To be Loving, be healed and know what Love truly is.

Love is what we are and not what we “think” we do, or what is being done to us.  Because Love is what we are, it is not something to find outside ourself. The experience of Love occurs naturally as the blocks to it are let go of and forgiven.  Then, it just shows up in our conscious awareness.  And with this awareness also comes vision, clarity and an experience of wholeness.  This is what Jesus refers to as “real Love.”  “Love” defined via egoic beliefs is special and therefore not real.  Real Love is recognized in the experience of being it. It cannot be defined with words, it can only be experienced as truth.  If one wants to experience real love, then we must let go of the blocks that obscure its presence from our experience.  There is nothing TO DO, but much to be UNDONE. 

One could say the same thing about any attribute of Love, i.e. kindness, gentleness, joy,

Peace, etc.  All words have meanings attached to them, meanings that we have given them, meanings found in books or preached to us from childhood.   Kindness become obvious to the mind that is in a space of real Love.  Then we function from our true self, our soul, and we see clearly (with vision) and we recognize it.  When we judge someone as being “Kind” or “Unkind,” one needs to ask what is this judgment based upon?  Who’s definition is in play in judging oneself or someone else? 

Love is a constant state of Truth. It never waivers, it has no opposite nor is it limited by definition.  To say it is an experience means little written in words but that is truly what it is. To experience Love, question the validity of whatever stands in front of it that blocks the awareness of it.  Be not deceived by the meanings we have given everything.   Even a meaning born of a belief in righteousness does not stand the test of truth. Nothing can be counted upon or trusted in a world of duality for Truth is wholeness.  And to experience wholeness is never again to question what is real and what is not.  Responsibility for sight is not just owning what I see but discerning what I’m seeing as being real or not.  

For real Love resides in a place outside of space and time and becomes apparent in our awareness only when we drop all definitions of what it is and what it is not and in that open space it quite naturally shows up…we show up, because we are what Love is. In that space, there is no good/bad, kind/unkind, there is only truth. We ARE Love and when we experience our true self as a child of God, all clarity is given.  Love is not behavioral but rather, an awareness of who we are.  And with that awareness, we are joined with our brothers as ONE in Christ.  In that space, only Love exists and all distinctions disappear.  All is God, All is Love.

LOVING IT ALL!  <3

Lana ; )

"In my defenselessness my safety lies."

I will there be light

A Little Willingness

Chapter 18 of the Urtext reminds us of how little God asks of us in healing our thoughts of separation.  It requires only our desire and willingness.  Ego would attempt to convince us that more is required and then leave us feeling a failure in attempting to gain that which is already ours.

“The holy instant is the RESULT of your determination to be holy. It is the ANSWER. The desire and the willingness to let it come PRECEDE its coming. YOU prepare your minds for it ONLY to the extent of RECOGNIZING that you want it above all else. It is not necessary that you do more; indeed, it is necessary that you realize that you can NOT do more. Do not attempt to give the Holy Spirit what He does NOT ask, or you will add the ego unto Him, and CONFUSE THE TWO. He asks but little. It is HE Who adds the greatness and the might. He JOINS with you, to make the holy instant far greater than you can understand.”

For me, it is remembering to get out of my own way.  Simply forgive, or look beyond and let go of what is not there.  In doing this, awareness of what is real enters our consciousness.  Ego would suggest that we must heal ourselves before healing can occur.  To believe this is to become ego’s prisoner, stuck in the darkness, believing we are unworthy or do not possess the understanding necessary for healing.  I see this everyday in students stuck in trying to fix themselves instead of allowing the truth of their innocence and perfection to be revealed to them by Holy Spirit.  To remove the blocks to our awareness of Love’s presence is merely to notice they are there and acknowledge their unreality.  It is in that holy instant, a moment of clarity, certainty and love are given. 

“It is your realization that you NEED do so little, that enables HIM to give so much. Trust not your good intentions. They are not enough. But trust IMPLICITLY your willingness, whatever else may enter. Concentrate only on this, and be NOT disturbed that shadows surround it. THAT IS WHY YOU CAME. If you could come WITHOUT them, you would not NEED the holy instant. Come to it not in arrogance, assuming that YOU must achieve the state its coming brings with it. The miracle of the holy instant lies in your willingness to let IT be what it is. And in your willingness for THIS, lies also your acceptance of yourself as YOU were meant to be.”

The belief in a problem, any problem, is a belief in illusions.  Instead of trying to solve the “perceived” problem, one must just acknowledge its unreality and be willing to allow Holy Spirit to heal our mind of our misperception.  But this “willingness” can sometimes be over-shadowed by ego’s relentless need for control.  We say “I am willing” while at same time planning an agenda for solving the problem.  The answer to the problem then is based on my expectations and not the truth of it, which can only be revealed by God. 

Being willing is being open to another interpretation outside of my understanding.  To be perfectly honest, we have no idea of what the “perceived” problem is much less its solution.  Our whole basis for understanding is on the past.  All perceived problems are only ego’s attempt to maintain control of our mind and distract us from the truth about who we truly are, the Son of God.  We should never be content with the “littleness” of the ego in its vain attempts to imprison the Son of God.

Our greatness, innocence and perfection are not of our own making via the ego.  Ego brands us unworthy of anything and holds us captive in the belief that we must do something to earn our right to be the Son of God.  Naturally, in our attempts to “make” ourselves worthy, we fail time and again which only serves to keep us stuck in a dream that we are impotent and hopelessly stuck in a world of pain and suffering.  This “littleness” is not humility, it is insanity. 

“Humility will NEVER ask that you remain content with littleness. But it DOES require that you be NOT content with less than greatness that comes NOT of you. Your difficulty with the holy instant arises from your fixed conviction that you are not WORTHY of it. And what is this, but the determination to BE as you would MAKE YOURSELF? God did not create His dwelling-place unworthy of Him. And, if you believe He cannot enter where He wills to be, you MUST be INTERFERING with His Will. You do not need the strength of willingness to come from you, but only from HIS Will.”

Holy Spirit meets us where we are.  Our part is but to be willing to join with Holy Spirit and allow healing to take place.

“You have been wrong in thinking that it is needful to prepare YOURSELF for Him. It is impossible to make arrogant preparations for holiness, and NOT believe that it is up to YOU to establish the conditions for peace. GOD HAS ESTABLISHED THEM. They do NOT wait upon your willingness for what they ARE. Your willingness is needed ONLY to make it possible to TEACH you what they are.”

Purification is but the recognition that we are already pure.  It is the healing of any idea or belief to the contrary.   To be open to that truth is to be willing to put aside our ideas about who and what we “think” is true  and allow Holy Spirit to reveal the truth.  Jesus puts it so lovingly in this chapter…

“Purification is of God alone, and THEREFORE for you. Rather than seek to prepare YOURSELF for Him, try to think thus:

"I, who am host to God, AM worthy of Him.

He Who ESTABLISHED His dwelling-place in me created it as He would have it be.

It is not needful that I make it ready for Him, but only that I DO NOT INTERFERE with His plan to RESTORE to me my own AWARENESS of my readiness, which is eternal.

I need ADD nothing to His plan. 

But to RECEIVE it, I MUST be willing NOT to substitute my own, IN PLACE of it.

And that is all. Add MORE, and you will merely TAKE AWAY the little that is asked.”

Everyday, every moment we have a choice to align with God’s Will or attempt to substitute our own.  One path is wrought with struggle, frustration and feelings of failure and guilt.  God’s Will for us is perfect happiness.  By aligning with the Will of God we realize our Oneness with Him and experience being a channel of His peace.  That is our true function.  So little is asked and so much is given.  Salvation is ours…we need only to accept it.

Blessings and love, Lana

"This day I choose to spend in perfect peace." Lesson 255

Ask a different question

The next time you find yourself asking the fearful question "What am i going to do?" ask a different question. The question is "What is God going to do?" For only in that question IS found the real solution to every "perceived" problem. Instead of the illusory out-picturing of the egoic thought system, choose the strength of God. In that space solutions naturally show up in unimagined ways.

Realizing your strength lies in the power of the Christ within, releases your self from the fearful thought patterns presented by the ego.  Choose again means leaving the desert of the ego mind for the infinite possibilities just outside your awareness.  Once the mind is aligned with God's Will, which is our perfect happiness, the universe rushes in to demonstrate its power.  Don't settle for being a victim of the world you see, but rather, be receptive and rest in God as its almighty power and love is revealed to you.

blessings and love, Lana

Creativity

Creativity to me is like a portal to a divine space where God flows through me.  I bring my passion, my love to a moment and surrender every other part of me.  I exist in a place which seems beyond space and time.  Hours fly by in moments and a force flows through me that seems to use me for its special purpose.  There is no awareness other than being a channel for this divine flow.  I merge with it and feel at times like i have disappeared.  A painting happens, it is effortless and as i gaze upon it i wonder whose signature should be placed upon it.  Such a beautiful place is this, the point of creation where anything is possible and limits do not exist.  In a moment of total surrender, God just shows up.  

My mind is aligned with my strength in Christ and not the weakness of the ego! ♥ So often we are tempted to believe in a sense of littleness and limitation.  Being awake does not mean your ego will remain silent.  Being awake is recognizing the temptation and renouncing it in favor of the truth.

"Love created me like Itself" and I need not worry about anything ego would have me believe.  And when I forget, I remember to forgive any idea of littleness.  "I am as God created me."

I am God's Son

I Am Sustained by the Love of God

A Loving Experience

The other day as I was walking, a nasty little fear thought entered my mind.  I'm sure you know the kind.  First there is the thought and then the body joins in as if to validate the thought.  The heart starts pumping faster and a tightness grabs hold of you entire body as if to say danger, be afraid, be very afraid.  It seemed scarcity was once again paying me a visit.  Fortunately, I now know that this is a place i need not stay.

In moments like this i've learned that the only thing to do is stop or at least interrupt the thought pattern.  I bring all my awareness to the present moment and as my mind quiets down, i seek healing.  On this particular day, Jesus spoke to me through thoughts and inquired about my fear.  "Why do you seek a solution to a problem that does not exist" he asked.  He reminded me again  that the only problem that existed was thinking there was a problem.  In truth, what i was worried about only existed in my mind and had not even manifested in any type of form.  It was not a matter of loosing faith as much as it was of loosing patience. 

Jesus asked me another question..."If you knew this was your last day on earth, what would be your agenda?"  I sat for a few moments and contemplated the question but the answer was obvious.  I would only be concerned with letting everyone know how much I loved them.  In that instant I was engulfed in that pure, clear and innocent Love, the kind of  Love that seeks nothing in return and is only concerned with giving.  I was also filled with gratitude and peace.  Jesus told me "now stay in  that space for it is your soul's purpose.
It is not a space you can seek out but rather it shows up, it is given through grace and our willingness to see differently. And in that space you have a "knowing" that everything is perfect just the way it is.

blessings and love, Lana

A Sacred Place

There is a sacred place within us, outside of time and space that we dwell in always.  Being there is not the issue, but having conscious awareness of it can be challenging at times.  The perception of time has always fascinated me. Understanding the illusion of time is critical in advancing the spiritual journey. I came upon one of the best definitions of our "perception" of time many years ago… "Time is a linear progression of consecutive moments of now".

If you allow that idea to sink into your consciousness, you will have a better understanding of why it is always now. Past and future are ego-based illusions. Blink your eyes…it is still now, take a nap and when you wake up it is still now, or go to the store and when you return home, guess what, it is still now. Now is inescapable and unavoidable. Now is not a fleeting moment? There is nowhere else to be. However, we do need to practice keeping our AWARENESS on now.  Otherwise, it's like being in Disneyland.  We visit tomorrow land, adventure land, fantasy land...anywhere but the present moment. 

Humans for some reason resist the idea of being, just being.  Even when we decide to rest our bodies, the mind remains busy.  It is only when we step out of time and rest our mind that its sacredness enters our awareness.  For "now" is the place of creation, now is the place where forgiveness occurs, it is the place of letting go, it is the place where love is found, It is where we rest in God, and it is the place where we choose once again. In "now" we can choose to let go of our illusions of past beliefs and surrender to the Holy Spirit where our safety is assured.  With our awareness in now we experience the portal to all knowledge, Holy Spirit.  It is in this sacred place that we commune with God.  Keeping AWARENESS in the present moment is key. Otherwise, we are time-travelers and we avoid experiencing who we truly are as well as our home in God

More often than not time traveling is an automatic process and we are not even conscious of doing it. Right now if your mind is focused on what is written on this page, that is where you are.  But if you become bored, off you go and maybe notice a few minutes later that you finished reading this blog,  but you have no awareness of what it said...You were time traveling. 

Part of the mind training offered in ACIM is practicing being present.  Then we start to become an observer to what is flowing through our minds. As an observer we have better control of the thoughts we latch onto  and the ones we would rather have pass through. It's about paying more attention to the present moment. Practice is required.

The present is a happening place to be...it is where our divinity resides and where can commune with God through Holy Spirit. It is where we become acquainted with our soul.  It is our glimpse of eternity. It is always there and we never need to go searching for it. We just have to focus on it...bring our awareness to it. When we are not a peace for any reason, we find healing in the presence of being. It is the place of Truth.  Jesus teaches that the present moment is the closest approximation of eternity that we have within the illusion of time/space.  It is where we can have an experience of our wholeness in God. It is who we are. It is the "I am".  And in this sacred place, which is really an experience, the world we seem to see does not affect our peace.  This is not something that can be explained with words but can only be experienced. 


We can train our minds to return to the present moment, and bring all of our awareness there. There you will find healing and there you can choose again.  

Blessings and Love, Lana

Extending Love

If you knew this was your last day on earth, what could be your agenda, other than letting everyone know how much you loved them.  This is our soul's function, one of extending Love and being in a space of gratitude and peace.  We can live and share this experience everyday with everyone we meet.  We are One in the Love of the Father. <3

Art that may be shared

I was born in Baltimore, MD in 1949. My father was a candymaker and my mother an artist. And with few exceptions (one being my Catholic education), my childhood was pretty wonderful. I adored my Father but my Mother was very fragile emotionally and fell into mental illness later in life. I had a loving Grandmother who showed me in so many ways how much i was loved...as did my Father. My brother was my hero and i remember so many wonderful adventures with him as a child. We lived a pretty modest life but rich in comparison to the world. I never knew we were poor. Creating our own games and toy and going on long hikes were our diversions and it also helped to have a candy factory in our basement. Mom, when she was still well would make me original paper dolls in the Gibson Girl style each with a lavish wardrobe. Times were simple then. It was the l950's.

My Father and Grandmother both died early in my life. By the time i was 18 both were gone and my Mother fell apart at the loss of my Father. I think my family died a little too. Don't want to dwell on the bad times, for we all have them. Let's just say the 60's and most of the 70's were not my favorite decades.

I dicovered ACIM in the late 70's while reading a book by Hugh Prather. What appealed to me the most was that it was not just another belief system but offered knowledge through experience. I need not believe anything for it would be revealed to me.

Off and on over the next 20 years i used ACIM in varying degrees. In good times it could get a bit dusty and in bad times i remember taking it to bed with me and hugging it to my chest.

It was not until the 90's that God literally showed me its miracle working powers. The following is from my journal about a time in my life when i had little hope. Please don't hold it as a sad story for it was the greatest gift of my life. It opened the path for me to let go of the world and in that moment i found God...what could be bad about that. This is what happened...

Once there was a dark time during which I was consumed with hopelessness and despair. I prayed, begged and pleaded with God to save me. I believed so strongly in my hopelessness. And I felt justified in believing so. I had been sick for several years, my husband was dead and I had a small child to raise. Now, I was battling an deadly staph infection that seemed to be winning. Without some form of divine intervention I would surely die. I did die that night, at least my belief died that I could affect any possible solution to my situation. I collapsed, exhausted and empty of any belief in myself. I just gave myself up to God and waited to leave my body.  But at that moment what actually died was my ego. I remember feeling so peaceful. To my surprise, just beyond the shadow of the valley of death arose something else, another part of me...something else in me that was now open to any possibility. Within that small speck of light, that tiny opening, my belief in hopelessness started to transform. My body suddenly had no importance. I had become this observer on a wonderful, mystical, mystery tour in a land of stillness and peace.

Very little changed in my physical world. I was still attached to an IV, and nurses visited everyday to care for me. But I had a lightness of being. No longer worried about my welfare, my endless bills or how I would care for my small daughter, I was calm and at peace. There was a knowingness deep inside me that all would be fine. Over the next few months I just watched as I started to heal, physically and spiritually. As situations arose, solutions were provided… food was left at my doorstep by a loving nun, bills were paid. Once, when a car payment became due, I remember thinking, in an almost cocky fashion, "hummm, wonder how Holy Spirit will resolve this?" Sure enough, the next day a neighbor visited me with a check in hand. What was interesting was that it was not for the amount of the car payment, it was in the amount I owed on the balance of my car loan. I broke out in laughter, realizing how Holy Spirit had "one-up'd me. Eventually, I healed physically as well.

At the time, I had been a student of ACIM for many years, but I was fortunate enough to be placed in a situation that allowed me to see it in action. The words of the Course opened a path, but I needed to trust the Holy Spirit. At that moment when… "I just gave up", HS brought me face to face with my duality and the distinction between my ego-based self and that which is pure love. What a beautiful gift…for to realize it in myself, I now see it in everyone else as well. Being raised Catholic I was often reminded about our "original sin", but never about our "original innocence". That was what the whole experience brought to my awareness. We all have our own unique and beautiful brokenness that we can hold onto tightly and try to repair ourselves or give lovingly over to God. Everything when perceived correctly is pure Love.

In the years following my illness, I developed a mantra… "Everything always works out". My belief in hopelessness is gone. I now believe that anything is possible. I still have my ego attacks and moments of
panic like everyone else but they pass by quickly when I remember to stop struggling and surrender myself to the Holy Spirit. I worry less about what the solution is to a particular problem, but rather I try to live in the mystery as I watch it be resolved.

In blessings and love, lana

My Blog

Everyday, every moment is an opportunity for learning and sharing.  After being a student of ACIM for over half my life, many things have been shown to me.  It is more about undoing than doing.  And I know as long as I walk around in this body, there is more "undoing" to accomplish.

This blog is about sharing and joining.  I invite you to accompany me on this adventure into wholeness and the experience of letting go of fear so who what shows up is Love, our only reality. 

Blessings and Love, Lana