“We are not the ones who are doing what everybody else is doing. We are coming out from among them and demonstrating a different way to live.”

This hit me hard when I realized it. We’re here to demonstrate something different.

The world teaches us that happiness is conditional. Love is conditional. Joy is conditional. Peace is conditional.

These things are not true.

But to reclaim our happiness, our joy, our peace – we have to come out from the world in terms of our thinking.

Here’s what helped me see this correctly: I used to demonstrate unhappiness. I would have argued that happiness had to be conditional.

How could you be happy if this terrible thing happened? How could you feel good if that situation was going on? You would have to be distressed. You would have to be upset.

I firmly believed those things.

But now people tell me they learn so much just from watching how I am. They see a different way to live demonstrated.

The best way to teach is just to demonstrate.

When things don’t go my way in the world – which happens regularly – I get to see: Do I have an attachment to thinking my way is the best way? Do I believe I can’t be happy if it’s not how I think it should be?

This is the work.

A Course in Miracles begins with “Seek not to change the world, but to change your mind about the world.”

So when we change our mind, we watch the world transform. Not because the world actually changes, but because our experience of it changes completely.

When I notice things aren’t going the way I wished they would it can feel like a challenge initially. Then I remember: I don’t have to be upset about this. I don’t have to let this disturb my peace.

Right now, I’m in San Juan, Puerto Rico – I came for 5 days to meet up with a friend and have some time off in the sun.  Then the snowstorm hit and it messed with our flights.  I’m getting extra time in San Juan because my flight was cancelled and rebooking was tough.  It’s not what I’d like, but I’m not fighting it.  I’d rather get back to my fur babies, but it is what it is.

My life is more peaceful now than it’s ever been – not because of circumstances, but because of where my attention is. It’s on giving and receiving love more than anything else.

I still get annoyed and frustrated, but it’s less and less in frequency and intensity.

You are here to demonstrate something beautiful.

Let your life be the teaching.

FREE Forgiveness Workshop on Saturday, January 31 – register now to join me.  Forgiveness offers everything we want!

NEW ACIM PODCAST EPISODE:  What to Do When You’re Afraid What do you do when you can feel the pain of the whole world?

In this episode, I share what happened when I sat down to read the news and found myself crying — not from despair, but from feeling the collective fear, worry, and anxiety so many people are experiencing right now. This led me to one of the most powerful sections in A Course in Miracles: the Special Principles for Miracle Workers.

I explore the difference between “pushing density” (trying to fix things in form) and “working in the invisible” (shifting consciousness at the level of the mind). I unpack why responding to error with anything except a desire to heal keeps us trapped in confusion. And I share the one prayer that changed everything for me — the prayer I now call my life’s purpose.

If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed by what’s happening in the world, come join me. There’s a different way through.