Day 21

Today's Lesson:

I am determined to see things differently.

Again, today's lesson builds on the previous ones and asks us to start being even more specific in our thinking. The instructions today ask us to think carefully about situations past, present, or anticipated in the future that arouse anger in us. We are to think of any situations, "big" or "small" which might cause that reaction in us. As we think of situations as more or less frustrating or irritating to us, we might see that we believe some forms of attack are more justified than others. We've already learned that nothing we believe about this connection means anything anyway.

Miracles I've noticed:

Just thinking about today's lesson I realize that there are far fewer things in my life that really make me angry. I've thought about politics, religion and other "hot topics" that used to really rile me up and I'm noticing that I don't have the same reaction anymore. I notice when talk radio and TV personalities like Bill O'Reilly try to stir up controversy, but I'm just not as affected as I used to be. Of course, the lesson today reminds me that "a slight twinge of annoyance is nothing but a veil drawn over intense fury." I'm starting to understand that as I keep up the practice of the Course and its lessons, I will begin to retrain my mind out of my old habits. I'm looking forward to the day when I won't have to think so much and work on retraining but I will have crossed that bridge where that's just the way it is. Until then, I'll keep practicing and keep noticing.