One of my favorite quotes from A Course in Miracles is “You may still complain about fear, but you nevertheless persist in making yourself fearful.”

As much as we might prefer to blame others for how we feel, it’s never going to be the actual cause of our emotions.  Our emotions are triggered by our thoughts, by our perspective, our point of view and our beliefs.  

When we consider our experiences of life, who can actually make us feel anything?  

Do I have the power to make people angry or sad?  If I do, then let me use that power to make people feel happy and peaceful.  

If I could make people feel happy I would, but that’s not how it works.

We each are responsible for our own emotional life, AND many times there are hidden beliefs that cause our feelings.

For instance, if we’ve had some trauma in the past, perhaps one that we cannot even remember, we may have made a decision about life, and that decision has become our belief and that’s what’s operating in our awareness and instigating the emotion.  

If I’ve felt belittled and ignored as a child, then I might be offended if someone doesn’t pay attention to me when I’d like them to.  It’s not their fault I’m upset, but they’re triggering it, bringing it to the surface so that I can offering it up for healing and allow that transformation.

ACIM tells us that our thoughts produce form, at some level.  Our emotions are form.  Our thoughts are also form.  Thoughts produce more thoughts when we choose to think them.  

Someone could say that dogs make them feel afraid and threatened, but is it the animals, or is it their thoughts about the animals?  I’ve seen people be truly frightened by a sweet friendly dog and I’ve seen people be calm with a threatening dog.  

We like to think that things outside of us can make us feel things, but we can choose to take dominion over our mind.  And the, we usually have to work at it quite a bit.  For me, it’s been the most difficult and challenging thing in my life.

When we can take responsibility for the thoughts we think we’ve made a huge step in the direction of spiritual maturity.  For me, one of the most powerful realizations I’ve had on this path of unfolding love is that my willingness to be responsible for what I choose to think is actually going to be a benefit to me.

I’ve learned that being responsible is an act of self-love.

It’s natural for us all to make mis-takes.  I make them every day and I also learn from them every day.  I used to be terrified to make mis-takes, but since I’ve learned to be loving with myself I’m not afraid to make mis-takes anymore.  Each one brings a benefit.

Some mis-takes are missed opportunities.

Some are tactical errors.

Some are oversights.

No matter what, I’m always learning – and I’m always learning to forgive.  Forgiveness is an act of Love and being able to forgive easily makes me a more loving person.  

Wonderful!

If this journey of working at the level of the mind interests you anywhere near as much as it does me, you might be interested in my Quantum Counseling Program with 16 other ACIM teachers.  I’ve never even heard of something like this!  It’s a deep dive into working at the level of the mind.

We had a whole meltdown with our website yesterday and so we’ve extended the early-bird for the Quantum Counseling program through Saturday, Feb 3 and I’m delaying the start to Thursday, Feb 8.  We’ve got 16 A Course In Miracles teachers who are also counselors are going to each offer a 2 hour class about counseling people from an ACIM perspective.  This program is open to anyone, but is of particular interest to ACIM students who have an interest in truly working at the level of the mind and experiencing miraculous healing.  Early-bird now ends Saturday Feb 3.  Grab it now while you can!

Teachers include Alan Cohen, Gary Renard, Lisa Natoli, Jon Mundy, Myron Jones, David Fishman, Cindy Lora Renard, Bill Free, Aaron Abke, Mark Anthony Lord, and more.  We each have a lot to share!

In late May, I’m offering two events, first, an intensive training near Phoenix, AZ, for those who’d like to learn more about spiritual counseling from an ACIM perspective as well as a training in how to create and lead workshops.  This work is so important to me.  More details coming soon.

If you feel that you’re interested in this kind of training, but you’re not sure if it’s really the right thing for you this year and you’d like to learn more, you can book an Exploratory Call with one of our spiritual counselors.  They can answer all your questions, and it’s a free call.  Use this link to book an exploratory call now.

LATEST PODCAST EPISODE!  The most recent episode of my podcast’s topic is Quantum Healing with ACIM. ACIM is a program for healing our lives in a miraculous way. It’s a step-by-step system for shifting our thinking so that we can live a loving and peaceful life. In this week’s episode, I share my own experiences of having quantum healing and transformation because of changing my thinking. Quantum healing is the miracle we’re entitled to!   Our thinking can be transformed instantly and the healing ripples out to manifest in every area of our life!