“Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.”
-Saint Augustine
I really love playing with A Course in Miracles.
It is both challenging and revealing.
If you haven’t read the whole series yet, you can start back at A Course in Miracles: Day 1
Today, we dig a little bit deeper into the puzzle of self.
Have you ever been really upset?
We all have.
Have you ever really understood why?
A Course in Miracles: Day 5
The game for Day 5 is:
I am never upset for the reason I think.
Just like yesterday, you will want to take a minute to relax, get clear, and notice whatever thoughts might arise.
If any of these thoughts are ‘upset’ or ‘angry’, just remember “I am not upset at this for the reason I think.”
It’s great to do this throughout your day for whatever irritations that may come up…
And you will also want to take a few minutes to do the complete exercise… first getting relaxed and focused on the thinking process… then applying “I am never upset at X for the reason I think” to whatever arises (where ‘X’ is the apparent object of frustration).
My Experience:
Although it didn’t give an immediate answer for the ‘real reason why’… this idea/game struck me as true right away.
It’s very easy to blame people and circumstances for our emotions… particularly the negative one.
Yet the one commonality of all our ‘negative’ experiences… is that we are there to experience it.
I’ve been studying meditation and mysticism for many years… yet when I applied this exercise, it gave me such a practical way to begin to dissolve a basic human tendency that still exists within me:
We tend to create needless suffering by blaming our experience on others!
To make it a little bit easier…
This one can be tough… particularly if you have already worked it out in your mind that someone else is responsible for your feelings.
Of course, as with any of these exercises, it is great to start with relaxation or meditation, and then use EFT tapping or other energy work during the exercise to make it easier… to let it sink into your body at a deeper level.
With this game, if you can’t immediately accept that You are never upset for the reason you think… you might try an easier start… such as “I open to the possibility that I’m not upset at this for the reason I think!“
ACIM is a progressively more challenging program.
This is where you begin to accept that you don’t really know many of the things you formally thought you knew for sure.
How far can you take this?
A quote made by Billy Connolly’s character from the end of the movie, Boondock Saints, illustrates this well:
Connor: How far are we going to take this, Da?
Il Duce: The question is not how far. The question is, do you possess the constitution, the depth of faith, to go as far as is needed?
Do you have the faith to keep going?
keep smiling,
Ben
Popularity: 1% [?]
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I guess its hard to want to face the real reason why we are upset. Its often due to our ego that we are hurt. But we don’t want to admit it.
.-= Nita´s last blog ..Aishwarya Rai’s hands show that she is no ice maiden! =-.