Regina’s Tip for Lesson 36
Setting the Goal from Chapter 17 in A Course in Miracles says:
“The value of deciding in advance what you want to happen is simply that you will perceive the situation as a means to make it happen. You will therefore make every effort to overlook what interferes with the accomplishment of your objective, and concentrate on everything that helps you meet it. It is quite noticeable that this approach has brought you closer to the Holy Spirit’s sorting out of truth and falsity. The true becomes what can be used to meet the goal. The false becomes the useless from this point of view. The situation now has meaning, but only because the goal has made it meaningful.”
Today’s Workbook lesson puts forth a goal:
My holiness envelops everything I see.
Setting the Goal says that an advantage to determining the goal in advance is you will “overlook what interferes with the accomplishment of your objective.” It also says:
“It is quite noticeable that this approach has brought you closer to the Holy Spirit’s sorting out of truth and falsity.”
In other words, in order to realize that your holiness envelops everything you see, you must overlook everything false that would say otherwise. The Workbook points out what must be overlooked in order to meet today’s goal. That is the idea that you are anything less than sinless.
The idea that you are less than sinless is what I call the I am bad belief. The I am bad belief interprets the things you see through the idea that you are not good enough. For example, the I am bad belief may show up in your mind in one of these ways:
You glance at a rug on the floor and think,
“I should have vacuumed that rug. I am so lazy.”
While waiting for an appointment, you stare at a wall and
mentally criticize yourself for something ‘stupid’ you said earlier.
You look at your hands and think, “I am getting old and ugly.”
As you walk towards your desk chair, you distractedly think,
“I will never get this project done on time. They all think I’m a loser.
That’s because I am a loser.”
An attractive person catches your eye, and you think,
“I’m such a fat pig.”
As you sit with a pen in your hand, balancing the checkbook, you think,
“I can’t ever make enough money. I’m a failure at life.”
In other words, in order to realize that your holiness envelops everything you see including that rug, that wall, these fingers, that chair, that body and this pen, you must overlook thoughts that spawn from the I am bad belief.
The idea that you are not good enough is false. The idea that you are holy is true. The goal today is to experience the true by disregarding the false.
Regina’s Tip for Lesson 37
Today’s lesson fits well with a previous workbook lesson, “I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing,” and this week’s reading from NTI Luke 9.
NTI Luke 9 says:
“Everyone who reads My Word, listens to My Word and practices My Word teaches My Word. There can be no exceptions. You, who are reading this now, are My holy teacher.”
Today’s Workbook lesson says:
“This idea contains the first glimmerings of your true function in the world, or why you are here. Your purpose is to see the world through your own holiness. Thus are you and the world blessed together. No one loses; nothing is taken away from anyone; everyone gains through your holy vision.”
That means that in practicing today’s Workbook lesson, you are rendering a great service to the world.
If you haven’t read NTI Luke 9 yet, consider reading it today. Reflect on it in relation to what is written in today’s Workbook lesson.
Regina’s Tip for Lesson 38
Some people may find today’s lesson hard to believe. That’s okay. You don’t have to believe it. You only need to practice it.
Others may get the impression they can pick a problem or form of suffering and ‘heal’ it miraculously with their holiness. You might be surprised to hear that’s not the best way to understand this lesson. The reason that’s not the best way to understand the lesson is that understanding puts too much emphasis on your perception of problems and suffering. When you are focused on problems and suffering, you are notfocused on your holiness.
Remember, you are not alone in experiencing the effects of your seeing. If you see problems, there are problems. If you see suffering, suffering is experienced.
A better way to understand this lesson is in relationship to NTI Ephesians, NTI Colossians and NTI Luke 9. As we contemplate our truth, our holiness extends into the world and manifests as grace. Grace touches the world in miraculous ways. It corrects misperceptions. It undoes miscreations. Grace is able to do this, because we are not involved in seeing—and therefore in miscreating—problems and suffering.
In other words, our role is simply to contemplate our holiness. Grace takes care of arranging the miracles that extend from that.
This point is emphasized in A Course in Miracles, Chapter 1 as miracle principle #5:
“Miracles are habits, and should be involuntary. They should not be under conscious control. Consciously selected miracles can be misguided.”
Consciously selected miracles are misguided for the reason already explained. If you select a problem or form of suffering and decide it needs a miracle, you’ve already seen a problem or form of suffering, and you are not alone in experiencing the effects of that seeing.
You may ask, “If that’s the case, why am I asked to select problems and forms of suffering as part of today’s Workbook lesson?”
That’s because right now you do see problems and forms of suffering in the world. Today you look at the way you see now and have faith that your perception will change as you focus on your holiness. And, your perception will change as you focus on your holiness, because there is nothing your holiness cannot do. As your perception changes, grace will extend into the world and perform miracles of correction. This will happen when your perception changes, because you are not alone in experiencing the effects of your seeing.
Regina’s Tip for Lesson 39
If this was an aerobics class, lessons 1-38 were the aerobic warm up; we were increasing intensity to get our heart rate up into the aerobic zone. Now our heart rate is in the aerobic zone, and it’s time to throw ourselves whole-heartedly into the aerobic activity.
Of course, we aren’t here to burn off fat or calories. We are here to burn off ego.
As you begin lesson 39, start by remembering how important healing or awakening is to you. Find your motivation. Realize your excitement about giving yourself fully to today’s workbook lesson. Your motivation and excitement will come from the heart, not the mind.
Once you are aware of how valuable this goal is to you, create a plan for accomplishing today’s longer practice periods. Set a stretch goal—aim to do more than the minimum—but do not set a goal that is beyond what is reasonable for you and your schedule. The ‘over-achiever’ aspect of mind can be the ego defending itself by setting you up for a sense of failure. Pay attention to intuition as you create your practice plan for the day.
Determine how many longer practice sessions fit in your schedule. Determine how long each practice session will be. Schedule each practice session for a specific time of day. Write the practice plan on a piece of paper or note it in your phone and carry it with you throughout the day. If you find it helpful, set an alarm to remind you when it’s time to practice.
Here’s an example of a practice plan for today’s lesson:
- 10-minute practice after reading the lesson and the tip
- 5-minute practice in the parked car before walking into work
- 10-minute practice during my lunch break
- 5-minute practice in the parked car before driving home from work
- 10-minute practice after supper
- 5-minute practice before bed
Take advantage of the flexibility in the instructions for today’s longer practice periods to spend a minute or two resting with the lesson, allowing related thoughts to come into your mind. For example, here are some related thoughts that came to me:
There is peace in my holiness.
My holiness is rest.
My holiness is love.
My holiness is joy.
My holiness is present.
My holiness is real.
This week I have found myself coining a new term, “divine greediness.” Divine greediness is the right useof greed. See if you can be divinely greedy today by embracing the shorter practices as enthusiastically as you would embrace someone handing you a gold coin three, four or more times each hour.
Think about how exciting that would be!
And then realize your salvation is worth more than gold and practice each hour with divine greediness.
Regina’s Tip for Lesson 40
Today’s workbook lesson is simple. You may also find that it’s comforting, or even fun. I recommend practicing this lesson as often as possible throughout the day. The more you practice, the more value you will get from this lesson.
Regina’s Tip for Lesson 41
Today’s Workbook lesson says:
“Deep within you is everything that is perfect, ready to radiate through you and out into the world. It will cure all sorrow and pain and fear and loss because it will heal the mind that thought these things were real and suffered out of its allegiance to them.”
It also says:
“You can never be deprived of your perfect holiness because its Source goes with you wherever you go.”
If we put these two paragraphs together, we see that we are holy because the Source of holiness is deep within us. It goes with us wherever we go, because it is within us.
Our holiness, or our true Self, is present within the background of our awareness. It is unaffected by the mind, and it cannot be lost. Truth realization occurs when we become consciously aware of the already present Self.
The ego is active in the conscious mind, and it has a tendency to protect itself. As we try to bring conscious awareness deep within, to the background of awareness, the ego struggles to hijack attention before it reaches that level. That’s the challenge of meditation.
Today’s Workbook lesson is our first attempt at meditation. It is our first attempt to go beyond “all the idle thoughts of the world” to reach enlightenment, which is already present within us.
As you meditate today, see thoughts about the world as the ego’s attempt to hijack your meditation. Do not fear or resist those thoughts; simply see them as unimportant right now. You can give attention to worldly thoughts later, when you aren’t meditating. Gently remind yourself, “For these few minutes, I have a different and more important goal.”
Regina’s Tip for Lesson 42
Yesterday, I mentioned that enlightenment is already present within. As you meditated, you attempted to sink beyond thoughts about the world to reach enlightenment. Today, you will attempt to let enlightenment come to you.
Letting enlightenment come to you is easier than it sounds. Thoughts from your enlightened Self can reach your conscious awareness. We practiced this with lesson 39 when we let related thoughts come into the mind. Those related thoughts came into conscious awareness from the true Self. Today we will practice that again.
Today’s practice will work best if you relax—don’t struggle to make thoughts come. Simply remember your intention and trust any thought that rises up that is related to today’s lesson. If it seems related, don’t judge it. Just silently repeat it to yourself, and then wait for the next thought to arise.
For example, here are some thoughts that came to me today:
I need not fear.
I can trust God’s strength, which is within me.
Surrender is the best way to lean on God’s strength,
and so I surrender.
Through surrender, I receive God’s vision.
I celebrate God’s vision now.
I know it is given.
I trust the promise that it’s here.
I happily lean on God.
I go forward with excitement.
The goal of truth realization is at hand.
Letting these thoughts reach consciousness is the first step toward listening to the Holy Spirit throughout the day, because these thoughts, the Voice of your enlightenment, is the Holy Spirit.
