When faced with fear, I want to run. I want to hide. I want to pull the blankets over my head and hold my breath until it passes. I try to numb the sensation of fear; drown out its overwhelming voice.

But I can’t.

I turn and face the fear, greet it, look at it full in the face and say, “I know you are there.” This action alone affords tremendous relief. It quells that…

My name used to be Fear.

I walked it, wore it, smelled of it, took it on as myself. I moved through life with hands held up as fists, swinging in the dark with teeth clenched and eyes narrowed. It was my way through. It was how I made it through.

But I didn’t move. I stood still, paralyzed with shame. I was ashamed of what I did, what I was, the words I spoke. And that instant was frozen in time, lived over and over again. It was all I knew…the guilt, the pain. It was all I…

“Everything we do is infused with the energy with which we do it. If we’re frantic, life will be frantic. If we’re peaceful, life will be peaceful. And so our goal in any situation becomes inner peace. Our internal state determines our experience of our lives; our experiences do not determine our internal state.”

-Marianne Williamson in A Return to Love 

Fear…what is it? It can come in different forms: anxiousness, stress, uncertainty, sickness,…

I’ve never been to Boston. I’ve never seen its sights, soaked in the history, walked its streets. I’ve always wanted to, but haven’t yet. And hearing the news yesterday didn’t make me want to stay away, it made me sad, but it didn’t make me afraid.

“Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.” Albert Einstein

And make no mistake, the events at yesterday’s Boston Marathon started with a thought of fear.…

This passage from a course in miracles struck deep within my heart.  Every time I read it, I take a big sigh of relief.  I loved it so much when I first read it that I wrote in on my bathroom mirror so that I could see it throughout the day and really let it sink in.  It is such a beautiful…

I recently sat down again to interview Ken Wapnick while attending a weeklong Academy class at the Foundation for a Course in Miracles (FACIM) in Temecula, California, in which Ken emphasized more clearly than ever the importance of looking at the ego’s guilty story of separation realized through the eyes of the part of our mind that knows nothing really happened. He also urged us to make asking that inner teacher of forgiveness to show us…

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One of my ego’s favorite ways to hook my attention has been through fears of sickness. Worrying about the health of my body has been an ego pattern that has accompanied me throughout most of my life. “The god of sickness” (which the Course says is really a belief in nothing) is something that I’ve chased and looked for my…

To love is to let be. It is an unending extension of truth that once felt is never forgotten. It is home. I see it in you and you see it in me.

And when I feel scared or threatened it is because I am holding on to something else. Something that may have all the looks of love but is another thing entirely. It is conditional, but that’s not even true. In truth, it is nothing.

And there is nothing to be afraid of. What I think I see before me is a sea of chaos and fruitless quests…

This past month I got to read May Cause Miracles, the latest book by Gabrielle Bernstein. And it’s good…really, really good.

You see, like Gabby, I am a student of A Course in Miracles. I am committed to a daily practice of love and forgiveness for myself and everyone I meet. It ain’t easy, but it has been incredibly rewarding. This work lights me up, makes me breathe a little deeper and spurs me on to spread the word!

The subtitle of May Cause Miracles is: A 40-Day Guidebook…

I didn’t want to hear it. My brother sent me a text: “Hug Noelle and Ivan extra tight tonight. CT is the worst I’ve ever seen.” “I don’t even want to know,” I texted back. But eventually I did. I took out my phone again and went onto Twitter. Post after post about the massacre. One in particular read: “6year olds??!!! Who does this?” And then I lost it. I cried and cried until I was no longer crying about what had happened, I was crying from a place deep and buried. I was crying from a place…

And you cannot be anything but safe.

It is who you are.

And who you are beats strong and true

in, above and below the waves

of fear.

You are here.

You are near.

Though I cannot hear your voice,

my heart hears more.

Beyond the door

we are one.

In the suffering, the loss, the…

I have no freaking clue. That’s why I’m asking you.

Anyway, I’m asking because there are times I feel like I’m playing make-believe. And at some level I know that I am. From A Course in Miracles perspective it’s all make-believe, but because I think that I’m here and that I’ve written a book, I’ll go on.

I feel unworthy. Like whoa. Who the heck am I to think I can just waltz into some contest and write a novel? And then get it published?…

And I am. I feel a little silly even admitting this, but I am genuinely interested in what leads someone to conclude there is no God? But hey, what led me to conclude there is? Touché, inner adversary, touché.

When I hear about a friend or acquaintance who is an atheist I feel a bit like that married woman trying to fix up her husband’s single friend. “He just hasn’t met the right person. When he does, he’ll be happy!” OMG. I can feel myself mentally going there… “Oh, if so-and-so…

Original Source

Do you ever wake up feeling like fear is gripping you…

Let’s have a little heart-to-heart, you and I.  Let’s talk about who you are…who you really are.

You hear it over and over: that you are love, pure and simple. But do you believe it? Do you believe that you are one with the One? Can you embrace the idea that you are perfect, unsullied Spirit?

It’s not easy. There is a dark side that bubbles up like a cauldron of shame every now and then. It is relentless in its threats to overflow and burn all in its wake. It is insistent on…

I’m rolling through the rough stuff, carrying habits in my hair.  Which one will I reach for?  The food?  The tantrum? The runaway?

Maybe this time, the Light.

I don’t want to to look, have trouble letting go.  And patiently the Light just waits.  It knows me, sees me, pulls me close and whispers: “You’re ok.” I need that.  I need to be told I’m ok.  Because I don’t always feel it.

But this time, the Light.

And I can remember my safety.  I don’t have to look for…

Do I stand a ghost of a chance at letting this go?  I don’t know.   I have held on so tightly for 15 years…my knuckles white, my palms red and ruddy.  But I am willing.  For the sake of peace, I am willing.

Who am I without this?  I don’t know.  I have worn these things like a housecoat…something to keep me safe, warm and hidden.  But I am willing to shed it.  For the sake of freedom, I am willing.

And the picture will change, but if the soundtrack is Love we can do it.  We can…

It’s so easy to lay blame sometimes, isn’t it?  It’s addictive even.  To take all the hurt, the guilt and the shame and just throw it out.  Let it land where it may.  Take a look, pick the easiest target and start pointing fingers.

It’s all YOUR fault!

Ah, but I know better.  At least, I’m willing to know better.  I cannot truly believe that Love is all there is and yet think that the world is against me.  It doesn’t work that way.

I am unlearning.  I am…

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With a mind that moves so quickly,

timid, running scared.

I have little time to act.

To choose or despair.

There is a tiny speck of time,

a mere moment for this mission.

And I can rise up, let go

and listen.

I can learn, remember

and I can surrender all.

It takes but stillness

in order to…