suppose you wanted to get started changing your life. Where would you begin? As a psychiatrist and therapist practicing for over 20 years, I can offer you a powerful and practical toolkit along with this very specific suggestion. Begin with your autobiographical narrative. It’s your personal documentary film, playing in your head like a loop. And if you want to change your life, it needs a re-edit. Dr. John Sharp is a seasoned medical professional, a board certified psychiatrist who practices on both coasts. He is on faculty at the Harvard Medical School and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Sharp is renowned for clearly conveying evidenced based messages regarding standards of professional competence. A sought after expert in the media, he has given over 1000 presentations on mental health issues in America.
This group was facilitated by Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert.
Day 239 AssignmentThis evening (or tomorrow morning):
Read NTI Acts 13 (v26-31) to the end of the chapter.
Tomorrow:
