Join us at 10:15 am ET/ 7:15 am PT for our Weekly Gathering with Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert

Join us at 5:00 pm ET/ 2:00 pm PT for The Mighty Companions

Revs. Glen Ganaway and Yolanda Mapes 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.

Join us at 6:00 pm ET/3:00 pm PT for Something Genuine with Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert

Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert facilitates this program, in which Awakening Together members and friends join together to watch and discuss TED talks that reveal the Truth of ourselves and our universe based on the actual experience of ordinary people. Their insights are genuine—not based upon theory or dogma—and give us a “man on the street” perspective on what we are coming to learn through Awakening Together.

Join us at 7:00 pm ET/ 4:00 pm PT for The Guiding Light with Rev. Regina Dawn Akers

Regina Dawn Akers reads selections from books by Bernadette Roberts. The purpose of this inspired book study is to learn from one who walked through the final doorway to no self, no world, no God–Only Reality.

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The first two hours of the Fall Retreat will be broadcast live in the Awakening Together Sanctuary including an interview with Brian Tom O’Connor, the author of a book called Awareness Games: Playing with Your Mind to Create Joy.

During the first 2 days of the Self-Awareness retreat, Regina will lead participants in Self-Awareness practices including games from Brian’s book. We decided to interview Brian in the Sanctuary and play some games with everyone! So …

Join us from 12pm – 2pm ET on Sunday, October 20
live from the Fall Retreat
to play Self-Awareness games
& to meet
Brian Tom O’Connor!

If you are attending the retreat, you will receive a free copy  of Brian’s book at the retreat. If you will join us in the Sanctuary on October 20 for awareness games, consider purchasing a copy of Brian’s book. (Purchasing a book isn’t required; it’s just a fun book.)

What are awareness games?

Awareness Games are ways to play with your mind to point it towards the infinite well of happiness and joy that lies within each of us. They are fun ways to sidestep all the ways the mind sorts the outside world, and instead, points it within to look for the background to all experience, happiness itself.

Awareness Games have one purpose: to turn the mind around from outer focus to inner focus, and through inner focus to find that obscure little secret passageway to expanded fo­cus. The delightful surprise is that the obscure little secret pas­sageway was hiding in plain sight all along.
Why games?

Why not practices, techniques, meditations, questions, koans, disciplines, instructions?

Because finding the well of joy within is not something with correct answers, set rules, reproducible steps. Everyone is different, so everyone must experiment (that is, play around) and stumble upon what works for each person. The best way to do this is with an attitude of lightness, playfulness, ease, innocent curiosity.

Because you don’t have to believe anything to play a game. If I try to teach you something, your mind runs it through the truth-checker. Is it true? Is it not true? Is it a crock? With a game, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is what you find out for yourself while you’re playing around. You don’t have to believe in any metaphysical, theological, philosophical, religious, spiritual, or even scientific concept. You just have to try it.

Because correctness and seriousness hinder the search. In some senses, even searching hinders the search! How can you search for something that is already here—that you already have? And yet just sitting around watching TV may not do the trick either. So play with your awareness like a toy—bounce it, squeeze it, smell it, shake it, become immersed in it. You may discover you are it. But don’t take my word for it—play with it yourself.

Also because Brian likes to have fun. (And so does Regina!)

About Brian

Brian Tom O’Connor is an actor, theatre director, cabaret performer, and formerly depressed guy who stumbled onto the source of joy and happiness in the background of all experience. He is not an enlightened person, which, in fact, is a good thing, because if someone as imperfect and flawed as he is can find it, so can you.

So try the games and make up your own.  Experiment.  See what works for you.  It’s all about your direct experience. Play with pure awareness and discover the background of all experience, where happiness is hiding in plain sight.

Whenever you suffer with a grievance, fear, anger, indecision, the sense of unworthiness or any other type of upset, Awakening Together’s primary recommendation is that you go within to seek clarity and guidance. We also recommend going within through journaling. This recommendation is consistent with The Foundation for the Holy Spirit’s purpose, which is “to help individuals become Self-reliant with inner spiritual wisdom.” (Awakening Together is a means of achieving that purpose.)

However, sometimes a person is not able to get beyond a particular block alone, and he/she needs someone to talk to. If that’s the case, who is the best person to talk to?

According to Awakening Together’s Sacraments of Grace policy, which is consistent with state laws regarding counseling and emotional or mental therapy, the only members authorized to provide spiritual counseling for other members is an Awakening Together Ordained Minister.

This is what our policy says about spiritual counseling:

The Awakening Together standards and expectations regarding spiritual counseling are as follows:

1. Awakening Together ministers are authorized to provide spiritual counseling, but Awakening Together ministers are not marital counselors, family or troubled teen counselors, addiction counselors, psychological or clinical therapists or financial advisors and are not permitted to administer those types of counseling.

2. As a spiritual counselor/mentor, the Awakening Together minister acts as a temporary external form of spiritual wisdom for one who is having difficulty recognizing inner spiritual wisdom due to current mental and/or emotional obstacles.

3. The primary goal of the Awakening Together minister as a spiritual counselor/mentor is to help the individual become Self-reliant with inner spiritual wisdom. The two primary means for achieving this goal are:

• • • Assisting the individual to let go of untruth.
    • Helping the individual embrace truth and ideas that point toward truth.

4. “Being an Awakening Together Minister”, which is a course in the Minister Preparation Program (MPP), details Awakening Together’s standards and expectations regarding spiritual counseling. Awakening Together ministers are required to follow the spiritual counseling criteria set forth in that course.

If you need to talk to someone for spiritual help, please select an Ordained Minister from our list of ministers on the website.

Note: A Licensed Minister is not ordained, has not completed the curriculum on spiritual counseling and is not authorized by our policy to provide spiritual counseling.

If you need help selecting a minister to talk with, contact us.

If you missed the Weekly Gathering about gossip, watch it on YouTube.