Monthly Archives: March 2016

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Guilt and Grapefruits

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What does guilt have to do with grapefruits? Let me explain…

I wrote this article because I totally needed it. Today is the day that I declare, “I AM DONE WITH GUILT” and I’m asking you to join me.

Guilt feels HORRIBLE! It sucks. Worst feeling EVER!! It doesn’t promote any kind of health or well-being, doesn’t help you progress closer to your goals or to God and it certainly doesn’t make you more well-behaved.

It makes you feel like crap. I’m done.

Let’s start by shining a light on guilt. As always, I’m going to simplify chapter 13 of A Course In Miracles for us both. I’ll explain the grapefruits in a minute.
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First, let’s briefly define the ego.

Ego is simply the part of the mind that thinks it is separate from God. It is never, ever, not in any way and not for a minute… REAL. Think of it like a corrupt computer program that has been downloaded into a tiny corner of your mind and you set up shop there and mistakenly made it your identity. It is artful, sneaky and insidious. It has brilliantly, BRILLIANTLY concocted rules, judgments and fears to keep itself alive. This is its primary objective.
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Now, let’s define guilt…

Guilt is central to the ego thought system. It’s the power train that keeps it running. Ego must have guilt to maintain its “existence”. Guilt is what keeps us stuck in believing we are separate from God. Guilt feeds off of judgment and threatens punishment. And now our world is full of images of fear! This fear now blocks the Love that is always being offered to us everywhere. So… the condemnation, guilt, punishment cycle keeps repeating like a malfunctioning computer virus.

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And THAT is guilt’s only function.

To keep you stuck.

When you feel any level of guilt, big or small…
you have been duped!

Guilt has 1000 voices. All of them lies.

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Guilt can feel intolerable, so dark and ugly that we want to unload it any way we can. So what do we do? Instead of seeing it as false, we try to displace this guilt outside of us… onto our bodies or onto our brothers and sisters.

This projection seems to alleviate some of the fear, but what it’s really doing is hiding the real source of guilt. As long as we’re unaware of the real source of guilt, we won’t rid ourselves of it. And this brilliant scheme is exactly how the ego maintains guilt! It keeps the pain at a low enough level that we won’t seek a better way. Genius I say!

But now I’m onto you!!

Jesus says that when we project guilt onto others, it is NOT a real relationship because a real relationship only comes from unity. Instead, we’re in a relationship with our own projected image! Not so fun, huh? We’re not seeing the other as the Holy Spirit sees him. Instead we’re seeing the guilt in our own minds projected onto him. I’ll say it again because it’s so important…

This projection actually maintains our guilt rather than releasing us from it.

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I live in New England and a huge AHA moment came for me after the Boston Marathon bombing some years ago. The belief around here was that the bomber was a horrible waste of skin, an evil being who should be extinguished. There were death threats, Facebook rants and angry mobs. It was scary on top of yucky.

Then, someone said to me, “I Forgive Him because He is my brother and He just forgot who he was, temporarily. I do it all the time.”

WOW! Truth bumps! As soon as I took that into my heart I felt my entire nervous system rest. It was like the TV news cameras backed up a million miles and I could now see the Big picture. Not only was I seeing the Truth and the innocence of that brother, but I was now sensing the same in myself. I literally had just healed the 2 of us.

We are not seeing the other as the Holy Spirit sees him. Rather we are seeing the guilt in our own minds projected onto them. It’s a brilliant scheme to conceal our guilt.

We’ve got to choose to see guilt for what it is:

Trickery.

Whether I’m projecting my guilt onto a serial killer or my daughter when she takes a phone call and leaves me with all the dishes, it’s never about them and always about me and my belief in separation. More importantly, it’s ALWAYS a healing opportunity. I can use it to stay asleep or I can use it to wake up.

Another thing about guilt is that it keeps you out of
the moment of being where you are.

Here’s where the grapefruits come in.

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I was on a retreat with 50 other people and we were asked to do a group exercise where we go around the room and REALLY give the each other a hug. I mean a GOOD hug! The full-on kind where you wrap them in love and stay long enough to feel them wrap you in love. It was GOOD!

What many of us didn’t know, was that several people were privately given a grapefruit at the beginning of the hugging exercise and told to put the grapefruit somewhere on their person and not to let ANYONE know they had it during the hugging exercise.

When the exercise was finished, we were asked to share our experience hugging and being hugged. It was a heart opener to say the least. There were strong, tall, masculine hugs, warm motherly embraces, heartbeats, shy and tender moments, tears, we let Love in…well, you get picture. There were so many unique experiences!

However, when the people with the hidden grapefruits were asked to share, every one of them said that they barely even remembered WHO they hugged, never mind what it felt like, because they were so intent on not letting anyone know about the grapefruit they were hiding. It was like they weren’t even in the same room with us! They missed the whole thing!! This is exactly what guilt does to the quality of our lives… of our present moments. There is Love all around us but we are oblivious to it!

So, I want today to be the day that you join with me in disarming all guilt… big and small! Here’s why:

God’s Son is Love.
We are perfectly safe and at peace.
The ego is the opposite and totally unaware
of who the Son of God is.

Everything in the dream of separateness seems so real! Why? Because of our belief in it.
That’s why God gave us the Holy Spirit; a helper in our minds; a wake up call that reminds us of the Truth. If we practice letting the Holy Spirit guide our feelings of guilt, He will lead us to let go of what holds us in the world of illusion so we can awaken to the Love that we are.

Listen to this awesome quote from my main man Jesus. “God gave the Holy Spirit to you, and gave Him the mission to remove all doubt and every trace of guilt that His dear Son has laid upon himself. It is impossible that this mission fail.” (5:1-2)

Jesus reminds us that the only thing of real value here
is to awaken in Christ and we can’t fail at it.

You can’t do life wrong!

You don’t need to feel guilty about anything!!

You’re here to learn, to grow, to gain experience and wisdom. Jesus says, “You will first learn of peace and then awaken to it.” SHAZAAM!

Jesus also says that the Holy Spirit will gently guide us away from fear and guilt. Take that in! We are gently guided so we don’t get scared. Relax. Don’t over think it. Be patient and trust this Loving process with an outcome that is sure. IT’S GUARANTEED.

So, Let’s be done with guilt. Are you with me? From this day forward, our job is to practice seeing the light in every brother. Simply stated, as we accept the truth, we will see the truth. This is how we delete the corrupt “program” of guilt.

You can not do this without your brother.

The guiltless Son of God is all there is to see.
The Holy Spirit will show us our brother’s innocence
so we can see it without fear.

So, from this moment forward, when you feel guilt creep into your mind, whether in yourself or in another, don’t try to remedy the illusion to make yourself feel better. Instead, see it as merely a mistaken belief and toss that grapefruit up to the Holy Spirit who has the perfect remedy.

Holy Spirit will turn our illusions to Truth instead of
us giving truth to our illusions.

Today is the day. I’m asking you to take my hand and we’ll do this together.

I love you,

Linda Leland

Teachers of God Foundation Team Member

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> Please feel free to share your thoughts on any of the above in the blog comment area below! <

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I Am, God Is, You Are… Pure Presence

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The Self that knows no fear and never left Its home in God…

In this video blog (scroll down for video), I point to A Course in Miracles Workbook Lesson 94 to reach the Son of God in you. This is the Self that never sinned, nor made an image to replace reality. This is the Self that never left Its home in God to walk the world uncertainly. This is the Self that knows no fear, nor could conceive of loss or suffering or death. This is you…
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The experience of enlightenment available right now.

I am as God created me, I am the SELF – for this one thought would be enough to save you and the world, if you believed that it is true. I have discovered lessons from A Course in Miracles that reveal the experience of enlightenment available right now!
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[su_spacer]If you remain as God created you, appearances cannot replace the truth, health cannot turn to sickness, nor can death be substitute for life, or fear for love. All this has not occurred, if you remain as God created you. You need no thought but just this one, to let redemption come to light the world and free it from the past.

Pure Presence… This is the truth in what you are and this is your release.

In this video I talk about my favorite 24 workbook lessons and how just a couple common ideas are your ultimate release.
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Pack your bags, we’re goin’ home!

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Ready?
This is sooo! Exciting!

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“I am as God created me.”

This single thought, held firmly in the mind, would save the world. This is your release!

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I AM, YOU ARE, GOD IS… Pure Presence.

I Love you.

Bill Free

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> Please feel free to share your thoughts on any of the above in the blog comment area below! <

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Abundance – Is It Spiritual?

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Ok, so here is the honest-to-God truth… I am so scared to write these blog articles! I have written one so far, this is my second, and I have erased what I have written about 20 times.

One of the most important things I have learned through applying the teachings of A Course in Miracles is to be the truest expression of myself. Lisa and Bill are ALWAYS encouraging this in all of us. So I am going to S-T-R-E-T-C-H outside of my comfort zone, and share some details about my “story” and how I came to be what I call myself now, an abundance teacher.

It has always been so important to me to be liked and one of the reasons that I struggle with this blog article is that I feel that if I tell you the truth about my path, that people will think I am REALLY weird. So I have been trying to write this and to “be spiritual”, to say the “right” thing and it just doesn’t work. Because it’s fake, because I don’t ever want to pretend anything.
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So here goes, this is straight from my heart to yours.

It is my greatest desire to inspire others to break free from fear, to shift and see only love, and to live a life filled with a love of God and to share their light with the whole world…

Ok, are you ready? I used to only care about being RICH, I mean, RICH. I used to have a career before I had my children and I made a lot of money. When I got married, my husband made A LOT of money in a short period of time, like over 5 million dollars. We bought our dream home for 1.6 million dollars in a gated community, I drove a Lexus, I had TWO Nannies, yup, you read that right, two! I could buy anything I wanted at any time… and so on, and so on.

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The Love Of Money
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When we drove through the gates of our new neighborhood for the first time, I made a CD with the theme song from “The Apprentice”… Do you remember that song, “Money, Money, Moneeey… Moooooooooneeeeey! It’s almost cathartic to admit it!

I had three kids, and two of them had the label of “special needs”… I felt like a victim. And I constantly had people tell me that my life was so hard and they wondered how I could possibly go on. My son, who had severe depression, anxiety and OCD, was suicidal. I will never forget the day that he threw himself onto the hood of my car as I was driving down our huge driveway, and begged me to run him over.

Amidst all of this chaos, I just started praying. That was huge, because I was a lapsed Catholic, and I truly believed that if there was a God, he never would let my child suffer like this, how could he let me suffer like this, and he gave my other son Down syndrome… so why would I ever have any faith.

One day, I just got down on my knees, next to my bed and I asked God “If you really exist, I want you to literally rain down on all of us.”
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Then guess what happened???

We lost it all! The house, the car, the nannies, the company, jewelry, savings, our entire retirement, even my damn fancy bicycle that I had to sell.
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Falling house
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Then I went in the opposite direction and I decided to give my whole life over to God, and I found a very strict spiritual teacher and I was taught that the only way for me to find God was to renounce every material thing and want NOTHING! I became immersed in guilt and shame and was told that I was not worthy to have a relationship with God, but I was supposed to believe that this teacher was at a much higher level than me, that they had the connection with God and I could only reach God through them… I was taught that I was worthless, and many of my friends and family turned away from me because they felt I had become fanatical, and they were right.
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So you can imagine, when I found out about A Course in Miracles I resonated so much with these teachings.

I can honestly say that through this work, in finding A Course in Miracles and doing these programs, that I found EXACTLY what I was looking for: Myself! I now understand that I created ALL of it. I brought these experiences to myself so that I could awaken and I have nothing but gratitude for every single moment of it. It took me falling that low, to bring me to the truth, I am worthy, I am a light in this world and I have so much goodness and love to share, AND SO DO YOU!!!

I have truly and finally let the past go. This quote from the course sums up how I choose to see it now:

“How can you who are so holy suffer? All your past except it’s beauty is gone, and nothing is left but a blessing. I have saved all your kindnesses and every loving thought you ever had. I have purified them of the errors that hid their light, and kept them for you in their own perfect radiance. They are beyond destruction and beyond guilt. They came from the Holy Spirit within you, and we know what God created is eternal.” (T.5.IV.8:1,2,3,4,5,6).

Isn’t that beautiful, and it is true, for you, for me, for all of us.

So this path has taken me full circle, and what I realized is that it IS ok to live in abundance, and I’m not talking about just with money, I’m talking about living in a place of abundance in relationships, in our jobs, in our faith, and in every area of our lives, including having an abundance of peace!
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Do you want to know my secret, how I left all my fear of money behind?

I STARTED GIVING MONEY AWAY!

Yup, that’s what I said, I started to tithe and it is the single most powerful tool I have found to give up all fear of money.

“How is that possible?” you ask? How could giving money away when you feel like you have almost NONE, help you to overcome your fear of having no money! Well that’s what tithing DOES! And it has brought me to a place of complete trust in God.

It is an amazing process and it starts with giving 10% of all money that comes to me back to God, in other words, to where I am spiritually fed, which for me, is the Teachers of God Foundation. I acknowledge God in every penny that comes my way and when I tithe, I just release it for it’s absolute highest good. It literally feels like giving money to God, putting it into the flow to help others to experience this same kind of transformation and freedom.

What I have found now is that God is providing everything that I need, I trust Him completely. What tithing has done for me is it helped me to give up my “attachment” to money and live in total trust in God. Acknowledging that he is taking care of me and my children and all of us, in every moment.

If you would like to hear more about my journey into abundance through tithing I invite you to listen to a radio interview I did with Lisa a few weeks back on her Unity FM Living in Joy radio show. Here is the link to that episode:

https://www.unity.fm/episode/LivingInJoy_030416

The Teachers of God Foundation will also soon be offering a new online course on Abundance… stay tuned as this will be launching in the next few months!

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I am so honored to be able to share this with all of you, my mighty companions.

I love you,

Judy

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> Please feel free to share your thoughts on any of the above in the blog comment area below! <

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Routine. Shake it up. Dealing with distraction.

“When you have learned how to decide with God, all decisions become as easy and as right as breathing. There is no effort, and you will be led as gently as if you were being carried down a quiet path in the summer.” -A Course in Miracles

Hello Dear Friend,

You are the light of the world.

Lesson 61 from A Course in Miracles has been my new favorite workbook lesson for the past two years. I love it so much I even put it on my license plate – ACIM-61.

It’s a daily reminder to myself that: 

“I am the light of the world. That is my only function. That is why I’m here.”

It’s a great reminder to me. Remembering that I am the  light of the world is THE ONLY REASON I’m here!

Knowing this really simplified my life.

When I remember this – all my days are easy and effortless.

I’m in the moment.
I’m remembering God.
I’m remembering Who I am.
I remembering that none of what I think I see is real.

I’m the light of the world. End of story.

Where is my problem now?

Bill and I just arrived back home to Maine from a 3-week trip – one week in San Diego and two weeks in Guatemala. It was amazing. We love traveling and seeing the dedication and commitment of people who want to know God and to know their Self – their True Self without illusions and without fear.

I woke up this morning thinking about what I wanted to share in a blog with you and the #1 thing I have noticed lately – most noticeable as we travelled through airports – is a world that’s disconnected and distracted.

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What happened? How did almost the whole world become so hypnotized?

This was me for a while  – always checking my phone for new messages, constantly checking Facebook … forgetting to check in with Christ … sleep-walking through life.

I was in a haze, in a blur, looking at cute cat pictures, watching videos, seeing what the rest of the world is doing.

Then I made a deliberate conscious decision to be present without electronics – just to see what new things might occur.

I decided to UNPLUG in order to PLUG INTO GOD.

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Suddenly, I felt calm, clear and more focused.

I love how in the Urtext – the original un-edited manuscript of A Course in Miracles – Jesus spends most of the first 5 chapters teaching Helen Schucman and Bill Thetford to be better listeners so they can devote more time to him and get their own tasks and work done more easily and effortlessly.

Jesus was training and guiding Bill & Helen – as he is training and guiding us – to quiet our minds and hear His Voice.

If you pay close attention, you start to notice that you are not really listening when you are constantly checking your texts and emails all day long.

How many times a day do you stop your activities and quiet your mind to listen to God’s Voice?

The workbook lessons of A Course in Miracles is a great way to train yourself to stop your activities at least once an hour to sit quietly and acknowledge the truth, to remembering Who you are and Who walks with you.

What is your morning routine? Do you immediately check your phone or do you have quiet time?

Do you acknowledge Christ at the beginning of the day and ask what miracles He would have you perform for that day?

I can tell you that when I began “to go within” first in every activity – Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven – my life became effortless.

If you feel that your life has been too much externally focused and not enough internally focused within, what habits and routines can you change today?

Do it today.

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I would love to hear from you!

How can you change your routine to be more aware and present in your life?

 Leave a comment below on how you deal with distractions.

Thank you!

Love,

Lisa

One great way to shake up your routine is to SAY YES TO LAS VEGAS!

Come join me and Bill and many other Course in Miracles teachers in Las Vegas April 8, 9, 10, 2016.

This is an incredible weekend of workshops and meals together. The current price is $649 and includes all lunches and dinners. Please make sure when you register to click our names Lisa Natoli and Bill Free as the ones who inspired you to enroll.

See you there!!

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Want the Peace of God? It's simple.

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So, you know you want the Peace of God. I mean, who wouldn’t?

You say you want the Peace of God. You affirm it. You DEMAND it DAMMIT and you don’t ever want to settle for anything less!!

Me too, my friend. Me too.

However… and listen well…

There is one thing you must have in order to experience the Peace of God.

Without this one thing, it’s just not going to happen.

What is this ONE THING you ask?

Is this ONE THING when you’re good enough? Addiction free? Better educated? Highly revered by others? Wearing a hot new designer outfit? Have the perfect relationship? When the children are well-behaved and successful? Wealthy? You’ve memorized A Course In Miracles? Thinner? Perfect? Loyal? Selfless? Holy? Dead?

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You certainly don’t have to wait until you’re dead.

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Nope! None of those things will bring you the Peace of God.

So, what is the ONE THING? What is the Golden Key to the Peace of God?

Here goes… are you ready?

Wait for it…

The answer is Faith.

You must Trust in the goodness of God in all things.

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking. “How do I do this?” “What does it look like?” “I want to but I’m not there yet.”

Yes, you ARE there if you want to be.

It’s actually much simpler than we make it out to be. (I adore “simple”.)

First of all, Trust has to happen in the NOW. There is no other way. I challenge you to see if you can “trust” in the past. Go ahead… give it a try. Be trusting yesterday or last year. Are you trying? Now, see if you can trust in the future. Can you trust tomorrow or next summer? Go ahead… I’ll wait…

(twiddling my thumbs…)

It’s impossible, right? You can’t do it! You can only Trust God in this “right now”. You’re not taking responsibility for your life unless you take responsibility for this moment. “Now” is the ONLY place life can be found. “Now” is the only time you can practice Trust. Faith only happens in the present moment.

So, the simple practice is this.

1) What do you see that’s happening right now?
2) Accept it.
3) Trust it. Trust God. Trust His plan. Let God’s glories unfold.
4) Thank you God.
5) Repeat.

This is Faith.

The alternative is worry, anxiety, guilt, planning and controlling. This is what we do when we decide not to Trust God’s Plan and rely on our own plan instead. I mean, when we’re sick, diseased, worried and stuck, why would we think that we know how to create peace? Our plan is always based on fear, littleness and separation and will fail every time. We fight fear with fear. Not to mention, we aren’t leaving any room for God. Einstein once said, “You can’t solve a problem with the same mind that created it.” I know… smart guy, right?

But God can.

Let’s start with this. “I’ve made quite a mess and now I’m lost in it. I have done all of this and I must undo it but I have no idea how.”

God does.
But you have to Trust.

And do you know what will build that Trust so that it gets bigger and bigger?

Experience.

You have to do steps 1-5 and not just talk about it.

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The way in which we achieve maturity along this pathway is to be finally willing to let things be just as they are? That’s Trust.

Jesus says in A Course In Miracles, “What could you not accept, if you but knew that everything that happens, all events, past, present and to come are gently planned by One Whose only purpose is your good?”

Knowing this, what can you not accept?

Trust and allow everything NOW.

Herein lies the Peace of God.
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So much Love to you,

Linda Leland
Teachers of God Foundation Team Member

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> Please feel free to share your thoughts on any of the above in the blog comment area below! <

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For more info, inspiration, and guidance similar to what’s described above — check out the Teachers of God Foundation’s listings of programs, events and other online offerings.
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To sign up for the 40-Day Program for Transformation – which begins on May 1, 2016 , click the link below to register (FREE!):
https://www.teachersofgod.org/40day
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Join us each Friday for A Course in Miracles meeting live-streamed at 10:30am EST!
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