Dear Friends
These services are a way to inspire those who are seeking a deeper connection to others and
God and a more peaceful and joyful way to be in the world. They are meant to guide,
encourage and support others by offering understanding, insight and demonstration of how
to release our false ideas and return to the truth of Who we are. In gratitude, I offer these
support services knowing that in the giving I receive as well. Love Patti
These services are a way to inspire those who are seeking a deeper connection to others and
God and a more peaceful and joyful way to be in the world. They are meant to guide,
encourage and support others by offering understanding, insight and demonstration of how
to release our false ideas and return to the truth of Who we are. In gratitude, I offer these
support services knowing that in the giving I receive as well. Love Patti
| A Course in Miracles Study Groups, Student Mentor Program, Spiritual Counseling Rochester, NY |
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As we look on the events happening in Haiti many Course students wonder how they can respond to the situation,
while staying true to the teachings of the Course. We have a tendency to think that our response is an either/or
choice. Either join with the belief that this is a tragedy; that the pain and suffering is very real and then rush to help
or sit back and say “it’s all an illusion” and do nothing believing that if we did respond we would be reinforcing the
illusion and that would not be helpful. Is it an either/or choice or is there a way to respond to the needs of the
people of Haiti without reinforcing the reality of the illusion? I have outlined 3 teachings from the Course that I hope
with help you discern as A Course in Miracles student how to look at and respond to this situation.
Today marks the beginning of a new year. Traditionally, New Year’s Day is a time when we conduct a mental
review of the past and take a look ahead at what we would like different in the future. Before we travel down memory
lane for 2009, let’s remember a very important teaching from the Course. There are two voices in our mind that
guide our thoughts and pass judgment; the ego and the Holy Spirit. If we would like to find peace and happiness it
would behoove us to realize that the one who is guiding our year-in-review is usually the ego! Before I became a
student of the Course and learned there was another Voice other than the ego to guide my thoughts, I judged my
year based on things of this world. Was I successful at my job? Were my kids healthy? Was my relationship
stable? What had I accomplished? What gains had I made in terms of money, my career or my relationships? I
then would begin the judgment of myself. Did I do enough? Say the right things? Make poor choices? Afterwards I
was left with a mix of emotions; a bit sad, lonely or maybe confused; inadequate, unworthy, fearful or worried. My
thoughts would involve beliefs of lack, failure, blame or anger. All-in-all, even if there were good times or happy
thoughts, they were interlaced with these ideas. As I began to immerse myself in the Course and listen more
clearly to the Holy Spirit, my year-in-review began to change and the outcome was radically different. This year why
don’t we give the ego a day off and let the Holy Spirit be in charge of our year-in-review? Let’s explore what a year-
in-review would look like through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
How are you feeling this Christmas? Are you stressed, excited, peaceful, happy, sad; fearful? Would you agree
that the Christmas season, unlike any other, seems to intensify feelings? I think Charlie Brown expressed this
best in the show "Charlie Brown's Christmas", when he checks his mailbox and there are no Christmas cards and
he remarks: "I know no one likes me but why do we have to have a holiday to emphasize it!". It doesn't matter what
feelings you are experiencing, or how scary or painful the world seems to be; the Course has a Christmas
message that will take you to an experience of joy and peace where there is no "let-down" the morning after, and
nothing of this world has the power to turn it into sorrow. The message A Course in Miracles give us is this: You
are the holy Son whom God loves and cherishes still. You are Christ; the perfect Son at one with the Creator and
one with all your brothers. Wow! That's quite a statement! Do you believe it? Do you accept this as fact? Jesus
did. He had a reawakening; a realization and acceptance of the true nature of his Being. His remembrance of his
divinity was not for him alone but for all his brothers that they too may come to realize the glory of who they are.
How close are we to this realization? My guess is that most of us feel more like Charlie Brown rather than a holy
Son of God. What is a way to celebrate Christmas that brings us closer to the acceptance of our divinity? Let us
think of Christmas not as a time to celebrate the birth of a baby but rather to celebrate the birth of the Christ within
our own minds. Underneath all the darkened ideas of who we are, deep within the mind Jesus welcomes us to
claim our heritage as the holy Son of God and experience the joy this realization brings. The joy of Christmas is
found at last; not in a manger but within you. Love to all, Patti
I spent the early years as a Course student diligently practicing the Workbook lessons and reading the Text. An
interesting thing happened along the way. The more I immersed myself in my study and practice, the deeper I
seemed to reflect on the inner meaning of the words. It suddenly became clear to me how radical the Course’s
teachings were. I remember my brother saying to me after going through the workbook again; “Do you realize what
this is saying???!” I answered with a smile, “Yes, its pretty radical isn’t it?” What do we mean by “radical” in this
context? It means the Course’s teachings go completely against what the world teaches. We have spent lifetimes
learning how to stand up for ourselves, set our boundaries, fight back, perform good deeds in an effort to be a
“good” person, sacrifice for others, and suffer in order to be close to God. We have learned how to fix the world by
saving the environment, saving the whales, feeling someone else’s pain to show compassion -- I could go on and
on. There comes a time during a student’s life, when they realize that everything they have learned from the world
is in direct contrast to what they are leaning from A Course in Miracles. This is when they begin to see just how
radical the Course is. I smiled hearing my brother’s realization, but there was a time when the radical teachings of
A Course in Miracles brought terror to my mind.
A while ago my family had an experience of lice. As I went into combat against the invisible enemy that had invaded
my home I was aware of the terror that flooded my mind. Then it happened. What is “it”? “IT’” is the multitude of
“fear and attack” events that follow after the initial one. Following this one event I then experienced a potential loss
of insurance, neighbors attacking from both sides, seeing unloving behavior in my relationships etc. It felt as if I
slipped on a rock by going into fear with the lice, only to fall head-first into the abyss of problems. Has “IT” ever
happened to you? You’re going along maintaining an inner state of balance and peace and one event comes
along to disturb you. This seems to trigger an avalanche of subsequent experiences that buries you and darkens
your world.
In my last posting I wrote about the moment in my life when my spiritual journey began; when I focused my
attention away from the world and toward the healing of my mind. This change in direction rang the bell for
freedom and with this action; I entered a new school of learning. This new school is not the “hard knocks” school
where we learn how to survive when the world keeps beating us down but rather a school whose curriculum is to
teach us about our Self. It seems a bit silly doesn’t it, that we need to go to school to learn about our self?
But we do!
Many years ago I had become frustrated and unhappy with my life. I had spent years trying to teach others how to
behave toward me, how they could change to better our relationship and taught myself how to be resilient to life’s
many challenges. After years of this “learning” I found myself feeling hopeless that I would ever find the magic key
that would change others or make the outside world meet my need for happiness and peace. Seeking a new
direction to go, now that I had dried up all of my own resources, I entered into a counseling relationship. During a
session there was a pivotal moment that would forever change my life. Up until this moment, I believed I could only
be free; happy and at peace when others responded or behaved in a certain way; when nothing serious was going
on, or my day went smoothly without mishaps or uncomfortable feelings. After years of living this way, I had a
sudden epiphany in the counselor’s office that day. This never works!
Yesterday was “one of those days”. A day where sadness slowly creped into my awareness and a large gloomy
cloud seemed to be hovering over me. I did notice early on in the day there was a slight problem but as the day
went on it began to gain momentum as my thoughts traveled even further into the dark. I wondered where these
thoughts were coming from, what did it mean in terms of healing, and how could I release these thoughts that were
the cause of my despair? After I had spent much of my quiet time in this way, all of a sudden it dawned on me that
even though I was looking at my problems from a spiritual perspective, I was still “thinking” about my problem and
trying to solve it myself. And we all know what that means…..I had tried to solve the problem with the ego (the ego
is the belief I am an individual self that can solve my own problems). After realizing this I invited the Holy Spirit into
my awareness to help me solve this problem of my despair.
The word “story” is defined as “a narrative tale; true or fictitious, that is meant to report or give an account of the
matter.” What is the narrative tale of your life? It’s easy to find out. Simply ask someone you trust “what is the
statement I most often use when talking about a person, event or situation in my life?” Or maybe you have gained
enough awareness to do a mental review of your thoughts when dealing with an experience in you life. The
narrative that goes on in your own mind will give you enough information to see what your story is. For me, just a
quick look at my past journals will reveal the story of my life; I had reported in my written venting how “no one
supports me emotionally”, “I’m always having to take care of the emotional needs or other”, “People don’t
appreciate what I do for them”, “Others can’t be trusted to care for me”. What are your stories? Maybe you feel you
have to do it alone, or others always take advantage of you, or you have to work hard to have the things you need.
Where did these stories come from?
Yesterday my family heard what appears to be devastating news. The news involved a young man, a heart, a virus
attack, a loss of income, loss of normalcy, and possible loss of life. As I heard the news I became increasingly
aware of a shift of my inner state. Just moments before and for days previous, I had experienced unwavering
peace, and seconds later after hearing the news I felt rattled, unnerved, anxious and fearful. From my past learning
I knew the change from peace to fear came about, not from the news itself but from my belief in what my body’s
eyes and ears were reporting. My decision to rest my “eyes” on the form of a man, a heart, a virus and death and
then judge it as very real and very true was the cause of my suffering. Although I have learned this in the past with
my work with A Course In Miracles, in this situation it did seem very real and very true. Going to bed last night I
asked the Holy Spirit to teach me about how to deny the false and accept the true even in the midst of something as
seemingly real as a heart condition and possible death.
I was raising children in the 90’s. In this decade you couldn’t go to a play group, social gathering, grocery store or
public place where you didn’t hear a mom say at least once to their kids: “Do you have your listening ears on?” It
wasn’t too long before I discovered why this was such a popular question. I began to notice that even though it
appeared as if they were listening they often were distracted by their own thoughts and not really hearing the
message I was trying to convey. Once I realized this I adopted “Do you have your listening ears on?” as my favorite
words in the English language. How does the idea of being a good listener relate to our spiritual journey? The
Course teaches that we have two voices that we listen to. One is the voice of the ego and one, the Voice for God or
the Holy Spirit. So often Course students talk about how loud the ego is and how it seems that when we ask to
hear the Holy Spirit we just can’t. As usual Course instruction always leads us back to the idea that we are the one
making the choice. If we are not hearing it is because we do not want to pay attention. Are we at times like the
children who appear to be listening but are distracted by our own thinking and desire to hear the ego instead?
One day I was having a conversation with a very close friend. I don’t remember the specifics but I do remember that
as we were talking I became increasingly disturbed. I could have sworn that she was attacking my position on
something, accusing me of not being right, and overall not caring about what I thought. The conversation was so
unsettling that I made up an excuse to leave. I returned home and asked the Holy Spirit for relief from the pain and
suffering I experienced while being with my friend. I was reminded of the Course teaching in lesson #15; “what I
think I “see” is an image I have made from my thoughts.” In the situation with my friend this idea seemed to hard to
grasp….only imaginings? I am suffering only from my thoughts that are making images? The pain and suffering
from the conversation seemed to be coming from her and not from my thoughts! I have developed a trust that the
Course’s teachings if applied will bring me to peace so I asked the Holy Spirit for help in understanding how this
could be true.
Have you ever seen a “Magic Eye” book? At first glance each page appears to be a pattern of shapes and colors. If
someone did not tell you there was something else to see you most likely would look at the page and say, “So
what? It’s a bunch of colors and shapes on a page.” You are asked to look again but this time with the
understanding there is something else to see. As you relax your focus and open up your mind, out pops a whole 3-
D picture! It’s amazing to experience the sudden shift in what you are seeing. This book illustrates an important
teaching from ACIM on perception. We are walking around looking at a flat page of colors and shapes thinking that
is all there is to see. The whole time we are seeing this world there is a whole 3-D world just waiting to be
discovered. This 3-D world is what the Course refers to as the Real world. If we choose to “see” the Real world we
will be walking around saying, “What loveliness (I) look upon today! What holiness (I) see surrounding (me)!” “All
things are at peace” (W.#291.1:4) In any given situation we can ask ourselves this: are we seeing a flat page of
colors and shapes or are we seeing the 3-D picture full of love, holiness and peace?
For more writings
| Patti Fields |
The Holy Spirit is our Guide and our Internal Teacher. I often think of Him holding a flashlight and illuminating the
obstacles that have blocked my path, showing me what way I need to direct my thoughts, shining in my mind an
understanding that would be most helpful at that moment; or revealing what belief or attachment I am holding onto
that is delaying my remembering. These come in many ways and at different times....through dreams, journaling,
talking with others, ACIM text reading, meditation, while driving and even while housecleaning. This guidance has
illuminated the path so clearly that I can see what exactly the next step is for me either in my unlearning or in my
accepting of truth. I would like to share them with you in hopes that they might be illuminating for you as well.
| I Can't Believe There is Another Way to See This! |
| It’s All Our Imagination |
| “Do You Have Your Listening Ears On?” |
| Make Room for the Miracle |
| It’s My Story and I’m Sticking To It |
| Who Ya Gonna Call? |
| Let Freedom Ring |
| Class Has Begun Please Take Your Seat |
| Thoughts That Illuminate |
| “I Can See Clearly Now” |
| A Christmas Message- Audio Recording and Article |
| “It’s So Radical !” |
| New Year’s Day 2010 |
| Thoughts on the Season of Lent Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 17th and Valentines Day is Feb. 14th. What Does Lent and our Relationships Have in Common? Click to find out! ACIM Class on Relationships : 2/13/10 (page two of the document) |
| A Course in Miracles Response to Haiti |