Tag: Holy Spirit

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You are Loved!

On By SallyIn A Course In Miracles, forgiveness, Guilt, Uncategorized1 Comment

You are loved beyond the moon and the stars. You are held, comforted, surrounded by loving arms and have been and will always be. You are accepted just the way you are because you are perfect. No harm can ever come to you because all things are lessons you have come to learn…..and to forgive. Forgiveness offers everything you want. Forgiveness is to KNOW that you did the best you can.

When you are tempted to feel guilty about something you think you could have done, should have done or did or did not do or to hold a grievance – THAT is a PRESENT DECISION, you have made, TO HOLD ONTO IT. It is a decision, a way of justifing why you do not feel peace and LOVE right now. It is a way of saying “I’m not worthy, my mistake(s) are terrible and not to be forgiven.” You are holding on to the PAST IN THE PRESENT. You are making yourself miserable! This need not be!

That decision is a faulty decision and one you want to change.

No one is a perfect: mother, father, daughter, brother, sister, son, cousin, friend, colleague or neighbor…..freeway driver or annonymous individual you meet on the street or anywhere you go.

Say: “I can still be at peace even though I am not a perfect. No body is. Bodies are not perfect! The Mind Is! I forgive myself for my mistake(s) rather than looking at imperefection or listening to the ego lies. I now have the power to drop the painful memories and mistakes and I choose now to LET THEM GO AND REST IN THE LOVE THAT IS ALWAYS AND FOREVER MINE.”

You are a beautiful MIND. You share that MIND with the LOVE of the Universe! Spirit and Mind is your identiy and far above and beyond the ego. We cannot undo the past and we cannot ensure a happy future but we can do something about our choice to hold on to memories and grievances. Choose NOW TO LET THEM GO and be FREE. That is where your happiness lies.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Author: ‘The Gift of the Great Rays, Inner Peace Essays and A Course In Miracles and its Promise of Freedom.’ Available on Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

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Merry-Go-Round or Ego-Go-Round

On By SallyIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

THE CHOICE IS YOURS: HEAVEN OR???!

We have a choice to make every second of the day: Am I to believe this thought that is crossing my mind? Is it a thought of inclusion or separation? How does it make me feel? Am I at peace. Can I look at this thought and say…..”No….not interested.”

A thought can lead us to pain and suffering OR Peace!

We can change it with the power that is given us and ask for HELP to see it differently.

We have help via ‘A Course In Miracles’ Lesson 151, All things are echoes of the Voice for God.

In paragraph 4.2.”You have often been urged to refrain from judging, not because it is a right to be withheld from you.  You cannot judge.  You merely can believe the ego’s judgments all of which are false.  It guides your senses carefully, to prove how weak you are; how helpless and afraid, how apprehensive of just punishment, how black with sin, how wretched in your guilt.”  Do we listen and believe it?

The ego has our attention but that need not be! We have judged others and ourselves our entire life and believe we are right and know what is true.  We were born with a gavel in our fat little hand, leveling judgments as if we were sitting on the “Judge’s bench” knowing everything there is to know about something or someone. 

That gavel was bestowed to our hands by the ego, the split off part of our mind that separated from God. And not knowing any better, we listened and believed it. We never thought to question that maybe the stream of thoughts emanating were not really our thoughts!  We didn’t know any better. I know, it sounds complicated but just remember: You are Loved and God’s Son regardless of how you see yourself.   

Then the Course says that the ego “projects itself onto you.” “This thing it speaks of, and would yet defend, it tells you is yourself. BUT “It is itself alone that it condemns.  It is within itself it sees the guilt.  It is its own despair it sees in you.”   The ego projects its inadequacies and condemnations onto YOU. It does not know anything because it is unsure of itself! 

It’s kind of like a blustering Cowardly Lion in Wizard of Oz, so unsure of himself but can never let anyone know his secret….He’s scared and unsure!

But we have believed the thoughts of separation; sin i.e. error, guilt and fear and have done the ego’s work of projecting the ego’s condemnation and despair out onto the world and onto others to get rid of it.  We just pass the ego’s judgments along like a puppet doing its bidding UNTIL we decide “Enough of this Ugliness”  “STOP with the Baby Business, like Ken Wapnick tells us!!”

I find this to be amazing…….all my life listening to the wrong voice and believing it, until I came across the Course In Miracles, and I know I still listen to it because I catch myself….a lot!!  I am responsible for what I think or what I believe from the ego point of view.  I must over-ride those thoughts.  Like Byron Katie asks: Is that True???  If coming from the ego it is NOT True! 

So….now what!  Lesson 152. The power of decision is my own! No one can suffer loss unless it be his own decision.  No one can grieve nor fear, nor think him sick unless these are the outcomes that he wants.  No one dies without his own consent.”  And in paragraph 9. We lay aside the arrogance (of the ego) which says that we are guilty, and afraid, ashamed of what we are; and lift our hearts in true humility instead to Him Who has created us in power and in love.”  We CHOOSE to drop the hand of the ego and reach for Jesus’. We stop believing the ego thoughts! Now!

“And in humility the radiance of God’s Son, my gentleness, my perfect sinlessness, my Father’s Love, is my right to Heaven and release from hell, is joyously accepted as my own.” Take this in and own it!

We have the power of choice! It means freedom! We are a Decision Making Mind, and we can stop believing the stream of lies that are fed to us.  We can encourage our frightened mind with this:

“The power of decision is my own. 

This day I will accept myself as what my Father’s Will created me to be.”

“Then will we wait in silence, giving up the ego’s self-deception as we humbly ask our Self that He reveal Himself to us.  In patience wait for Him (the Holy Spirit) throughout the day, and invite him hourly.  He will substitute the peace of God for all your frantic ego thoughts ( of worry , fear, doubt, guilt) the Truth of God for self-deceptions, and God’s Son for your illusions of yourself.”

Little by little we become the Light of the World as we undo the blocks and recognize Love’s Presence is within, waiting to be acknowledged.

You are Loved!!

Here are the lessons – close your eyes, quiet your Holy Mind and play to listen to them.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-151/all-things-are-echoes-of-the-voice-for-god/en/s/557?wid=search&q=151
Lesson 151 – All things are echoes of the voice for God.
https://acim.org/acim/lesson-152/the-power-of-decision-is-my-own/en/s/558?wid=search&q=152
Lesson 152 – The power of decision is my own
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The Open Door beneath your Mind

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During this Covid 19 pandemic it seems everyone is pretty miserable. How are you feeling?   I go in and out of worry and depression but I am always grateful for those who are on the front lines dealing with it.  The only way to side step misery is to be aware of  how you perceive the situation.  Perhaps a change of mind is in order.   What you think and the judgments you make will either make you happy or sad.  The mind is a beautiful thing to change.  It is up to you to change it.  Do you dwell in fear or love.

You are 100% responsible for how you think (judge) understand and perceive.  We have a choice in “how” we judge things and situations.  If we see something as an attack then the ego is in charge.  Are you happy when the ego is in charge?  If we can view what goes on around us with an iota of lenience – just a little- we begin to open the mind to the idea of tolerance.

I’m thinking of wearing masks as I write this but it could be anything that disturbs your peace.  I think everyone should wear a mask.  I don’t like them because they restrict air and I need air but I wear one anyway.  I can understand why someone would choose not to, but I want peace.  So I have to change my mind, on the spot, adding a dash of tolerance and mercy to my thoughts.  Just because I disagree I do not have to allow hatred or anger.  I can see either love or the call for love.  And the call for love is to me, my mind and its need for peace as well as theirs.   The ego does not have to run and ruin my life.  I choose to sideline the dominant ego’s thought system and choose charity and mercy.

When we give mercy and respect to others, we have mercy and respect for ourselves.  We don’t realize how much needless unconscious guilt we pile on our psyche with righteous judgments and opinions feeling certain we are right.  Do I want to be right or happy?  Letting go of my conviction that I know what’s right when in fact I don’t always know, opens the door to mercy.

We like to think that we know it all.  But we don’t know what our soul needs to experience or lessons we have come to learn, until they arrive at our doorstep.  We have all experienced being misunderstood or accused of something we did not intend or been unfairly treated.  When knowing how it feels to be unfairly treated, we refuse to mistreat anyone.  One thing we can always do is offer love and acceptance with our thoughts.  In doing so, we open the door in our mind, leading to understanding, and turn from the ego’s decree of punishment, fire and brimstone.

“Then let them (your judgmental thoughts) go and sink below them to the holy place where they can enter not.  There is a door beneath them in your mind, which you could not completely lock to hide what lies beyond.  Seek for that door and find it.  You cannot fail today.  There walks with you the Spirit Heaven sent you, that you might approach this door some day and through his aid slip effortlessly past it, to the light.”    A Course In Miracles Workbook Lesson 131.   No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth.

See A Course In Miracles, Chapter 21. Section II. The Responsibility for Sight, pg. 448

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.

We are responsible for how we interpret things!   It is the mercy within that will allow a true  perception to come when we ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand.  “Help me see this differently.”  Look through His eyes and you will have peace.  Me too!

God Is

www.miraclecenter.org

www.acim.org

www.facim.org

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2020 Moon reminds us: “I am There”

On By SallyIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

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Spring is here and Easter Sunday always follows the first full moon after the spring equinox. That full moon was shining in my bedroom window last night. Passover is April 9, Easter Sunday the 12th and Ramadan on Friday April 24.   However the only ones feeling “spring like” these days, are the birds and the daffodils. Aren’t they lucky to not have to stay inside or six feet away from each other? Thankfully, we can go outside to visit and thank them for their songs and yellow loveliness. There will be no Religious gatherings indoors this year that I am aware of and I know many will miss this spring ritual. I must admit that Easter always left me feeling sad with  Jesus Christ crucified. Even dressing up or hunting for eggs, bunnies and candy never took away the unhappiness.

I felt relief after I began studying the spiritual, psychological, non- dual, mystical and metaphysical book, ‘A Course In Miracles’ where the concept of resurrection is more prominent than crucifixion because as eternal beings our soul never dies.  There is no death of the Self we are.  The body dies because we are mortal. Being mortal we have a split mind with a treacherous ego that crucifies (like it did Jesus) ourselves and/or others non-stop with doubts, judgment, war and attacks. Jesus in the Course told the scribe, NY Columbia Presbyterian Psychologist Helen Schucman, that he is our equal and elder brother, “The miracle is a sign of love among equals. Equals should not be in awe of one another because awe implies inequality. It is therefore an inappropriate reaction to me. An elder brother is entitled to respect for his greater experience, and obedience for his greater wisdom. There is nothing about me that you cannot attain.   I have nothing that does not come from God. The difference between us now is that I have nothing else. This leaves me in a state which is only potential in you.” Text Chapter 1.II.3.4-12.

He assures us that he and the Holy Spirit are always there for us. “I go before you because I am beyond the ego. Reach, therefore, for my hand because you want to transcend the ego. My strength will never be wanting, and if you choose to share it you will do so.” Text Chapter 8.V.6 7-9.   If we take his hand he is there to share his strength. He is the Christ but so are you and I and everyone, whether we accept it or not being equally loved by God.

At this time we need a strength that is not of this world.  I for one am reaching for his hand to transcend the ego.  Many brave people are in the trenches, the Doctors, Nurses, medical staff, sick patients, relatives, friends and you and I are with them. The hand of strength, grace, and faith is there for us. It is waiting by your side, with arms ready to hold you up and kissing the top of your head when you pray. That love is made exquisitely clear in the poem ‘I am There’ by James Dillet Freeman. He is sometimes known as “the poet laureate of the moon” because two of his poems are on the moon. ‘I Am There’ was taken by Astronaut, James B. Irwin in 1971 and ‘Prayer for Protection’ by Lunar Commander ‘Buzz’ Aldrin in July 1969. His poems of assurance are circling above us on the Easter Moon, blessing you and me and our World this spring.

I am There

Do you need Me?

I am there.

You cannot see Me, yet I am the light you see by.

You cannot hear Me, yet I speak through your voice.

You cannot feel Me, yet I am the power at work in your hands.

I am at work, though you do not understand My ways.

I am at work, though you do not recognize My works.

I am not strange visions. I am not mysteries.

Only in absolute stillness, beyond self, can you know Me as I am, and then but as a feeling and a faith.

Yet I am there. Yet I hear. Yet I answer.

When you need Me, I am there.

Even if you deny Me, I am there.

Even when you feel most alone, I am there.

Even in your fears, I am there.

Even in your pain, I am there.

I am there when you pray and when you do not pray.

I am in you, and you are in Me.

Only in your mind can you feel separate from Me, for only in your mind are the mists of “yours” and “mine.”

Yet only with your mind can you know Me and experience Me.

Empty your heart of empty fears.

When you get yourself out of the way, I am there.

You can of yourself do nothing, but I can do all.

And I am in all.

Though you may not see the good, good is there, for I am there.

I am there because I have to be, because I am.

Only in Me does the world have meaning; only out of Me does the world take form; only because of Me does the world go forward.

I am the law on which the movement of the stars and the growth of living cells are founded.

I am the love that is the law’s fulfilling. I am assurance. I am peace. I am oneness. I am the law that you can live by. I am the love that you can cling to. I am your assurance. I am your peace. I am one with you. I am.

Though you fail to find Me, I do not fail you.

Though your faith in Me is unsure, My faith in you never wavers, because I know you, because I love you.

Beloved, I am there.

 

The Prayer of Protection

The light of God surrounds us;

The love of God enfolds us;

The power of God protects us;

The presence of God watches over us;

Wherever we are, God is!

Blessings on this Easter of 2020!

Many Lessons from A Course In Miracles remind me of these poems: http://www.acim.org  – Here are the lessons you can open and click on the arrow to have it read to you – close your eyes and feel the Love that is for You.

Lesson 40: I am blessed as a Son of God.

Lesson 40. I am blessed as a Son of God.

Lesson 41. God goes with me wherever I go.

Lesson 42 God is my strength, Vision is His gift.

Lesson 43. God is my Source.   I cannot see apart from Him.

Lesson 44.  God is the light in which I see.

Lesson 45.  God is the Mind with which I think.

Lesson 46. God is the Love in which I forgive.

Lesson 47 God is the strength in which I trust.

Visit http://www.acim.org

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To everyone I offer quietness

On By SallyIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

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Are you running on Ego-matic?
The other day I was tooling along not watching my thoughts (as A Course In Miracles asks us to do) but one finally got my attention. It didn’t feel good, it was: “Why doesn’t she do something with her hair?” What part of my mind would care about something as insignificant as someone’s messy hair and why?

When our thoughts run unnoticed, they can easily jump to egomatic. This is not a word my computer thesaurus recognizes but I know what it means. It means senseless; usually condemning; mostly ugly; and always a thought of judgmental ego separation. The mind has been programmed from birth into two columns: love and fear. Everything not from love is in the fear column and that amounts to hundreds perhaps thousands of distinctions. The ego has an endless list. The choice is simple: Heaven or hell.

When practicing the mindfulness of the Course we are in the “heaven” column. We are looking through the Self, i.e. the eyes of Christ, of love, with kindness and accepting of what is. If we ae on egomatic, we are in the “hell” of darkness, believing our misshapen thoughts are true.

Thinking someone has messy hair is up to me. No one can make me think anything. When I think a thought of love, what am I giving/receiving? If the thought is condemning what am I giving/receiving? What I give OUT, I also receive IN.
When my thinking is judgmental: I’m the one with the problem; I feel separate and alone; and in believing it is true, I’m also receiving guilt. That’s why I didn’t like the feeling.

We don’t realize what we do to ourselves, our soul when we place a judgment on someone. Instead of giving the thought away, projecting and getting rid of it, we are in effect keeping it, and making it our problem plus getting a dose of guilt. I judge her for being “messy” but I must also be “messy” in order to know what it is. Projecting is a trick my ego plays to get rid of my messiness by seeing it in someone else. It doesn’t work, I still messy.

In A Course In Miracles, Lesson 108. To give and receive are one in truth.

P.2. “True light that makes true vision possible is not the light the body’s eyes behold. It is a state of mind that has become so unified that darkness cannot be perceived at all.”

Isn’t that the state of mind you want to live in? When you catch the silly judgments think what this lesson reminds us to do. Simply say:

To give and receive are one in truth. I will receive what I am giving now.”

Do I want to receive the judgment I am dishing out?  The lesson goes on in paragraph 8.

Then close your eyes and for five minutes think of what you would hold out to everyone, to have it yours. Say:
               To everyone I offer quietness;
               To everyone I offer peace of mind;
               To everyone I offer gentleness

Wait.  How do you feel? What you offered will come back to you in the amount that you offered it. That is giving and receiving. Instead of offering judgment or “messiness” to my friend I now offer acceptance and that is what returns to me.
Was I in heaven or hell judging my friend’s hair? I realized I didn’t “feel good” and that feeling of being in “hell” helped me see the egomatic thought process.

We have been trained well throughout our formative years and adult lives. But now I can awaken to the fact that my thoughts have consequences on me. We are told that stress causes illnesses. Where does stress come from but our thoughts? This lesson gave me the chance to change my mind and offer quietness to everyone. And when I did, I received quietness.

Go to http://www.acim.org – Workbook Lesson 108 – click to have it read aloud to you!

Remember: You are the Light of the World and God IS the LOVE within!

If you would like to order a greeting card with the above photo you can do so at:

http://www.fineartamerica.com  and put in my name:  Sally McKirgan

New Years Promise

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January 3, 2017!!

What a trickster time is!

“For what is time without a past and future?  It has taken time to misguide you so completely, but

it takes no time at all to be what you are. Begin to practice the Holy Spirit’s use of time as a

teaching aid to happiness and peace.  Take this very instant, now, and think of it as all there is of

time.  Nothing can reach you here out of the past, and it is here that you are completely absolved,

completely free and wholly without condemnation.  From this holy instant wherein holiness was

born again you will go forth in time without fear and with no sense of change with time.” 

The above quote is from A Course In Miracles, Chapter 15. The Holy Instant, Section I. The Two Uses of Time, p.9. 2-7.

The ego uses time to age us (we think we are bodies); heap regret and guilt; plant the seeds of self doubt and or grandiosity; keep us in fear of the future by reminding us of the dreaded past and we are suffocated by grievances we have promised never to overlook or forgive.

But, when we choose to use the Holy Spirit’s practice of accepting the holy instant as soon as we become upset and remember “God Is” present at this very moment – our mind is free.  Sometimes when I am aggravated, beyond words I repeat “God Is” quickly, about 10 to 20 times!  It shifts me from the ego to the Holy Spirit, from Hell to Heaven.  Does it last – no!  But gradually, little by little, I have Faith that I am ascending the ladder and One Day, One Fine Day,  I will reach True Perception and the Real World.

My New Year’s Resolution….. To use the Holy Instant and remember when upset, to STOP and take that very instant and think of it as being “Out of Time”- no past, no future, just God Is, God Is, God Is!  This is what the Course calls the Atonement: Remembering that the “seeming” separation from God is an illusion!  Not True!

Bless you in 2017 and for that matter – for eternity!

For more information about the Course check the following websites:

http://www.facim.org

http://www.acim.org

http://www.miraclecenter.org

http://www.circleofa.org

 

 

 

 

 

Have a Heart!

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Mt. Shasta's Heart

Have a Heart!  Mt. Shasta’s heart!   But always remember your heart, the love within is your guide!

We live in a dualistic world: war and peace; hot and cold, short and tall and the list goes on. We also have a dualist mind that contains two thought systems: the voice of the ego or the voice of the Holy Spirit, truth and peace.

Watch your thoughts and you will figure out which voice you listen to.

The bad news is that the ego is the default system that is always running.

The good news is that YOU are the one with the remote! You are in charge of changing channels.

We are listening to the ego’s sly thoughts when our judgments are of someone or yourself. Worried or fearful thoughts of guilt or envy are certainly egoic thoughts. However, they are just thoughts. You don’t have to believe them. Ask yourself: How do I feel? To my mind the ego is always comparing, sizing up the situation, and a master at separating us from others.

For example one night I woke up worried about a planned trip. I could see my mind was going crazy with various scenarios and worry. However, I was worried about something that was in the future. I was projecting fear into the future. The ego went crazy building the case that I was going to miss my plane, or get air sick or stuck in bad weather, etc. I finally realized what was happening and changed channels. I repeated my favorite mind calming phrase “I rest in God” from Workbook lesson 109 and went to sleep. Choosing peace is a practice and a decision.

This example clearly shows that there is a part of the mind that is separate from the ego. It is the decision maker within that chooses, when you are aware enough, and you realize you are not at peace. Always ask: “How do I feel?” If not peaceful then it is up to you to change your thoughts.

I am forever and always inspired by A Course In Miracles,  and in particular Lesson #106.

 

Let me be still and listen to the truth.

“If you will lay aside the ego’s voice, however loudly it may seem to call; if you will not accept its petty gifts that give you nothing that you really want; if you will listen with an open mind, that has not told you what salvation is; then you will hear the mighty Voice of truth, quiet in power, strong in stillness, and completely certain in Its messages.”

http://www.acim.org

God is the strength in which I trust.

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If I trust in the ego’s decisions I am trusting in deceit, manipulation, false judgment, a misunderstood past, and fear of the future.

If I choose instead to listen to the decisions of the “right mind”, the mind I share with my elder and equal brother Jesus and/or the Holy Spirit, who reside in my right mind, I will always have peace.

It will be peace because I decided with love and not hate.

It will be peace because they “know” what is best for everyone and my ego self does not.

It will be peace because I have let go of being right.

Surrender Sally!

God is the strength in which I trust Lesson 47 in the work book of A Course In Miracles