This weekend I’m leading a Forgiveness Retreat in New York and it’s sooooooooo beautiful, so healing. I’ve been reminded of how full circle I’ve come in my life.
The pains and problems that were so challenging for me are really truly gone from my mind and they’re no longer showing up in my life. I don’t judge myself anymore, and because I used to be so judgmental I can have real love and have compassion for folks who are feeling stuck in a quagmire of their own self-judgments.
Because I know what it feels like to feel like I’m overwhelmed and drowning in my feelings, I can truly offer support and a clear path out of that pattern to those who are willing to do something different.
Yesterday I said to the group here on the Forgiveness Retreat, “If I had to go through everything I went through 20 times again in order to get to where I am now, I wouldn’t hesitate to say yes. It’s so worth it. Now, not only do I no longer think the way I used to, I no longer feel in that old way, and I love, love, LOVE being able to walk with people who are willing to go through a similar transformation.”
And that’s why I say so often, “don’t ever, ever, EVER give up!”
Yesterday, we were working on forgiving ourselves for the way we’ve thought, and felt about our body and the way we’ve treated our bodies. I showed this video at the retreat, and I encourage you to watch it – click the picture below. I also showed it in the Change Your Mind About Your Body last class.
This video shows the amazing, and hard won, transformation of a war veteran who had been told his body couldn’t heal. He had given up, and gained a lot of weight. He was walking with crutches, and figured he’d be in pain and crippled the rest of his life. But he found someone who believed he could do it who was willing to walk alongside him as he began to take some simple steps toward recovery.
The video is a short video and it’s very inspiring. I cry every time I watch it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX9FSZJu448
I had heard that, some years later, Arthur, the veteran in the video, had gained weight back and had taken some steps back from his success. I have NO idea if that’s true, I hope not, but if it were true, it would be because he had changed his body, but hadn’t changed his mind about his body.
That’s what I see so many of us do, and I’ve certainly done it too. We work so VERY HARD to change the situations and circumstances of our lives –
- To quit addiction
- To lose weight
- To heal the body
- To change our finances
- To make advances in our career
- To fix some problem in our life
- To find quality friends and partners
And when we do all the things that we do – when we work desperately to change things – when our investment in the change is 99% in changing things in the world (our body, finances, etc) and don’t work on changing our mind then we’re simply going to manifest a version of the same thing all over again.
It’s why people marry someone who is just like their ex.
It’s why The Who sang “meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”
It’s why we have the same wars and battles and breakdowns again and again.
We haven’t changed our mind, but we’re trying to change the world.
A Course in Miracles tells us, right at the beginning, “seek not to change the world, but to change your mind about the world.”
The world teaches us, “change the world and then you’ll be happy.” And, since this is what we tend to believe, we continue to try to change the world in order to be happy.
And, that means that being happy is always in the future, it’s never now.
Yet, when we do change our mind, we can be happy now, regardless of what the circumstances. And that’s a huge relief.
So many judge themselves for not being able to make the world the way they think it needs to be in order for them to feel happy and there’s a great sense of failure when they can’t arrange things in a way that makes them happy. They labor in vain, not realizing that the world doesn’t make us happy for more than a moment. True Joy comes from within, from feeling connected with Spirit.
Only being aligned with our divinity can give us true and lasting happiness, Joy and fulfillment that we’d like to experience. This is within our grasp.
TWO FREE EVENTS YOU’LL LOVE – let’s join together!
LAST DAY, Journey of Awakening FREE weekend event hosted by my very dear friend, Bill Free, November 10 to 12 and you can join us on line today for inspiration you’ll Love.
TODAY – We’re coming together to share our inspiration in many ways. We’ll have a spiritual celebration together with message and music – we call it Sundays With Spirit. Please invite your family! If you can’t join us, you can catch the replay! Because we’re going to be live on video, you’ll have to register to get the detail. All are welcome, there’s no charge, but you do have to register unless you’ve already registered.
STARTS TUESDAY: I’m also sharing at the Heal Your Mind, Save The World a FREE 3 day global event starting Tuesday, November 14 to 16 along with friends Alan Cohen, Mark Anthony Lord, Corinne Zupko, Aaron Abke, Paul Selig and Byron Katie.
Let’s go deep and fly high together! Right now, people are registering for Masterful Living Program 2024, my year-long Program, that I’ve been offering for the past 15 years. It’s deeply transformational and based in ACIM Principles.
Folks who register NOW are getting some WONDERFUL BONUSES of really great classes with me this year – live classes this month and next. Click here to learn more!
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 new episode of my podcast’s topic is When It’s Hard to Forgive. ACIM tells us that forgiveness offers everything we want, so why is it sometimes so darn hard to forgive? How can we break through that resistance? This week I share tips in how to dissolve reluctance and move to higher ground.
