Yesterday we completed our Camino Adventure and arrived in Santiago for a celebration of our accomplishment. Woo hoo! It’s a great feeling, especially for people who’ve not challenged themselves in this way. It was 10 days of walking between 9 and 15 miles a day, and many days it was pretty warm and sunny. The weather was quite perfect.
I’ve loved it. I find being outside most of the day most enjoyable, but I’ve especially loved getting to know the folks in our group at a deeper level. That was the thing I was most looking forward to and the thing I most enjoyed.
It’s a wonderful thing, (for the ego), to see I’ve walked 34,000 steps in a day, or burned 1200 calories walking 14 miles. Maybe for someone else that would seem like a lot, but it’s definitely more than double my normal steps.
Personally, I’m extremely grateful that I haven’t been sore or had any real issues with my body. That’s a blessing. I’m used to walking my dog and cat, Bodhi and Sativa, an average of about 4 miles a day, so this has been an average of triple that. I feel Spirit led me to the perfect equipment in terms of socks and shoes. I tried about five pairs of shoes before I finally settled on the ones I chose.
What’s been most helpful is my mind set. I’ve been looking for the things I Love and appreciate, the things I enjoy and being grateful for them and paying little attention to the things I don’t like. My mind is extremely observant. I often notice many more things than other people notice, and in the past I would be consistently critical.
Our group in front of the cathedral in Santiago, Spain at the end of our Camino Adventure!
Buddha taught us that all attachments cause suffering. Our attachments are, in essence, our beliefs and opinions and they are the pain points in our mind. They act like splinters in the mind. They hurt, become inflamed and infected unless we remove them.
The best time to remove a splinter is the first moment that we notice it. Most people are walking around with “mental splinters” that have been there since we were children. Many of us have simply learned to accept the pain. It’s what I call “managing and coping.” At any point we can give them to the Holy Spirit if we’re no longer interested in those beliefs.
We manage and cope with the problems and pain points that we don’t believe can be healed – many times we’re completely convince they cannot be healed. For instance, let’s say that someone is suffering because something in life isn’t the way they wish it would be. It could be anything. It could be because they don’t look great in a thong bikini, because their dog has died, or because their younger brother is way more successful than they are and they feel like a failure in comparison.
Many believe the only way they can be at Peace is to change the situation and circumstances that distress them. The only way to feel good is to get in shape, lose the weight, the cellulite, etc and look great in the thong bikini – or get a better job than their brother and make more money. Most people are firmly and completely convinced that their happiness is dependent upon the circumstances – but it isn’t and it never will be.
In the A Course in Miracles, we’re told that we don’t know what will make us happy, “so stop thinking that you do.”
When I read that the first time, I instantly knew it was true and I decided then and there to break the habit of thinking I knew what could or would make me happy and instead to look for the causes of UNhappiness in my mind and root them out. In ACIM, Jesus tells us not to seek for Love, but to look within to release the blocks to Love. All blocks to Love are mental attachments and all attachments are blocks to Love.
In ACIM Workbook Lesson 64, we’re told:
“Only by fulfilling the function given you by God will you be happy. That is because your function is to be happy by using the means by which happiness becomes inevitable. There is no other way. Therefore, every time you choose whether or not to fulfill your function, you are really choosing whether or not to be happy.”
What’s our function? To be the light of the world.
People often feel that it’s arrogant to think of themselves as being the Light of the world. Yet, in ACIM, we’re told that it’s arrogant to think that we’re not, because we’re denying our Creator when we deny our function.
We’re one with God, and so if we’re not good enough then neither is God. If we’re horrible then so is God and everyone else. What is true for any one of us, is true for all of God.
In the world, we see the vast majority of folks are trying to GET something rather than BE something, because they think that if they get the thing they lack they’ll feel fulfilled.
I can declare with absolute certainly that the more focused I am on both BEING the Light of the world and SEEING the Light of the world in my brothers and sisters, the more fulfilled I feel and the more clear I am that there is no lack except in the mind of the ego identified person who blocks the flow of Love in their heart.
Lack can only be experienced when we’re withholding Love.
When we withhold Love, lack will be experienced everywhere in our life. This is why ACIM says, “to have, give all to all.”
Being the Light of the world is everyone’s calling. It means sharing compassion, gratitude, Love, Harmony, Beauty, and all of the spiritual qualities with everyone without discrimination. Love without conditions. It seems hard only when we’re more interested in withholding and punishing. When we’re no longer interested in that, it’s no longer difficult.
Punishing and withholding Love are habits of the ego that we’ve been trained in all of our lives.
Even though they feel so entrenched, they can be let go of in an instant. It only takes that true willingness to have a breakthrough. Cultivating that is the thing I am focused on.
Our life is God’s Freedom song!
If you’d like support in doing this work of undoing the habit of withholding Love and punishing the yourself and others, please consider taking my Finding Freedom From Fear spiritual bootcamp and joining with other like-minded souls who are doing the same work. I find that when we do the work together we get there faster and we laugh a lot more. It’s so much easier when we peel the layers of painful patterns together. Easier, faster, more Love, more Light, more fun, that’s the way for me!
My Finding Freedom From Fear spiritual bootcamp with ACIM Principles starts TOMORROW, MONDAY, October 16! This is one of my most popular programs and it won’t be offered again for at least a year.
My Finding Freedom From Fear Bootcamp is about being able to practice going the other way, changing our mind and being more interested in the truth than our perceptions.
In Finding Freedom From Fear, we’re devoted to clearing away the resentments and regrets in order to receive intuition, insight, Divine Guidance, and inspiration more clearly than ever before. It’s the VERY best gift we can give to ourselves and we get to share it with everyone because all minds are joined.. This healing requires that we give up the judgments that block our intuition. This is the practice that allows us to expand into a life of perfect Love! Come join me and let’s finish the year together brilliantly!
Spiritual Liberation, that’s what finding freedom is really about.
I’ve got several things coming up you may find fun and helpful:
- Finding Freedom From Fear Spiritual Bootcamp based on ACIM principles starts October 16
- Forgiveness Retreat in the NY Catskills November 9 to 12 – this is an absolute BARGAIN – only 497. Plus a great rate on lodging and meals! CHECK IT OUT!
- Spiritual Counseling Training Intensive in the NY Catskills November 13 to 19.
If you’re interested in the training, consider coming to the Forgiveness Retreat too to have a MAJOR shift and a big discount!
If you feel you’ve been holding yourself back and letting fear decide, this might be your answered prayer! If it’s right for you, you’ll know. Trust your intuition!
Not sure if one of my programs is right for you? You’re invited to schedule a free Exploratory Call with one of our certified spiritual counselors to get your questions answered and see if this program can bring you the results YOU would like!
NEW PODCAST EPISODE! The most recent episode of my podcast’s topic is The Undoing of Fear. Fear is the direct result of how we choose to see the world. The Holy Spirit can undo our perception if we’re willing. In this episode, Jennifer shares how to undo the habit of fear, and to more quickly wake up to the truth of the Love that we are. It’s not hard. Living in fear is hard.
TODAY, Sundays With S
