Come to Yourself Daily is excited to guide you through A Course in Miracles, the groundbreaking text that launched the New Age thought movement.
If you would like to follow along with the text, you can find a FREE online version from the publisher here: https://acim.org/acim/workbook/introduction/en/s/401?wid=toc&fwv=true. Or you can purchase a hard copy from online retailers (just make sure you are getting the original BLUE cover versions published by the Foundation for Inner Peace).
This podcast is not a reading of the text. Gretchen will guide you through the lessons by providing context, examples, exercises, and insights into how you can make the most of these lessons and transform your life into one that is grounded in love, peace, and happiness.
No more resolutions…it’s time to focus on your evolution. Changing WHY you live changes HOW you live.
A Course In Miracles (First Edition – Three Volume Set) is the edition Gretchen is using as the reference material for this podcast.
Gretchen O'Neal is a spiritual accountability and empowerment coach. She holds a Master's Degree in Transpersonal Psychology with a focus in Applied Spirituality and owns and operates www.cometoyourself.com. Come To Yourself provides unbiased, easily accessible information from the top scholars in the fields of transpersonal psychology and consciousness studies, coupled with personal insights from successful artists, musicians, and business professionals to anyone looking to start their spiritual journey to discover and serve their soul's mission in life
Music: "What One Has Done Before, One Now Does For You Once More" from States: Vol. 1, written and performed by Robin Lynn. All rights reserved and used with permission.
Gretchen ONeal:
Hi, it's Gretchen. And welcome back to the beginning of Part Four in A Course in Miracles. In this section, we are going to start focusing on the action steps that we need to take in order to truly live in peace and happiness and without fear. Today's lesson lesson 121 is forgiveness is the key to happiness. Forgiveness is the key to happiness. The first thing that we need to acknowledge is that the majority of us have what is called an unforgiving mind. Forgiveness is not the first thing that we go to, in any situation that we feel confronted or attacked. And in fact, if we did live in forgiveness, and had space for that, we most likely would not feel attacked. But because the majority of us live in this false perception and this untrue reality, we do constantly feel some kind of tension attack the need to be on guard. And we have people and events that have occurred in our life, that we cannot let go of, we cannot forgive the person, we cannot process and let go of the incident. And we hold what we may call grudges. And often will disguise those grudges as something that we're doing that's positive, like I need to remind myself of this to protect myself. Or, you know, there's that phrase like, you know, I'll forgive but I won't forget, nine times out of 10, you're not even really forgiving, if that's how you're leading off in your process. If you have an unforgiving mind, you don't have any space, for love to lead the way in your mind. Your mind is clouded with fear, and tension and insecurity, anger, your mind is filled with thoughts that can only bring more negative thoughts can only lead you further and further away from peace. So the first thing that we have to start working on is having a forgiving mindset. We need to start operating from that point where we choose forgiveness over anything else. Because by doing that, we are letting love be at the forefront of our conscious thoughts and actions. That is how we maintain a connection to spirit throughout the day. That is how we protect and feed our soul. That is how we live a life in peace. The exercises for today is you're going to spend five minutes of meditation at the beginning of the day, five minutes and meditation at the end of the day. And what I want you to do at the beginning of these sessions is to think upon a person in your life who you have not forgiven. I'm sure just by me saying that that person's face or name came immediately to mind. I want you to focus on that one person, we're going to use individuals as means of practicing these concepts throughout the section. So I want you to think of that individual. And then I want you to really examine the entire situation, or their entire actions, or the words that they used. That made you decide that they cannot be forgiven for what they've done, that they are now someone who you need to keep separate from you who you need to keep distanced out of your life. I want you to think about the incident that triggered that for you. And then I want you to put that particular incident to the side. And I want you to look at the remainder of the person. And I want you to really work to find one good, positive thing about that person. I want you to think about that. It could be something they've done. It could be a character trait. It could be how you see them relate to their family, or their children, or maybe the other instances that you had with them that were positive prior to this event occurring. But I want you to find that one focal point that one positive thing about them that characteristic or that event, and I want you to dial into that and then I want you to let that event Have more weight for you. So rather than thinking about the negative thing that caused you to decide they can't be forgiven, I want you instead to look at that person with all of the positive qualities that they have, and use that as your reason to start forgiving. I want you to see that those positive elements that they have, are the same ones that you possess. That's why you think they're positive. There's a kinship there, there is a connection there. And the things that you love in yourself that you see in them is the reason why you are connected, and you have to forgive. Because by forgiving them, you in turn, forgive yourself. The opposite is true by showing them forgiveness, you in turn, allow them to forgive themselves. This is how we begin the process of living our life from love, and in constant connection with our soul and spirit, living our life from our soul, and therefore living authentically. Understanding that there's no reason to fear in this life, there's no reason to be angry in this life. That we can just love people, we can find the good in anyone in anything, we could find that positive aspect that connects us to that person. We're going to actively work to do that starting today, you're going to do it in your morning session. And you're going to do it in the evening session. You can pick two different people or two different scenarios, you don't have to work on the same person for both sessions. And then throughout the day, if you want to reengage in our hourly affirmation or mantra practice during the day, you can focus on the fact that forgiveness is the key to happiness, you must lead with forgiveness, not with anger, you must endeavor to find the positive. And the thing that connects you to another person, regardless of what they did that made you somehow feel unsure about them. There is always going to be something about them. That is the same in you, there's going to be some connective tissue that you can look to and say, I'm responding to that because that's a characteristic I have that I like about myself. It's a way that I endeavor to live my life and they're endeavoring to live their life that way to this one thing may have just been an anomaly could have just been one moment in time, that rubbed you the wrong way. But it doesn't define who they are entirely. And it doesn't need to define your interactions with them from this point forward. So work on forgiveness today. Right really focus on the understanding that it is the key to your happiness, you must develop a forgiving mind and release the unforgiving mind. Have a wonderful day and join us for the next session.