“Through His power and glory all your wrong decisions are undone completely, releasing you and your brothers from every imprisoning thought.” —A Course in Miracles
According to my friend, Christine, March 20 is the International Day of Happiness. She also says it’s Alien Abduction Day. But we won’t get sucked up (pardon the pun) into that.
I leave today for Ajijic, Mexico where I’ll be spending nearly three weeks with a Course in Miracles community started by James Twyman. I wrote about him in my book, Living Big.
So I’m going to re-run a post I wrote a couple years ago. It speaks to ACIM Lesson 79 (Let me recognize the problem so that it may be solved). Enjoy!
This may come as a shock, but there is only one problem in the world today.
Despite all its many wily manifestations, this one problem is the same for all of us.
It’s a problem of perception. Our perception is the ONLY thing we need to heal. If we pray for healing of the body (or money issues or relationship struggles or any of the other myriad “problems” we think we have), we only reinforce the belief that there’s a problem.
There is no problem. There is only wrong perception. There is only the story we make up to entertain ourselves or frighten ourselves or… heck, I don’t know why we persist in investing all our energy into solving all these problems.
A few years ago, I became Facebook friends with a beautiful, wise woman named Ley Love.
Her story so inspired me that I asked her permission to share it with you.
With no further adieu, here’s Ley’s story:
Twenty years ago, i was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder. It had been apparent that i had suffered the problems that come with the label for all of my life. After being diagnosed with the condition, i set out to discover all there was to know about the subject, so that i could be informed about my own condition. I read countless books, read websites, pamphlets, talked to others with Bipolar, anything i could find to understand why i was the way i was. I wanted to heal and thought that information was the best way to do this.
Today, i can see that all of that reading, the years spent pouring over information that would inform me of who i was being, was totally counter-productive. In fact, all it did was to teach me more about ‘How to be Bipolar”. I noticed that as time went by, i began to develop even more of the symptoms i had been reading about and life began to become unbearable. I suffered major anxiety, deep depression, panic attacks, eating disorders, body dysmorphia, low self esteem, OCD in many many forms, Agoraphobia (I didn’t leave my house for two years), I had countless problems in all of my relationships, self harmed and had basically completely closed down and given up on life. I had no hope of ever recovering and wanted to die.
This was the ego’s story.
Today, since studying ACIM, I am symptom free of nearly every one of those problems! I am happy, healthy, in love with life extremely grateful for all that ACIM (and god of course) has done for me. My only want in life now, is to be able to share this wonderful system of healing with others. To show people that there is a way out of the seeming nightmare that life can be and to give hope that what the course in Miracles insists can happen, DOES happen! I am the living proof.
I encourage anyone that wants to exchange the nightmare for the beautiful dream, to study this course. It is truly life-changing and has saved me from the depths of the hell that i thought i was living in. You can have this too. All it takes is a little willingness to see things a different way, God will do the rest!
Let love lead the way :-
And that’s it from Ley. I’ll talk to you again soon from sunny Ajijic!!
Hasta la vistas, babies!!!
Pam Grout is the author of 19 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her new book, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.
22 Responses
Good morning Pam.I. Am so excited to learn about the group in Ajijic Mexico. I will be going there next month. I have a friend living there and has for many years. It is so beautiful there. I would love to attend the group while I’m there and tell her about it. How do I find where it meets? I hope I get to meet you while I’m there. I love your work.Safe travelsLove and PeaceAnne O
Hi Anne—The community is called Angel Flores. If you google ACIM and Ajijic you’ll likely find it. Here’s to hoping our paths cross soon.
I’m banking on this one. I’ve been giving this some great thought for some time as I deal with the terminal diagnosis that I want to believe is only real if I allow it to be real. I want to put focus and intention on BEING well and happy in the world. Loved her story and it gives me real hope. Have a great and fun trip. Looking forward to the next lessons. Marlene Herself
We are healed and whole. Thanks, Marlene, for seeing how God sees you.
Thanks. It will be nice to only have ONE problem to work on.
Scott
Right? I like the simplicity of uno!!!
Good game, too. 🙂
Many thanks, Pam, and buen viaje!
De Nada, mi amiga!!!
Thank you Pam and also to the beautiful woman sharing her story…So powerful and loving, courageous and honest…
Yippeeee to the Only Law, the Law of God….x
Love,
Kate
Yes—yippee for God’s law!
Wow! That takes care of approximately 99.998562% of my daily activities and challenges. Thanks a million. What an incredible gift you are to humanity.
Thanks—we are ALL God’s gifts!!!
Hoolie Doolies! That’s mind blowing. And what a powerful story from Ley Love. Thankyou Pam- and I agree with Edward – you are an incredible gift to humanity 😁 (& you’ll be delighted to know that I am now realising that I, too, am an incredible gift to humanity!! In fact we ALL are. We just need to realise this truth and be who we truly are in this world, and our unique light will bless humanity too. Won’t it be wonderful when everyone realises this truth?! 😌) Have a fabulous trip 🌝✈️🌵
Hi Jenny,
Everyone has and you haven’t realized it yet.
Love and blessings to you,
Michael Stilinovich
Hi Michael, thanks for that thought provoking response! So are you saying that it’s just MY PERCEPTION that not everyone realises they are an incredible gift to humanity? I believe I know people (my parents for example) who do not think they are a gift to humanity. Maybe they might know it on a soul level but from observing their lives as their daughter for over 50 years and their beliefs (they’re just sinners etc) it certainly appears they don’t believe they are a gift to humanity. So that’s what I mean – when those of us who don’t believe with all our hearts that we are a gift to this world finally DO believe it and know it and live this way, it will be a wonderful blessing for us all. However, I’m open to the possibility that it really is just my perception that not everyone realises they are an incredible gift and I just haven’t realised it yet! Hmm, I’ll have to ponder this……!
Love and blessings to you too 😊
Can’t wait for that day. I see it so clearly in my vision!!!
Yes Jenny that is what I’m implying. It’s a truth that I am committing myself to. The first paragraph in todays lesson states, ” The problem of separation, which is really the only problem, has already been solved.”
It also is along the lines of one of Gahndi’s quotes which is one of my personal favorites.
“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the outer world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and a source of our happiness. We need not wait and see what others do… ”
Even though I’m writing these things, which I believe in my heart as to truth,
There is still a part of me that has doubts and I think everyone here does as well, otherwise we would be on a different plane.
I too noticed as I was meditating on some of the earlier lessons as I was looking for grievances it seemed I could see my prejudices in every thought I held about someone. And I think the Course is trying to teach me is to look at everything and everyone through the eyes of Jesus, since we are all One.
Take care now,
Michael
It’s exciting that you will be spending 3 weeks in the Course of Miracles community. I listened to some of James Twyman’s songs after you mentioned him. I’m loving the Course of Miracles now. Thank you!
What a gift this group is. Thank you everyone for your honest sharing. It helps us all grow and evolve❤
Hi Pam,
After reading and purchasing several of your books, I took it to the next step and bought books for 5 of my “girl-friends” which for me was a taking a major leap out of my comfort zone. Nevertheless, I did it because of your easy user-friendliness approach to changing your inner world to change your outer world, not to mention the number of times I have laughed out loud. A huge and special “thank you”.
I would like to take the next step, by introducing my 16 year old son to ACIM. He has a willing and loving interest and I feel that your ACIM blogs will really appeal to him, because it has a wonderful blend of humor, fun and easy-does-it approach to understanding each lessons.
I have pretty much saved almost all of your 2018 blogs of ACIM lessons. I am planning to print out every lesson and give to my son to help him understand the ACIM lessons. I am hoping he can read each ACIM lesson and incorporate it with your summarized blog. Therefore, I would be ever so grateful, if you can forward me the following blogs and lessons which for one reason or another I cannot locate.
Here are the dates/lesson I am missing:
January 9, (Lesson 9) January 19 (Lesson 19) January 20 (Lesson 20) January 23 (Lesson 23) February 5 (Lesson 36) February 13 (Lesson 44) February 15 (Lesson 46) February 17 (Lesson 48) February 18 (Lesson 49) February 19 (Lesson 50) February 22 (Lesson 53) March 11 (Lesson 70) and today March 21 (Lesson 80)
I look forward to your next blog
Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to my email.
Rich blessings to you.
Deanne
<3 !!!