April-June, 2019
This year is the 25th anniversary of us hosting a gathering to watch the 1993 film Groundhog Day and to discuss its spiritual implications. Each year, A Course in Miracles (ACIM) is a source of many quotes pertinent to our thematic Groundhog Day discussions.
As you may know, the film’s basic storyline is that Phil (the weatherman) is stuck in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania re-living the same February 2nd Groundhog Day over and over and over until he learns to look at the world differently.
A premise of the film is that each Groundhog Day, Phil (the man) does a broadcast of the weather report based on whether Phil (the groundhog) sees his shadow which foretells six more weeks of winter.
Each year we select a different theme for our Groundhog Day deliberations. These have included:
• I Make the Weather! Our inner and outer weather reports
• Extending Love — Phil Chooses Again
• Perception
• To You or For You
• What You Seek — You Will Find
• Appreciate Now!
• From Desolation to Consolation
• Time: Past — Today — Future
• Habitual Thinking — Recognizing Mental Ruts and Letting Them Go
• Prayer and Our Heart’s Desire — What am I truly desiring or wishing for? For what am I praying?
In the first part of the film, we see the ego-driven, self-centered, judgmental Phil going through the motions and focused on predicting the future. At one point Phil says, “I make the weather” and another time he says “Someday, somebody is going to see me interviewing a groundhog and think I don’t have a future.”
As the Course says in Lesson 325, “What I see reflects a process in my mind, which starts with my idea of what I want. From there, the mind makes up an image of the thing the mind desires, judges valuable, and therefore seeks to find. These images are then projected outward, looked upon, esteemed as real and guarded as one’s own. From insane wishes comes an insane world. From judgment comes a world condemned.” (W-pII.325.1:1-5)
As the same day starts repeating itself, Phil tries to manipulate his situation. He says, “What if there were no tomorrow? … We could do whatever we want.” And, later he says, “You can’t plan a day like this. Well, you can, but it takes an awful lot of work.”
As Lesson 135 in the Course says “The mind engaged in planning for itself is occupied in setting up control of future happenings. It does not think it will be provided for, unless it makes its own provisions. Time becomes a future emphasis, to be controlled by learning and experience obtained from past events and previous beliefs.” (W-pI.135.15:1-4)
However, as Phil’s attempts at planning and control fail, he becomes bitter and morose and feels he is living in perpetual misery. In his weather report, Phil says “It’s cold out there today. It’s cold out there every day. If you want a prediction about the weather, you’re asking the wrong Phil. I’ll give you a weather prediction: It’s going to be cold and it’s going to be gray, and it’s going to last the rest of your life.”
These are themes the Course addresses again and again. “Time can release as well as imprison, depending on whose interpretation you use.” (T-13.VI.4:1)
“For time is cruel in the ego’s hands …” (T-17.III.4:2)
“Guilt feelings are the preservers of time. They induce fears of retaliation or abandonment, and thus ensure a future will be like the past.” (T-5.VI.2:1-2)
“Listen to what the ego says, and see what it directs you see, and it is sure that you will see yourself as tiny, vulnerable, and afraid. You will experience depression, a sense of worthlessness, and feelings of impermanence and unreality. You will believe that you are helpless prey to forces far beyond your control, and far more powerful than you are.” (T-21.V.2:3-5) “Until you choose Heaven, you are in hell and misery.” (T-22.II.7:8)
Phil becomes so desperate that he tries to kill himself over and over, but nothing works and he is like the walking dead.
As the Course says in Lesson 189, “If hatred finds a place within your heart, you will perceive a fearful world, held cruelly in death’s sharp-pointed, bony fingers.” (W-pI.189.5:4)
And, in the text, “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.” (T-12.VII.13:1)
Finally, in the film, Phil learns to practice forgiveness and “look on all things with love, appreciation and open-mindedness.” (ACIM W-pI.29.3:1)
The world transforms in his eyes, he starts loving himself and everyone around him, and he truly enjoys living Groundhog Day over and over.
As the Course says in Lesson 52, “When I have forgiven myself and remembered Who I am, I will bless everyone and everything I see. There will be no past, and therefore no enemies. And I will look with love on all that I failed to see before.” (W.pI.52.2:5-7)
Then, in his weather report, Phil expresses his change in perspective in saying, ”When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet, we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. Standing here among the people… and basking in the warmth of their hearts and hearths, I could not imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter.”
Phil is experiencing his repeating days as stated in Lesson 315 of the Course:
“Each day a thousand treasures come to me with every passing moment. I am blessed with gifts through the day, in value far beyond all things of which I can conceive. A brother smiles upon another, and my heart is gladdened. Someone speaks a word of gratitude or mercy, and my mind receives this gift and takes it as its own.” (W-pI.189.1:7;3:5;4:2-3)
We certainly enjoy each year’s viewing of the film and the insightful conversations we have with friends. This year’s 25th anniversary was a chance to gather and reflect on “the best of Groundhog Day” and again Spirit led us to learn and grow and appreciate more.
Rev. Peggy Booth is a Pathways of Light minister living in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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© 2019, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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April-June, 2019
What does humility mean to you? I could pull some good sounding words out my cubicle mind/me-character hat to answer this question, but I won’t.Instead I will share how confused I was about humility most of my life. Probably like many of us I once thought to be humble was to hide behind the curtain, let people step all over you, don’t speak up or loudly enough so anyone can hear you, and don’t stir the pot. Turns out this is not what it is to practice humility. Yes, I am seeing that humility, like Pause for Inspiration, is a practice. A practice in letting go of who I think I am in exchange for who I am truly.
One way to see humility. Notice I did not say “understand humility.” I am uncovering that my understanding is highly overrated! So, instead I am opening to truly seeing humility. Well, I saw humility abounding two weeks ago where we were sharing the Pause for Inspiration free materials and I was speaking on “Pause for Your Inner Resources” at the Missouri Rehabilitation Conference in Lake of the Ozarks.
The conference began with a Sunday evening awards banquet. Now, I don’t know about you, but I generally have no interest in receiving awards myself much less sitting for hours and watching other people receive awards. No offense please. However, this awards banquet struck me in a way that I am still finding myself lingering in — the experience of true humility! I found a new “inner resource.”
One by one the award winners were recognized and moseyed on up to the stage. I was truly humbled watching all this happen. There were no long speeches, no taking in the spotlight, not at all. Rather each person was clearly deeply touched in being recognized, yet clearly not at all in need of recognition, approval or a round of applause. It seemed to me that each person simply saw themselves as doing their job, loving the people they serve, and showing up moment-to-moment to do whatever needed to be done. I didn’t perceive any false humility or grandiosity. Most of them simply quietly and hesitantly approached the microphone and said, “Thank you” and walked away. One person said, “I have nothing to say.” Another didn’t even speak.
Then there was Mr. Humble himself. The speaker told the story of this young man challenged with learning disabilities, had recently lost his job of eight years washing dishes in a local restaurant. He got an interview with the local Bandana’s.
As the manager was interviewing him, asking questions, this young man saw a server carrying lots of plates of food and struggling to manage it all. So, he said to the manager in the middle of the interview, “Excuse me, she needs some help.”
He proceeded to get up and go over and help the server! He got the job. I see this as humility. He was less concerned about impressing the manager with stories about himself and instead became a demonstration of customer service.
As I watched these people, they moved me on the inside. I became humbled in their presence. I shifted from being tired after a long day of driving, unpacking, rushing around and looking forward to my pajamas and bed, to becoming absolutely still on the inside. My own ego sense of what it is to be humble, crumbled. What I am finding in humility is strength and enthusiasm. “Thank you.”
TODAY I’M A KID
Some days I need the basics — the basic pause. Today I am busy harassing myself about all kinds of things; what I am ordering myself to get done, what to eat, when am I going to find time to move this body, what to write for this article etc. A stagnant fog is taking up residence in my mind and no amount of caffeine seems to be changing the atmosphere. I pause. I give up harassing myself long enough to reach into my purse for a KIDS CAN PAUSE practice card. “Ah, this will do the trick,” I sigh with the thought of relief coming in the not so distant future.
Instead of leaping out my car like superwoman dashing back into the Pause studio, I flip over the KIDS CAN PAUSE practice card. I remember something on it about slowing down. I begin to Practice The Pause.
Pause: I choose to slow down. I am willing to feel calm and safe. My choice flips the switch and here I find myself, slowing down. So easy. I stop harassing myself immediately.
Step Back: I choose to take a deep breath. I read this but notice resistance to actually taking the deep breath. So, I slow down again and take a deep breath. Good choice. I was holding my breath, so now I am actually breathing! Always a good idea. I am willing to get out of my own way. When I am feeling upset, I can Pause for Help. If I step back, my Helpful Self will step in and help me.
Step Aside: I choose to pause, be still, and listen to my Helpful Self. Hmm. I share with the kids and youth how they have a Helpful Self, but now I am realizing within, hey, I have a Helpful Self too. Practicing on: I am willing to get Help with my thoughts, feelings, words, and actions. I ask my Helpful Self, “What is Safe, Kind, and Helpful in this moment?” So, I listen to my Helpful Self who points me in the right direction. Wow, my Helpful Self can do all that? I could really use right now to be pointed away from wrestling with myself and towards loving myself.
Let My Helpful Self Guide: I choose to follow my Helpful Self who leads me to be SAFE, KIND, CALM, and HELPFUL. I am worthy of My Helpful Self who encourages me with what to say and do and is my True Friend. As I practice what these words suggest, I notice the word “encourage” and I pause to receive encouragement from my Helpful Self. The practice closes with I choose to remember…MY HELPFUL SELF LOVES ME!
I slowly get out of my car, open the Pause studio door, return to my desk, and wonder, “How am I worthy? What does it mean to be worthy?” In my pausing I have this experience:
Imagine that living within me is a boundless balloon of LOVE. Now imagine that this LOVE balloon is extending a LOVE balloon to me — this is how I am worthy; because LOVE is always giving Love to me, to everyone.
Everyone is worthy. You can ask your Helpful Self “How am I worthy?” and have your own experience. KIDS CAN PAUSE cards, for adults too, are free at: PauseForInspiration.org
Rev. Mary Gerard Lenihan is a Pathways of Light minister living in St. Louis, MO.
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Visit our website: http://www.pauseforinspiration.org The Pause is expanding — we now have The 4 Decisions pocket-sized cards: Kids Can Pause, Parents Can Pause, Teachers Can Pause and Prisoners Can Pause.
© 2019, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are
included.
April-June, 2019
Circumstances of my life — whether I set aside the ego long enough to acknowledge it or not —are perfectly orchestrated for me to squeeze all the goodies I can get out of my study of ACIM.
In chapter 21 of the Text it states, “I am responsible for what I see. I choose the feelings I experience, and I decide upon the goal I would achieve. And everything that seems to happen to me I ask for, and receive as I have asked.” (T-21.11.2:3-5)
I recently learned my job has been eliminated at the end of the month due to acquisition of the medical clinic where I work. In the early stages of this revelation, I rested in the knowledge that I was a “good employee” and “hard worker,” not to mention heavily relied upon by my administrators and co-workers alike. I had a long history of being the “go to” person and the “get it done” gal. Yay me.
As time has passed, it’s becoming clearer that “eliminated” means exactly that.
In the weeks following the announcement, the “Big Fish” that swallowed our “Little Fish” came to meet with me and offered me an “as needed” position at a paltry sum of money. It rocked my boat somewhat, but my current boss asked that I stay the course and not make any hasty decisions as some things were potentially “on the horizon.” I was still a little unsure but agreed with his advice.
Things began to change rapidly and I overheard dissenting conversations among my co-workers, some even coming in to my office to share their complaints. None of them were happy with the employment packages they were offered, nor with the means in which the transition was taking place. Since I was the only employee whose position had been eliminated, I spiraled into victimhood. The rest of my life reflected my woes as well. I couldn’t sleep, I was weepy and put a negative spin on pretty much every situation. Gone was the Kathy who always had a listening ear, believed the best, and could be counted on to share a comforting thought and/or a fresh perspective. I found no respite at home, nor anywhere.
So, my blame game targets sort of looked like this:
• My bosses
• My co-workers
• The new owners
• My parents (they’re both deceased but certainly they had something to do with this!)
• The weather (which matched my mood perfectly; icy, gray, cold, miserable)
• My neighbor, who was annoyingly perky and optimistic and didn’t seem to give a rat’s hiney about my dilemma
• The bank, which would certainly be sending me statements testifying to the demon of scarcity sooner or later
• My husband, who was angrier at the situation than I was (because of course I wasn’t angry — just sad…wink, wink) and he continued to shout at me that my bosses never really cared about me as an employee, regardless of how well I’d been treated thus far.
Even as I type I can recall the gloom, despair, and agony. Oh me!
It seemed every time I attempted to immerse myself in my studies and the Truth of ACIM, another ego tidbit would demand my time and attention, anchoring my awareness in the dream. I didn’t think the Light of Truth could or would rescue me from the hopelessness. Why in the world would I have asked for all this adversity?
In desperation I opened the Book and randomly picked a page.
Workbook, Lesson 166, paragraph 4:1-3 described my misery: “Here is the only home he thinks he knows. Here is the only safety he believes he can find. Without the world he made is he an outcast; homeless and afraid.” (W-pI.166.4:1-3) However, the title of this lesson is, “I am entrusted with the Gifts of God.” So, what gives?
I’d fallen asleep, and I couldn’t wake up! But Holy Spirit heard my cry and He nudged me.
It was then I remembered I had orchestrated this debacle all on my own. I wrote the script and cast the players. Not only that, I was directing the play from the position of a demigod instead of trusting God. UGH! Time for a new perspective.
When the weather is kinder than it currently is in Iowa, I like to sit on our front porch and watch the world go by. Joggers, dog walkers, fast cars, slow cars, planes flying overhead and even an occasional hot air balloon. I can spend hours (dependent upon the mosquito population) just soaking in the stillness and being a non-participant in the busy-ness that passes by on the street.
This is the illustration Holy Spirit gave me as I contemplated the mind noise. My thoughts — tyrannical, nonsensical and sometimes horrific — can be observed without participation and/or engagement. I can enjoy the peacefulness of Truth and the Holy Presence or allow myself to get sucked into the vortex of random thoughts. I was grateful for that illustration and for His help to just observe the mental traffic with Him before allowing my mind to be swallowed down the egoic rabbit hole.
Ego only presents its stale scenarios representative of their individual stories within the illusion of my so-called life; nothing more, nothing less. It has no original story to tempt me with, nor will the next mental-monster loom any larger than the one before. Just idle chatter and mindless monologue.
I can now express gratitude for the circumstances that have brought me to where I am today. In God’s hands, each episode is another tool for change! And, since reality is changeless, one step closer to realization of my True Identity.
The end of Workbook Lesson 166-15:2-5 issues the challenge; “Become the living proof of what Christ’s touch can offer everyone. God has entrusted all His gifts to you. Be witness in your happiness to how transformed the mind becomes which chooses to accept His gifts, and feel the touch of Christ. Such is your mission now.” No more “blame game!” I’m on a mission for the Sonship. Let’s play!
Kathy Croy is a Pathways of Light student living in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
© 2019, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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April-June, 2019
It is a sad statement that in what we think of as a “free society,” few of us feel free. Instead, most of us feel chained to our jobs, family responsibilities, chores, and various other worldly commitments. We may say to ourselves that once we get through this job report, or this family obligation, then we will be free, but something always comes along to fill that space. It seems that “freedom” is always something that will happen in the future, an elusive concept that never comes to fruition. Do we even have a description of what freedom is? Is it just time to do whatever we want or is it something much deeper?
I have been contemplating the question of “What is freedom” for several days. I know that A Course in Miracles is teaching freedom in every chapter and, from that perspective, I know that freedom is letting go of all that I ever thought I was and all judgments that I have placed on anything or anyone including myself. I know that freedom is not relying on my small self to fix and control my life circumstances. I also know that, depending on the situation, freedom is saying “no” or “yes” without guilt. I had an example of this yes/no decision come up a few weeks ago as if the universe was saying; “Here, Barbara, let me show you how this works.” The following is what happened:
Several months ago when the ACIM USA annual conference location was announced, I decided I would like to go. This year’s conference is going to be held in Boston in May. My brother, who I rarely see, lives in a very small town in northern Maine. Somehow, I thought that I could travel from Boston to his small town in Maine rather easily. I had no idea of the details and I did not check in with my Inner Guide before I told my brother that I would come for a visit, stay three days, and then go back to Boston for the conference. All seemed well until I looked into the details of what it would take to get to his location which turned out to literally be a plane, a train and an automobile. Oh my!
Once I realized what it would take to reach him, I had the realization that to combine this with the Boston conference would far exceed what I felt I could do. My small self said “You can do it,” but my Inner Guide said: “No, this is not for you to do all in one trip.”
I had to say “no” to what seemed, at first glance, like a good idea, but which in-fact I knew was more than I could do. I also knew I could not go ahead and do it out of guilt. I had to forgive myself for not being able to follow this through and I had to forgive myself for not checking it out first with my Inner Guide.
I also had to say “yes” to the Boston conference even though, for our budget, it is a considerable amount. But I felt guided to go to Boston and to say no to this guidance would be to listen to the small self trying to tell me that I shouldn’t spend that much on a conference and that we may need that money down the road. Why am I worried about money “down the road,” I asked myself. Do I not believe God will provide?
The decisions about the trip to see my brother and go to the conference as well as the question, “What is freedom?” were playing out over the same days that I was doing Lessons 40-50 in the ACIM workbook. Those 10 lessons state:
40. I am blessed as a Son of God.
41. God goes with me wherever I go.
42. God is my strength. Vision is His gift.
43. God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him.
44. God is the light in which I see.
45. God is the Mind with which I think.
46. God is the Love in which I forgive.
47. God is the strength in which I trust.
48. There is nothing to fear.
49. God’s Voice speaks to me all through the day.
50. I am sustained by the Love of God.
While contemplating these lessons I had a thought: “What if these lessons were the Ten Commandments? What if I committed my mind to live by these ten lessons no matter what I may think I am experiencing in the world and no matter how my ego mind wants to interpret it? Would not these ten “commandments” give me a framework for living in total freedom?
I know Jesus doesn’t call these ten lessons “commandments,” but what if I treated them that way? I saw that in my commitment to these ten lessons is my freedom — freedom from fear; freedom from thinking I need to figure out how to take care of everyone and everything; freedom to surrender to something higher than myself; and freedom to let God do what I am not ready to do and to make decisions for me from a vantage point that I am not capable of seeing.
This does not mean I am inactive; indeed it requires a very active discipline on my part. It requires me to hold these ten lessons in the forefront of my mind, no matter how much the ego wants to take over, and we all know that the ego will want to take over! It requires me to pause before any decision and ask my Inner Guide. It requires me to be alert to when I have let the ego introduce fear or judgment in my mind and hand it over. It requires a minute-by-minute dedication to mastery and vigilance rather than letting the ego give me permission to practice every now and again to make sure that, overall, it stays in control.
The ACIM Workbook Lesson 57, #3, p. 94, is a review of Lesson 33: There is another way of looking at the world. The commentary is written in first person and, obviously, we are to read it to ourselves in that way. The commentary says:
“Since the purpose of the world is not the one I ascribed to it, there must be another way of looking at it. I see everything upside down, and my thoughts are the opposite of truth. I see the world as a prison for God’s Son. It must be, then, that the world is really a place where he can be set free. I would look upon the world as it is, and see it as a place where the Son of God finds his freedom.”
I believe that lessons 40-50 show us the way to find that freedom.
Rev. Barbara Goodman Siegel is a Pathways of Light minister living in St. Louis, Missouri, and author of Finding Your Self in the Mirror: Awakening Through Mirror Affirmations for the 365 Lessons of A Course in Miracles. Email:Btheblessing7@gmail.com Web: http://www.barbaragoodmansiegel.com
© 2019, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are
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