A Healing Mind

A healing mind: 

and perhaps this is the most radical of all thoughts offered by Jesus in A Course in Miracles is that the healed mind does not plan, and, indeed, relies solely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This puts us solely in the present moment, without concern for defending the past, nor projecting worry to the future. It's clear that my own mind is not yet healed, but it is healing, and I am learning to trust in God in a very profound way. This is really about staying present, being attentive to divine flow and attuned to the voice of the Holy Spirit. It's also a beautiful way to live, being deeply appreciative to the ebb and flow of life, having faith the nothing is removed without reason, and that nothing essential is ever absent. This past year has been a lesson for me on trust. It has felt like a time of continuous loss on so many levels. Yet I am here now, with just a little willingness to give up the plans drawn up by ego. There's another way of living in the world....and I ask the Holy Spirit to help me find it. 

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: Hurt 

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Hurt

Hurt: 

so perhaps the most tenderly expressed lessons of A Course in Miracles, beautiful and loving words we gently say to ourselves with such deep conviction - that I will not hurt myself again today. Finally, nearing the end of the lessons we come to the crux of the matter. We've been hurting ourselves, holding a false claim against the world, believing that anything exists outside us that could ever bring us harm. This is a story told by the ego, a belief in blame and judgement projected upon others, but only really festering deeply within ourselves. 

our salvation from this harm is forgiveness.

this is where we turn to the Holy Spirit for help, that part of our mind that only sees the loved shared between us, indeed, that's all it ever recognizes. It's here ask for our story to be reinterpreted in a truthful way, our perceptions healed. We harm only ourselves with our judgments, all of our blame is returned to us, and our every resentment is a self-inflicted wound. 

I will not hurt myself again today.

and that's the entity of A Course in Miracles, it's the lesson a Buddha, and every great master. Our story of the world, our false perceptions of others - traps us in self created misery. 

so with deep conviction, and ever so tenderly,

we say together,

I will not hurt myself again today.

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: The Art of Smiling

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The Art of Smiling

The art of smiling: 

my own smile has grown more gentle, an easiness present, as if a heaviness of self-disappointment has now been lifted. I've always been my own harshest critic, never needing someone else's  harsh judgement, yet readily believing it if it came my way. There's an art to true forgiveness, and through the years I've polishing my craft. Small things at first, slights that would seem to linger, little mistakes I've made that seemed to snowball in importance through the years. I'm an artist now, not perfect, but I have the tools of transformation at hand, recognizing the raw material my life has given me and using them to shape the beauty of that gentle smile. 

forgiveness truly does offer every I want.

I'm an artist at last.

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: Of Steps and Freewill

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Of Steps and Freewill

Of steps and choices:

my own sense of free will has been narrowed to the scope of two choices, each unfolding very differently in the possibilities of their outcome, and only one of them based entirely on the reality of love. A Course in Miracles reminds me that the script is written, meaning that my welfare is assured in heaven, and indeed, salvation has already occurred. This isn't a metaphysical statement, heaven isn't a distant achievement granted by a capricious God - it's here, now, and as Saint Catherine of Siena beautifully stated: every step of the way to heaven is heaven. So my only real choice is in choosing a step towards heaven or the illusion of distance between myself and God. 

yet the script has been written.

I'm already home.

and my every step is a mindful prayer...that this is so.

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: Special Function

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Special Function

Special function: 

it's still unfolding, or perhaps being revealed is more apt to say - this my own special function, what A Course in Miracles describes as one's particular function for the salvation of the world. That sounds like a very heady title, and of course salvation is, indeed, a very large task. But my own role isn't so overwhelming, not really, none of us are given a function that is too large for us to perform. We are only asked to heal each other, we're asked to forgive and perform the miracle of extending love through every difficult encounter. We're also given something very specific for us to do, a role uniquely ours, turning a special talent into a tool for performing miracles. What I'm doing now, creating content on a small YouTube channel, bringing voices together for their own special function to be heard - this is it for me, or at least this portion of the plan that's been revealed. At the age of 60, with a long career of stumbling through life...this feels right. 

perfect even.

as if I finally said yes to a question long asked.

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: Aware

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Aware

Aware: 

there's no battle here, only mindfulness, a gentle noting of where the ego leads me, and then an even gentler return to the Holy Spirit's choice of love. This is a lifelong meditation, an easy vigilance that allows awareness to play it's natural role. My choices don't have to be perfect, but I'm more apt  now to notice just before the ego becomes involved, providing a course correction that offers me a more peaceful resolution. So awareness removes me from the battlefield of the mind, reduces conflict to an easier point of smiling at my own folly. 

I know what each choice provides.

 aware of my options.

I'm mindful.

and ultimately...simply I'm more forgiving. 

~

I love you, Eric 

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: Forgiving the Dream

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Forgiving The Dream

Forgiving the dream: 

because it's a quantum world, nothing's solid past my touch, and the reality of the world dances just beyond my understanding. I have no idea if this world is an illusion, maya as the ancient yogic seers and Buddhist masters called it, or if it's the dream described in A Course in Miracles. Certain aspects of science seem to agree, likening reality to a quantum soup of pure consciousness, waves of energy ready to collapse upon determination. Philosophers too have weighed in with their speculations, from Plato's Cave to David Chalmers simulation theory. Of course there are strong arguments against all this as well, being considered the hard problem of conscious itself. 

my own answer is forgiveness.

this is where I play a scientist in my own dream, a living laboratory that only seeks to understand itself as love. My life has been a great experimenter, from plant medicines that have caused reality to shift to pure imagination, to deep states of meditation where my mind grows so quiet that I am sure that only silence is the reality of the world. None of this proves anything and fortunately I'm not looking for proof - truthfully, I'm not looking for anything, no longer a seeker, and no questions left to answer. 

forgiveness offers everything I want.

and this is a quantum style of forgiveness, shifting my perspective right within the present moment, healing long ago past events, even ancient ones, and writing new scripts for a future not yet here. Life is a dream for me because every so often I am revealed as the dreamer, time collapsing into a single holy instant where only love is real, life rolling through an ecstatic wave like state, and there's a certainty to my purpose...I am here only to be truly helpful.

I am here to love.

forgiving the dream that always seems to pull me in a separate direction.

I'm here to mend the world.

awakening, 

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: Most Every Morning

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Most Every Morning

Most every morning: 

just quietly forgiving now, my life grown singular and easy in it's purpose - I am surrendering completely to the will of God and whatever direction it might take me. This doesn't yet mean that I am not swayed by ego, or that forgiveness is immediate in its practice. But I am immediately ready for a miracle, there's a willingness to see everything another way than whatever disturbance is at hand. Perhaps this is the beginning of a happier dream, another inch of ground stepped towards heaven. 

or maybe just a quiet life of continuous forgiveness.

but it's where I find myself right now.

smiling most every morning...

awakening,

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: Our Most Loving Choices

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Our Most Loving Choices

Our most loving choices: 

this is a path of radical responsibility, a personal choice of undoing the ego's hold on a chaotic world by denying its existence as real. My thoughts are chosen carefully, realizing their power of creation and wishing only to heal the suffering of others. It's mindfulness, but simplified between two thought systems  - choosing between the ego, which is shown to me by the worlds present condition, or the Holy Spirit, the part of my mind that extends only the loving thoughts of God. This is not a course in bypassing, but one of self-realization, of knowing myself as truly God's creation and recognizing that you are as well, all of us, and that collectively, through each of our most loving choices...

we heal the world. 

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: Truly Helpful 

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Truly Helpful

Truly helpful: 

and more than ever now it's that beautiful prayer from A Course in Miracles that resonates so deeply, pulling me to an ever greater surrender. I am here only to be truly helpful, directed by the Holy Spirit to quietly offer love in such subtle and thoughtful ways. I'm not asked for any great sacrifice, no outer change may be apparent, but my life is inner directive now, humbled, and the only cause I serve is love - or at least to the best that I am able. 

to be truly helpful is to offer love.

and I have no idea what form this might take, where it might lead me, nor how my life will then unfold. This is a trusting path now, a full surrender, and yes, there is still an issue of fear present for me, afraid that my needs might not be met, perhaps the struggle too great. But I am also growing in faith, listening to inner guidance more attentively now. 

I am ready to surrender. 

to be truly helpful.

after decades of practice....this is my beginning. 

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: All I Have to Offer

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All I Have to Offer

All I have to offer: 

lesson 108 of A Course in Miracles brings us to a profound truth that leads us right into a powerful practice, it literally presents the end of separation between us, and puts in place the means for this realization. What I love about the Course is that a statement is made, but it's not asked to be taken as a truth without the practicality of experience. With this lesson we're told that giving and receiving are one in truth and then led through a brief meditation to know this as being of real value. This lesson has become a daily ritual for me, a continuous practice all through the day, wherever I am, and with almost every encounter as I'm able to remember. 

giving and receiving are one in truth. 

no consider what's give and that which we would most like to receive.

it's that simple.

easy.

and now offer it to another.

everyone.

all.

even those we might consider unworthy of the effort.

there is no separation between us, just one all encompassing mind liked as soul. What I project upon you is my own, all of my guilt, rage, and shame are shown to me as the world. I do not wish that for you, not for myself any longer. So what I extend to you is love, true and unconditional. I offer kindness and the purest peace imaginable. 

this too, is what I wish to receive.

and from this point on...it's all I have to offer.

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: My Only Possible Response

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My Only Possible Response

My only possible response: 

forgiveness is ongoing, a continuous zen practice of recognizing my truest self in the reflection of another, a meditation through my daily interactions. It's easier now, but the lessons are still forthcoming, and often equally painful as the ones in the past. There's no bypassing here, life is to be lived fully, and not retreated from in anyway - and that's the great importance of forgiveness, it brings me to the reality of each moment fully prepared to offer love over my still present stirrings of resentment. I haven't fully awakened to the presence of the eternal Christ-mind within me...but I see it more often now, peeking through the appearance of hurt and anger presented by another, offering me a blessed opportunity to extend love and healing through this practice of forgiveness. I see myself in you, both the anger and the pain, my own resentments as well as yours - and I see the ever-present eyes of Christ within you too, showing me infinite love and such deep tenderness and compassion. 

I am revealed through this forgiveness. 

awakening.

and my only possible response now is...

thank you,thank you,

thank you.

~

I love you, Eric 

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: But Closer Now

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But Closer Now

But closer now: 

not just with every major lesson, those large events that shake my entire foundation - but more quietly now, gently, my life proceeds in continuous forgiveness, letting go of even the slightest grievance before it even comes to matter. This is the path of awakening, small mindful moments that act as opportunities to practice what A Course in Miracles calls vision, that I may see all things with the mind of Christ, holy, innocent, and born anew...

again, and again,

until all I see is heaven. 

I'm not there yet, still seemingly far from home, 

but closer now,

with every moments practice,

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: Vigilant

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Vigilant

Vigilant: 

it's a gentle choice, being vigilant only for God and consistently choosing the loving thought offered. This is mindfulness to the fullest extent, not denying nor bypassing anything, but simply recognizing the source these thoughts arrive from and the consequences that follow. The ego has never brought me real joy, fleeting pleasure perhaps, but nothing truly lasting. Yet the Holy Spirit, that symbol for the voice of God within my mind - has only ever whispered joy and promises me eternal freedom. This isn't a distant heaven that I might one day arrive to, it's here, right now, and available to be experienced. The kingdom of heaven is a choice...

and every loving thought is my arrival. 

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: Immediate Comfort

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Immediate Comfort

Immediate comfort: 

almost seamless now, or closer so than ever before, and forgiveness has become such a natural response, easier in it's offering. I marvel that at one time this was a choice, something that took due consideration before I committed to my own peace of mind. It's amazing to think of all the times I chose pain instead of forgiveness, mulling over resentments incessantly through the night then and beginning once again at dawn. A Course in Miracles offers the guidance of three parts to true forgiveness - beginning with witnessing the problem, going right to the source which is always my own mind. I am responsible for my upsets, everyone of them, and this is also the means of its solution. 

this first step, and the one that follows, 

takes just a little willingness to see things differently.

it's this second step that I decide to forgive, having finally grown tired of being the source for my discomfort, and recognizing that there truly is another way to see the world and that it begins right here, an entire transformation now at hand. 

so with this, my work is really done. 

I'm not asked to forgive, 

but to only to turn this problem over to the Holy Spirit, asking that my original vision of innocence and love be restored. My role is to wait, patiently, trusting in a power that's greater than my pain. There is always an immediate response and yet early on I would miss this sense of relief. I'm more mindful now, decades of practice, but in review I see that this was always so. Releasing myself from having to forgive was an immense gift that was often overlooked at the time. I see it now, it's my experience, and I treasure it, basking in the presence of my holy guide who immediately offers comfort. 

all is cared for...

always.

I know this now.

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: All to All

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All to All

All to all: 

this gift is not meant for only myself, I'm to extend it and offer it to all, no exceptions - and only then do it I know it truly as my own. The first lesson of the Holy Spirit urges my complete surrender to love, whispering this secret to me "to have, give all to all", and love is the reality of this sharing. Of course the ego wants to be selective, collectively it shouts to pick a selective side or favored community. 

but love has to be extended.

shared.

and to know this,

to truly experience the holiness of love, 

give all to all.

and then only love remains. 

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: Why We Practice

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Everything I Want

 

Everything I want: 

lesson 122 of A Course in Miracles was the moment of my surrender, giving up any chase for enlightenment and committing myself to a life of forgiveness. The words in this lesson struck deeper than any spiritual text I'd read before, more than a promise, it was an immediate practice that brought instant relief to my world of sorrow. 

forgiveness offered everything I wanted.

and decades later it still does, not quite yet my default mode of thinking...but closer now, and the peace that it offers is as profound as my deepest states of meditation. This is a radical shift in thinking, zen-like, a denial of conditioned thought in order to myself and others in original innocence. It's not bypassing, but truth finding, as any seeming slight or wound is explored for its opportunity to heal. Forgiveness is my path of yoga, a practice of grace that awakens me from dreams of separation to the reality of our shared existence in the instant of my practice.

indeed, 

forgiveness offers everything I want.

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: Why We Practice

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Why We Practice

Why we practice: 

because it heals, deeply so to the soul level, our reason for forgiveness is the liberation of every false belief we've ever held about ourselves and others. This is a radical practice, zen-like in its practice of returning us to the present moment of our salvation. It's here, right now, that we are saved from memories of past wounds and free ourselves from projection them into the future. Forgiveness is the holy instant that centers us, continuously so, in the peace of our true existence. 

it's our awakening from the dream of separation.

it's our return home.

it's love.

and that's why we practice.

~

I love you, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: Of Love and Values

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