Day 54

Today's Lesson:

These are the review ideas for today:

16) I have no neutral thoughts.

Neutral thoughts are impossible because all thoughts have power. They will either make a false world or lead me to the real one. But thoughts cannot be without effects. As the world I see arises from my thinking errors, so will the real world rise before my eyes as I let my errors be corrected. My thoughts cannot be neither true nor false. They must be one or the other. What I see shows me which they are.

17) I see no neutral things.

What I see witnesses to what I think. If I did not think I would not exist, because life is thought. Let me look on the world I see as the representation of my own state of mind. I know that my state of mind can change. And so I also know the world I see can change as well.

18) I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing.

If I have no private thoughts, I cannot see a private world. Even the mad idea of separation had to be shared before it could form the basis of the world I see. Yet that sharing was a sharing of nothing. I can also call upon my real thoughts, which share everything with everyone. As my thoughts of separation call to the separation thoughts of others, so my real thoughts awaken the real thoughts in them. And the world my real thoughts show me will dawn on their sight as well as mine.

19) I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts.

I am alone in nothing. Everything I think or say or do teaches all the universe. A Son of God cannot think or speak or act in vain. He cannot be alone in anything. It is therefore in my power to change every mind along with mine, for mine is the power of God.

20) I am determined to see.

Recognizing the shared nature of my thoughts, I am determined to see. I would look upon the witnesses that show me the thinking of the world has been changed. I would behold the proof that what has been done through me has enabled love to replace fear, laughter to replace tears, and abundance to replace loss. I would look upon the real world, and let it teach me that my will and the Will of God are one.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I spoke yesterday in Bismarck for a group of telephone workers and I'm so grateful for what I'm learning from this course because it allows me to see everything differently and, consequently, to share things differently with my audiences. My message yesterday was called "It Doesn't Have to be a Dilbert World" and we talked about the differences between the way Dilbert would see the world and the way someone in a Good to Great mindset would see it. Almost no one in the crowd had ever heard of Jim Collins' Good to Great so everything I shared with them was fresh and new. I told them about Level 5 Leadership, where when things go well in the workplace, the leader looks out the window and when things go badly, the leader looks in the mirror. I told them about the Hedgehog Concept, and shared with them how they can discover for themselves what they do best and do more of it at the place they work. We talked about how Dilbert is very passive and ends up doing a lot of blaming, but someone in a Good to Great workplace (I used Tony the Tiger as the mascot) takes responsibility and stops blaming.

I think I was the bravest I've ever been in any of my speeches yesterday. I can definitely see the shifts in myself, and can witness the effects of my thinking on my audiences. I call that a miracle!

In addition, when I got home last night, I got the mail and in it there was another big envelope from my mother, sharing a sermon from her pastor called "Death and Deity - They Go Together" which was preached on February 18. The note she wrote with it said "Jodee, I thought maybe you'd like to read this. It tells you who Jesus is. Not just a prophet but our Savior with whom God is well pleased."

I see the shift from fear to love in myself as I read through the entire sermon. I know the old me would have been angry and defensive that I keep getting these things from my mother, but the feeling that showed up most last night was gratitude. I ended up writing her a 6-page letter telling her all about what I'm studying here and thanking her for her concern and her love for me. It felt great to tell her everything about what I'm doing and what it means to me. I'm not sure whether or not I'll ever send the letter, but it felt great to write it in the spirit of Love and Gratitude. I might ask my Course in Miracles study group for their guidance - that's the beauty of having a support system in place - but whether or not I ever send it, it feels great to have written it all out.

I was watching the Oprah Winfrey Oscar interview show last night and Sidney Poitier shared a line he said from Guess Who's Coming to Dinner where he was talking to his father. He said, "You are my father. I am your son. I love you and I will always love you. But you think of yourself as a colored man and I think of myself as a man."

That really got me thinking about my relationship with my mom. She is my mother. I am her daughter. I love her and I will always love her. But she thinks of herself as a Christian and I think of myself as a spiritual Christian. Is that really so different?

The bottom line is that my attitude is so much different than it used to be regarding this subject with my mother. Instead of seeing everything she is trying to share with me as proof that I'm wrong and she's right, I now recognize her gestures as loving communication. I am very secure in my beliefs, and I'm now allowing her to make her own choices about worrying about me. I trust that she will find the peace in her faith that I've found in mine - no judgment. That's surely a miracle!