Tips for Inner Peace * * * * *
Tip Nr. 1
Whenever you feel upset in any way or simply not at peace, stop looking for the cause 'out there' and simply say to your self: I am willing to see peace instead of this ! We are told in 'A Course in Miracles' that the cause of all our uncomfortable feelings is because of an unconscious decision in our minds to be separate. Therefore to return to peace we must undo the mistake where it was made - in our minds, and not 'out there'. Keep repeating this statement until it becomes a habit. Do let me know how you get on with this practice. Blessings,
Douglas * * * * * Tip Nr. 2
In the last Tip I suggested that instead of looking 'out there' for the cause of any upset, we look inside and acknowledge that we are the author of all our thoughts and feelings.
It is relatively easy to observe ourselves when we have had a big upset, but there are many more subtle ego tricks that slip by without our noticing, and they all take our peace away. It does takes practice to spot them! We are told in 'A Course in Miracles' that we cannot let these ego tricks go unless we look at them. So, I invite you to start becoming more aware of yourself in action. I include a list of some of our ego tricks below. This is not a complete list and if you come up with other ones, I would be interested to hear about them. Ways we take our peace away:
Blaming / Judging / Defending / Attacking / Needing to be right / Telling our victim story / Inner arguing / Analysing ourselves or the other / Feeling guilty / Trying to fix, get rid of or analyse the upset / Suppressing our feelings / Being a good girl/boy / Lying / Etc. Etc. All I am suggesting at this stage is to LOOK. For example if you catch yourself needing to be right, you could gently say to yourself: "Oh, there I go, needing to be right". It is very important that you do not judge yourself for choosing these ego tricks. We all do it, and in this sense we are all the same. This is the first part of a 3 step process for achieving inner peace. I will continue the process next time. Happy mind searching...................! * * * * * Tip Nr. 3
In the last Tip I invited you to become more aware of yourself in action. For example to catch yourself blaming and judging another. You may blame and judge etc. with words or it may be just in your mind. The result is the same - IT TAKES YOUR PEACE AWAY! This may not be so obvious, because at first it seems that all our thinking and actions are justified. You know; righteous anger, justified attack, the need to defend ourselves, the need to be right, and, although this might surprise you, the need to prove we exist. In order to let go of anything, we first have to see the price we pay for it. We have to see the cost to us, and the cost is always that it eventually takes our peace away. So, I now invite you to watch yourself go through the stage where you think you are justified in your thoughts and then start to notice the price you are paying. To find inner peace we must see the PRICE we are paying for choosing away from peace! This is really still part of the first step of a 3 step process for achieving inner peace. I will continue with step 2 in the next tip.
* * * * * Tip Nr. 4
We have established in the previous tips that we have to catch ourselves in action and look gently at our ego tricks and then see the price we are paying for choosing them. The price, of course, is that it always takes our peace away. Having chosen our ego tricks, we must now un-choose them, or choose again. 'A Course in Miracles' tells us that it is not so much about choosing the love or the light, it is more about choosing away from the darkness we have chosen. In other words we must undo the mistake we have made. We can do this through our willingness to see it another way and experience peace instead ! (See Tip Nr. 1 above) We must choose away from the ego thoughts we have chosen ! This is the 2nd step in the 3 step process for achieving lasting inner peace. Here is an example of what we are doing so far:
Let's imagine I have judged someone. First, I must catch myself making this judgement and look gently at what I have done. (If I judge myself for judging, then I keep it all in place.) It's also important that I see the price I am paying for judging otherwise I won't see the value in choosing again. Then I can undo my mistake by saying to myself something like: "I am willing to choose again and see peace instead of this." * * * * * Tip Nr. 5
We are now going to look at the third step of the 3 steps to inner peace, as described in 'A Course in Miracles'. We are, in fact, only required to take the first 2 steps ourselves because the 3rd step happens automatically. This is the miracle! The miracle is the shift that occurs in the mind when we have taken the first 2 steps. We can experience the miracle in different ways. It can feel like a wave of peace or love descending on us, or it can simply be in the form of a loving thought or inspired idea that corrects whatever problem we think we are having. The miracle is not something we can control, but it is something we can set up. The 'Course' tells us that we first have to establish that we are responsible for choosing the ego tricks (1). Then we must un-choose them, or choose again (2), so that they can be replaced (3). It does, indeed, feel like they are being replaced, but what is actually happening is that we are remembering what was there all along - our love. Our love and peace had simply been blocked by our choosing the ego. The reason that this profound book is called 'A Course in Miracles' is that it is a course in training our minds so that the miracle can occur naturally! The 'Course' tells us it is a very simple 3 step process to get back to inner peace. However, we are not told that it is easy! We have enormous resistance to taking these steps, and I will explain why in future tips. * * * * * Tip Nr. 6 Is it time to stop telling our victim stories? Maybe we can start telling how we are doing WITH our victim stories instead ! This way we will win more friends and be happier ! * * * * * Tip Nr. 7 Start and end the day right ! We all have our own way of doing the inner work. It could be meditation, mindfulness, prayer, forgiveness etc, but whatever way we choose, it takes practice. A few minutes when we wake up and again before we go to sleep can be a very good way to practice. * * * * * Tip Nr. 8 When people trigger any form of upset in you, practice thanking them
instead of blaming them. This is one form of true forgiveness that leads to lasting inner peace ! * * * * * Tip Nr. 9 Understanding Cause and Effect: For example, when we try to stop ourselves being angry by controlling it, it's important to know that we are trying to change an 'effect' and not the 'cause'. It will never work in the long run! However, when we are witnessing our anger, we are now at the level of 'cause'. Therefore, the way to let go of anger is to simply to watch ourselves being angry. This 'watching', however, must be without judgement and with a willingness to see the situation more peacefully. Therefore, you could say to yourself:
There I go being angry, I am willing to see peace instead of this ! It's that simple ! Nearly all the problems in the world are caused by confusing 'cause' and 'effect'. * * * * *
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