Day 293

Today's Lesson:

All fear is past and only love is here.

All fear is past, because its source is gone, and all its thoughts gone with it. Love remains the only present state, whose Source is here forever and forever. Can the world seem bright and clear and safe and welcoming, with all my past mistakes oppressing it, and showing me distorted forms of fear? Yet in the present love is obvious, and its effects apparent. All the world shines in reflection of its holy light, and I perceive a world forgiven at last.

Father, let not Your holy world escape my sight today. Nor let my ears be deaf to all the hymns of gratitude the world is singing underneath the sounds of fear. There is a real world which the present holds safe from all past mistakes. And I would see only this world before my eyes today.

Miracles I'm noticing:

It struck me as I read today's lesson how many times this course has to keep reminding us that the only things we really have to worry about are choosing love over fear and choosing Spirit over ego. It's really no more difficult than that. Yet we do need to be constantly reminded because the ego is so strong. The past is over ... there is no need to keep remembering all the human aspects of what has already happened - we need only remember our connection to Spirit.

When we are awake to the world of the Creator, we are creative - we see the world of gratitude and blessing and joy and hope, which is always there even when we forget. The sky is never gray - the blue sky is always there under the clouds.

What a miracle!

Day 292

Today's Lesson:

A happy outcome to all things is sure.

God's promises make no exceptions. And He guarantees that only joy can be the final outcome found for everything. yet it is up to us when this is reached; how long we let an alien will appear to be opposing His. And while we think this will is real, we will not find the end He has appointed as the outcome of all problems we perceive, all trials we see, and every situation that we meet. Yet is the ending certain. For God's Will is done in earth and Heaven. We will seek and we will find according to His Will, which guarantees that our will is done.

We thank You, Father, for Your guarantee of only happy outcomes in the end. Help us not interfere, and so delay the happy endings You have promised us for every problem that we can perceive; for every trial we think we still must meet.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I worked today with a client teaching personal accountability training and what I'm noticing for myself is my willingness to be vulnerable and share my specific learnings with audiences. In the past week I've really decided that life is too short to not be really committed to transformation in the organizations I'm privileged to work with. I've become more passionate - at least on the outside - in my presentations because I sense things shifting in me in the past couple of weeks. It's so wonderful to be awake to recognize those shifts!

I've noticed a couple of specific times - listening to XM radio on my way here today and feeling tears come to my eyes when a woman described her life situation as a 29-year-old single mother whose ex-boyfriend tried to break into her house and ended up killing her 14-year-old nephew who was visiting. Instead of dismissing this as just another piece of bad news and wishing those things would just go away, I was really moved by my empathy with her situation.

I'm not sure what that awareness means, but to me it's an indication that I don't have to try so hard to "get it" - I just get to choose to get it wherever I am.

That's what I see in today's lesson. If a happy outcome to all things is sure, there is nothing I need to do to meddle and control. I really can let go and let God and trust that the outcome is secure.

That's my miracle for today!

Day 291

8. What is the Real World?

The real world is a symbol, like the rest of what perception offers. yet it stands for what is opposite to what you made. Your world is seen through eyes of fear, and brings the witnesses of terror to your mind. The real world cannot be perceived except through eyes forgiveness blesses, so they see a world where terror is impossible, and witnesses to fear can not be found.

The real world holds a counterpart for each unhappy thought reflected in your world; a sure correction for the sights of fear and sounds of battle which your world contains. The real world shows a world seen differently, through quiet eyes and with a mind at peace. Nothing but rest is there. There are no cries of pain and sorrow heard, for nothing there remains outside forgiveness. And the sights are gentle. Only happy sights and sounds can reach the mind that has forgiven itself.

What need has such a mind for thoughts of death, attack and murder? What can it perceive surrounding it but safety, love and joy? What is there it would choose to be condemned, and what is there that it would judge against? The world it sees arises from a mind at peace within itself. No danger lurks in anything it sees, for it is kind, and only kindness does it look upon.

The real world is the symbol that the dream of sin and guilt is over, and God's Son no longer sleeps. His waking eyes perceive the sure reflection of his Father's Love; the certain promise that he is redeemed. The real world signifies the end of time, for its perception makes time purposeless.

The Holy Spirit has no need of time when it has served His purpose. Now He waits but that one instant more for God to take His final step, and time has disappeared, taking perception with it as it goes, and leaving but the truth to be itself. That instant is our goal, for it contains the memory of God. And as we look upon a world forgiven, it is He Who calls to us and comes to take us home, reminding us of our Identity which our forgiveness has restored to us.

Today's Lesson:

This is a day of stillness and of peace.

Christ's vision looks through me today. His sight shows me all things forgiven and at peace, and offers this same vision to the world. And I accept this vision in its name, both for myself and for the world as well. What loveliness we look upon today! What holiness we see surrounding us! And it is given us to recognize it is a holiness in which we share; it is the Holiness of God Himself.

This day my mind is quiet, to receive the Thoughts You offer me. And I accept what comes from You, instead of from myself. I do not know the way to You. But You are wholly certain. Father, guide Your Son along the quiet path that leads to You. Let my forgiveness be complete, and let the memory of You return to me.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I was awakened at around 3:45 this morning for whatever reason, and couldn't get back to sleep. I'm reminded of something Wayne Dyer says in many of his lectures from one of his favorite poets, Rumi - do not go back to sleep. Here is the entire poem:

The breeze at dawn

Has secrets to tell you

Don't go back to sleep

You must ask

For what you really want

Don't go back to sleep

People are going back and forth

Across the doorsill

Where the two worlds touch

The door is round and open

Do not go back to sleep

So I got up and wrote and thought and meditated and came up with some pretty neat ideas for some new classes and new insights and new actions.

And now, as I get around to reading today's lesson, I have a very deep connection with what is written here - so much so that it brings tears to my eyes.

I've been reading Wayne's new book Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life about his year-long study of the Tao. The main message there is to allow instead of control. I wrote this morning about flow and getting into the groove, examining our thoughts and determining the Truth. And today's lesson says "This day my mind is quiet. ... I do not know the way to You. But You are wholly certain."

Just let go. Let the current - God - carry you. That is certain. We don't have to be pillars of strength and fountains of knowledge. We don't have to be anything - just BE. How much do we really trust? Let today be your experiment.

This is a day of stillness and of peace.

Just ALLOW.

Just BE.

Blessed and grateful.

Day 290

Today's Lesson:

My present happiness is all I see.

Unless I look upon what is not there, my present happiness is all I see. Eyes that begin to open see at last. And I would have Christ's vision come to me this very day. What I perceive without God's Own Correction for the sight I made is frightening and painful to behold. Yet I would not allow my mind to be deceived by the belief the dream I made is real an instant longer. This the day I seek my present happiness, and look on nothing else except the thing I seek.

With this resolve I come to You, and ask Your strength to hold me up today, while I but seek to do Your Will. You cannot fail to hear me, Father. What I ask have you already given me. And I am sure that I will see my happiness today.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Yesterday I was having coffee with an acquaintance who asked if I would be willing to help him work out some things he is struggling with in his professional life. I don't know him very well - have just met him in the past 3 weeks - so it was really interesting that he would want to meet with me.

He said he is struggling with finding his true purpose, and feels that he's sabotaging his own success because he just doesn't feel his work is fulfilling. He's worried about money, even though he knows all about abundance thinking as opposed to scarcity thinking. He says he finds himself thinking about what he doesn't want instead of what he does want and he wanted to know from me how to change his mind about this.

What I found really interesting about this situation was that he was willing to do something about his situation by calling me. I think that's huge. Awareness is the first step to making any changes. It's what caused this course to be written - the awareness for the writers that there must be a better way in their working relationship.

We learn here that the Holy Spirit will enter at the slightest invitation, and that's what I felt yesterday. As I shared my observations and insights with this guy, things were occurring to me that I didn't plan, but that just showed up when I needed them.

One thing I recalled and shared was my experience at my chorus rehearsal on Monday night when our president was giving the announcements. She said that if anyone was wondering why they might be feeling a little down it's because it has been cloudy and gloomy for 12 of the first 15 days of October. When she said that, I occurred to me that that was the first I'd noticed the weather. As I was sharing that story with this guy, I glanced through the window of the coffee shop where we were and noticed the Lowe's sign across the street. It hadn't occurred to me how very blue that sign is. I told him that I probably wouldn't notice the blue of that sign if the sky behind it had been blue that day. Because it was very white, all the colors really popped in all the signs I saw.

It was a matter of perspective.

We also talked about how he may be sabotaging his results in order to be right about them. But with awareness, everything looks different. He might just notice what he notices and observe what that tells him. If happiness is his goal, it will always elude him, because happiness is not a destination, it's part of the journey. It is only the pursuit of happiness that we are guaranteed in our constitution; the achievement is beyond our grasp when we make that the goal. Again, it's a matter of perspective.

I'm not sure exactly what else we talked about, but he thanked me and told me he felt a lot better. When I was able to consciously be a conduit for the Holy Spirit, I could see his eyes light up and I knew that's exactly what was happening. That was my first miracle.

The second was at our course gathering last night. Although the group was smaller than usual (there's a lot going on in everyone's lives this time of year), those of us who were there really talked about a lot of great things. This course allows each of us to share our questions and struggles, and try out new ideas with support and love, and without judgment. I really noticed last night how very grateful I am to have this amazing support for helping me move beyond my current reality into the mode of creation, where there is no competition.

Today's lesson reminds us that we will see whatever we are looking for. Happiness is all there is - anything else really isn't there at all. Whatever we ask has already been given us. As we look for happiness, that is what we will see.

Blessed and grateful!

Day 289

Today's Lesson:

The past is over. It can touch me not.

Unless the past is over in my mind, the real world must escape my sight. For I am really looking nowhere; seeing but what is not there. How can I then perceive the world forgiveness offers? This the past was made to hide, for this the world that can be looked on only now. It has no past. For what can be forgiven but the past, and if it is forgiven it is gone.

Father, let me not look upon a past that is not there. For You have offered me Your Own replacement, in a present world the past has left untouched and free of sin. Here is the end of guilt. And here am I made ready for Your final step. Shall I demand that you wait longer for Your Son to find the loveliness You planned to be the end of all his dreams and all his pain?

Miracles I'm noticing:

As I reflect on Dennis' wonderful comment from yesterday's post (thank you Dennis!), I see that focus on the past is really the ego's need to be in control and keep tabs on any progress we could make in our thinking that would edge that ego out. (As I've learned from Wayne Dyer, EGO might be thought of as Edging God Out.)

Today's lesson reminds us that there is no place for guilt in miracle-mindedness. Guilt is entirely focused on the past, and, many times, sets in place justification for fear and non-loving thoughts and actions. If we give up fear and concentrate on love, there really is no need for guilt because that focuses on what is wrong and puts a whole lot of blame on ourselves. If we are mindful and aware, it becomes much easier to focus on love, and eventually that mindset replaces our old habit of past-focus.

I don't really think we focus on the past, being right, and holding onto grudges and guilt on purpose - I just think it's that we aren't aware that there might be a better way. With awareness comes responsibility (the ability to respond rather than to simply react) but that responsibility takes us out of victim thinking and moves us to much higher ground in our thought process and our trust threshold. There really is no place for blame in the world - not for other people or for ourselves.

Coming our of our comfort zones will be, by its very definition, uncomfortable - for a while. It's uncomfortable because it's unfamiliar. But the outcome of pushing through that zone and seeing a whole new world is priceless. Forgiveness is on the other side of the comfort zone - and that forgiveness is different than we might expect.

According to the Glossary of Terms from A Course in Miracles, here is a distinction between the conventional definition of "forgiveness" and what we learn from this course:

Conventional: Giving up your resentment toward another and your right to punish him, even though you keep the perception that he sinned against you and that you are justified in resenting and punishing him. According to the Course, this forgiveness cannot forgive, for it affirms that the other sinned and thus is worthy of condemnation (yours and his own). It also affirms that you are holier than he, because he sinned and you forgave. In Chapter 27 of the Course (Section II, 2:8) we read "Who can say and mean, 'My brother, you have injured me, and yet, because I am the better of the two, I pardon you my hurt.'"

ACIM: Giving up your false perception that another sinned against you and that you are justified in resenting and punishing him. Releasing this perception automatically releases your resentment and desire to punish. Releasing another not from what he did, but from "what he did not do," from your misinterpretation of what he did. This can forgive, for it frees your mind of resentment and releases the other from the accusation of sin and guilt. The rationale behind forgiveness is that sin is not real. It is a wrong perception of attack. Attack has no power to do real harm, because what is real (in you and in your "attacker") cannot be harmed or changed in any way. The ultimate rationale for forgiveness is that "the separation never occurred," that "I am as God created me," that "God's Son is guiltless." Attack, then, has no effects. It is a harmless mistake, a call for love. Thus, what caused you to feel hurt was not the other's attack, but your own misperception f his attack. Forgiveness lets this misperception go. As a result, it heals the other person of guilt, and can even heal his body. It also heals your mind of guilt and fear, for these came from our anger and resentment. It also heals you of your sense of separateness, for it takes away the perception of sinfulness that made you recoil from your brother. Forgiveness is the source of extension and the way to joining. Forgiveness is salvation. It is the central theme of the Course, and (according to the Course) of the Holy Spirit's entire plan for salvation. [Other terms defined in this guide are bolded in this entry.]

So with this awareness, I now am free to choose the thoughts that will lead me to love rather than fear. It makes the choice rather easy, in my mind. Noticing where I choose to hold someone to my past interpretations of him comes back to me as the belief that others are doing that to me. If the past is forgiven, it is gone. There is no need for grudges or long memories. All that is certain is now.

That, for me, is a HUGE miracle!

Day 288

Today's Lesson:

Let me forget my brother's past today.

This is the thought that leads the way to You, and brings me to my goal. I cannot come to You without my brother. And to know my Source, I first must recognize what You created one with me. My brother's is the hand that leads me on the way to You. His sins are in the past along with mine, and I am saved because the past is gone. Let me not cherish it within my heart, or I will lose the way to walk to You. My brother is my savior. Let me not attack the savior You have given me. But let me honor him who bears Your name, and so remember that It is my own.

Forgive me, then, today. And you will know you have forgiven me if you behold your brother in the light of holiness. He cannot be less holy than can I, and you can not be holier than he.

Miracles I'm noticing:

How simple it is to exist in the now if we can get rid of the past. I see there is a new TV show called Samantha Who? and I think the premise is that this girl has a head injury which causes her to have amnesia, so she has to kind of rebuild her life without a past. In some ways that would make things a whole lot easier.

Have you ever had an argument with someone which causes you to want to hold a grudge, and then forgotten why you were arguing in the first place? It seems funny that we would hold on to those grudges.

It is no coincidence that right now as I am typing this, Christina Applegate is on Good Morning America telling about this new show (I swear this is not planned!). She just said that people who suffer from amnesia know what pizza is, for example, but they don't know what it tastes like. It's a matter of opinion. So Samantha has to learn about what her opinions are and discover who she is. Every day we are brand new. Our skin sheds every day. The show is about what you would do if you could start over right now in this moment.

It brings up an interesting question. If we we are today the sum total of the choices we've made and the experiences we've had up to now, everything we have been has created who we are. How much of that experience do we carry around as baggage? How difficult (or how easy) is it to try to recreate ourselves when others in our lives have long memories about things we may have said or things we may have done that we'd like to forget?

All it means is that we have an opportunity to communicate truthfully and address those questions and situations as they come up. If we are committed to new pathways and new ways of seeing and being, we simply (really, it is simple) need to change our minds and stick to our new mind.

Today's lesson is about forgetting our brother's past. This would definitely help everyone who wants to make a new start because often it's we who keep others stuck in their old ways because of our long memories. Let's work together to hold space for others in our lives wherever they are - and support them in their efforts to be and do whatever they want, not what we want.

That's my goal for today - and that's the miracle!

Day 287

Today's Lesson:

You are my goal, my Father. Only You.

Where would I go but Heaven? What could be a substitute for happiness? What gift could I prefer before the peace of God? What treasure would I seek and find and keep that can compare with my Identity? And would I rather live with fear than love?

You are my goal, my Father. What but You could I desire to have? What way but that which leads to You could I desire to walk? And what except the memory of You could signify to me the end of dreams and futile substitutions for the truth? You are my only goal. Your Son would be as You created him. What way but this could I expect to recognize my Self, and be at one with my Identity?

Miracles I'm noticing:

Yesterday's master mind group was amazing, as all of them are. Yesterday we talked about the results we want to create in our community. I have shared my dream of a creative meeting space with the group in previous weeks, but this week one of the members of this master mind told me about a conversation he had had with another member of the group in a previous session, and they are really serious about creating an executive retreat center a few miles from Fargo and want my input about my dream and how we could share that through a cooperative or a time sharing setup. How great is that?!?

You just never know what will happen if the dream or burning desire or WHY is big enough. I firmly believe that the HOW will take care of itself if we don't let the dreams die, and if we're not attached to the way it happens. If we have expectations for specifics, we might be disappointed, but if we are committed to the dream, watch out!

I notice that as I study this course, my thinking almost automatically shifts to love from fear. It almost seems like there is no other way to think anymore and that's why it's nice to take a step back every now and then and just notice the way things are happening around me. It's amazing to see how God works in me and through me. I'm truly blessed and grateful!

Day 286

Today's Lesson:

The hush of Heaven holds my heart today.

Father, how still today! How quietly do all things fall in place! This is the day that has been chosen as the time in which I come to understand the lesson that there is no need that I do anything. In You is every choice already made. In You has every conflict been resolved. In You is everything I hope to find already given me. Your peace is mine. My heart is quiet, and my mind at rest. You Love is Heaven, and Your Love is mine.

The stillness of today will give us hope that we have found the way, and travelled far along it to a wholly certain goal. Today we will not doubt the end which God Himself has promised us. We trust in Him, and in our Self, Who still is one with Him.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Yesterday I worked with a client to help them with a refresher on some personal accountability training I conducted there this past year. I met with three different groups of employees for 2-hour blocks to answer any questions and help them remember some of the principles of the training.

Two of the groups were very positive, saying they had seen changes in the entire workforce since the training - people had become more aware of a shift in attitude, and a reduction in blame. The third group as a whole said they had not seen much difference in the attitudes and that they were upset with management because of a change in the profit sharing which had happened nearly 5 years before.

This group was bitter and resentful and felt as if they were doing all the work in the company and management was taking all the credit. It was a completely different energy than either of the other two groups had. When I mentioned this to them, telling them that the other two groups had seen quite a big shift in the attitudes, they said they were the only honest group then.

Since I don't know much about the details which would have led to this attitude from this group of workers, I was able to be objective in my coaching; however, there came a point where I told the workers that there would be no point in my trying to teach them anything new with the closed minds I was experiencing from them. I surprised myself with my calmness and my commitment to opening their minds. From a bitter and resentful beginning, we were able to move the energy in the room to a little more receptive end.

The lesson for me was a direct and blatant mirror which showed me how I used to be as an employee at my last job. In fact, I was able to tell this group about myself in that situation, which seemed to open them up to me a little bit. I saw myself in their anger and frustration, and that was what allowed me to ask them whether or not they were ready to let down their guard a little bit and listen to some new information.

I think we made some strides, although I sense this group has a long way to go. I can imagine what it must be like to carry that resentment and anger all the time, never letting yourself be vulnerable and open to letting go because it will look like giving in.

The lesson was for me and I'm grateful for the awareness I have which allowed me to see that. That awareness worked to help me as I attended my nephew's football game last night on the way home from the training. I sat between my sister and brother-in-law and that's a vantage point I don't get very often at sporting events.

My first job out of college was a sports editor at a weekly newspaper, so my experience viewing games or matches was on the field or the court, never in the stands. Since then, I've almost always been on the sidelines of live games as a statistician (I do that for 2 men's and 2 women's college teams in my community).

In the stands I was able to notice how nothing the refs or the coaches or the other players did was good enough for my brother-in-law. They didn't throw the ball enough to my nephew, the refs didn't notice all the plays that interfered with my nephew's team, and the coaches just weren't assertive enough. I noticed that my sister would jump up and cheer and dance and laugh and assert herself in a way that earlier in my life would have made me embarrassed. I noticed how neither of their behaviors affected me as they would have a couple of years ago, and I gave a silent blessing to each of them as I relished in my gratitude for my awareness and for who they are in my life.

For me the entire day was a miracle.

What do you notice in your own life?

Day 285

Today's Lesson:

My holiness shines bright and clear today.

Today I wake with joy, expecting but the happy things of God to come to me. I ask but them to come, and realize my invitation will be answered by the thoughts to which it has been sent by me. And I will ask for only joyous things the instant I accept my holiness. For what would be the use of pain to me, what purpose would my suffering fulfill, and how would grief and loss avail me if insanity departs from me today, and I accept my holiness instead?

Father, my holiness is Yours. Let me rejoice in it, and through forgiveness be restored to sanity. Your Son is still as You created him. My holiness is part of me, and also part of You. And what can alter Holiness Itself?

Miracles I'm noticing:

Even when I'm tired, as I am this morning, and don't really feel like getting up, after having driven from my speech in Minneapolis last night to this hotel room in central Minnesota and getting ready to work with a client all day today, I still have the choice to wake with joy, expecting but the happy things of God to come to me. It is a choice.

What will come to me today as I rejoice in my holiness and welcome whatever will be? That's the miracle today!

Day 284

Today's Lesson:

I can elect to change all thoughts that hurt.

Loss is not loss when properly perceived. Pain is impossible. There is no grief with any cause at all. And suffering of any kind is nothing but a dream. This is the truth, at first to be but said and then repeated many times; and next to be accepted as but partly true, with many reservations. Then to be considered seriously more ad more, and finally accepted as the truth. I can elect to change all thoughts that hurt. And I would go beyond these words today, and past all reservations, and arrive at full acceptance of the truth in them.

Father, what You have given cannot hurt, so grief and pain must be impossible. Let me not fail to trust in You today, accepting but the joyous as Your gifts; accepting but the joyous as the truth.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Yes, this is the truth. I know in my heart of hearts that I really can elect to change all thoughts that hurt. But sometimes it is just easier to play the victim. I can just hear myself now, trying desperately to justify the pain of loss and suffering I sometimes feel. "But you just don't understand," I can hear myself telling whom - myself? My Higher Self? When I feel the need to justify (which, by the way, doesn't happen nearly as often as it used to), it usually shows up as a thought that starts with "yeah, but ..." in my mind. For me, the word "but" is a sure sign that I'm trying to hold on to my need to be right, even though it may produce an unwanted thought like grief or suffering.

What if this lesson really is true, that I really do have the ability to change the way I think about things? What if pain really is impossible? I love how the lesson doesn't expect us to get it right away. That's too counter to what our ego has been convincing us for our entire lifetime. It allows us to try this new thought on, hold on to our doubt and our fear and our reservations, but keep repeating it to ourselves and see how that really feels.

I've just finished the book Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and I've learned so much. Not only is her writing style amazing and entertaining, the lessons I learned about myself and about God and food and love are somehow familiar to me. Things are not supposed to be as complicated as our egos want us to believe they are. Let's all work together and pull the mask off the ego we've become so familiar with all this time. What we will see is the Holy Spirit, waiting patiently for us to wake up and be calm, peaceful, happy, healthy and whole.

There is no order of difficulty in miracles. I'm ready to accept this one by just changing my mind about what's true. Join me and let's see what's there waiting.

Day 283

Today's Lesson:

My true Identity abides in you.

Father, I made an image of myself, and it is this I call the Son of God. Yet is creation as it always was, for Your creation is unchangeable. Let me not worship idols. I am he my Father loves. My holiness remains the light of Heaven and the Love of God. Is not what is beloved of You secure? Is not the light of Heaven infinite? Is not Your Son my true Identity, when You created everything that is?

Now are we one in shared Identity, with God our Father as our only Source, and everything created part of us. And so we offer blessing to all things, uniting lovingly with all the world, which our forgiveness has made one with us.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Last night's course gathering was amazing, as usual. It ended up being a counseling session for me regarding my relationship with my mother, which apparently I needed to hear. That's the beauty of this course and the wonderful people with whom I share my learning. Whenever one of us has something to work through, the rest of us apparently have need of similar lessons in our own lives, and, miraculously, the lesson we are studying applies perfectly.

Here is what I read after I diverted the study to my issue:

"It cannot be that it is hard to do the task that Christ appointed you to do, since it is He Who does it. And in the doing of it will you learn the body merely seems to be the means to do it. For the Mind is His. And so it must be yours. His Holiness directs the body through the mind at one with Him. And you are manifest unto your holy brother [mother], as he to you."

No accidents there.

We learned from our fellow course participants about many miracles in each of our lives, from a possible trip to Indonesia for one of them to a class in past life regression that two of them will be attending in Sedona to a connection one of them has with a long-lost friend in Hong Kong through a friend in Hawaii. Our connections in Fargo, North Dakota are reaching all over the world!

When I got home from course last night, I picked up where I'd been reading in the book Eat, Pray, Love and Liz is now in India studying at an Ashram. In this part of the book she had just been led up to a rooftop where she was handed a list of instructions and told to stay here until she was finished (she was struggling to let go of her baggage in her relationship with her ex-husband). Here is what I not coincidentally read there last night:

INSTRUCTIONS FOR FREEDOM

1. Life's metaphors are God's instructions.
2. You have just climbed up and above the roof. There is nothing between you and the Infinite. Now, let go.
3. The day is ending. It's time for something that was beautiful to turn into something else that is beautiful. Now, let go.
4. Your wish for resolution was a prayer. Your being here is God's response. Let go, and watch the stars come out - on the outside and on the inside.
5. With all your heart, ask for grace, and let go.
6. With all your heart, forgive him [her], FORGIVE YOURSELF, and let him [her] go.
7. Let your intention be freedom from useless suffering. Then, let go.
8. Watch the heat of the day pass into the cool night. Let go.
9. When the karma of a relationship is done, only love remains. It's safe. Let go.
10. When the past has passed from you at last, let go. Then climb down and begin the rest of your life. With great joy.

Later in that chapter I read:

"You might just as well hang it up and kiss God good-bye if you really need to keep blaming somebody else for your own life's limitations. So what I asked of God that night on the Ashram roof was - given the reality that I would probably never speak to my ex-husband again - might there be some level upon which we could communicate? Some level on which we could forgive?"

Through Liz's meditation that night on the roof, she realized that she could finish the business herself, from within herself. That's what my coursemates were trying to tell me last night. I need to forgive myself and move on instead of holding resentments and stories as truths in my own mind regarding my mother.

So I'm on the way toward healing and I promise this is the last time you will have to read about my mother! Those are certainly miracles, and I'm blessed and grateful to have friends and fellow spiritual students right here in my life to help guide me through it. Thank you, Posse!

Day 282

Today's Lesson:

I will not be afraid of love today.

If I could realize but this today, salvation would be reached for all the world. This is the decision not to be insane, and to accept myself as God Himself, my Father and my Source, created me. This the determination not to be asleep in dreams of death, while truth remains forever living in the joy of love. And this the choice to recognize the Self Whom God created as the Son He loves, and Who remains my one Identity.

Father, Your Name is Love and so is mine. Such is the truth. And can the truth be changed by merely giving it another name? The name of fear is simply a mistake. Let me not be afraid of truth today.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Today's lesson is so simple! Love is the truth and everything else is not true. As it says, this simple truth, believed and realized, would mean salvation for all the world. It is what it is.

I'm giving the closing keynote address today at Senator Byron Dorgan's Great Plains Technology Conference here in Fargo. This will officially be my biggest audience ever (they're expecting between 800 and 1,000 people at the conference in the Fargodome). My job is to give people something inspirational to think about as they leave the conference. As I remember that love is the truth, I have nothing to be afraid of. Everyone there wants me to succeed, and wants to be inspired by what I will say. That is exciting, not scary. I've got 17 minutes to call them to action as they go back home after hearing all about the exciting technology that is available to us in our state and in our world.

I accept myself as God Himself, my Father and my Source, created me. That shift in perception is a miracle in itself - and the opportunity I have to speak to this crowd is no accident - it's a miracle, too!

Day 281

7. What is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit mediates between illusions and the truth. Since He must bridge the gap between reality and dreams, perception leads to knowledge through the grace that God has given Him, to be His gift to everyone who turns to Him for truth. Across the bridge that He provides are dreams all carried to the truth, to be dispelled before the light of knowledge. There are sights and sounds forever laid aside. And where they were perceived before, forgiveness has made possible perception's tranquil end.

The goal the Holy Spirit's teaching sets is just this end of dreams. For sights and sounds must be translated from the witnesses of fear to those of love. And when this is entirely accomplished, learning has achieved the only goal it has in truth. For learning, as the Holy Spirit guides it to the outcome He perceives for it, becomes the means to go beyond itself, to be replaced by the eternal truth.

If you but knew how much your Father yearns to have you recognize your sinlessness, you would not let His Voice appeal in vain, nor turn away from His replacement for the fearful images and dreams you made. The Holy Spirit understands the means you made, by which you would attain what is forever unattainable. And if you offer them to Him, He will employ the means you made for exile to restore your mind to where it truly is at home.

From knowledge, where He has been placed by God, the Holy Spirit calls to you, to let forgiveness rest upon your dreams, and be restored to sanity and peace of mind. Without forgiveness will your dreams remain to terrify you. And the memory of all your Father's Love will not return to signify the end of dreams has come.

Accept your Father's gift. It is a Call from Love to Love, that It be but Itself. The Holy Spirit is His gift, by which the quietness of Heaven is restored to God's beloved Son. Would you refuse to take the function of completing God, when all He wills is that you be complete?

Today's Lesson:

I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts.

Father, Your Son is perfect. When I think that I am hurt in any way, it is because I have forgotten who I am, and that I am as You created me. Your Thoughts can only bring me happiness. If ever I am sad or hurt or ill, I have forgotten what You think, and put my little meaningless ideas in place of where Your Thoughts belong, and where they are. I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts. The Thoughts I think with You can only bless. The Thoughts I think with You alone are true.

I will not hurt myself today. For I am far beyond all pain. My Father placed me safe in Heaven, watching over me. And I would not attack the Son He loves, for what He loves is also mine to love.

Miracles I'm noticing:

Wow, there is a lot in today's lesson! When we realize that many times we are believing our own thoughts, which are not the Thoughts we share with God, it becomes much easier to see that we are meant to be happy and healthy. I can choose to hurt myself or not depending upon which thoughts I choose to believe. The Holy Spirit is here, placed by God, to help us recognize our own sinlessness, yet so often we choose the ego over God (EGO - Edging God Out).

When I remember today's lesson, life is so much easier. There is nothing to fear and everything to love. And that banishes stress and dis-ease and clears the way for happiness and health. There is nothing to fear when I know I've got the Holy Spirit on my side. This is a gift from God just waiting for us to accept it.

The awareness of this Truth is certainly a miracle in itself. Now we just need to accept it to begin transforming the world!

Day 280

Today's Lesson:

What limits can I lay upon God's Son?

Whom God created limitless is free. I can invent imprisonment for him, but only in illusions, not in truth. No Thought of God has left its Father's Mind. No Thought of God is limited at all. No Thought of God but is forever pure. Can I lay limits on the Son of God, whose Father willed that he be limitless, and like Himself in freedom and in love?

Today let me give honor to Your Son, for thus alone I find the way to You. Father, I lay no limits on the Son You love and You created limitless. The honor that I give to him is Yours, and what is Yours belongs to me as well.

Miracles I'm noticing:

There are certainly times when I forget that every human is God's Son, and by limiting my vision of myself or of anyone else, I am limiting the Creator. There is absolutely no limit to what any of us can accomplish. I notice that when I am in the presence of others who are having higher conversations, I am much more free to be who I am comfortable being.

I spoke yesterday about Perception with a group of medical coders and together we created a space where we could be open to new ways of seeing the world. It was just an hour, but I think we were able to allow everyone to think about things a little differently. I notice that when I am confident and remember that I am a child of God, things flow so much more freely.

There are no limits - on me or on anyone. What does that open up and allow in the universe?!?

Day 279

Today's Lesson:

Creation's freedom promises my own.

The end of dreams is promised me, because God's Son is not abandoned by His Love. Only in dreams is there a time when he appears to be in prison, and awaits a future freedom, if it be at all. Yet in reality his dreams are gone, with truth established in their place. And now is freedom his already. Should I wait in chains which have been severed for release, when God is offering me freedom now?

I will accept Your promises today, and give my faith to them. My Father loves the Son Whom He created as His Own. Would You withhold the gifts You gave to me?

Miracles I'm noticing:

I was just thinking about how much I love studying this course and getting together each Tuesday evening with my group to read and talk about what we're reading. I remember when I was a kid and how much I hated going to church and Sunday School. What is the difference? Why do I love studying now and hated it then? I think there are two reasons.

One is now it's elective. I don't have to do anything but back then I had no choice.

And the second is the joy and love I feel when reading and studying this course. I didn't feel that in Sunday School or church. Maybe it's the whole label thing - I'm starting to realize that my discomfort comes when labels are involved (Christian, Jew; Republican, Democrat; American, Canadian; etc.). There was certainly a right way and a wrong way to worship God in my upbringing. I remember one of the last times I was in church the pastor said something about the Christian God and that was the deal-breaker for me. How can there be a difference in the one God?!?

Today's lesson reminds me that there is freedom in God's Love. We can be free right now, not at some future time when we will be rewarded for our martyrdom on this earth. The chains are released and God promises us His Love and freedom.

That's a miracle to me!

Day 278

Today's Lesson:

If I am bound, my Father is not free.

If I accept that I am prisoner within a body, in a world in which all things that seem to live appear to die, then is my Father prisoner with me. And this do I believe, when I maintain the laws the world obeys must I obey; the frailties and the sins which I perceive are real, and cannot be escape. If I am bound in any way, I do not know my Father nor my Self. And I am lost to all reality. For truth is free, and what is bound is not a part of truth.

Father, I ask for nothing but the truth. I have had many foolish thoughts about myself and my creation, and have brought a dream of fear into my mind. Today, I would not dream. I choose the way to You instead of madness and instead of fear. For truth is safe, and only love is sure.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I met with a friend last night who was here from out of state and we had a wonderful talk and dinner. I love being with this friend because we can both try out new ideas and get to the truth really quickly. Even though he lives many states away, we can always pick up right where we left off. Last night we talked about each of our experiences with religion and how those preconceptions and early conditioning really did help us get to the place each of us finds ourselves today. He's not really sure whether or not he believes in God, but he knows there is something to be believed in. His experience as a child was of a punishing, rule-making God, so he's not sure that's what he'd choose now. But it's so fun to be able to have conversations about God in a safe space.

Today's lesson really validates our conversation from last night. If I am bound - bound by old conditioning or old habits or things that just don't work anymore - then my Father is not free. Truth is free, and what is bound is not a part of truth.

Realizing that I can choose my thoughts and I can question whether or not those thoughts are true without fear of hellfire and damnation for having those thoughts is very freeing for me. That actually leads me back to the God I perceive within myself and my brothers. And that is where I want to be.

That's the miracle!

Day 277

Today's Lesson:

Let me not bind Your Son with laws I made.

Your Son is free, my Father. Let me not imagine I have bound him with the laws I made to rule the body. He is not subject to any laws I made by which I try to make the body more secure. He is not changed by what is changeable. He is not slave to any laws of time. He is as You created him, because he knows no law except the law of love.

Let us not worship idols, nor believe in any law idolatry would make to hid the freedom of the Son of God. He is not bound except by his beliefs. Yet what he is, is far beyond his faith in slavery or freedom. He is free because he is his Father's Son. And he cannot be bound unless God's truth can lie, and God can will that He deceive Himself.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I've been talking quite a bit with different groups, especially in my master mind groups studying the book Think and Grow Rich. Yesterday we talked about fear, and what that means to us. We talked about what it is we think we really want, and one person said she really wants security. After we talked more about that, she became aware that she is giving up many opportunities to take risks and reap more rewards because she is so afraid of losing security. The conversation then turned to the real definition of security, and we realized that there really isn't anything that is sure anyway.

When we focus so much on the body, we realize that we are putting our attention on the wrong thing. The "laws" we think make we really believe will keep us safe and will help us do the "right" thing when really the only thing that is secure is the Word of God. We really have all the freedom and security we will ever need when we put our attention on the Truth, which is way beyond what the body can see.

For me, that awareness produced other miracles during the day, including heightened awareness of the responses and reactions from others around me during the meetings and gatherings of which I was a part. When I give up attachment to worldly things and ideals, I am much happier. Maybe that awareness was yesterday's miracle. It's that simple!

Day 276

Today's Lesson:

The Word of God is given me to speak.

What is the Word of God? My Son is pure and holy as Myself. And thus did God become the Father of the Son He loves, for thus was he created. This the Word His Son did not create with Him, because in this His Son was born. Let us accept His Fatherhood, and all is given us. Deny we were created in His Love and we deny our Self, to be unsure of Who we are, of Who our Father is, and for what purpose we have come. And yet, we need but to acknowledge Him Who gave His Word to us in our creation, to remember Him and so recall our Self.

Father, Your Word is mine. And it is this that I would speak to all my brothers, who are given me to cherish as my own, as I am loved and blessed and saved by You.

Miracles I'm noticing:

This afternoon I will be facilitating a dialogue among a non-profit board in which there are some hard feelings and the future of the organization is unsure. I'm not at all certain what I am going to say or how we are going to proceed with this process. But today's lesson reminds me that the Word of God is given me to speak, so if I remain an open conduit, and have a clear intention to resolve the situation, I am confident that everything will work out exactly as it should.

It is not only in conflict but every single day in every single situation that this is true. At last night's Course gathering we had a very powerful dialogue about specialness and comparison. Specialness always makes comparisons because specialness sees lack in another. Pursuit of specialness is always at the cost of peace. When we can see truth instead of specialness we will not see anyone as special or separate.

I will keep that in mind today as I facilitate this dialogue. If each of us can keep in mind our intention to leave our own specialness outside that place and come together with the intention of being truthful and honest and open, we should be able to allow the outcome to come to us.

Today's text begins with the line: "Forgiveness is the end of specialness." Another great reminder for today's event!

Day 275

Today's Lesson:

God's healing Voice protects all things today.

Let us today attend the Voice for God, which speaks an ancient lesson, no more true today than any other day. Yet has this day been chosen as the time when we will seek and hear and learn and understand. Join me in hearing. For the Voice for God tells us of things we cannot understand alone, nor learn apart. It is in this that all things are protected. And in this the healing of the Voice for God is found.

Your healing Voice protects all things today, and so I leave all things to You. I need be anxious over nothing. For Your Voice will tell me what to do and where to go; to whom to speak and what to say to him, what thoughts to think, what words to give the world. The safety that I bring is given me. Father, Your Voice protects all things through me.

Miracles I'm noticing:

I'm noticing more and more all the time the confidence I have when I speak about subjects I am really passionate about. My business partner and I had a meeting yesterday with the Minnesota State Chamber of Commerce, and during our presentation yesterday I noticed that when I felt I had to follow "a script" (there is no script, but when I put on the "official" hat, I almost made myself feel like there was) I wasn't as authentic. When I allowed myself to just talk about what it is Bock's Office does, it was much more real and I know the passion showed through. My partner was awesome, as he always is, because I could see and sense the authenticity in everything he says and is. I think I got caught up for a moment in the fact that this was "THE CHAMBER" and I think I reverted to "I've got to do this right" mode.

The miracle was how quickly I remembered, and got out of that old me and let the Spirit speak. Today's lesson is so great for reminding me. "For Your Voice will tell me ... what words to give the world." I love that!!

What are you noticing in your words, actions and thoughts?

Day 274

Today’s Lesson:

Today belongs to love. Let me not fear.

Father, today I would let all things be as You created them, and give Your Son the honor due his sinlessness; the love of brother to his brother and his Friend. Through this I am redeemed. Through this as well the truth will enter where illusions were, light will replace all darkness, and Your Son will know he is as You created him.

A special blessing comes to us today, from Him Who is our Father. Give this day to Him, and there will be no fear today, because the day is given unto love.

Miracles I'm noticing:

This lesson really sums up the entire course. If we give all our attention to love, there is no place for fear. And if we really stop and think about it, what is the opposite of love but fear? Another way I've heard Marianne Williamson talk about this distinction is love and a crying out for love. There is no other way to see the distinction, in my mind. And that makes the choice pretty simple ... maybe not always easy, but really, pretty simple.

How different the world appears without the cloud of fear!

What are you noticing?