Day 16

Today's Lesson:

I have no neutral thoughts.

This lesson shows that there is no such thing as an idle thought. My thoughts either produce love or they produce fear - if it's not one, it's the other. There is no in between because there are no neutral thoughts. This really shows the importance of recognizing when thoughts are fearful and when they are loving. All today's lesson is asking me to do is to notice and practice recognizing that any thought that comes into my mind is either fearful or loving - nothing is neutral.

Miracles I've noticed:

Just recognizing that any thought I have is either true or false - loving thoughts are true and fearful thoughts are false - reminds me that thoughts about people are not neutral either. I really notice my automatic judgments when I allow myself to just notice. The good thing about this practice is that my thoughts really don't mean anything - I've created all the meaning that occurs to me. I can see how if there is only love or fear and neither means anything anyway, the introduction to the Course makes more sense logically. The introduction says:

This is a course in miracles. It is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary. Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time. The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite.

This course can therefore be summed up very simply in this way:

Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.

Herein lies the peace of God.

I'm just going to notice today where my thoughts are either positive or negative - either true or false - either loving or fearful. I'll write more after our Course study tonight update the miracles I've noticed.

UPDATE: The Course gathering tonight was pretty powerful. The space we created tonight allowed some pretty powerful sharing, which really was a miracle as people opened up and practiced really communicating. It occurred to me that there are very few opportunities in "real life" where people get a chance to let their guards down and get real with their feelings and thoughts. We talked last night about how much all of us worry about what other people think about us, which always forces us to monitor our actions and also forces us to continue this upside-down thinking. We realized last night during several conversations that we really are much more alike than we are different, and if one person had something to say - a question to ask or a comment to share - it was because we all needed to hear it at some level. It was very powerful. Another thing I realized is how grateful I am that I get many more chances to live in that space of open communication when I facilitate or train. What I'm learning in this Course shows up all over my life as I learn to integrate my training into my everyday life. I'm much braver about sharing what I'm learning in ways that aren't threatening to everyday audiences and I'm much more aware of the effects of my coaching and teaching by watching the reactions of the attendees. I realize that as I work to live what I'm learning, it automatically invites others to join me in practicing open communication.

Day 9

Today's Lesson:

I see nothing as it is now.

Obviously this follows the previous lessons. If I see nothing as it is now, it would stand to reason that there is more to everything I see than whatever I might think. This calls for a much more open mind than I might have previously brought to any situation.

I love that it says in today's lesson that, although "you may be able to accept this information intellectually, it is unlikely that it will mean anything to you as yet. However, understanding is not necessary at this point. In fact, the recognition that you do not understand is a prerequisite for undoing your false ideas. These exercises are concerned with practice, not with understanding. You do not need to practice what you already understand."

I'm thinking about how this applies to the supervisory training I'm providing this week. We practice a new technique for solving problems with people, and although they may not understand why there is so much repetition, it makes sense if we consider that they don't need to practice what they already understand.

One "assignment" I gave to yesterday's class participants was to "notice what they notice" - in other words, just be aware of what draws your attention. It will be interesting to see what they noticed - and to ask myself the same question this week.

I'll post more tomorrow morning after tonight's second week of our Course study.