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Gentle Healing Journal Lesson 84 1-21-19

Lesson 84
(67) Love created me like itself.
(68) Love holds no grievances.

Just the titles to these two lessons tells the whole story. I am like God and God holds no grievances, so, if I am holding a grievance I am acting unlike myself and therefore I will not recognize myself. My grievances obscure my true nature from me. God is eternal and if I believe anything that is not eternally true, I am in error and need to correct that error.

Yesterday, I realized that I have a cold. My first thought was that my granddaughter was at my house and she has a cold and I wiped her nose. As I did so, I had the thought that I could get this cold from her. This is a thought that is not true unless I believe it is true. It is not eternally true because it is a body thing and bodies are not eternal.

My Creator did not create this as I see it.

Regina’s Tips
We are practicing true compassion when we dedicate our lives to the pursuit of truth realization. This is because the ego thought system is the cause of all forms of suffering.

My Thoughts
I fully accept that no matter how strong my compassion is for the world, I can do little to help if I work from within the world. However, if I dedicate myself to awakening, I will help end all suffering. This is why Jesus tells us that our only function is to accept the Atonement for ourselves. When I see the effect of believing untrue thoughts and I remind myself that my Creator did not create this as I see it, I am helping to und the ego and to end all forms of suffering. Another thing I tell myself: “Nothing can replace God. I am willing to accept only the eternal.”

© 2019, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Gentle Healing Journal Lesson 83 1-20-19

Lesson 83
(65) My only function is the one God gave me.
(66) My happiness and my function are one.

“With one purpose only, I am always certain what to do, what to say and what to think.”

“And I must learn to recognize what makes me happy, if I would find happiness.”

For the most part, I remember my function. I know my purpose. And as long as that is firmly in my mind, I live my purpose and I am happy. I first began to realize how true this is when I started working with students. I was still moving in and out of my function at that time, sometimes living from my purpose and then other times being conflicted as some other goal caught my attention. So sometimes I was happy and sometimes I was confused and unhappy.

There were times when a student would call and I would wonder how I could do this today because I didn’t feel right. I might be anxious or worried or uncertain. But as soon as we started talking, everything cleared like the sun coming out from behind the clouds. By the time the call was done, I was back into my happy.

After a while, I began to see the pattern and realized that I have a true self that knows what to say and what to think and that I access this self when I accept my function. So, is teaching my function? It is part of my function within the larger function, which is to accept the Atonement. In putting aside my ego thoughts and feelings, I accepted the Atonement in that moment, and I was happy.

Regina’s Tips
I heard a Christian song on the radio. The song said that a saint is someone who, “falls down and gets up, falls down and gets up, falls down and gets up.”

So, that’s what we need to do. When we notice we have slipped or forgotten our purpose (fallen down), we just begin again (get up). In this way, we awaken ourselves and the world.

My Thoughts
Lord, I must be close to sainthood if that’s all it takes. I fall down over and over as I forget my purpose, but I get up again and start over. What else can I do? I can’t pretend that I don’t know my purpose. I can’t go back to ignorance, nor do I want to. Here is the good news. I forget my purpose less and less often. When I stumble, I pop back up, brush myself off and move on without guilt making it harder. Sometimes I even laugh at the absurdity of it.

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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Gentle Healing Journal Lesson 82 1-18-19

LESSON 82
1 (63) The light of the world brings peace to every mind through my forgiveness.
3 (64) Let me not forget my function.

I feel enormously blessed to know my function and discover how very simple it is. I simply allow the light of the world to bring peace through my forgiveness. And I don’t forget this. A couple of days ago, I mentioned a problem with getting my furniture moved. I was focusing my attention on the problem and in doing so, I lost my peace.

That’s a funny way to say this - I lost my peace, as if it was a key I misplaced. I didn’t lose it, I knew exactly where it was. It was where it always is, right there in my mind. It was only obscured by the chatter about how much this job needed to get done. I used this situation as practice. It took a day or so to release the idea that the placement of my furniture was the problem, but once I did, the mind chatter about it abated and so I was again, peaceful until another “problem” popped up.

Anyway, my daughter invited me to meet her and my granddaughter at the park. It was an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours, chatting with my daughter and playing with Eleanor. When it was clear that my granddaughter was tired, I suggested they come home with me and maybe Susan and I could move my couch. It turns out that even with the two of us, it was too heavy to move. I told her that I could just leave everything as it is, that moving it wasn’t essential and I went back to playing with Eleanor.

Susan, in the meantime, called her husband and asked him to come help, and then called my other son in law and told him what was going on, and both of them came over and got everything done in just a few minutes. We spent another hour visiting and enjoying each other’s company. I am glad to have that job done but a lot more important to me was the process of forgiving the belief that moving my furniture was the problem, and experiencing the peace that came flooding back into me as a result. It was nice for me, but it was also my little bit toward bringing peace to every mind though my forgiveness.

Regina’s Tips
Buddha’s motivation for letting go of ego was the desire to find the end to suffering. His own suffering didn’t motivate him. Personally, he didn’t know suffering. He was motivated by compassion for others.

Jesus said his life was a ransom for many. Could he have had the same motivation as Buddha?

Can we look at the suffering and terror that is caused by the ego thought system, and like them, choose to let go of it?
And thanks for any effort that you put into letting go of the ego thought system in your mind. It is a gift to all of us.

My Thoughts
I have heard people say that it does not matter if we do this work, that we will wake up anyway. I know why I do it. I want to be happy right now, not some far off time when I awaken. I want everyone else to be as happy as I am. I want suffering to end for all of us.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Gentle Healing Journal Lesson 81 1-17-19

LESSON 81
I am the light of the world.
Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world.

“Let the light of the world shine through this appearance.”

This is what I will remember today if situations arise that tempt me to dark thoughts. I am the light of the world and so I can bring light to any darkness. This is just a fact. When I choose to stand in darkness it is because I have decided I prefer darkness. This is insane and I am recovery from insanity. Being a visual person, I relate to something I can see. As I look for a visual to help me remember my purpose today, I see myself holding out my hands and bright incandescent light streams forward and shadows disappear in its radiance.

“And in this light will my function stand clear and perfectly unambiguous before my sight.”

Regina’s Tips
Notice these sentences in the introduction to the review:

~ Do not allow your intent to waver in the face of distracting thoughts. … Replace them with your determination to succeed.

~ Regard these practice periods as dedications to the way, the truth, and the life.

~ You are dedicated to salvation. Be determined each day not to leave your function unfulfilled.

Repeatedly we are told, “Be determined and dedicated.” So this is the primary objective of lessons 81 – 90. We are here to gather our motivation and strength so we may continue on with increased determination and dedication.

My Thoughts
I am determined and I am dedicated. I have reached the place on my path where I am in love with what I do. I do have distracting thoughts but I don’t waver from my determination to undo those thoughts.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Gentle Healing Journal Lesson 80 1-16-19

LESSON 80
Let me recognize my problems have been solved.

Oh, yes, please. It’s about time to recognize what has already been done. I have one problem and that problem is in my mind. I have one solution to the one problem, and that solution is right next to the problem. All that is required of me to be free is to accept the answer. I must have faith that the answer is here and that it will be the solution I need.

Here is what confuses the issue. Our problems take many forms and so we think there must be many answers. But all problems if followed to their root cause will inevitably take us to the tiny mad idea that we could and did separate from God. That is the only error that needs to be corrected.

Here is an example. I have to move my living room furniture. It is too heavy and awkward for me to do alone and so I need help. I asked my daughter to come help me and she says she will but when is in question. I really want to get this done. I notice that I feel anxious and looking with the Holy Spirit I am shown that I am afraid of being alone. What if I need something and there is no one to help?

Following this further, I see that I don’t feel safe. Further examination shows me that I have not felt safe since the tiny mad idea. I cut myself off from the awareness of perfect safety when I said I wanted to be on my own. So now I see that I don’t have a furniture moving problem. When I get help as I probably will, my furniture will be sitting in a different place but my problem remains.

I will still have the belief that I am alone and helpless and there is nothing I can do about it because I tore myself away from Safety. This is too frightening to contemplate so I go about my day waiting for the next problem to come up so that I can solve it and prove to myself that I am ok. But beneath my self-assurance there lingers the uncomfortable feeling that something is very wrong.

Today, things will be different. I am not running away from the problem. I am sitting with it and asking for the solution. I am not fooled by the form the one problem is taking. I don’t care if my furniture ever gets moved. I care about one thing only; I care about recognizing my problems, all my problems, have been solved.

Regina’s Tips for this lesson
[The only ‘problem’ is believing your mind. Remember not to believe it today.] One problem, one solution. Accept the peace this simple statement brings.”
We bring the problem to the answer when we remain aware that the mind’s chatter is the problem. The answer is our awareness.

My Thoughts
I see how my thoughts turned a simple problem into an impossible situation in which I saw myself as alone and helpless. Nothing actually happened. Eventually the furniture problem will be taken care of as someone will help me move it or everything will stay as it is. Either way, the problem will end. How I handle the issue is not the real problem, how I think about it is the problem.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Gentle Healing Journal Lesson 79 1-15-19

LESSON 79
Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.

“A problem cannot be solved if you do not know what it is. Even if it is really solved already you will still have the problem, because you will not recognize that it has been solved. This is the situation of the world. The problem of separation, which is really the only problem, has already been solved. Yet the solution is not recognized because the problem is not recognized.”

“The temptation to regard problems as many is the temptation to keep the problem of separation unsolved. The world seems to present you with a vast number of problems, each requiring a different answer. This perception places you in a position in which your problem-solving must be inadequate, and failure is inevitable.”

I know this is true. I fully accept it. I forget sometimes, and if I forget that there is only one problem and one solution, I can get sidetracked. Just the other day, I started worrying about my son because of a situation he was in that could possibly cause him a problem. If I had immediately realized that this is just another form of the one problem of separation, it would have been a thought here and then gone. But I cast my attention on it too long and the worry expanded.

Before I knew it, I was worried about him for many reasons and then I was worried about a financial situation that I am in, and I began to worry about a physical problem. Well, you see what I mean. It is like fear is a filter that every thought went through. All along, I had only one problem. I believed that because I see myself in a body in a world unlike reality, that I am separated from God. But that’s not true.

We have been told that we can be in the world but not of it. Even here in this illusory state in which we find ourselves, we can embody our divine self within this human form. To believe that we cannot be in God and part of God because we are in human form is to believe that to have made the choice to have this experience is a sin and it is not possible the Son of God can sin. To think I can sin is to think God can sin. It’s absurd.

Lately, I have found The Code to be helpful in shifting my thinking quickly, or in dragging my mind out of the confusion of believing in problems. When I saw what I done letting the idea of fear take over temporarily, I began to meet each thought with a certainty of purpose. I would remind myself that the thought was just bad code. I am the programmer of my mind and no programmer would want to keep bad code if it was recognized as such. This made it easy to drop the thought.

I am happy for today’s lesson because it helped me to remember that I have only one problem regardless of how many different forms it takes. I know from practicing the Rules for Decision that if I decide what the situation means and then ask for help, I will probably not recognize the solution when it is given me, and because I don’t recognize its relevance, I will feel like I am not being answered. This feels like an attack. This is really the same thing I am being told in this lesson. Today, I will not forget that my only problem is separation.

Regina’s Tips on this lesson
Thinking’ (mental chatter) is the problem. ‘Thinking’ is the cause of all wars. Based on what we learned from NTI Ephesians and The Code, ‘thinking’ is even the cause of disease, weather patterns, etc.

If we look carefully at our thinking, we can see that it IS separation. After all, each of us thinks about ‘me’ and ‘mine.’ Each of us holds to a ‘personal’ point of view. We don’t find universal unity in the mind’s chatter.

My Thoughts
This adds another dimension to today’s lesson. It is the chatter in my mind that keeps my attention away from the actual problem. I am learning to quiet the chatter as much as possible and I am giving myself some time away from the chatter altogether through meditation.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Myron Jones.

Gentle Healing Journal Lesson 78 1-14-19

LESSON 78
Let miracles replace all grievances.

“Perhaps it is not yet quite clear to you that each decision that you make is one between a grievance and a miracle.”

I do realize this. Sometimes, I still kid myself that there are degrees of grievances, but I don’t really believe that and I change my mind as soon as I catch it. It is either miracle or grievance and there is nothing in between.

“You know the one to choose; his name has crossed your mind already.”

The name did come right away, no thinking needed. It is someone I love very much and yet someone I do not consistently see as the Christ. My mind wavers as it judges his behavior and as it imagines a future much like the past. Then I return to sanity and I see this one as he is for a while before I let my attention be drawn to the image I have of him. Sometimes even I can’t find proof for that image anywhere but in the past, and even then it is only proof of what my mind made of it.

“You will attempt to hold him in your mind, first as you now consider him. You will review his faults, the difficulties you have had with him, the pain he caused you, his neglect, and all the little and the larger hurts he gave. You will regard his body with its flaws and better points as well, and you will think of his mistakes and even of his “sins.”

I did that, but it is depressing to do so. I don’t want to ever return to that kind of thinking about him or anyone. At best it makes no sense and is foolishness, at worst it is tragic, at least in time, and that is where I see myself now.

“Let me behold my savior in this one You have appointed as the one for me to ask to lead me to the holy light in which he stands, that I may join with him.”

This is the miracle to which I am entitled. I ask for this. I insist on it. He is not standing in darkness, I am. I want to join him in the light and never forget who he is.

“The Holy Spirit leans from him to you, seeing no separation in God’s Son.”

I’m not interested in the image he has of himself or the image I have of him. I want only to see the reality that he is and the Holy Spirit is the bridge that brings us together in that vision. I am only as holy as he is and I don’t know either of us until I acknowledge that holiness in the of us.

The problem with casting my attention on the false image is that if I do it long enough, it becomes hard to look away. I am reminded of a story that I think was told by Brian Tracey or maybe it was Tony Robbins. Whichever it was, he had always wanted to be a racecar driver but knew that wasn’t going to happen. So he decided to have at least the experience of it once.

He hired a driver to teach him to race a car and while they were on the track and he was driving, they were going scary fast. He began to realize he was getting closer and closer to the wall. He was beginning to panic but then he heard the teacher calmly telling him to look away from the wall. It was very hard for him to do this because his fear of crashing kept him mesmerized by the wall.

But finally, the teacher got through to him. He took his eyes off the wall and his hands just naturally followed his eyes. Death from a fiery crash was averted. That story stuck with me and I remembered it just now thinking how hard it is to look away from my fear, and yet, how necessary it is that I do so. I’ve done this before; I know what will happen. When I look away from what I fear and cast my attention on what is true and helpful, I am fine, and the longer I keep my attention on the truth, the easier it is to stay there.

Regina’s Tips

Regina gave an especially helpful analogy that I recommend for anyone who doesn’t understand the importance of looking honestly at the situation. She then offers several ways to release them.

So as I was saying, first we let everything come out of denial so we can look at it, and then we …

Well, the next step really depends. You might:

• Ask God, Holy Spirit or Jesus to help you see another way. I used to imagine wrapping those thoughts, feelings and perceptions in a box, tying a beautiful bow around the box and then giving it to Holy Spirit as a gift. As I passed the gift to Holy Spirit, I let it go completely. After all, you aren’t giving a gift if you hold onto it, right?

• Practice rest, accept and trust while realizing you don’t want this anymore. This is a practice I moved to after I became more experienced with forgiveness.

Rest, Accept and Trust (RAT) is a simple reminder of your job in the healing process.

Rest the mind by withdrawing your attention/belief from obsessive thinking. If that is challenging, try positive healing-focused self-talk such as, “Ok, just breathe now. Take a deep breath. Now another. This is okay. This is coming up now because I have decided to heal. I want to heal. And in order to heal, things must come up. I am happy this is here, but I do not want to give it my attention. I want to rest attention away from this so it can be healed. I will focus attention on my breath. I trust healing is happening. I am happy for this opportunity.” Etcetera or something similar.

Accept the feeling. Allow it to be. Realize that as this feeing comes into awareness and is seen, it is healing. Stay out of the way. Do not try to change anything. It is just a feeling, an emotional energy and nothing more. Let it be as it is. Be grateful that healing is mysteriously occurring.

Trust that healing is occurring. You have done your part by resting and accepting. Clear awareness (God, Holy Spirit) is taking care of everything else. You have gotten out of the way so healing can happen. That is all you were asked to do.

• Practice inquiry, such as Byron Katie’s “The Work,” until you see through your previous way of thinking.

• Refocus your attention on awareness, and let the realization of truth heal the silly thoughts that you believed before.

My Thoughts

I’ve used all of these methods from time to time as well as recognizing that my grievances are just bad code and realizing that the only thing to do with bad code is to delete it.

© 2019, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.