I have no neutral thoughts. [W-p1.16.5.1]
Lesson 16 can be another of those Whaaaaaat? Lessons.
I thought we just spent the past two weeks discussing how our thoughts don’t mean anything? Now you’re telling me they are neutral? WTF!
Here’s the deal. As I see it, every thought I have contributes to my big bad illusion of reality. It creates what I choose to see before me. And in each thought, I decide to choose love or fear to express this illusion.
So while there is most definitely more to life going on than meets my big brown doe eyes, what I think certainly does impact my world.
Let’s take an example: My stinkin’ smoke alarm will NOT stop beeping. It is loud. I have checked and replaced every battery. Still, every thirty seconds BEEEEP! As a result, I feel irritated. I feel frustrated. I have considered ripping out each alarm by the wires from the wall.
Because like attracts like, I then get a headache. I suddenly feel tired. And any little thing that is slightly out of whack, like the cat crying, is magnified exponentially.
Because thoughts are of this world, they contain a bit of a charge. And while, in the moment, I may not feel able to escape their ugly grip on my noggin, I can choose to breath, laugh at myself, and choose again.
For now, all Lesson 16 asks of us is to recognize our thoughts for what they are when they come up. Especially when they are a bit off center. It suggests taking a moment. Maybe three to five times today, to recognize which side of the fear/love line they fall on. Just observe. No judgement.
Rinse and repeat.
I am always amazed at how quickly I can fall down the rabbit hole of negative thoughts when I’m not wrangling them into my awareness. And I am similarly impressed by how quickly they fade by when I do.
Take the smoke alarms. Turns out, once I took a second to observe, it wasn’t the smoke alarm battery at all.
It was the carbon monoxide detector. Problem solved.
What thoughts will dissipate under the microscope of your awareness today dear friends?
Namaste Light Chaser. Happy thought hunting!
All quotes are from A Course in Miracles, copyright ©1992, 1999, 2007 by the Foundation for Inner Peace, 448 Ignacio Blvd., #306, Novato, CA 94949, www.acim.org and info@acim.org, used with permission.