What, Me Worry?

Aaron riding Leatherwood Trail

 From the moment we stand up and toddle we hear, Be careful, don't fall!! We instill fear and worry in our children even before they're born, don't we? Most mothers-to-be are worried about a myriad of things, and have been taught to believe it's necessary to do so. Everywhere we turn, there is something to fear. When I was a kid, the only things I was warned about in the woods were snakes, poison ivy, and perhaps an occasional wild carnivore. Nowadays, everything from ticks to the sun may attack us, and we go to great lengths to protect ourselves, putting poisons on our skin to avoid something we perceive to be worse. This is yet another example of the material illusions we have made for ourselves.  As I go through this day, I will notice what learned behaviors are ruling my life, holding me in fear rather than Love. The words of a great teacher come to mind: Perfect Love casts out fear!

“Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts.”Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health  Page 261:4-7

Forgotten Truth

 

photo credit: Aaron Springston

Why would we fear to look within? Why would we fear seeing our true self? I think it's because we believe all the little horrible things we've done in our lives are what we'll be looking at. Perhaps we feel that to look within would involve some sort of life review which would require us to answer for every supposed sin we've committed. But what if we're looking within at our pure and perfect Self, as we are created by divine Mind? And what if, after we find what we've forgotten, we allow it to come forth and live with us, as us? In the process, we truly forgive ourselves for all of it, allowing thought to stay in the realm of Oneness, releasing guilt and fear, living only in Love. What if ...

“For right reasoning there should be but one fact before the thought, namely, spiritual existence. In reality there is no other existence, since Life cannot be united to its unlikeness, mortality.” Mary Baker Eddy- Science & Health Page 491:3-6

“Within me is the Holiness of God. Within me is the memory of Him.” https://acim.org/acim/en/s/729#1:7-8 | W-309.1:7-8)

Timesless Thoughts

Eureka Springs, AR

 Time is an interesting concept. It passes differently depending on whether we’re in a dentist’s chair or having fun with loved ones. We always think we're too young or too old, or this physical malady will pass with time, or that we simply don't have time to do the things we want to do. I’m reminded of some favorite quotes about this thing we call time. Deepak Chopra said: "Time is something we have made up so everything doesn't happen all at once." Albert Einstein came to believe that time was not only relative, but unreal​.​ Here is a quote from him, written in a letter to a friend: "To those of us who believe in physics, this separation between past, present, and future, is only an illusion, if a stubborn one." I love novels having to do with time and its elasticity. When I realize that I'm not a mortal living in what seems to be now, but an immortal living in eternity, then some major shifts in perception can take place. Sleeping dreams, waking dreams, alternate realities, time travel — Beam me up, Scottie!

“Never ask for tomorrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment.” Mary Baker Eddy - Miscellaneous Writings Page 307

Freed From Conflicting Thought

 
When someone close to us has a problem, we tend to think of it as our own. We have been conditioned to think we can fix others, and if we don't try, we fear people will think we don't care. Then we're thrown into a quandary of feelings: love for them, perhaps embarrassment over their actions, worry about what will happen to them, concern over what others will think -- the list can be endless! When we are able to release these feelings and see everyone as the spiritual creation they truly are, we begin to release our sense of personal responsibility, while affirming their goodness as a reflection of divine Love.  Opening to ideas from divine Mind frees us of the conflict imposed by material wishes!

“We cannot serve two masters nor perceive divine Science with the material senses.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science and Health Page 167:11-12

True Idea, Voicing Good

 A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson #306 states, “The gift of Christ is all I seek today”. To learn this course requires a willingness to question every value that you hold, to allow the sun to shine into your mind, to allow grace to be your natural state. To learn this course and have your mind healed from fear and limitation requires you to be willing to question every value you hold. We tend to think it’s a good thing to hold strong opinions on any number of things, such as politics. It may seem as though I’m saying we shouldn’t work for social reform, that we shouldn’t stand up to wrong-doers, that we should become the proverbial doormat. I think that giving up the things which make us angry, the things for which we become fighting mad, enables us to open ourselves to this gift of the Christ: this Love which guides us to do meaningful work in ways we hadn’t realized because strong mindsets were hiding them. I think it will be an interesting exercise to take note of the thoughts I have which keep me from the gift of divine Love. I hope you’ll join me!

“Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 332:9-11

Allowing Peace

 

photo credit: Gerry Tyler

You've probably heard of, or witnessed, accounts of people facing the direst of situations calmly, with a seeming other-worldly sense of peace. I experienced one of these situations when visiting with a couple who were learning how to cope with the change we call death. When I walked into their home, the first thing I felt was an all-encompassing peace. My dear friend related how inspired she was by the leaves falling from the trees in their regular autumnal cycle. She told me how they take care of themselves. She never rakes them into piles, but allows them to go where they need to be, and there they change to whatever form is required of them -- soil, protection for seedlings, shelter for insects and small animals. She sees perfection in this plan and knows that the same perfection is taking place in all existence. I am grateful to have experienced this deep and quiet peace with them. The peace of God is there for all, no matter what the material circumstance. The gift of Love satisfies the hungering senses, it calms fear, it allows us to release the ties which bind us to material existence, giving us more than we knew was possible.

“Life is reflected in existence, Truth in truthfulness, God in goodness, which impart their own peace and permanence. Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light.” Mary Baker Eddy- Science & Health Page 516:9-13

What, Me Worry?

photo credit: Aaron Springston

The sky is falling!! I'm often reminded of the proverbial Chicken Little and his worries about everything. Many people I know remind me of him, with their certainty that something awful is going to happen. A dear woman came to me asking for advice. She told me that she was afraid to go outside her home, and so she would drink alcohol before she went out to have the courage to leave. She had been drinking heavily when she came to talk to me. She related many concerns she had about life in general and a few things in specific. I mentioned Wayne Dyer's words about worry: If you can do something about a situation, you will; if you can't, why worry?? She was very excited by this because she has heard him on television and she really wants to think this way, too. I told her she can, that all it takes is practice and applying the ideas to daily life. Replacing practiced, circular thought with realized spiritual Truth may seem difficult, but a happy outcome is sure!

“Choke these errors in their early stages, if you would not cherish an army of conspirators against health, happiness, and success.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 405:9-11