Inspiration for Healing Through Changing Your Mind --The articles in this newsletter are written by people from around the world who are taking their perceived problems to the Holy Spirit, and sharing their miracles stories of how their thoughts are being healed.

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A Moment of Clarity -- by Rev. Michele Hojnacki

Over the past few months, every time I turn on my television, I am reminded that we “stand on the brink of war.” I’ve wondered repeatedly, how do I view this? What does Jesus tell me about this in A Course in Miracles? Each time I have pick up ACIM and read it, the answer has been right there although it has taken the work of the Holy Spirit on my mind to enable me to see, hear and feel the answer that has been given.

While reading workbook Lesson 124, “Let me remember I am one with God,” Jesus words rang through my heart. He said, “In our experience the world is freed. As we deny our separation from our Father, it (the world) is healed along with us.” Jesus thoroughly describes the healing that will take place as I accept that I am one with God.

As I read further along in the lesson, Jesus tells me, “No miracle can ever be denied to those who know they are one with God.” With that statement, I closed my eyes and held the world in the light of truth. I laughed inwardly as I saw in every face that crossed my mind, the eternal Presence of God. And I laughed at how absurd my thoughts have been, the ones telling me that there was anything other than eternal Life going on here. Perfect Life! Anything appearing in my sight to be something other than Love is an illusion. Jesus tells me this on one of the very first pages of the Course, “Only Perfect Love Exists. If there is fear, it produces a state that does not exist.”

In Chapter 12, under “Looking Within,” he goes on to tell me, “When you have accepted your mission to extend peace you will find peace, for by making it manifest you will see it.”

“When you look within and see me, it will be because you have decided to manifest the truth. And as you manifest it you will see it without and within. Everything you behold without is a judgment of what you beheld within.”

These are powerful statements telling me that my choices are made manifest for me to see who and what I believe I am.

“Remember, then, that whenever you look without and react unfavorably to what you see, you have judged yourself unworthy and have condemned yourself to death.”

What Jesus is saying to me is when I look outside and behold anything other than the sheer wonder of God’s eternal Presence, in an endless expression of His Love, then I am looking out through the ego’s beliefs. I have deemed myself “unworthy” of knowing His Presence and His Love within me. Because I have judged against myself, the world reflects this split from my Self back to me by appearing threatening, offering fear, hatred, attack and death. It mirrors my choice for separation.

According to the Course, we keep trying to solve the world’s ills by attempting to fix the by-products of the cause. The cause itself, the belief in separation, goes unnoticed. It has become obscured in the mist of endless manifestations of our original pain. What I find deeply saddening is that we, as a people, find ourselves trapped in fear and suffering that need not be.

There is only one problem, needing one solution. The problem itself isn’t really “real” because the separation never actually happened, although in our minds it seems very “real.” All the world’s ills are solved by accepting this one truth, “I am one with God,” because all the world’s ills are simply the continuous re-enactment of the separation.

For many, many years these were just words, concepts that I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around. Then the Holy Spirit turned a spotlight on these ideas, illuminating them in a way that brought me a moment of inner clarity, making the words internally meaningful. When I am graced with these moments of clarity, moments of knowing, every word in A Course in Miracles makes perfect sense. I know Jesus is telling me the truth.

I am also coming to know that Jesus does not want us to experience one more moment of guilt over a life lived based on mistaken ideas. He understands the confusion of the split mind. That’s why he gave us ACIM, so our minds could heal, gently, peacefully. He wants to help us “wake up” and discover the truth for ourselves. We are eternally safe and magnificently loved. He knows all the world’s suffering need not be. All Is Well. PEACE!

Click here to e-mail Michele.

Child of God in Cairo -- by Rev. Barbara Kraetsch

In the dusty streets of Cairo sat a small black haired girl on a pile of rubble-filled sand. She was wearing a long blue dress. It was a short and narrow street that led nowhere really, just from here to there, from one slightly bigger street to another. There she sat shoeless in the chilly evening air, wistful, solemn, quiet. Beyond a nearby open door, one could see into a hallway, lit by a light bulb hanging from the ceiling, and a rusty stove sitting on a dirt floor against a crumbling wall. The end of the hallway led to a turn to the left and unknown dim exterior of the seeming dwelling place. Did she live there perhaps? The doorway was almost behind the sand pile and there were no other lights.

I looked at her as I walked by. She looked at me. Nearby a young boy was running to and fro. Might he be a brother? I wondered if I would speak to her if I might frighten her. Her big dark brown eyes seemed pensive. She seemed fragile somehow, tiny, forgotten, discarded. Why was she sitting there alone in the dark? I thought of her often later that night and the next morning, wondering why she would write this story for her life, why grinding poverty, why a filthy hovel on a filthy street. What does it all mean, these stories we choose for our lives?

I remembered asking this question of myself for the first time, nearly 50 years ago, as a fourth grader in Catholic school collecting dimes for mission babies somewhere in Africa. I wondered why they were sick and starving while I was sitting in my classroom in middle America Milwaukee. My family was not exactly poor, only close, and certainly not poverty stricken. We were like much of middle class America in the 1950’s. Here I was again, asking the same question.

I turned to Holy Spirit and gave it all to the power of Truth and Love as best I could. I remembered that any guilt felt in choosing my life script is only of the ego. There is no need to choose suffering, lack and aloneness. We choose this from our fear of unworthiness. We choose our life in order to learn that as we took up this illusion, we can lay it down. It means nothing if not to recognize its nothingness.

I came to see for an instant that the little black haired girl was only a form of illusion, that her real self was safe in the arms of God, and that her life has great meaning. I could respect her choice as the best she can do in the moment, just as we are all doing the best we can in the moment.

I connected with her Light and Love over and over, trusting that the Divine Plan is at work. Is this enough to do for her and all the little dark haired girls of this world? As I could do nothing else for her, I trust in the strength of God that this is sufficient — to affirm spiritually that her reality, along with all the little girls’ is that she is a Child of God and that nothing she is writing in her life story, her illusion, can change that.

Are we called to act further? I heard the comforting words that all doing and speaking should come from the Light, as an extension of the Light. If it does not come from the Light, it comes from ego. The Light guides truly, the ego does not. In the Light is safety, peace, calmness and all goodness because It is an extension of Life Itself. In It, all things are possible. Without It, all things seem bleak, hopeless, overwhelming at best. With the Light, all things are seen for what they are. I came to Peace in the Light with my self. I came to Peace in the Light with the little black haired girl.

Click here to e-mail Barbara.            TOP

I Give Everything All the Meaning It Has for Me -- by Rev. Mary Stoelting

What meaning am I giving to the war in Iraq? Am I looking at it as a source for projecting blame or guilt? Am I using it to increase my sense of being separate from my brother? Am I using it to focus on seeing differences, which make separation seem more real? If so, I am joining the fear game of conflict and reinforcing the ego thought system in myself and my brothers.

As I watch the drama unfolding on television, I am also watching the thoughts that pass through my mind and reminding myself that I am giving everything I see all the meaning it has for me. This helps me step back a little and ask myself, “Just what meaning am I giving to this story of war that shows up in my dream script?” What do I want to join with right now, the ego or the Holy Spirit?

I look at the ego thoughts, and it wants to see loss and death and devastation. It wants to see the guilty ones “out there.” It wants to believe that attack and defend is the only answer to the problem that comes from a source outside itself. It wants to be the innocent victim of the guilty ones who are seen outside itself. It wants to see that we can harm or be harmed.

Thank goodness I have another option available to me. I have a Source inside my mind That happily gives me another way of seeing. As I ask my true Self, which is Love, to shine Its Light on this war scenario I am seeing, I am given another way of seeing it. I am given another way of seeing my brothers. The Course tells me, “Let the Holy Spirit show him to you, and teach you both his love and his call for love. Neither his mind nor yours holds more than these two orders of thought.” (T-14.X.11.5-6)

As I am reminded that I am Love and nothing else, I also remember that Love holds no grievances. Love extends only Love. Love sees past forms of separation — bodies — to the reality of Love that lies behind. Love remembers that the ego stories of conflict only reflect an unconscious effort to make separation real. Love sees that nothing real can be threatened. Love sees that scarcity, loss, separation and death are false interpretations and not facts. Love sees that what ego sees is not true and is not there. Love teaches me to look past my perceptual errors or forgive myself by looking past my distorted self-concept to the Love that alone is real.

Through the Course I am learning that when I make the conflict I see in the world real, it is only because I am giving it that interpretation because of the conflict that I am still holding on to in my mind. Ideas leave not their source.

The Course tells me, “By supplying your Identity (Love) wherever it is not recognized, you will recognize it.” (T-14.X.12.7) I am seeing that this war in Iraq presents me with another opportunity to supply Love to a situation that is calling for Love. As I practice remembering the truth and extending the Love I am, it will reinforce my Identity as Love and everyone’s Identity as Love.

Now when I see the war stories, I can use this to be reminded to bless instead of blame. I can extend Love instead of projecting hate and rejection. I can use this as another opportunity to generalize my awaking to the truth in every situation I encounter. Love heals all false ego stories and shows me what is true eternally.

Click here to e-mail Mary.               TOP

Moving Toward a Holy Relationship --by Myron Goleman

Recently my high school son asked that I lend him three hundred dollars to buy his girlfriend a present. Three hundred dollars! What was he thinking? When I was in high school, I felt lucky to have five bucks to my name. What happened to boxes of chocolate? Needless to say, I was not receptive and I could tell that he thought I was being arbitrary. Quickly the argument escalated. He cursed and hung up on me. I was stunned. I stood there holding the phone in my hand unable to believe what had just happened.

Toby is the youngest of my four children. We have a wonderful relationship based on love and mutual respect. I admire many things about Toby, his intelligence, kindness, adaptability. I have always been impressed with his willingness to listen to both sides of an issue and make informed decisions on what he hears.

When he was still very young I explained that I would get to make the final decision on everything because that was my job and my responsibility to him, but that I would always listen to his view. If he could convince me of his side of things, then I would change my mind, but that he would have to accept my final decision. This has worked well for all 17 years of his life. He may not always agree with me, but I think he has appreciated that I respect his views. We seldom argue and he treats me with the same respect I give him. He listens to my opinions and gives them some weight. Or so I thought.

I felt so many emotions at that moment. My feelings were hurt and tears came to my eyes. I felt angry and betrayed that he would treat me with such disrespect. I felt self-doubt. Immediately I began replaying the conversation in my mind trying to see how I could have handled it differently. I could see that I made him feel attacked in the way I expressed myself. Then I felt anger again that he was making me feel like I was wrong when clearly he was at fault and completely unreasonable. I was angry that he had broken faith with our long standing rule.

I felt out of control of the situation and wondered if this would become the new pattern in our lives and this made me very fearful. Was this just the first of many such incidents? Would this change the relationship we had spent years building? Had I lost control as a parent? I felt my stature as a parent was threatened. I was so afraid that we had lost this wonderful relationship we had always had. I felt, literally, abandoned.

I stopped what I was doing and took some time to soften and let Holy Spirit guide my thoughts. I went over in my mind everything I was feeling and identified as many of the thoughts as I could that were connected to these feelings. I asked Holy Spirit to help me see this differently. I knew there was another way to react, but I felt so overwhelmed by my emotional response that I needed help to see it. I asked God for His love and comfort and I meant it with my whole heart!

I did feel comforted immediately. Then I would start to feel fear or anger again. But I would just repeat the process and finally I started not only to feel better, but also to see something I had missed before. I realized that I was experiencing the results of a special relationship. Though I could understand the concept of special relationships in the context of friends, co-workers, husbands, siblings, I had never been able to see my relationships with my children in this way. In my mind my love for them was pure.

Now it was pretty clear that although I love my son very much, I love him best when he loves me. I love him best when he gives me what I think I need and lack — love, respect, admiration, obedience. Suddenly he was not playing the role I had assigned him and the relationship suffered.

It was hard at first to admit that I put conditions on my love as a mother. My ego kept coming up with justifications for my feelings. His behavior made it easy to do this. But it was too late for my ego to confuse me. I had opened the door to Holy Spirit and once opened, this door can never again be completely shut. As I thought about all the many conditions I have placed on my love, I found it easy to release them. All of this time I had placed myself at the center of the universe, depending on Toby (and everyone else) to keep me in orbit by behaving in ways that supported this idea of myself.

Once I started the process of seeing things differently, it became clear that I was projecting onto Toby all the bad things I was making myself feel. I was telling myself that the anger and guilt and fear I was feeling were caused by him. If he hadn’t treated me so badly I wouldn’t be feeling like this. I was making my feelings and behavior his fault. I felt enormous relief as I let this go! My discomfort wasn’t Toby’s responsibility. I didn’t have to change Toby’s mind, just my own.

For the first time since he hung up on me, I was able to focus on something besides my self. I started thinking about how badly Toby must feel right now. He too treasures our relationship and he is probably going through the process of justifying his actions and feeling anger and discomfort. I prayed for him to experience God’s Love and comfort just as I had. I continued to experience moments of self-centered concern and would dredge up the fears I first experienced. However, my ego could no longer sustain those fears.

I was also concerned that although I was feeling much more peaceful, I didn’t know what was going through Toby’s mind. Was he still angry? Would he get over this and how would he respond to me now? Then I realized that my responsibility in this situation was to forgive myself, to forgive Toby and to allow healing. I could not assume responsibility for Toby’s feelings or behavior. I understand now, that what was important was the purification of the relationship. The only thing that mattered was that I had given the Holy Spirit a special relationship and that now He could transform it into a holy relationship. I could quit trying to define this relationship and allow Holy Spirit to do this for me.

This began as a very painful situation, but I feel I have been blessed with a powerful insight. I feel our relationship has been blessed with a powerful healing.

Click here to e-mail Myron.

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I Bought My Dream House --by Rev. Laura Wittmann

This definitely wouldn’t be everyone’s dream house. The house was in foreclosure and needs a lot of work, but it’s exactly what I wanted. It is a large, Victorian home with lots of historical character and history to it, it’s a fixer-upper, it’s in my daughter’s school district, and with the low mortgage rate combined with the tax benefits of being a homeowner, I’ll be financially better off, or the same, as what I’m paying in rent, and I’ll have twice the space.

These are the exact “requirements” I sent out to the Universe for my dream home in November, 2002. My intent was to manifest this in fall of 2003, but it came much earlier. (The opportunity came up within a month of sending out my intent.)

I resisted the opportunity at first, thinking it was too early. I had wanted to focus my energy on facilitating the Pathways courses until I got more comfortable with doing that. But, within a few days, the universe had certain aspects of my life topsy-turvy and I had little realistic alternative but to take this opportunity. Once I let go and let the Divine do its thing, everything started to fall into place.

At every step — from the realtor, lender, insurance agent, to the seller — I had to overcome a major hurdle of people telling me, for some reason or another, it would be impossible for me to have this house. Yet, I knew with all my soul that the house was “mine.” So, I let go and I let Spirit intercede, and everything fell into place every time.

Along this path, I’ve learned that the house is not only historic, but it’s a healing place. It was built in the 1860’s by a doctor and used as a place of healing before there was a hospital in town. He then sold it to another doctor who, in 1880, wrote his name and the year in the foundation, which can still be seen. It’s as if he left a piece of himself forever imprinted in the house. Apparently he was an incredible man, a pioneer, a man who everyone liked, and a man who treated everyone the same, regardless of status in life. Although I obviously didn’t know him, I can still feel his energy in the house. When I was there on Friday after closing trying to clean the cobwebs off the walls and ceilings (it has been vacant for a long time), I could feel his energy near me and sense him smiling as if saying, “I think I’m going to like you.”

One of my daughter’s friends has his last name written on the wall in the basement. The second doctor to own the house was the first person to write his name on the basement wall, but definitely not the last. Apparently, it was the neighborhood hangout in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s judging from all the peace signs and “Class of ’74,” etc. on the walls. Through inquiring about all of this, I found out that my daughter’s friend’s father grew up in the house with his parents and 10 other brothers and sisters. His family lived there for a long time in the mid- to late 1900’s. In fact, their freezer is still in the basement — unusable, but unable to escape.

I’m finding out some incredible things about this house and its history. The realtor said the neighbors would fill me in as soon as I moved in (ah, the advantages of living in a small town).

Alas, moving in seems to be my next hurdle.  Although I now own the house, I still have some major hurdles to overcome.  I still have to remind myself to relax and let Spirit do its thing.

We’ve had a very cold winter this year and, if it doesn’t warm up soon and stay above freezing for at least a week, there’s a possibility I won’t be able to move in as soon as I planned due to the water pipes being frozen. I have not been able to turn the plumbing or heating (hot water) system on yet to assess the damage this freezing may have done. This potentially could be a very expensive cost that I have not been completely prepared for. At the same time, I am receiving unexpected money, the potential for unexpected money, and people offering their services for reduced and/or delayed cost, which seems to be enough to just about cover any damage that may have been done.

I’m learning to not get stressed about the “small” stuff, to expect the unexpected, and to trust in the Divine Plan at a much deeper level than I had learned previously. It’s been an awesome experience so far.

Click here to e-mail Laura.

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