How Can I Experience Miracles?

When I received this thought, I carried it around with me. I read it over and over again. I knew this was a thought that must be learned.
Here's what it means:

Within the world, we believe our experiences. We also believe that we are "victim" of our experiences. In this case, "victim" does not always feel bad. "Victim" means that we believe the situation in the world determines how we feel. That may feel good, if the situation is one we like. But of course, it feels bad if the situation is not what we want. Our response is always a result of what is happening in the world, thus we are victim or slave to the situation in the world.

The Holy Spirit's Interpretation of the New Testament (NTI) and A Course in Miracles (ACIM) teach that we are not victim of the world. Learning this is freedom. Really learning this is the truth that sets us free. The thought given to me by Holy Spirit can be very helpful in learning this truth. Notice the thought teaches a loop.

1. What I think, I see. (In this case "see" means perceive.)
2. What I see, I experience.
3. What I experience, I think.
(Return to step 1).

This loop shows that the mind is cause (step 1). If we believe what the mind makes, we continue to make it through the loop.

For example, if I worry about being alone or unloved, I begin to perceive loneliness. I notice when a specific friend says she isn?t available to spend time with me. Or maybe I notice when I am in a group and they seem to talk to each other more than they talk to me. As I perceive or notice how unloved I am, I experience it. I feel it and I believe it, so I start thinking about it again, and soon I perceive it again.

Holy Spirit teaches through the thought, "This is why reversal is needed." If we continue to think with our experience, we keep repeating the experience. We literally must learn to think apart from our experience if we want to have different experiences. But how do we do that?

The first answer to this question is willingness. We must truly be willing to change the way we think. Many of us are willing for a different experience, but not willing to change the habit of our thoughts. In order to experience the miracle of a new effect, the cause must be changed, and the cause is our thinking.

ACIM says a miracle is a shift in perception. If you look at the loop taught in the thought above, you can see that perception is step 2. What creates a shift at step 2? Willingness to think differently at step 1.

Once we have willingness, the second answer is consistency. Our thoughts are habits. A habit typically is not changed through one decision. A habit is changed by making the decision over and over again. We will notice ourselves thinking habitual thoughts, mulling over the past or having fantasies about the future, for instance. When we catch our self, we don't want to chastise our self or feel guilty for what we have discovered. Instead, we want to rejoice! We rejoice that we noticed, because noticing provides the opportunity to choose again.

How do we choose again? Each one will find a method that works best for him or her. Resting the mind and breathing works well. Repeating a mantra from NTI or ACIM can work. Reminding myself of what I truly want (e.g., to let go of these thoughts & be led into happiness) works well. Reviewing the thought from above is helpful. In my case, it was all of these. I found the variety to be useful.

It's important to remember that we will have to choose again over and over. We may successfully let go of a thought and feel a bit of peace come over us, and then 30 seconds later notice that the thought is there again. That's ok. Just practice the choose again process once more.

In the beginning, habitual thoughts will pop up constantly, and we will constantly have to be consistent about choosing again. But as we do this, the habitual thoughts will come into the mind less and less frequently. Eventually they will disappear completely, and we may not even notice until the miracle within the mind (step 2) is reflected in experience (step 3). Then we will laugh with joy and gratitude!

It is most helpful if we can let go of desires for specific outcomes. For example, letting go of wanting to be with a specific person. As long as we stay attached to a specific outcome, we continue to provide ourselves with evidence that supports the old habits. If we are willing for a completely new experience, whatever Holy Spirit will bring us, we open ourselves more fully to the miracle. This is true, because we are co-creators with God. Let me explain what is meant by that statement.

NTI helps us understand what God is by giving us several definitions of God. None of these definitions are total. They are all partial. Put together, they seem to help us grasp the idea of God. But for the purpose of this article, I think my 10-year-old daughter's definition of God works best. She says God is the love of everyone put together.

I also want to mention the movie, The Secret. Most of us have seen The Secret and we are aware of how our thoughts and the law of attraction work together to create experience. As we watch The Secret, a subtle confusion can be introduced into the mind. It is time to talk about that confusion now.

As we grew up, most of us were taught that God is creator. If you look at my daughter's definition of God, that means that the love of everyone put together is creator. If we expand the definition of "everyone" to include the seen and unseen, we've developed an excellent way of understanding "God is creator."

The confusion that can be introduced through The Secret and similar sources is the idea that I am creator of my life. Now, this is somewhat true. Both NTI and ACIM teach us that we are creator of our experience, but this idea can also be misunderstood. Let me explain using a specific example.

I've recommended letting go of desired outcomes. The example I gave was letting go of the desire to be with a specific person. I have friends who are suffering because they are in love with someone who is not interested in being in romantic relationship with them. Some of my friends have been suffering with this for many years. Typically the other person is married or has a significant other. My friends tell me that they want to heal their mind because they believe that if they heal their mind, they will get to be with the person they want. They believe that their unconscious guilt, fear and unworthiness is using the law of attraction to keep the person they want away from them, and if the mind is healed, the person they want will be attracted to them.

This example is an error, because it sees the creator as the individual "I" and ignores the co-creation of God, or everyone put together.

Holy Spirit once told me that I do not have individual control over what happens in my life. The key words in that sentence are "individual control." What happens in my life is co-created. Since this is a fact, healing my mind will not necessarily bring a specific person into romantic relationship with me. If this is the outcome I expect from healing, I may continue to teach myself that I am failing. This is to teach myself that I am guilty and unworthy, and this learning continues to bring that experience (suffering) into my life.

What do NTI and ACIM mean when they teach that I am responsible for my experience? They mean just that. Let's continue with the same example.

Let's say my problem is loneliness. I seem to experience loneliness because the one I love has left me and is now with someone else. I decide that I am tired of suffering. I accept that my experience comes to me from my thoughts, and I decide to change my thoughts. I recognize that the one I am in love with is my brother, co-creator with me and all of God. My first step is to set him free. I decide that I want only happiness and love for him. I want for him the same as I want for me. I let go of all specific outcomes in form, because I recognize that I do not know what is best. I choose to trust the Holy Spirit completely, watch my thoughts, surrender my will to Him, and keep trusting. (Notice that this sentence is sandwiched in trust.)

When I surrender to the Holy Spirit in trust, I have not surrendered to something that is apart from me. I have surrendered to the part of me that knows God and understands creation. I can imagine that this part of me is looking at the entire universe and all of the data that is coming in on the flow of creation from the co-creators, and this One is arranging everything in the best interests of everyone. By surrendering to the Holy Spirit, I surrender to love.

As a result, things begin to change in my life. My life comes to a new place, and it is joyous and wonderful. The thought and experience of loneliness is gone. My experience has completely changed, and I am gratefully in love with my experience as it is now.

You see, I am responsible for my experience. However I cannot control others, and I do not have individual control over what happens in my life. All of these statements are true. They do not conflict. The ego can't understand how they don't conflict, but through surrender to Holy Spirit, we see that they don't conflict.

The best way to experience miracles is to change the way we think and surrender in trust to Holy Spirit. Let go of specific outcomes in form and trust what comes, because it comes to us from God. It is a gift, and it is through receiving this gift that we realize what we are.