Thursday, January 11, 2018

Lesson One: Changing the Way We Think Using Opposites

What do you want? Light or darkness, knowledge or ignorance are yours but not both. Opposites must be brought together, not kept apart.  For their separation is only in your mind...
ACIM Chapter 14: VII:1:3-4

Changing the way you think by knowing what you want.

How do we begin to change the way we think and the way we see the world? We need to look at what we are thinking and seeing now and know we actually want the opposite of that.  We need to look at what we have now and know we want more than this? We have to see the contrast in this world and use it here, knowing at the same time it doesn't exist in the real world...and the real world is what we want.

Huh?

Back to Rephrasing our Thoughts

We have spoke of this before so it isn't new. Getting what we want begins with knowing what we don't want and focusing on its opposite... what we do want.  If you have poverty in your life right now, what do you want?  More poverty?  Probably not?  You want financial freedom.  If you have loneliness in your life right now, what do you want?  Connection.  If you have illness in your life right now, what do you want?  Wellness, wholeness. If you have stress and anxiety in your life right now, what do you want?  Peace. If you have sadness in your life right now, what do you want?  Happiness, joy.

Getting what we want all begins with where we place our focus which can be recognized by our thoughts and words. When you are talking to others or yourself about your situation, what do you tend to say?  Do you speak more about what is going on around you that you do not want or do you speak about what you do want, the opposite of what you got going on.  Too many of us get stuck in the  same old repetitive story about those things that are occurring in our lives right now that we wish weren't.

The trick is to be aware of where that mental energy is going; to know that what is going on to you or around  you is probably a result of that directional flow; know you don't want it and be willing to change it.



On the physical level...in this world we think is real but really isn't...we can use opposites to change that flow. Be aware of how many times you use terms that indicate a lack of financial abundance, scarcity, and poverty?  How many times do you catch yourself saying or thinking, "I am so broke; I don't have enough; I can't afford that"? I guarantee, the more that thought flows through your lips or mind, the more broke you are going to feel.  And the broker you feel, the more scarcity will show up in your life.  Yuck!

How many times do you say, "I am sick," "I am alone," "I am so stressed"? Well...STOP IT!!!! lol.  Replace those words with their opposites.  You do not have to jump up the ladder rungs to a positive affirmation if it doesn't feel right,  if you do not believe it...but you can begin by saying, "I want to feel financially free. "   From there progress to, "I am willing to feel finically free," to "I deserve to feel financially free" and finally to "I am feeling financially free. "  It is a step by step process of not only thinking but feeling...using opposites that will eventually become unnecessary when you discover the truth of who you really are.

We use so many words that please ego but are foreign to the Spirit within us...words like "can't, have to, should, must".  Words that imply we are powerless and limitless and if we even want to find even remote peace in this life time it requires effort and guilt. Let's get rid of those words too.  Let's look at their opposites: words that inspire hope, grace and ease like "can, choice, choose, will, and willing"

Our perceptions of the world and life change with our wording. We get closer to the truth with every change in perception. Perception is the medium by which ignorance is brought to knowledge. ACIM Chapter 14: VII:1-7.  The knowledge we are looking for is that all  these situations that surround us that we consider negative or difficult do not have to be...they aren't real.  We were meant to have abundance, grace, ease, Love, peace and joy and we can have it...if we simply change the way we think.

All is well in my world.

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