A Course in Miracles Workbook Daily Lesson 330, Year 2022

ACIM Daily Lesson 330 I will not hurt myself again today. 1. Let us this day accept forgiveness as our only function.

Lesson 330

I will not hurt myself again today.

1. Let us this day accept forgiveness as our only function. ²Why should we attack our minds, and give them images of pain? ³Why should we teach them they are powerless, when God holds out His power and His Love, and bids them take what is already theirs? ⁴The mind that is made willing to accept God’s gifts has been restored to spirit, and extends its freedom and its joy, as is the Will of God united with its own. ⁵The Self which God created cannot sin, and therefore cannot suffer. ⁶Let us choose today that He be our Identity, and thus escape forever from all things the dream of fear appears to offer us.

2. Father, Your Son can not be hurt. ²And if we think we suffer, we but fail to know our one Identity we share with You. ³We would return to It today, to be made free forever from all our mistakes, and to be saved from what we thought we were.

Our minds are powerful.

Why should we teach them they are powerless? That is the phrase that grabbed my attention because I have been working on this idea lately. I realized recently that I have been acting as if I am powerless in one area of my life. For the most part, I realize that my mind is very powerful. For instance, I was talking to my son last night about beliefs and how just because we believe something doesn’t make it true. We talked about changing our minds about what we believe, and he noted that we could become new people by doing this.

⁵True learning is constant, and so vital in its power for change that a Son of God can recognize his power in one instant and change the world in the next. ⁶That is because, by changing his mind, he has changed the most powerful device that was ever given him for change. (ACIM, T-7.V.7:5-6)

After all, our powerful mind has made an entire world.

And that is not all. In every moment, we are deciding what a thing means and so deciding what our life is going to be like within this world through our interpretation of what we made. Here is an example. If I had a belief in lack, I would always be expecting to lose or not have what I need. It wouldn’t matter how true that belief was. The feeling of constantly being at a loss would change how I acted and reacted to people and situations.

For instance, if I were worried about not having enough, I would resent people who wanted some of what I had. Their need would feel like an attack, and I would want to defend myself. That one thought would bind me to the world by creating a sense of separation and the need to defend myself from an ‘other.’ Because I would not only have believed in lack, I would have acted upon it. The belief would now be stronger. Since the belief in lack would be stronger in my mind, I would be more attracted to the idea, and so it would show up more.

The miraculous thing about this whole scenario is that it can change as soon as I want to change it. The mind, powerful enough to make an entire impossible world and make it believable, is powerful indeed. As soon as I open my mind enough to question that belief, it becomes immediately possible to change it. If, however, I am too closed off to consider a change, everything stays the same.

Through the study of the Course, I have learned not to close my mind.

Any time someone suggests a new way of seeing something, I immediately consider it. I know that beliefs are not truth; they are just perception, a way of seeing things. I will not teach my mind that it is powerless. Instead, I will ask myself a very important question. Is this belief bringing me closer to my goal of the peace of God? If it is not, I welcome a new understanding, and I change my mind.

When I first started doing this, it felt like it was hard to change my mind. However, as I continued the practice, I realized that it felt hard only because I was resisting. For instance, I really did have a belief in lack for a long time. The logic of the Course convinced me that this was not a good choice of beliefs. So, I started trying to change my mind. But I would argue against the idea of abundance based on my past experiences. It seemed I had all the proof I needed that lack was real and true for me.

Still, I was also sure that Jesus knows what he was talking about, so I considered that maybe I was wrong and he was right. I kept watching for signs of a belief in lack. Then I would choose to release that thought. I would often pick it back up, but I would just release it again. I continued that simple practice until my mind flipped. Now I believe in abundance and expect abundance. My life feels very different in that area. I find the path I am on now, while still a dream, is a happier dream.

I have learned to question all my beliefs.

As a result, many beliefs have been changed, and thus my experience of life has changed. I no longer believe that God is asking me to sacrifice. While I still suffer from my own faulty choices at times, I know I don’t have to and that I can change my mind. I’ve proven to myself that this is true. While it is a nicer dream, the important change is that I am more identified with my Self now than with the ego-self. Stepping into the power of God in me has helped me believe His power really is mine, and I am meant to use it.

Here is one way I am learning to use the power of my mind. I am using it to change a stubborn belief that I can’t meditate. This morning, I got up early. Not really on purpose, it just happened, but I have come to accept there is a reason this happens. So, I got up and made my coffee, and as I drank it, I knew this extra time was provided so that I could practice meditation before busyness happened. As I have mentioned before, I need a lot of practice with meditation.

I always begin by reminding myself (make that, teaching myself) that I love meditation and that I am happily content with a quiet mind. Miracles come to a quiet mind, and that’s a good thing because, with meditation, I need miracles.

I also decided not to hurt myself again with meditation practice.

I will not listen to the ego tell me that it is not possible, that I just can’t do it, that it’s hard, or that I could better spend my time getting on with my day. These are ways I have hurt myself before, but I am not interested in this poor advice anymore.

I noticed how hard it was for me to relax my mind and let the thoughts pass by without giving them my attention. The mind wanted to think about everything, even how to not think. When I felt some frustration and even discouragement with how hard it seemed to be to not think, I remembered that this is my mind and I am the ruler of this messy little kingdom.

I became very convicted in my decision to disregard thoughts, to simply be aware of whatever entered my kingdom, without thinking about it. And it worked. Not perfectly and not for every minute, but it did work, and I was very relaxed and peaceful after the meditation. I know now that I can do this and will do it. I will not attack my mind with doubt and fear. Nor will I teach myself that it is powerless. I accept God’s gifts today, which came in the form of a peaceful and restorative meditation.

Regina’s Tips

Step Five of The Seven Steps to Awakening by Michael Langford has this objective:

Be inspired, encouraged, and motivated to:

1. Make and maintain the decision to bring the imposter self and all suffering to its final end and thus remain in infinite-awareness-love-bliss.
2. Actually practice…

My Thoughts

Well, how about that? It’s still early in the morning, and I already made a decision to bring the imposter self all suffering to an end, and I actually practiced it.

Regina

The lesson is asking us to “go back the way you came.” That is, focus inward and return to our unaffected Self.

My Thoughts

The unaffected Self is what we are. No matter what the false self does in the world, what we are, the Self is not affected by any of it. It remains sinless and perfect just as it was created. Through the purification process that ACIM teaches us, we are going back the way we came. We are starting where we think we are and undoing the false beliefs that got us here, and thus, we are walking back that path until we arrive from whence we came; we arrive at God.

Here is a past entry in my journal.

This is really simple. Every time I choose to accept an ego thought as true, I seem to hurt myself. Every time I choose to see that the ego thought is not true and ask the Holy Spirit for another way to see, I have gladdened myself. It does not get any simpler than that, does it? To have noticed I am entertaining an ego thought is enough to shift my thinking and offer me the opportunity to accept healing.

If I feel an emotional reaction and think that it is the result of something happening outside my mind, this is an ego thought. Noticing that this is what I am doing is like putting on the brakes and beginning a turn. Now that I am into the turn, it is easy to make that choice for God instead of for ego. All that is required of me is to be vigilant for the direction my mind is traveling so that I can make that turn quickly before I get too far down the wrong road.

I don’t hurt myself by having the wrong thought, but only by keeping that thought, by making the thought real by identifying with it. Ego thoughts will continue to pass through my mind, but it is up to me if I am going to grab hold of it or simply notice it and allow it to flow on by. If I do grab hold of it, I can still release it by simply asking the Holy Spirit to look with me. When I look with the Holy Spirit, I am not deceived by what I am thinking.

And this one was from 2009.

The Holy Spirit has been calling my attention to old grievances against myself and others. Yesterday I noticed a thought about something I once did, which I later regretted. I noticed that it still hooks me. I felt foolish and wrong and didn’t want to think about it. All of this happened in a flash, and I am certain it happens often, but this time I noticed it and chose not to push it back down out of sight.

I told the Holy Spirit that I recognize that this memory was created out of my guilt and constructed with judgments. It is a wall I have built around myself which limits me. I can never realize my Divinity if I live within this false belief. I took responsibility for the memory and its effects and told the Holy Spirit that I have no desire to keep it. Since I made it, I now choose to take it down. I asked Him to heal my mind from these lies. I then saw a parade of shameful memories pass through my mind and gave my consent to see them as all the same error and was overjoyed to realize that they would disappear with the correction of the error.

This morning I noticed a resentment against a friend.

I noticed it felt like I ate something bad, not an actual stomach ache, but a psychic pain. It oozed through my mind seeming to taint other relationships, and I was amazed that I had been able to hide this infection from myself for so long. How could I live with this in my mind for such a long time and not look at it? It felt awful, and I told the Holy Spirit I want to be free of it. I claimed responsibility for my feelings and asked Him to heal me.

These “little” thoughts are insidious, like smoke or odors that silently infect the psyche while I look away and pretend not to notice. My choice, my one undivided goal of awakening, is directing my attention to what needs to be healed, and I am so grateful. I have much to celebrate on Thanksgiving Day.

In 2011 I received this message from the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit, what would You have me know?

Holy Spirit: I draw your attention to the ease of this process now that you have learned to relax and accept, with joy, what is yours without effort. Yes, you still practice, but the practice has become easy and joyful without the judgment you used to place upon yourself when you seemed to fall short. Do you notice that you no longer struggle to understand but simply let go of your own understanding and so make room for Understanding?

Do you see that you easily remember the words of your practice now that you simply practice when you remember? Are you surprised that this simple practice has opened your Heart to more remembering? When you awoke this morning, the second thought you had was a realization of how much you love God, and the next thought was a desire to follow Me today, to be guided in all you do. This did not come after some effort on your part to put the right thought in your mind. It simply came. It came because it is your desire. Desire is everything. All else follows from desire.

Your early practices helped you uncover your desire. Today’s practices help you develop your desire until there is nothing within your mind but the desire to know God, the desire to know Self. In your practice, be easy, be gentle. There is no need to struggle. There is no need for guilt and fear. These thoughts you occasionally have that you must do better, that you have wasted the day because you did not meet some arbitrary goal, these thoughts cause you pain. Do not attack yourself so.

Holy Spirit, I have said that I want to feel the happiness that the Course talks about.

With my new found love and gratitude, I have begun to feel that happiness. Now, as I hear these words, I realize that I have been the one who has blocked happiness as I judged my progress and questioned my ability to succeed, and this even as You told me that I could not fail.

I look back on all your encouragement and see that all along, You have been telling me to ease up, that I cannot awaken the mind through the efforts of the ego. Looking at it from this place, it seems silly that I even tried to do this. Thank you so much for Your words and for your ever-present help.

Contemplation 2025

To enjoy the Pathways of Light Insights on ACIM Lesson 330 click here.

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