Stepping Out of Time

. . . and resting your mind

I share this evening a reflection written by Lana Carolan, one that she recently shared on the Facebook page for the Foundation for Inner Peace. This foundation is dedicated to publishing, distributing and discussing the writings collectively known as A Course in Miracles (ACIM).

I find Lana’s advice on how to still and quiet the mind to be very wise. It’s advice that rings true for me. It also aligns with Lana’s understanding of what it means to live the Course in Miracles. This living, says Lana, is all about “training my mind to begin each and every day with the choice for God.”

Such a choice, Lana says, means “keeping my mind present and mindful of what I am doing here and now, and being fully invested in this present moment. . . . It means bringing God with me in whatever I am doing. For me, that means bringing Love to everything I am doing.”

Beautiful and challenging words, to be sure!

Following are Lana’s thoughts on directing and placing our focus and attention on this present moment so as to be fully present with God.

_______________________

Step out of time and rest your mind.

I’m often asked,“How do I still and quiet the mind?” Here are a few of the practices I've discovered over the years that I’ve found to be helpful. I hope they prove helpful to you as well.

Notice that when you bring your full focus and attention to any activity, i.e. reading, writing, meditating, or even watching TV, you are aware of only that activity. I’ve found that it is just about impossible for the mind to be present with God AND at the same time engaged with the thinking mind of the ego. I’m either present, here and now with God, OR my mind is occupied with the ego’s worries and problems. I call this “time traveling.” It is when the mind travels to past regrets or future worries instead of being present, here and now.

When you direct and place your focus and attention on this present moment, the mind becomes oblivious to all other thoughts and thinking activities. The mind “naturally” quiets itself when we keep our awareness present, and fixed in the here and now with God. This is also referred to as “mindfulness” and/or “Be Here Now.” Keeping your awareness “present” is key to a still and quiet mind.

Being “present” is part of the mind training I’ve found so valuable in A Course in Miracles. Some of the ways I’ve utilized and found helpful in keeping my mind in a state of present-moment awareness are prayer, saying a mantra, and meditation. I also say the rosary or recite the lesson titles in the table of contents in the [ACIM] Workbook. Anything that keeps the mind fixed and focused fully on the present moment has worked for me. Anything we find to be captivating will work. It just needs to hold our attention long enough for our monkey mind to settle down.

You will discover what works best for you. It does not have to be spiritual. When my peace is affected by physical pain, I’ve been known to binge-watch a Netflix series as a way of dissociating my “thinking mind” from the physical pain long enough for healing to occur. I don’t even have to “let go” of the pain because the pain actually “lets go” of me. As my mind is fixed in the present, the pain dissolves and disappears from my awareness. When I “pay it no mind,” it is the same as remembering the words of Jesus, “I will forgive and this will disappear.”

It does not take long for the mind to quiet itself when it has been captivated by God in a state of present-moment awareness. This is also the state of mind where I practice forgiveness, ask for guidance and healing, rest in God, and “Choose Once Again.” It is the place of miracles, communing with Jesus, and where holy instants occur with our brothers/sisters and our Holy Spirit. It is that state where the world disappears and only Love remains. Practice makes Progress. 😍

– Lana Carolan
via Foundation for Inner Peace Group
September 17, 2023

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• In the Stillness and Silence of This Present Moment
• Returning the Mind to God
• The Beauty and Challenge of Being Present in the Moment
• Cultivating Stillness
• I Need Do Nothing . . . I Am Open to the Living Light
• The Source Is Within You
• A Sacred Pause
• Aligning With the Living Light
• Mystical Participation
• Be In My Mind, Beloved One
• Your Peace Is With Me, Beloved One
• You Are My Goal, Beloved One
• My Love, “Return to the Root of the Root of Your Own Soul”

Opening and closing images: Adnan in September garden – Michael J. Bayly (9/1/23).

Being the Light

I share today a reflection written by Lana Carolan, one that she recently shared on the Facebook page for the Foundation for Inner Peace. This foundation is dedicated to publishing, distributing and discussing the writings collectively known as A Course in Miracles (ACIM).

I find Lana’s words on the Divine's invitation to all of us to "be the Light, be the Love, be you” to be both beautiful and helpful. They are words that ring true for me. They also align with Lana’s understanding of what it means to live the Course in Miracles. This living, says Lana, is all about “training my mind to begin each and every day with the choice for God.”

Such a choice, Lana says, means “keeping my mind present and mindful of what I am doing here and now, and being fully invested in this present moment. . . . It means bringing God with me in whatever I am doing. For me, that means bringing Love to everything I am doing.”

Beautiful and challenging words, to be sure! Following are Lana’s thoughts on the spiritual truth expressed in A Course in Miracles that “the peace of God is shining in me now.”

__________________________

Be the Light. Be the Love. Be you. ❤

There is a place within the heart where only Love resides. There is a place within the mind where only Peace exists; there is an ever-present spark of Divine Light that shines eternally. It is a place of Unity and Wholeness, all within the Oneness of Creation. I call it Heaven.

God’s Messengers call us to come Home. Bring all worries and concerns to this spark of Light within our holy mind. Bring anything that would hurt or disrupt our Peace. Bring every "ouch" and every note of discord to our Holy Place where we live and move and have our Being.

We look to the Light within us. Bring all thoughts and feelings that would tempt us to deny our perfection as God Created us. Bring them to the Sacred Love and Healing Light within. Behold, as they are transformed by Love’s healing grace. Watch them as all that is devoid of Peace and Love disappear. We rest there in the arms of our [Beloved] as He embraces us in Infinite Love and everlasting Peace. Here is my home. Now is my Heaven.

Love’s Light is shining within us. It warms a world grown cold with pain and hate. Love just IS. It requires nothing of us but to shine Its Radiant Light on everyone and everything we see. For Love is who we truly are. Be the Light . . . Be YOU.

– Lana Carolan
via Foundation for Inner Peace Group
August 18, 2022

The peace of God is shining in me now.
Why wait for Heaven? Those who seek the light are merely covering their eyes. The light is in them now. Enlightenment is but a recognition, not a change at all.

The peace of God is shining in you now, and from your heart extends around the world. It pauses to caress each living thing, and leaves a blessing with it that remains forever and forever. What it gives must be eternal. It removes all thoughts of the ephemeral and valueless. It brings renewal to all tired hearts, and lights all vision as it passes by. All of its gifts are given everyone, and everyone unites in giving thanks to you who give, and you who have received. (ACIM, W-188)

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• I Need Do Nothing . . . I Am Open to the Living Light
• The Source Is Within You
• A Sacred Pause
• Aligning With the Living Light
• Mystical Participation
• Returning the Mind to God
• The Beauty and Challenge of Being Present in the Moment
• Cultivating Stillness
• Be In My Mind, Beloved One
• Your Peace Is With Me, Beloved One
• You Are My Goal, Beloved One

Images: Dancer unknown.

Returning the Mind to God

I share this evening a reflection written by Lana Carolan, one that she recently shared on the Facebook page for the Foundation for Inner Peace. This foundation is dedicated to publishing, distributing and discussing the writings collectively known as A Course in Miracles (ACIM).

I find Lana’s words on returning our minds to God to be both wise and helpful. They are words that ring true for me. They also align with Lana’s understanding of what it means to live the Course in Miracles. This living, says Lana, is all about “training my mind to begin each and every day with the choice for God.”

Such a choice, Lana says, means “keeping my mind present and mindful of what I am doing here and now, and being fully invested in this present moment. . . . It means bringing God with me in whatever I am doing. For me, that means bringing Love to everything I am doing.”

Beautiful and challenging words! Following are Lana Carolan’s thoughts on how to respond to “any perception that does not represent the Peace and Love of God.”

__________________________

Mind Training is simply keeping the mind aligned with the Mind of God. That is where our power is found. For there we find the Truth of who we really are. For me, this is what the process looks like. It begins by becoming the observer of my thoughts rather than a participant. One learns to do this by practicing mindfulness, by maintaining a present state of awareness. Within this present moment, I am not time-traveling, that is thinking of past regrets or worrying about the future. ACIM says that the present (or now) is the closest approximation we have to eternity within the realm of time/space.

In practicing this over the years, I’ve come to recognize differences between the thoughts I think with God and the thoughts of the ego thought system. First and foremost, the thoughts I think with God are delivered to my mind via the Holy Spirit. It is not a "thinking" process. Rather, the stillness of mind allows their entry. They are welcomed and received. I notice their arrival and they are always accompanied with clarity, certainty, and peace. These are my real thoughts.

Ego thoughts are quite different. Thoughts of the ego do come about through what seems to be a "thinking" process. In fact, it is experienced as though I thought them up myself. Yet, they are entirely of the ego’s making. They are not only unreal, they do not exist at all. They are, for the most part, related to past regrets or present or future worries. Ego thoughts are accompanied by confusion, doubt, and conflict. In every way, they are the opposite of the thoughts I think with God.

Enter Holy Spirit, guardian of my mind. Holy Spirit sees only the true, the real, and the lovely within the mind I share with God. Holy Spirit discerns for me what is real and what is not, even when my mind is so confused it cannot see the difference between night and day. Holy Spirit looks beyond the ego thoughts just as if they were not there because they are not there. Holy Spirit sees but ONE Light shining in my mind and that Light of Love knows only what is like Itself.

There is but ONE mind. There is but ONE Power, the Power of God. We have made up a second power that is not real. It is held in place by our belief in it. You could say this is an "unGodly" power that could be called the Anti-Christ in the mind. It stands for anything that is in opposition to God and Truth. Since God has no opposite, we know this second power cannot be real. It is a counterfeit power whose sole purpose is its own survival, regardless of the horrendous misperceptions it makes up to secure its safety.

Our belief in a second power will of its own accord diminish as we consistently align the mind with the ONE Power that IS Real. These are our real thoughts. Our Power in God will validate itself in our experience and through its validation, a belief in a second power will naturally begin to dissolve.

Training the mind is like planting seeds in the ground. We don’t initially have any great sensation of anything happening, and it does not seem possible that the soil has any special power. But the seeds when planted, initiate a creative process that produces a plant. The plant is an effect of this creative process, just as Peace is an effect of the creative process in our mind.

To the degree that we consciously accept a true recognition of our perfection and are receptive to our Truth, we stay in right-mindedness which produces effects that reflect the attributes of God; peace, harmony, health, and security. We have discovered the portal to our Divine Nature and learned to live there. As Jesus taught us, "Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free."

It is our responsibility to train the mind to seek only the Power of God, to think only the thoughts of God, which is the same as saying to think thoughts that reflect only the Truth of who we really are. It is trusting in God and making God the Sole Authority of our mind and in our world. There is no limit to our mind training. There can be no limit to our devotion to the Truth. The more we train the mind, the more we experience an Awakening in God.

Over the decades I’ve learned that the one solution to any and all perceived problems is returning the mind to God. Whenever I bring all of my focus and attention to this present moment, I have made the choice to abandon the ego thought system and embrace the loving arms of my Creator. ❤

– Lana Carolan
via Foundation for Inner Peace Group
April 16, 2022

Related Off-site Links:
How to Live in the Present Moment – Courtney E. Ackerman (Positive Psychology, January 30, 2021).
The Incredible Power of Being Present in the Moment – TheJoyWithin.org (May 31, 2019).
Being Present as a Spiritual Practice – Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat (Spirituality and Practice: Resources for Spiritual Journeys).
What Is the Present Moment? – MyrkoThum.com (August 31, 2008).
Freedom Is Being Present – InnerPeaceFellowship.org.

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Beauty and Challenge of Being Present in the Moment
• I Need Do Nothing . . . I Am Open to Living Light
• Cultivating Stillness
• Be In My Mind, Beloved One
• Your Peace Is With Me, Beloved One
• You Are My Goal, Beloved One
• A Sacred Pause
• Aligning With the Living Light
• Mystical Participation
• The Source Is Within You

Image: Michael J. Bayly.

I Need Do Nothing

. . . I Am Open to the Living Light

I share this evening another reflection by Lana Carolan, one that was first posted on the Facebook page for the Foundation for Inner Peace. This foundation is dedicated to publishing, distributing and discussing the writings collectively known as A Course in Miracles (ACIM).

As with the first reflection of Lana’s that I shared, I find this one to be both wise and helpful. It rings true for me. It also aligns with Lana’s understanding of what it means to live the Course in Miracles. This living, says Lana, is all about “training my mind to begin each and every day with the choice for God.” Such a choice, Lana says, means “keeping my mind present and mindful of what I am doing here and now, and being fully invested in this present moment. . . . It means bringing God with me in whatever I am doing. For me, that means bringing Love to everything I am doing.”

In the reflection I share this evening, Lana reminds us that our facilitating of an awareness of God’s presence is a process, the last step of which involves the quietening of the intellect so that we can be fully present in the moment and allow the awareness of God to arise on its own terms. My experience has been that through both cultivating and simply being open to the Divine Presence, I am gifted with deeper understanding and illuminating clarity. These and other spiritual gifts are always available to us, but getting to the place where we recognize and welcome them is a process, a spiritual practice which, like a physical exercise, we can work on until it gets easier to do over time; until it becomes a part of who we are.

I’ve noted previously that when I allow myself a “sacred pause” to be fully present in the moment, I feel myself in alignment with the sustaining and transforming energy of the sacred. In ways that can only be described as mystical, I recognize through this experience my connection to – and oneness with – all that is within and around me.

This experience of oneness, of the Divine Presence saturating all the different aspects of creation, is for me one of renewal; it restores within me balance and harmony, clarity and hope.

Throughout all the great religions, the renewing and illuminating presence of God is symbolized by light. I think of God as “the Living Light,” a phrase I first came across in the writings of Marianne Williamson. This Living Light dwells deep within me and all things, as well as beyond me and all things. And like all living things it has a voice, meaning, in this case, that it has ways of both imparting and eliciting meaning, love, wisdom, and peace; it has ways, in other words, of being in transformative relationship with each one of us. Indeed, that’s what it wants!

An older wise friend once told me that whenever I am feeling down or lost, that I should visulize myself moving toward and simply “sitting in the Light.” The Light will then do the rest. My friend’s words echo Thomas Merton’s advice to James Finlay in relation to those times when we find ourselves trying too hard to pray: “How does an apple ripen? It just sits in the sun.” Reflecting on Merton’s words in his book Merton’s Palace of Nowhere, Finlay writes: “[Like the ripening of an apple] or the opening of a rose, the birth of the true self takes place in God’s time. We must wait for God, we must be awake; we must trust in [God’s] hidden action within us.”

Nowadays I engage in my friend’s recommended “sitting in the Light” excerise not just for myself but for others. For some time now, for instance, I’ve been aware that someone who I care about deeply is experiencing a lot of psychic pain. For all kinds of reasons, this person has a hard time staying in touch with and living from his deepest and truest sense of Self. He is largely resistant to my and other’s loving and caring words and actions. More often than not, it is all that I can do to simply picture my friend enveloped in the Living Light, in the transforming Love of the Divine Presence. I have to trust that this somehow makes a difference; that the loving energy that is extended on my part in the doing of this visualization somehow gets things in motion on the level of the heart. And even if it feels as though it is just my heart that is moved and transformed, I have to trust that, since we are all one, it is also the collective heart of humanity and the world that is also being moved and transformed. And this bigger, collective heart includes my hurting friend.

With all that being said, here are Lana Carolan’s thoughts on getting to that point where we become aware of the transforming presence and guiding voice of God in our lives.

___________________

I’ve noticed that the intellect is useful in getting me to a place where I recognize I must allow it to drop away so the intuitive nature or heart of God can be heard. To facilitate this awareness, I must resist the urge to “think” myself awake and instead allow it to arise on its own terms. To stop thinking in and of itself can seem impossible, yet when I point my mind and fix my awareness on this present moment, all thinking subsides naturally. It is in this space of consciousness that I am able to hear another voice.

Early on I used writing to initiate communication. I would start writing and Holy Spirit would just pick up with it shortly into the writing. I’d just start writing whatever was on my mind and at some point, the voice of the Holy Spirit just took over. It did not seem to matter what state of mind I was in or if I was seeking help or just communion. When I was willing to listen, it spoke to me from a place deep within and it had absolutely no connection to the intellect or the thinking mind at all. Later, I no longer needed to write to initiate its voice. It just became a natural process of being present and through utilizing a listening meditation I continue to use today.

It is also helpful to remember that my inner guidance/voice never sleeps and can spring into my awareness without effort or a decision on my part. Sometimes it awakens me late at night or during the very early morning hours. I’m just compelled to write or listen. It is always an uplifting message seeming to come out of nowhere and not associated with my own thinking. It brings a gift of understanding and clarity on subjects I have not even contemplated. It seems to know what I need to know before I do. Holy Spirit comes through a state of no thought. It is a non-thinking process where the thinking of the ego-mind is silenced and the thoughts I think with God come into my awareness. I’ve learned to trust it completely for I KNOW it is ever-present and available whenever it is needed. It is like a meeting place. It is like stepping through a door and finding myself there. It feels like home. ❤

“Here is the ultimate release which everyone will one day find in his own way, at his own time. You do not need this time. Time has been saved for you because you and your brother are together. This is the special means this course is using to save you time. You are not making use of the course if you insist on using means which have served others well, neglecting what was made for you. Save time for me by only this one preparation, and practice doing nothing else. ‘I need do nothing’ is a statement of allegiance, a truly undivided loyalty. Believe it for just one instant, and you will accomplish more than is given to a century of contemplation, or of struggle against temptation.” – ACIM (T:18.VII.6)

– Lana Carolan
via Foundation for Inner Peace Group
December 18, 2021

NEXT:
When Sorrow Comes

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Beauty and Challenge of Being Present in the Moment
• Cultivating Stillness
• Be In My Mind, Beloved One
• Your Peace Is With Me, Beloved One
• You Are My Goal, Beloved One
• Jesus and the Art of Letting Go
• A Sacred Pause
• Aligning With the Living Light
• Mystical Participation
• The Source Is Within You
• Child of the Universe
• In Morning Light
• “So You Can Only See Beautiful Things”
• November Musings
• What We Crave
• My Love, “Return to the Root of the Root of Your Own Soul”

Images: “Adnan in the Light” by Michael J. Bayly (Minneapolis, November 25, 2021).

The Beauty and Challenge of Being Present in the Moment

I share this evening a reflection written by Lana Carolan, one that was first posted on the Facebook page of the Foundation for Inner Peace. This foundation is dedicated to publishing, distributing and discussing the writings collectively known as A Course in Miracles (ACIM).

I find Lana’s words on the beauty and challenge of living in the moment to be both wise and helpful. They ring true for me. They also align with Lana’s understanding of what it means to live the Course in Miracles. This living, says Lana, is all about “training my mind to begin each and every day with the choice for God.” Such a choice, Lana says, means “keeping my mind present and mindful of what I am doing here and now, and being fully invested in this present moment. . . . It means bringing God with me in whatever I am doing. For me, that means bringing Love to everything I am doing.”

Beautiful and challenging words! Following are more of Lana Carolan’s thoughts on the beauty and challenge of “being mindful of, and present to that which we perceive,” the beauty and challenge of cultivating “present state awareness” and thus “the awareness of our Unity in God and with each other.”

___________________

The laws of perception will give us a reflection of whatever we choose to believe is real. These laws will support our deepest depression or our highest aspirations. We become the witness to where we have placed our faith.

A happy dream is a reflection (and the effect) of right-mindedness. It is being mindful of, and present to that which we perceive. It is always choosing Life, choosing Love, choosing Joy, and choosing Peace. The strength of our faith/belief in these choices bears fruit as their effects show up in our everyday lives. We forgive anything that denies the Truth. And as we do, we behold Heaven’s reflection as it unfolds in ways we cannot even imagine . . . no longer a “seeming” victim, we are now a witness to the Laws of LOVE and God truly is in everything we perceive.

Lack of faith is never at issue. We all have faith in something, be it our Truth or our distortions of the Truth. As we become more and more sensitive to the mind’s activities we can catch the ego in the beginnings of its misbehavior. As peace becomes a consistent state, lack of it is like a pebble in our shoes. It serves as a constant reminder to choose again. Our willingness to choose again activates our higher mind, our Holy Spirit, and sets in motion the correction of wrong-mindedness into right-mindedness.

Right-mindedness is Heaven’s reflection. We simply step into it as life unfolds before us. At the level of mind, there is nothing to do other than to be present and bring the mind to stillness (no thinking) and quiet (no talking to ourselves). As we take each step, God goes with us, making straight all the twists and turns of the ego’s distortions. Right-mindedness brings with it clarity, certainty, and peace. This “present state awareness” of stillness and quiet always welcomes us as we accept it. It is not a “doing” so much as it is a “being.”

Yet there will always be this place of rest to which you can return. And you will be more aware of this quiet center of the storm than all its raging activity. This quiet center, in which you do nothing, will remain with you, giving you rest in the midst of every busy doing on which you are sent. For from this center will you be directed how to use the body sinlessly. It is this center, from which the body is absent, that will keep it so in your awareness of it. [A Course in Miracles]

We simply allow and accept Reality to be what it is and Reality provides for everything we could possibly imagine we need. If you notice, the ego-mind will jump in and “seem to” inform us of all the reasons this cannot be so. Did you notice? It really believes it knows more than God does. Yet, just beyond the rantings of the ego, Reality remains Reality. It is our constant companion when we remember to notice IT, embrace IT and accept ownership of ITS amazing grace. LOVE’s Reflection always lights the way to our true home and to the awareness of our Unity in God and with each other.

We shall find peace. We shall hear angels. We shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds ~ Anton Chekov

– Lana Carolan
via Foundation for Inner Peace Group
August 6, 2021

NEXT:
Saaxiib Qurux Badan
– November 25, 2021

Related Off-site Links:
How to Live in the Present Moment – Courtney E. Ackerman (Positive Psychology, January 30, 2021).
The Incredible Power of Being Present in the Moment – TheJoyWithin.org (May 31, 2019).
Being Present as a Spiritual Practice – Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat (Spirituality and Practice: Resources for Spiritual Journeys).
What Is the Present Moment? – MyrkoThum.com (August 31, 2008).
Freedom Is Being Present – InnerPeaceFellowship.org.

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Cultivating Stillness
• Be In My Mind, Beloved One
• Your Peace Is With Me, Beloved One
• You Are My Goal, Beloved One
• A Sacred Pause
• Aligning With the Living Light
• Mystical Participation
• My Love, “Return to the Root of the Root of Your Own Soul”
• The Source Is Within You

Image: “My Saaxiib Qurux Badan, in the Moment” by Michael J. Bayly.