A Course in Miracles Experimental (by Pam Grout) Day 182

“You are the Universe experiencing Itself.” – Alan Watts

If I allow that this might be true, so many of my ingrained beliefs come into question.

If I let this idea grow and bloom, I have no choice but to open my mind and give it room.

If this is true, and I have a bone-deep feeling that it is, then I need to beat some of the barnacles off my brain and allow some fresh air, and fresh ideas, back in.  I have to make the space in my life and in my head to figure out what this really means.

Twice a day, when I’m falling asleep and when I’m waking up, there’s a few magical moments when my mind is sort of floating free – drifting and receptive.

I’m trying to use those mystical seconds to aim my consciousness at the Almighty, striving for a closer connection.

What do you think of as you let go of the conscious world and drift off to sleep?

Photo by Taylor Leopold, courtesy of Unsplash
With Grace and Gratitude, 

LeslieAnne

A Course in Miracles Experiment (by Pam Grout) Day 181

There’s a saying that you’ve surely heard:  “All we really have is today.”

 And if you can stop the running commentary on your head that’s continually trying to re-run the past or interpret someone else’s motivations, and focus on today, you’ll find a wellspring of hot in the now.

It’s hard to do, but Oh, so worth the effort!

I have spent way too much time on my life focussing on the things I didn’t want, that I’ve not had the energy or space to consider what I DO want.  

Maybe you have, too.

Take ten minutes out of your day to think hard about what you wish your life actually consisted of, without making comparisons to your actual life, and without judging yourself for where you really are or how you got there.

Let right now be where you are, wholeheartedly and with your full attention.

It’s amazing how different everything looks when you change your focus.

Stop looking at the bacteria under the microscope and step back into the sunlight.

Enjoy the day!

Photo by Aaron Burden, courtesy of Unsplash
With Grace and Gratitude, 

LeslieAnne

A Course in Miracles Experiment (by Pam Grout) Day 180

Grace is where it’s at.

Just think about it.

Without Grace, my life becomes a series of painful experiences with no end in sight.

If I allow myself room for Grace, I can release all the negativity and begin to move on in my life.

If I give Grace a chance, I receive more than I give.

How can I do this?

When my husband grumps at me over something trivial, I mentally take a step back and a deep breath.  I remind myself that what he‘s experiencing is not at all what I‘m experiencing, and that without Grace, I won’t achieve understanding.

Then, I can “turn the other cheek”, see a different viewpoint, and respond appropriately.  Anger, irritation, or negativity will block my source of Grace, and they just get in the way!

Do you find yourself snapping back in anger or aggravation?

Try taking that deep breath.  Try to give Grace room in your head, your heart, your life.

Then, you can handle anything that anyone tosses your way, and hit it square on and right out of the ballpark!

Try it this morning.  Try it.  Then try to tell me it doesn’t work.  Because I have seen it in action, and the results are truly astonishing.

Photo by SAMIMX, courtesy of Pixabay

With Grace and Gratitude, 

LeslieAnne

A Course in Miracles Experiment (by Pam Grout) Day 179

Do you get up in the morning expecting that your day will be miserable?

Do you expect that your boss will have an attitude, that your co-workers will all be grumpy, that the newspaper will have gotten wet and be unreadable?

The things we expect, the fact that we think they’re going to happen, helps draw those experiences to us.

What if, today, you tell that snarky voice in your head to hush, and purposefully think about what positive things could happen?

Try it today.

Every time that voice pipes up with something negative, consciously replace that thought with “Only good things come to me.”

 Keep repeating it.

Every time.

By overlaying positive thoughts, the negative will sink down into the muck at the bottom of the ocean that is your mind, and that positivity will attract its like.

Calm your mind, your thoughts.

Add a tiny bit of positivity, and like a slick of oil on water, these conscious thoughts will begin to spread and ease the upheaval and chaos that is created by negativity and by our ego.

Which scenario makes more sense?  

Why allow anyone else’s interpretation of reality to change your life?  We are conscious, thinking, rational animals.  Let’s be rational, and allow that good to come into our lives!  

Why not try being something different today?

Photo by Skitterphoto, courtesy of Pixabay
With Grace and Gratitude, 

LeslieAnne

A Course in Miracles Experiment (by Pam Grout) Day 178

Love is the only real answer.

We’re not talking about romantic love, here.  That’s certainly got its place, but it’s too narrow a concept.

What we need to heal the wounded world we live in is a deep and abiding love that allows no unkind act, no uncharitable thought.

Reach down into your heart for that love that you had as a child – the love that allows you to laugh and be joyful all the time.  It’s a love of life itself, a celebration of every good thing that is and that will come.

Love truly can conquer all adversity, any challenge.

Imagine a world based on love, a world where every child is seen as a gift, where every being has enough to eat, a shelter of their own, a support system for hard times.

What a wondrous world we can make!

Ignore the overwhelming negativity of the mass media.

Prioritize love, kindness and caring.

Let’s change the face of our planet for the better!

Photo by edmondlafoto, courtesy of Pixabay

With Grace and Gratitude, 

LeslieAnne

A Course in Miracles Experiment (by Pam Grout) Day 177

This lesson really made me smile!

It’s titled “Earth Robots, Revolt!”

 Remember when you were small and everything was new, exciting, filled with amazement and possibilities?

Remember the time before “they” got you toned down, dressed up, and fitted into your tiny little spot?

We get so caught up in labelling things, that we forget that our kids, our friends, and even ourselves (sorry about the grammar loss here), we don’t actually fit those labels!  They’re handy, but they’re also limiting.

We’re defined by the labels we accept for ourselves, and until we kick them out and turn them away, we’ll continue in our (self-)limited ways.

What’s a label you’ve accepted for yourself? Tell yourself today, every time you think about it, that you are just the opposite of that label.  Every single time!

Because you ARE bright, beautiful, creative and wondrous in every way! You ARE everything you want to be, today and every day!  

Use that slogan the Army used to use, “Be all you can be!” and work it!

 You ARE important.  You CAN make a difference.  You do affect everyone and everything around you with your thoughts.  Make it positive, and make it happen.  Be every wonderful, amazing, powerful and creative thing you can be today.

Start the momentum.  Once you can get that boulder rolling, it will smash through those labels, obliterate them so entirely that no-one will remember them.

Be everything you can be, today!  Re-orient your thinking every moment, like the sunflower follows the sun across the sky…

Photo by RitaE, courtesy of Pixabay

With Grace and Gratitude, 

LeslieAnne

A Course in Miracles Experiment (by Pam Grout) Day 176

The Universe is still expanding.  The scientists tell us that this all started with a “Big Bang”, right?  What they generally neglect to mention is that the process hasn’t stopped.  Every once in a while an astronomist will bring up the fact, but mostly we ignore it.

The question this brings to my mind, though, is “If our whole universe is still expanding, why do we persist in believing that all the important resources in our lives are limited?”

Why aren’t we chasing after some of those limitless possibilities, instead of hunkering down with the tiny bit of ( land, food, car, job, money) that we’ve managed to make our own?

Why aren’t we teaching our kids a better idea, that’s actually more in line with that reality – that the entire universe is NOT limited, that what we can achieve is NOT limited, that if we can imagine it, we can achieve it?

My ego reiterates every day “You have to keep this job, You have to know where your paycheck is coming from, you have to …yadda, yadda, yadda.”

Does yours?

I’m gathering up the courage and conviction to strike out on my own, to ditch the 9 to 5, and let the money we need to find me in its own way.

Am I crazy?

Maybe!

But how else will I really prove my theory – that the Universe is unlimited and ever-expanding, and will grant me everything I really need when I need it?

Photo of the Lobster Nebula by skeeze, courtesy of Pixabay
With Grace and Gratitude, 

LeslieAnne

A Course in Miracles Experiment (by Pam Grout) Day 175

Have you ever thought about “masking up” to protect yourself against the overwhelming negativity of the ubiquitous messages that runs through our modern lives?

I myself realized quite a few years ago that I actually had no real need for television, and I have my (step-)daughters to thank!

I came home from work one day and our girls, 13 and 14 at the time, were watching “Beavis and Butthead”.  Now, after about 5 minutes of seeing that gem of a cartoon, I asked them “Isn’t there a nature show or something better on the TV?  This is junk!”

 Their reply?  “But it’s funny!”

 Sighing, I let it go, figuring it wasn’t worth an argument.

The next day they were watching “SouthPark”.

The day after that (and after a consult session with my hubby), I stopped paying for cable.

It wasn’t worth an argument, but I was not going to pay out my hard-earned money to feed that cheap to our kids!

I couldn’t protect them from a lot of things, but I could at least lower the “infection rate” of some of the idiocy that I could see on the television.

Thankfully, I have never gotten over that initial reaction of horror at what was considered appropriate for consumption.  That’s been well over 20 years ago, and I still don’t have network TV.

It’s SO much easier to keep a positive frame of mind without the constant renewal of negative feed!  I still listen to the radio occasionally, (mostly NPR), but even that source of “news” is overwhelmingly negative.

I do love my daily dose of good news from the “Good News Network” !  Look for GNN.org for your daily vaccination of positivity, and have a fabulous day today!

Photo by Georg11, courtesy of Pixabay
With Grace and Gratitude, 

LeslieAnne

A Course in Miracles Experiment (by Pam Grout) Day 174

My ego tries really hard to control my entire life.

It’s the snarky little voice that wants me to retreat into a shell, wanting too “protect” me from all those hazards out in the big scary world.

The problem with that whole scenario is that if I’m tucked away safe in my little hermit crab shell, I quickly run out of room to grow.

That voice would keep me safe, but at what cost?

If I’m hiding in my “safe” place, I can’t see the wonders that surround me – just the tiny bit of the world that’s right inn front of me.

Hiding in my shell, I am less vulnerable, but I also am limited in my perceptions and in my actions.

In order to grow and give, I have to take courage in hand and climb out of my shell to join the dance.

Do you hide in your shell when you get challenged?  Or can you bring yourself to face it, knowing that the Universe won’t fish out more than you can handle?

Open up to the wondrous world in all its forms and complexity!  Experience everything today!

Photo by Peggy Choucair,  courtesy of Pixabay

With Grace and Gratitude, 

LeslieAnne

And if you like Hermit Crabs, check out My Hermit Crab Journal and learn facts and trivia about these fascinating creatures at https://bit.ly/HermitCrabFun

Have a wonderful day!

A Course in Miracles Experimental (by Pam Grout) Day 173

Turn off your ego for a while.

Your ego (and mine) have an extremely limited idea of how things ought to be.

One thing that will quiet that snarky little voice is awe.

Have you noticed that when you see or experience something awe-inspiring that your ego shuts the heck up?

I find awe in some pretty mundane places:  my front porch, even.  Earlier this year I was privileged to be in my porch chair when a series of teeny praying mantis hatched from an egg case that had been laid under the head cushion last fall.  Suddenly there was a veritable avalanche of miniature predators, each small enough to fit in a fingernail along with several siblings.

As I sat and watched them emerge from that big-time case, exploding like itty bitty firecrackers, I was completely overcome with wonder at the complexity and richness of life on this planet.

We (I called my son out to help) herded the babies gently one by one into the porch plants, trying to make sure they each had a chance to find some food and survive.

Each time we thought we’d gotten everyone safely relocated, more would pop up – in the siding above the chair, on my arm, on the table!

Finally they quit appearing and we rested, hoping that they would find shelter and food and be safe from our busy house wrens.  

The sense of wonder I felt at being present for this magical multiple birthing is impossible to really convey, but each time we’d see a mantis on the porch over the next few weeks it would strike me again.

What inspires your sense of awe and wonder?

https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/gYsgYj1aQuOA4I4PBiyi0Q.Ct6td73yMIRuSZ8aXKPvUy

Video by LeslieAnne Hasty, courtesy of Mother Nature!

With Grace and Gratitude, 

LeslieAnne