In Part 1 of this series, Magic or Miracles (Part 1 of 3) (you may wish to read it first) I shared that, on our path of awakening, the ego can entice us into lengthy and exhausting detours to collect spiritual information.

We find ourselves believing that spiritual information will somehow precipitate our awakening, but often all it does is distract us and cause a sense of false pride because we know so much.

It’s the “smarty pants effect.”

We can laugh about it, and still, it can drain off years of our lives – it certainly distracted me for many, many years.

In fact, if we’re collecting spiritual information (rather than actually having a healing), then it’s pretty clear that we do not know much – because information isn’t healing.

What IS healing?

Love.

Love is the only healer, precisely because Love is our nature and our Source.

Love is ALL. Love is the All in all.

When we align with Love, we are remembering our divinity, and that is what heals our mind of all belief in lack, limitation and separation. Love connects us back to the Infinite Source of All Good.

A Course in Miracles tells us “All healing is at the level of the mind.”

In other words, whatever it is we’re trying to heal, whether it’s our body or our finances, our relationships or our career, regardless of how it looks in the world of form, all healing happens when we change our mind.

As students of ACIM we seek to change our mind about the world rather than to change the world.  

What does changing our mind REALLY mean?

It means giving up the false beliefs, which are our interpretations, and trading them in for an awareness of the truth that liberates us.

False beliefs clutter our mind and obscure pure insight and Wisdom. After all, what person is interested in Wisdom when they cling to their opinions?

Have you ever paid off all your debts, had some extra cash, only to get back in debt, and WORSE, within a pretty short period of time? 

I have.

Have you ever been in a difficult relationship that was really painful, only to finally escape and then find yourself in another similar relationship that’s even MORE painful? 

I have.

Maybe you’ve worked really hard to lose weight only to gain back even more – because you were working in form, rather than at the level of the mind.

Hey, most of us have done something like this MANY times. Right?

It’s pretty easy to see that this can literally take YEARS of our time, energy and effort. Years spent in worry, doubt and upset. Right?

Been there, done that and had ENOUGH!

Doesn’t it seem like it’s happening TO us? Doesn’t it seem like we’re doing everything we can to have it be different?

But if that were actually true, would we be repeating the same experiences? No, of course not. Sigh.

Here’s why this happens:

First, we have to understand that our painful experiences are the manifestation of our belief system.

We’re not being tortured or punished by them – just the opposite. 

Our difficult experiences have actually come to help us to recognize, transcend and transmute the limited beliefs that we’ve clung to from the past.

A Course in Miracles tells us that our healing is all about forgiving/letting go of the meaning we’ve made of things in the past. 

Everything that’s painful in our present represents some unloving decision we’ve made in the past.

Our challenges “re-present” the false beliefs we’ve chosen in the past. The decision point has come back again, so we can choose to heal our mind about it and know the truth that is our Freedom.

If we start managing and coping with our problems, then we’re not going to heal the mind that manifested them. We’re laboring in vain when we’re trying to fix the problem.

When we’re laboring in vain we’re seeing the problem as “out there” and we’re trying to fix it out there, instead of at the level of the mind.

Until we’re willing to let go of the meaning we’ve made of things, our interpretations, our opinions and judgments, then we’re doomed to keep repeating them.

Eventually, we’ll get tired of reliving the painful beliefs, investing our precious time, energy and money into the bottomless pit of managing and coping with our problems – and trying to fix the problem in the world.

Hard truth: The “problem” isn’t in the world.

The thing we see in the world is the symptom. Like a sneeze is a symptom of an irritant in your nose.

Your money, time, relationships, career and health challenges aren’t the result of things happening in the world. They’re symptoms of your belief system. That’s why you have to heal your mind to have a healing in your life.

Now, in Part 1 of this series, I said I’d share the key to having a breakthrough.

You can have an amazing speed-healing experience of your entire life, or you can have a slow one. It’s up to you, but the key is total willingness for total forgiveness.

A Course in Miracles tells us our “little willingness is all that’s required.”

Yes, “a little willingness” is the only requirement to move onto this path of healing. But, in order to really get some traction, you’ve got to get closer to total willingness.

Our ego says “Total willingness?! Are you kidding me? That’s not even possible! I can’t do it. I’m done. Forget it!”

But total willingness is not the same as complete dedication and devotion.

It’s willingness.

We can be totally willing to have a healing, and willing to forgive, even when we’re freaked out and have NO IDEA how it could ever happen.

Let’s face it, in every moment, we’re either willing to have a healing or we’re not willing. There are just the two choices.

If we’re really not willing (and sometimes we’re not) then let’s become very aware of it and at least be willing to be willing. Right? Most of us can get to that place.

What I did, that worked so well for me, every day I affirmed:
“I AM forgiving everything in all directions of time and space.
I AM forgiving everything, known and unknown,|
felt and not felt, recognized and unrecognized.
I AM forgiving it ALL.”

Then, of course, all day long things would be shown to me, so that I could see where I had made a decision, a choice, an interpretation of something in the past and now, in the present moment, I was being given the opportunity to choose again. And, this time I was willing to choose Love.

Look, it wasn’t easy to look at so many things from the past.
It wasn’t easy to see how intensely unloving and judgmental my mind really was.

That was hard for me.
But I was determined to “get ‘er done.”
I was determined to stop living like a prisoner in my own mind.

Real willingness is required. This isn’t just lip service. This is about really being willing in your heart. That’s what lasting healing REQUIRES. And there’s a way to get there.

There’s an important additional factor in being able to really do this, and not just talk about it.

This additional factor is the thing that really turns that key in the lock. That’s what I’m going to share about in the third part of this series.

But you know what? If you don’t have real willingness to forgive everything, it won’t work for you. You’ve got to have that genuine willingness first.

You can’t have true and lasting healing with lip-service.
You’ve got to put your heart into this.
Your desire lights the fire of healing in your Spirit!

And that’s why I’m writing this now. Because I’ve felt totally discouraged. I’ve felt helpless and hopeless while repeating the same mistakes, again and again, and having NO CLUE how to get out of the spin cycle.

I’ve spent years in that painful position, but I got myself out of it.

It’s a discouraging place to be, and it’s completely needless.

Tomorrow, I’ll be sharing Part 3 of this series where I’ll give you the key to having more time.

In the meantime, there IS a way out. Consider joining my workshop on Sunday – How to Unblock the Flow of Your Time, Energy and Money. If you desire more of any of those qualities, this is the one for you!

SATURDAY WORKSHOP– I’m inviting you to please join our Forgiveness Workshop on Saturday.  It’s FREE – invite a friend!

SUNDAY WORKSHOP: I’m offering one of my most popular workshops Sunday, February 18: Unblock the Flow of Your Time, Energy & Money.  If you have issues that trigger you emotionally, causing worry, fear or doubt, this workshop is for you!

LATEST PODCAST EPISODE! The most recent episode of my podcast’s topic is There Is No Death. All is one and so there is but one eternal life, and so there can be no actual death. What does that actually mean for us on a day-to-day level? Can we actually experience the oneness of all life and how do we know if we are? In this week’s episode, I share my own experiences of the unity of life, and the benefits of taking a stand for oneness, in other words, accepting the atonement for ourselves.