How to Begin the Course in Miracles Lessons
What if you don’t know how to meditate or to still your mind? I know how this is, when I first started doing A Course in Miracles, back in 1989, I had no idea how to meditate. I only knew that I needed help, I was anxious, depressed and the Course lessons told me what to do, so I followed the instructions.
- You need motivation: I wanted peace, I wanted to be free of fear, so the motivation was already in place. I was seriously in need of peace because I had been depressed for six months and nothing was helping.
- How much time was required? Five minutes in the morning, and five minutes at night. No big time investment here…and yet, within a few months, I was feeling much happier and much less depressed and very confident that I could do this Course.
How to begin to practice A Course In Miracles Lessons:
- So, first, just read the lesson, it’s okay if you don’t understand it. Really. It’s not important at this stage.
- Follow the instructions, do the mind searching for 5 minutes.
- Write down the title of the lesson and take it with you on a sticky note or card to repeat throughout the day. Your subconscious mind will hear it every time you repeat the thought to yourself. This is how you change your mind, one day at a time, one thought at a time.
The Course itself is undoing your thought patterns that create fear, anxiety and depression. It will work if you spend the five to ten minutes per day. Also, as with learning an instrument, the more you practice, the better the results. So, within a few months I spent probably more than the 10 minutes per day. I had a lot of motivation, since depression and anxiety were so prevalent in my experience.
As a musician I knew that a few minutes of practice each day became exponential over time and that a scale I couldn’t play yesterday, after working on it for a little while, the next day I could master it without a problem. How? It is how your brain learns.
Within a few months, I experience changes within myself, I was calmer, I had more hope, more lightness in my mind. This gave me more confidence and ignited my personal desire to do the Course, I liked how I felt and I liked knowing that my life had a purpose and a structure to it.
Key: Repetition makes reinforcement. Results encourage more practice.
The key to happiness is simply repeating these thoughts that retrain your mind to think differently. When you begin to feel better, you will have more motivation. Yes, keep it up and don’t get discouraged if you aren’t completely fearless right away.
Key: This is a universal course in the awakening of your mind that is designed to save you time.
It’s all laid out for you, you just have to repeat the lesson to yourself…each one can be your personal mantra for the day. Just try it and see how you feel.
To find out more on how to get additional support with this process, check out the Healing Sessions page as well as the ACIM Classes page.
More to come on this subject.