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October - December, 2006

Awakening to the Happy Dream!

by Rev. Cheryl Ford

Once it’s decided to hand things over to Holy Spirit, the loving, healing experiences just don’t stop… If we can learn to understand and accept that all things happen for our good and stop attempting to attach our requirements onto how things should look and how they should be reflected externally, life really does become a happy dream!

There’s a quote in A Course in Miracles that says, ‘forgetting helps us to remember better.’ I really love this quote because it’s so true. How often we forget lessons that we’ve learned over and over only to have them deepen each time we remember them—and how often Holy Spirit gives us His loving reminders.

Of all of the loving reminders I’ve received over the last month, one really stands out. Probably because the healing it brought about has been so profound in my life that I truly hope not to ‘forget’ again (at least not soon).

As a teacher of God, I’ve found myself on numerous occasions recently explaining to people the principle that healing in our minds doesn’t always reflect in our external circumstances. The ‘outside’ world is an illusion and therefore living the ‘happy dream’ simply means to recognize that fact while remaining in it for the time being.

Accepting responsibility for our thoughts (all of our thoughts) means acknowledging them honestly, and consistently handing them over to Holy Spirit for healing. This habit frees us to see only the love, peace and beauty of the ‘real world’ that lies beyond the illusion. Thus we give up our attempt to make the illusion ‘real’ and begin to experience our true ‘reality’ now.

Eventually, I noticed that I was explaining this concept over and over with increasing frequency to others, but not making the connection that this was the very lesson that I needed to learn. I couldn’t see it at the time, but I was really teaching myself!

This became evident during a spiritual relationships counseling session where I realized I felt stumped in my primary relationship because no matter what I tried, I could not get my partner to change his ways. In my mind, I saw the changes as for his ‘own good.’ However, the Course says, “Your interpretations of your brother’s needs are your interpretations of yours.” (T-12.I.7:1) What was it exactly that I was interpreting as my bothers needs that were actually my own?

During the session, I was reminded over and over that the external circumstances or perceived changes in others does not matter one bit. Everything boils down to one question: What am I choosing to see? Am I choosing to see through the eyes of Christ Vision, or through my own? Was I giving every single thought over to Spirit or was I still trying to control the illusion by trying to make it real? Essentially I was hearing back the same thing I was telling others!

By the end of the session, I firmly decided to give every single thought and concern over to Holy Spirit. I committed to holding nothing back! I even decided to hand over any indecision or guilt about being undecided. I handed over things seen and unseen, known and unknown, in this life or any others… I wanted all of the onion layers peeled back, and to leave no stone unturned. With all my heart and mind I asked Holy Spirit to direct every aspect of my life, and to help me forgive every unloving thought and memory.

The next day I walked on clouds of Love and Peace. It rained outside, but the sun shone brightly in my heart. Everyone radiated glowing white light and even my partner looked younger, stronger and happier. I felt 20 pounds lighter than I had in a while and no trace of fear, worry, or doubt entered my mind.

Last night my husband and I went out to dinner. As we sat at the table talking, he asked me the same question I had been hearing for the past couple of weeks: “If I’m healed in my mind, why isn’t it reflected in my world?” I once again explained that according to the Course, healing in our minds doesn’t necessarily reflect changes in our external circumstances. Because the world is an illusion, it doesn’t matter. We see what we choose to see…”

All the while, I continued in my mind, “I give this all to You Holy Spirit, every piece of it.” “Let me open to Your Answers and not my own…” As I lovingly continued to explain my point, I softly heard in my minds ‘ears’, “Tell him that consistency is the key. Keep giving everything over to Me and do only what brings him peace and joy. All is well.”

As I told him these reassuring words from Spirit, all tension left his brow and a gentle smile came across his face. In fact, we both smiled and sighed as we became filled with peace and light. At that moment, I realized that as my mind was healed so was his, and in his healing so was my mine. I had learned the very lesson I was trying to teach. We hadn’t ‘changed the world’ but simply changed our minds about the world. In this single idea are we all healed.

© 2006, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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