APRIL: Is Love Your Goal? Then Stop-Drop-And Roll!
IS LOVE YOUR GOAL?
THEN
STOP-DROP-AND ROLL!
“Miracles honor you because you are loveable. They dispel illusions about yourself and perceive the light in you. They thus atone for your errors by freeing you from your nightmares. By releasing your mind from the imprisonment of your illusions, they restore your sanity.”
ACIM Ch 1 Principle #33
Hello dear friends,
As I join you now in the silence, I gleefully watch a hummingbird outside my window fliting between newly sprouting branches kissed by bright spring sunshine. Happy Spring! At last, the masks are mostly off and we can rejoin our friends, see each other’s’ smile and perhaps even start new relationships and new beginnings. At the same time, what we know as A Course in Miracles students is that relationships are our teachers. They are our mirrors. If we judge them, we are judging ourself—and to hold a grievance is to forget who we are, and then we who were created by love will not know ourself. To hold a grievance is to let the ego rule your mind.
Recently, during my interview with ACIM, I was asked what helps me when I find myself in an “ego storm.” One little jingle I find helpful is to remember the instruction that firemen give if we are caught on fire. And that is, to STOP, DROP AND ROLL. Let me explain 😊
How do we STOP reacting to wrong-minded thoughts from the ego and instead choose the miracle that changes our perception? First, we need to realize that the ego is not real . . . in a nutshell, it’s only a thought in our mind. The ego’s world seemed to come into being when we made that first choice to believe in the tiny mad idea that we could be separate from God, instead of choosing to laugh at that thought. So, like a spider caught in a web—we seem to be stuck in the ego’s dream, although we are not really here. (We are safe at home with God, remembering) The full awareness of the atonement (the awakening) is that the separation never occurred. The dream will seem to go on for as long as we subconsciously believe we are guilty. As I mentioned in my March Newsletter, the sole foundation and existence of the ego’s control is the guilt it wants us to feel for forgetting to laugh at that mad idea.
Guilt also is not real. It too is only a thought in our mind. Ahh, but what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. As long we choose to delude ourself that we live in the world of form—we have to deal with duality . . . love or fear, good or bad, guilt or innocence. So that leaves us always at choice. The way to get back to the joy of love, and to remember who we really are is through the miracle of forgiveness.
“Forgiveness looks, waits, and judges not.” ACIM
One way to “look,” as the Course says, is to STOP. Stop when we are feeling down, low self-esteem, mad, angry, etc. That’s when our body is telling us that our mind has made a wrong choice. This first step is the hardest—and the most important. It’s the moment when we realize we have wandered into ego-world thinking. Like becoming a pro basketball player or a concert pianist, this step gets easier only by practice.
Once we have recognized our thoughts of grievance, the next step is to DROP them and choose again. Choose to “wait,” and ask to be guided by right-minded thinking that comes only from the Holy Spirit who is sent by love only, unlike the ego who loves to dish out guilt and delude us into thinking if I blame someone else—then I’m not guilty.
Guilt is the pain—and what keeps us in the game? Guilt is the pain of not remembering our innocence, and our brother’s. Who wants guilt? No one. So, like a hot potato or when a baseball is coming your way—there’s only one thing to do . . . get rid of it! When that line drive streaks toward us, we scoop it up, and then start looking around to get rid of it as soon as possible. It’s not my guilt, it yours! But guilt is only in our mind. It’s the cause that makes us attack and judge at all. It keeps us thinking small, powerless, and we forget how to love and to forgive.
Don’t pass the ball of guilt . . . just drop it. Just stand in your innocence and in the positive denial that clears your vision to overlook your brother’s mistakes. Stand in the joy of truth. See only love for that is what you and I truly are.
Now, we are ready to ROLL! Or as Tam in my Miracle Voices podcast interview suggested to me—we can DROLL 😊 We can be light-hearted in amusement of ourself for having taken the fake egos’ bait once again. We are reminded to “judge not” our brother—and “judge not” ourself for forgetting who we are. This is the miracle. We forgive both of us for what we haven’t really done, since the separation from God never occurred. That first step . . . noticing our resistance is a key part of the work. The ego couldn’t be forgiven and undone without looking at it first. Then, as I release my brother to the Holy Spirit in peace, I release myself. The Holy Spirit will take care of the details.
“In the end, the dream brings us home to ourselves and to God, as we follow the eternal light of sanity that glows softly in the illusion of insanity. As we realize it was always there within waiting for its welcome. This is a dream to find the love that can transform our nightmares into a happy dream of life.”
TGIC p. 393 (CLICK)
As a dear teacher of the Course, Jerry Jampolski always said, “Remember to let go, let God, and lighten up!”
So, until next time,
When you find yourself staring into the headlights of fear, I hope you can stop . . . allow yourself to laugh at your temporary insanity . . . and say, as I often do, THANK GOD I’M CRAZY! 😊
***** SEE ONLY LOVE FOR THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE *****
Thank God I’m Crazy available in paperback and e-book on:
Thank God I’m Crazy includes pictures of places which took place in Grace’s life, as seen in her visions. Grace Avalon, teacher and intuitive counselor, has taught A Course in Miracles for nine years. She gives presentations, seminars and workshops for anyone whose known abuse, thought they were crazy, or wants to live a joyful life.
*** Gary Renard, (International bestselling author of Disappearance of the Universe, and international speaker) says, “Grace Avalon’s courage to share her secret visions that led her out of deep abuse to heal through forgiveness brings a whole new level of understanding to the principles of love found in A Corse in Miracles.”
*** Marianne Williamson, (NY Times bestselling author, teacher, and internationally renowned speaker) , has said, “Grace Avalon inspires all of us to trust the wisdom of our hearts. Here is spirituality in practice.”