As the parent of four and grandparent of two, I’ve witnessed quite a few nightmares, in my lifetime.  It’s easy to know when your child or grandchild is having a bad dream, because they will not be able to contain the story within the sleeping mind.  Their tiny bodies will twitch, jerk, toss and turn, and often, they finally moan, cry or yell out in fear.  When this happens, most parents gently touch the child and call out for them to awaken.  This is the perfect analogy for what God Consciousness does in us, but let’s take a look at how we expect God to intervene.

When we have bad experiences in life, we ignore the gentle whisper that beckons us to awaken and recognize it was nothing more than a dream…an illusion.  We collapse to the floor and beg for the nightmare to be adjusted.  We pray and bargain for intervention.  This would be like asking a parent to slip into the child’s nightmare to change the dream.  It isn’t possible, because only the one having the dream is experiencing it as reality.  The dream is the creative illusion of the child, and it is not coming from the Consciousness of the Parent–no loving parent would never wish such suffering on the child so adored!  How odd is it that we want God to fix the dream rather than to awaken us from it?

When we awaken from our nightmares, and see it isn’t reality, we feel relieved.  For a while, we attempt to keep the dream alive, by vividly recalling how awful it was.  Those around us provide comfort in the reminder, “it was just a dream.”  We continue to share the story with others, dramatically describing all the horrible details.  It somehow helps to repeat the story, for a while, most likely, in an attempt to make sense of it or to insure ourselves it didn’t really happen.  However, as the day wears on, the dream is forgotten, and we no longer occupy our minds with the events that weren’t real.  A few days later, the dream is nothing but a memory.  If we were able to let it go, with little residual effect, it no longer disturbs us.  What is it that enabled us to move past the nightmare, releasing its power in our lives?  Awakening!

Once we are awake, we understand the dream was nothing but an illusion.  Our belief in the current experience as reality provides safety.  Because we don’t empower the dream further by acting as if it were truth, it cannot cause us any harm.

The next time life appears to be turning into a nightmare, resist the urge to beg for someone outside yourself for help in changing the illusion.  Instead, get quiet and  become aware of the soft voice calling for you to awaken.  Do not struggle to change the dream, but step outside of it and know it is not Truth.  Be still and know.  Your belief in unity with God Consciousness will be the voice that calls you out of the illusion.  You are safe, eternal, loved.

Every winter, certain trees lose all their leaves, as they fall into a deep sleep through the cold winter months.  Those who do not know better could easily assume they are dead.  However, as the spring warmth returns, a gentle nudge reminds the tree it is time to awaken.  Rejuvenated and rested, the tree emerges with glorious foliage and the sweet scent of flowering.  New branches stretch upward to touch the clouds, and the roots hungrily dive deeper into the moist, dark soil.  Birds fill the limbs with song and children giggle as they scale the branches.  What a pity had the tree not responded to the call to awaken!

Peter O. Erbe writes, in God I Am:

     Happiness is a choice.  There is but one choice:  Reality or illusion.  Reality is happiness and joy.

I see you tossing and turning.  I hear your moans and cries.  I cannot change your dream, so I touch your shoulder, gently, and call to you.

“Sweet child, wake up from the nightmare–the illusion of anything outside of God, the good.  You are safe and loved.” 

Open your eyes, and recognize it was only a dream.  Paradise is calling!

I AM…Jodi
www.godisaverb.com/blog

   Every day, we focus a great deal of our time on problem-solving.  We attempt to anticipate what it is to come, using knowledge gleaned from past similar experiences, and with that, we do our best to avoid a bad outcome.  I wonder how we would react if we knew we were wasting our time.  What if there was nothing we could do to prevent a catastrophe?  Where then would our focus fall?

I was watching a video, earlier today, of a physicist talking about global warming to a group of scientists.  He was describing the inevitability of what lies in our near future, based on the actions we’ve taken in the past.  He stated that it is too late to reverse the damage done.  If we spend trillions of dollars to immediately reduce carbon emissions (which would mean bypassing all the politics involved), the best we can do is to slow down what is to come.  More than likely, however, we will drag our feet on this, and words between nations and denial by non-believers will delay even a beginning to resolution by decades.  In other words, the truth is, it is too late to stop global warming and its effects on our planet.  We made our bed, and now we must lie in it.  He suggested we would be much smarter to invest in ideas on how we are going to survive on an earth impacted by global warming.  In other words, it is too late to focus on the cause, so, at best, we could spend time and money on researching ways to deal with the effects.  There is no need to add our panic and worry to the problem.  Accepting “what is” is the only option.  If only we could go back and make different choices!  But that isn’t possible, is it? 

Scientists have been discussing parallel universes or “many-worlds” theories for quite some time.  This same idea is now being looked into with an even more profound suggestion called string theory.  Basically, this idea suggests that for every choice we’ve made, countless other choices were also made, and those options were played out in universes that split off from the one we recognize.  I know…it sounds unimaginable.  However, an overwhelming percentage of scientists support this theory.  When you really grasp this concept…that not just one choice, but all possible choices…were acted out by you, it quickly becomes mind-boggling.  Every time you went left, you also went right, and straight, and backwards.  When you chose not to use drugs, another you decided you would.  In one universe, you were married, but in another, you weren’t.  Can you see how interesting this is?  What if all possibilities are acted out?  Puts a whole new spin on the the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” doesn’t it? 

So why is it, you might be wondering, that I don’t have knowledge of these other worlds?  It isn’t possible…not yet, anyway.  All possibilities exist in wave form (units of light/energy that are not yet observable).  It is those wave forms that represent every possibility.  However, our focus or observation forces the waves to choose the one we see as reality, and in that instant, it becomes a particle (a solid experience of physical form).  Thus, because we cannot view but one possibility at a time, because our focus is singular, there is no way for science to observe the other worlds where a different choice existed.  The act of observation is what is making us aware of the choice we made and is also the thing that limits us from seeing the other universes.

In current reality, we are playing out a singular option as the only option.  I cannot even imagine how my life would look if I had walked other paths…LOL…even knowing that I did!  Is it best to just know one universal experience at a time?  I think that has been the case, up to now, but I believe we are quickly approaching a time when we will be able to look at all possible outcomes and purposefully choose the one that works best.  The truth is…we already have that ability, but are just now starting to play with it through intention.  Those open to designing life through intentions directed by the Law of Attraction are standing in awe at what is happening in their lives.  They are understanding that control is not random and unmanageable.  They are the ones causing everything to be as it is!

Gary Crowley quotes the poet, Rumi, in his book called From Here to Here, Turning Toward Enlightenment:

   John 8:12– “I am the light of the world.”

I often speak of how it is impossible to add anything more to all, but in saying that, I also want to point out that nothing can be subtracted from it, either.  There is a rich abundance to the word “all”…eternal and infinite.  While some of us find it easy to include God Consciousness in most everything, we struggle with the occasional exclusion.  We believe God to be in nature, in babies, and in those who live good lives; and yet, when we see those things we call ugly, cruel and hateful, we are certainly not seeing God within that space! How much of life is excluded from All, due to our judgments?  Isn’t seeing anything as apart from God diminishing the infinite nature of All?

We say God is All…everywhere.  We say God is perfection and Love.  We imagine our Creator to be kind, compassionate, beautiful, abundant, and filled with joy.  We also say we are the reflection of God, or the “image and likeness” of our Creator…certainly born of it, sharing the same “genetic” codes.  We cannot be that which our Creator is not.  God, we claim, is ultimate perfection, but we don’t always believe that about ourselves or others.  How can we rectify these apparent conflicts within ourselves?  How can we find light in the dark?

Not only our energetic experience, but also our human beliefs and judgments have added the labels that divide life into pieces–acceptable and unacceptable.  We see a golden-haired toddler squealing with delight at the antics of a playful kitten, and we say, “That is good.”  We see a filthy beggar, kicking his mangy mutt, while uttering foul words to match his offensive smell, and we say, “That is bad.”  It is easy to believe God is within the space of the beautiful child, but we cannot imagine how God is represented in the foul-mouthed man.

The truth is…all mortal appearances are deceiving.  What we think we see is nothing more than illusion…a trick of the eye. Yes, God is in the space of the precious child, but God is also in the space of the offensive man.  To see Truth, you are going to have to look into the light and see the darkness that holds it.  For truly, you cannot experience one without the other.  To be the All, you must first recognize nothingness.

Recently, I was talking with a beautiful woman who was quite upset about the destruction of trees.  While watching a grand oak tree being toppled, she felt deep sadness and was quite certain the tree was suffering.  She sobbed at the memory of the tree being destroyed, obviously locked into deep pain.  When she was able to become calm enough to talk about it, I challenged her belief.  What if the tree isn’t as it appears?  The tree, I explained, is made up of tiny photons of light.  Our eyes have translated those particles into the image of a tree, however.  Ah yes…but the chain saw which appears to be destroying the tree is also nothing more than particles of light…as is the man who is holding it.  If she could see the reality of everything included in this story, it would be nothing more than millions of photons of light–popping in and out of awareness.  And even that…even the photons…are only experienced when there is an Observer to witness them.  Taking away the physical “evidence” of mortality, all that remains is the space between.  Diminished to the nothingness it really is, matter has no form nor truth.  All That Is merely is. 

Good and bad have no meaning in God Consciousness.  We–humans, being–gave definition to good and bad, through our learned beliefs.  While seeing a tree removed from the earthy soil causes one woman great pain and sorrow, it brings absolute joy to the new homeowner who sees it in a new form.  The tree, you see, wasn’t really destroyed.  Energy cannot be destroyed.  It only transformed from tree to house. Is one good while the other is bad?

We have been so conditioned to place the images we see into categories–absolutely certain we are correct–we have forgotten that doing so modified our belief that God is All.  We cannot serve two masters.  Which will you choose?  Is God eternal and infinite, or is God limited to our ideas of right and wrong?

Stepping out of the darkness into the light and back again into the darkness is nothing more than transformation.  If we want to truly see the light, we must be enlightened.  From that place of understanding, we no longer need transformation.  We have reached transcendence.  We see nothing as everything, and everything as nothing.  Form is born of the Formless.  Yet, trying to find the Formless in form is an elusive chase until observation is felt rather than seen.  Now you see it.  Now you don’t.  Look again…not with human eyes, but with heartfelt Love.  To find Truth, you must transcend truth.

Whether you see yourself or others as imperfect, if you believe that to be so, you are excluding God from All That Is.  Which one will it be?  Is God All?  Now is the time to step back and allow perfection to be represented in every space, everywhere.  This requires nothing more than changing your beliefs.  See God as All–not just a part of it. 

Recognize that mortal eyes will never be able to see the light as perfect, because to be mortal requires the equal and opposite force to be experienced, as well.  You cannot know what light is if you have no darkness to illumine.  Without down, up is meaningless.  Beauty can only be recognized in the contrast of ugliness.  What does it mean to turn right if you have no left?  In choosing to experience being human, we had to welcome duality.  Nonetheless, when the experience seems more than we can bear, we have the option of remembering it is just an illusion.  This being human thing is nothing more than the experiencing of light particles as objects…that’s all.  And when we close our eyes to seeing those light particles as form, we return to the reality of the Formless and reclaim All as God.

Mortal eyes cannot see anything but illusion, and as long as we trust what those eyes see, we will be blind to Truth. 

God is All.  Nothing more…nothing less.

I AM…Jodi
www.godisaverb.com/blog

    Prayer.  Such an interesting topic!  I love to ask people what the motive is behind the prayer.  Some people tell me it is to praise God, while others say it is to ask for something.  Prayer is also used for thanksgiving, to affirm Truth, to inform Divine Mind of the goings-on in their lives, to appear pious in public places, and to confess our sins.  Let’s take a look at each of those reasons.

Prayer is sometimes used to praise God.  As humans, being, we feel it is important that we let God know we recognize the goodness of our Creator…the one who is “out there.” Perhaps we have an underlying motive.  We may be secretly hoping that praising God will flatter Him, thus resulting in an outpouring of good into our lives.  When we equate God to humans, we suppose flattery will get us everywhere, so why not see if the breath of praise will enlarge God’s ego and win us favor?  Yet, God does not need to be reminded of All That Is, because Divine Mind cannot forget from whence it came.  Praising God, however, does not win favors.  If it did, those who praised God would have nothing but good in their lives.

And then there is the need to ask God to add things into our lives.  Really?  Is there any way God can give us more than All?  Would God not know our needs?  Perhaps of all the different types of prayer, this one is the most vain, and the one which most identifies God as a mortal.  We are assuming a loving Creator denies us that which reflects Love.  We plead with God as if God were a human being, perpetuating the idea that our Creator is created in the image and likeness of man.  Nothing can be added to a fountain already spilling over, so begging for more perfection will not change nor move God to add more unto our experience.  It is not possible.  God’s work is finished…always has been.  We cannot receive more than All.

Expressing gratitude for what we have in our lives appears, at first glance, to be a wonderful motive for prayer.  However, if we are merely expressing gratitude with words, it serves no real purpose.  Gratitude comes from a feeling place in the heart, and to truly be grateful requires the actions of our lives to match the words we speak.  Often, I see people offering thanksgiving before they eat a meal, but no sooner than the prayer ends, they begin to complain about different aspects of their lives.  Where did the gratitude go?  If we can only be grateful for a part of this experience of life, then we are declaring God to be less than All.  Placing one foot in each world is a difficult balancing act, so until we are completely congruent with the idea of gratitude, it might be best left unspoken.

Affirmations are another form of prayer many now use.  Here, we state Truth and claim it for ourselves.  We agree with goodness, either silently or publically.  But who is needing this confirmation?  Surely not God!  The All-Knowing has no need to be reminded of the good qualities of Love.  This prayer is the only one that does not petition God in any way, because it is spoken to the self.  In that sense, we are still seeing ourselves as outside of God, because if we were One, we know these things without having to speak them.  Merely stating affirmations does us no good.  We can claim God is Love, but if we do not live every aspect of our lives from that Truth, what good did the saying of those words do?

One of the most light-hearted forms of prayer is the one where we converse with God as if He were our best friend.  In this type of prayer, the one praying is merely informing God of the different circumstances of his or her life.  In most cases, a petition for help is thrown into the mix, somewhere along the way, but for the most part, the prayer is a simple conversation with a Diety who behaves more like a good friend than a God.  The most interesting part of this type of prayer, to me, is the assumption that the All-Knowing doesn’t know, and that speaking words into the Divine Ear will influence God to bestow greater good in our lives.

The public prayer is the least satisfying, to me.  What is it that makes us want to pray in public?  A group prayer is one so general I’m not sure any needs are really met.  I can find no reason to publically pray, unless it is to gain the attention of others so they will know how pious we are.  The truest test of the prayer is to witness the effect.  Did stating aloud that we forgive our debtors really cause us to do so?  The most sincere prayers are always unspoken.  They are felt, and speaking these words aloud does nothing to gain God’s ear.  God is not influenced by humans.

And finally…there is the prayer of confession.  If the purpose of prayer is to cancel out sin, the prayer cannot be a good thing.  Used in this way, prayer perpetuates sin, because it invites the petitioner to continue acting outside of Love.  I’ve heard ministers speak of those walking through the pearly gates due to confession of sins and baptism in water, but I knew those people to be great sinners.  They lived their lives blatantly denying God’s beauty and perfection, because they believed they had a free ticket to paradise upon death.  Repentence and confession are the easiest steps to forgiveness, but they are only the beginning.  Reformation is required.  We must “go, and sin no more.” 

So, what then, is my personal method of prayer?  The living of my life.  In every form of traditional prayer I ponder, I recognize it separates me from Source.  I choose to stay in Oneness with All That Is.  In doing so, I have nothing to add, no need to inform, no reason to repent or confess, no desire to converse with an outside Being.  I live my prayer…it is an action.  I align with Consciousness and act as if Heaven was a place called Earth.  I hold tight to my understanding of Source, knowing there is nothing apart from or outside of All.  Everything created came from the same Source.

Whatever method of prayer you use, I trust you will use it to lift your awareness into a higher Consciousness…a realization of the continuity and completeness of All That Is.  The day draws near when all mankind sees with new eyes.  In a blink of an eye, we will recognize the One we are.

“Wherever we are…God IS.”

I AM…Jodi
www.godisaverb.com/blog

   Deepak Chopra often speaks of the Law of Least Effort.  He describes it as the intelligence of nature, functioning with effortless ease.  Sigh…sounds so peaceful, doesn’t it?  But is it?

Least Effort is evident in nature.  When we watch flowers bloom, trees grow, and baby birds learning to fly, it appears as if there is no struggle, whatsoever.  It merely happens and is so.  What is it that allows nature to survive, in spite of storms, droughts, fires, prey and other destructive forces?  Acceptance.  It isn’t that nature doesn’t have its challenges; it does.  Nature, however, doesn’t resist change. 

In order for anything to grow or change, it must necessarily go through a period of chaos, first.  An acorn that lands in the nurturing soil cannot become a beautiful oak without first giving up its identity as an acorn.  Within the seed, there is tremendous reorganization going on.  And once the plant emerges, it must push and push against the soil to stretch out its newfound branches to the life-giving sunlight. The same is true with a caterpillar in a cocoon, or a baby chick in its shell.  Before emerging as something else, first there will be chaos.  In our own bodies, each moment, new cells are born, but that first requires an older cell to stretch, pull apart, and divide into two.  Looking closely, we see growth requires the struggle.  Least Effort, however, comes when we don’t resist it…we merely observe or witness it.

The aspect that makes struggle painful is our resistance to change.  When we fight against inevitable growth, we cause ourselves so many problems.  Thank goodness, nature doesn’t do this!  What if your cells suddenly became frightened, and decided they were no longer going to allow division?!  What if they decided change was not safe?  Can you see how important it becomes to accept chaos as a part of the birthing process?

Once we can accept that moving into something new is going to require us to release some of the baggage of the past, we are working with the Law of Least Effort.  Regardless of what appears to be happening around us, we understand it is just a part of a wonderful process called growth.  We become The Observer…sitting in the audience, watching, but not resisting.  We relax and feel safe, because we know what wonders are taking place.  It is nothing but a process, and there is no need to struggle against the struggling.  Let it be.  At the end of the storm, there’s a golden sky!

The next time you witness a stormy situation in your life, see if you can sit in the moment and allow it to be.  As you do, you will see the beautiful outcome when the sun shines again.  Everything around you will appear new and fresh.  Perhaps one oak tree cracked and fell, sacrificing its life.  Yet, out of that sacrifice, new acorns found there way into the warmth of the soil, and emerged as a larger stand of trees.  There is reason to all of it, but it requires our trust. 

If you are struggling against something in your life, I invite you to sit with me for a while to merely watch.  Let go of the need to control and stifle the chaos.  Allow it to be and see what amazing things are born of it.  Your added resistance does nothing to block change.  There is nothing you can do to stop change.  It is a necessary part of growth.  Sit here…watch.  All is well.

Acceptance is our agreement to allow things to be exactly what they are…not what we wish they could be.  Acceptance means we give up the need to one-up Divine Mind with mortal mind.  It requires so little effort when we go with the flow, rather than struggle against it.  When we can allow the intelligence of God to be in control, without us struggling against it, we ride the waves to new shores. 

What a joyous adventure…this thing called life!

I AM…Jodi
www.godisaverb.com/blog

    I have good news and bad news.

Bad news is that we only have two natural fears when we are born into this world–falling and loud noises–and all the others are learned experiences.

The good news?  That means we can do something about them!

The anxiety, terror, sorrow, and helplessness that accompany fears can be removed with Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT).  I’ve seen it done, time and time again.  It all starts with that first question:  What are you afraid of?

Many people are afraid of public speaking.  If you have watched the movie, Try It On Everything, you saw a great demonstration of overcoming this fear.  Jackie, a fellow participant in the movie, has not only grown comfortable speaking in public, she is now actively working as a speaker in workshops.  And the best part is…she is actually enjoying it!  I, too, grew up with a fear of public speaking.  I was one of those people who you felt really sorry for when you saw them giving a speech in front of a group.  My knees would violently shake, my voice would quiver, my mouth would dry out, my entire body would turn bright red, my stomach would feel nauseous, my heart would pound so dramatically it felt like it was going to explode, my mind would go numb, and my hands would shake so hard I couldn’t hold the paper to read.  Whew…remembering those days from where I am now is eye-opening!  Today, when I speak in public, most people find it hard to believe I was once that terrified of standing in front of an audience, but I was.  How did I get past it?  Yep…EFT.

Phobias of animals are another big one when it comes to fear.  Again, you saw Jackie and Steve handling a snake in the movie, but what you didn’t see was how Thea’s fear was also overcome.  It was a very slow process of tapping, tapping, tapping!  Even though she never actually held the snake, she caught us all off guard when she bent down to kiss the darn thing!  I couldn’t believe she found that kind of courage just by tapping!

And then there was the moment when Jon overcame his fear of rats!  While serving in Viet Nam, Jon explained that rats would come out and feed on the decaying bodies of people left in the fields.  Not only did they eat the bodies of those who had died, but they also began coming into the tents of the soldiers, at night, attempting to feast on them as well.  Jon had a vivid memory of waking up to a rat the size of a house cat, gnawing on his leg!  Just the mention of a rat would send shivers down his spine.  With great care, he was introduced to a rat, during our stay at Clear Point Center, and his family and friends were shocked to see him posing with the rat in hand by the time we left Connecticut.

I, too, had a block due to fear, although mine was a more subtle version.  I always wanted to write a book, but never seemed able to do so.  I continuously sabotaged every attempt…and this had been going on for decades.  At first, I thought I was afraid of failure, but the more I looked into that aspect, the more I realized that wasn’t true for me.  I was afraid of success!  I was good at failing…felt quite cozy there.  I had seen myself as a failure in so many areas of my life.  No, that was not a problem for me.  Success, however, was something I couldn’t accept.  If I became successful, the down side was an issue.  I had always been the one to take care of everyone else, and I had no clue how to do anything for myself.  Giving was fine, but receiving was an issue.  I never felt comfortable accepting the help of others.  Driven by perfectionism and the need to stay safe, I wouldn’t allow myself the option of standing out.  In staying small, I was unseen…safe.  I had always been the responsible one, and who would take care of everyone if I suddenly started to focus on my own success?  With EFT, I finally allowed myself the freedom to live my own life.  I gave myself permission to succeed.

The truth is, we have so many learned fears that keep us from enjoying our lives to the fullest.  We weren’t born with these…we acquired them from other people or from the experiences in our lives.  Unfortunately, many people walk around as if there is nothing they can do about it.  We go through life feeling unworthy and unlovable, stifling our success with our fears.  But now you know….there is a way to end the sabotage.  You have the tools to move towards your dreams.

Go ahead…try it on everything!  What are you afraid of?

I AM…Jodi
www.godisaverb.com/blog

By now, I’m assuming most people who read my blog are very aware of the importance of staying in the now, practicing The Presence, remaining in the gap, or being in awareness.  They are all the same idea…just with different names.  It is important to hold expression in this state because it is there you find oneness with All That Is.  In other words, being in the consciousness of the Eternal Always assures you of your safety, because it unravels thoughts of separation. 

Although many wonderful teachers talk about the beauty of this state of awareness, few own up to how difficult it is to do this!  You may catch glimpses, here and there, but remaining in God Consciousness for any length of time is going to require you to give up the belief of you versus them.  You will have to let go of categories and duality, in spite of appearances that will contradict that truth.  It will require forgiveness.  No, not of them…of yourself.

In Gary Renard’s Your Immortal Reality, he writes:

     It’s absolutely essential to remember that unless and until all unconscious guilt is removed from the mind, you cannot stay in the endless present on a permanent basis.  It’s impossible.  Any attempt to remain in the now is doomed to failure without doing the work of true forgiveness.

He also writes (about staying in the now):

     The problem is that doing so cannot remove the unconscious guilt over the original separation from God that’s still hidden in the deep recesses of the mind.  Because of that, it makes each experience of being in the now temporary by definition, because it fails to remove the blocks that prevent that experience from being permanent.

So then, you might wonder, how do I remove this guilt?  The past always shows up in my future.  It seems you cannot outrun it.  Exactly.  The only way to ever stay in The Presence for any length of time is to let the monster out of the closet.  Face it, and undo the darkness by shining a light on it and finally seeing it for what it is. 

What frightens you?  Where do you feel powerless in your life?  What monsters live in your closet?  Open the door and look at them.  Invite your fears to sit with you for a while.  Uncover the past experiences that were so scary you started running away from them.  Forgive yourself for having judged anything as less than or outside of God,  recognizing that in doing so, you were the one who created the monster who pursues you.  Remove the blocks that have prevented you from seeing who is beneath the outward appearance.  As the fear collapses, you will recognize the monster is the mirror image of you!  No wonder you couldn’t outrun it…you were running away from yourself.

Forgiveness, you see, is never about “them.”  It is about your own limited and selective acceptance of All That Is…the beliefs we learned and grew to accept as truth.  Forgive yourself for empowering the ego with ideas of separation.  As you do, you will watch the monster transform into something more beautiful than you could possibly imagine.  The clouds part and the sun shines all around you.  It’s not that the sun wasn’t always there, but that you blocked it with clouded concepts of reality.  For the first time in years, you will be able to say “God is everywhere,” and really believe it.  Once your beliefs and your paradigm are congruent, you can freely stand in the Eternal Always, feeling safe and feeling loved.  At long last, you will feel at One.

The ego insures its survival by keeping you out of the now moment.  It will always be in your future as long as it is in your past.  Pure Consciousness, however, is egoless.  If you want to experience the blissful peace and purity of The Presence, you will first have to disengage your own ego.  What does that mean?  It means you will have to forgive every past transgression.  Sounds like a daunting task, doesn’t it? 

The good news is that we have tools, like Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), that can collapse thousands of beliefs in one application.  When we practice this method, we find ourselves more and more in the Eternal Always.  Why?  Because we are unwrapping the monsters of the past…witnessing the transformation.  More and more, we are removing our negative, egotistical beliefs about us versus them, and each time we deal with the energy of the past, we reclaim a space in the now, assuring us we will not meet it, yet again, in the future.  In time, we can see nothing outside of ourselves.  We no longer harbor beliefs of separation from All That Is.  We allow God’s good to filter into perception as every thing.

Bring your monsters out of the closet.  Face them.  See them for what they really are and free yourself from the past.

The truth is…the monsters are far more afraid of you than you of them.  They know shining a light on them makes them disappear.

Renard writes:

     Guilt must be healed before you can permanently stay free of the past or future.  And the way to undo it is not to ignore it, which is exactly what’s going on when you shut off and deny the past or future.  It’s when you forgive the past and your concerns about the future that they are undone, and the endless present becomes truly available to you.  That forgiveness always takes place now.

Are you ready to forgive your monsters now?

I AM…Jodi
www.godisaverb.com/blog

“BREAK FREE” LIVE EVENT,

WITH MICHAEL SHUSTER

AND JODI MCDONALD!

To learn more about this incredible opportunity, please visit us at www.UltimateHappinessAndSuccess.com/tx

 See you there!

    Because so many clients I see have issues around SABOTAGE, I’ve given a guideline to identifying it, below.  (Dr. Carol Look is the ultimate expert on this, and she is the one who cleared this issue with me!)  Take a look to see if you are a victim of yourself, due to sabotage.  If so, using Emotional Freedom Techniques can help you clear that issue off your table!!

SABOTAGE

(otherwise known as the “yes, buts”)

Fill in the blank:

If I am successful, ______________________ will happen.

Last time I felt successful, _________________________happened.

(Did it last? Were things “too good to be true?” What negative thing happened around that time? Did you experience a letdown?)

If sabotage is on your table…. see what legs are holding it up!  When other people offer you an opportunity for success, do you know, inside, you want to follow your heart, but you then hear your mind saying, “Yes, but….?”

If you keep sabotaging your success, look into these “legs” to see if you have any of them:

• Limiting Beliefs

• Doubts

• Discomfort Zones—abandonment, rejection, jealousy

• Identity Issues (Heredity or otherwise)

• Procrastination

• Perfectionism

• Fears—don’t want to stand out, vulnerability

• Unworthiness

• Low self-esteem

• Guilt

• Shame

Who will you be if you are successful? Is that uncomfortable? Does it feel safe?

What happened last time you were experiencing success? Did others expect too much?

What is the down side of getting over your block to success?

Do you identify with someone who has not found success?

What is the loss to yourself or others if you are successful?

Think of this like going to the gym. If you go one time (use EFT only once), you will have a benefit, but if you continue to use it, you will build a strong inner self by collapsing various “legs” of the overall issue. EFT may remove one issue, but the other legs may continue to keep it on the table for you. This is known as shifting aspects. Keep working until all resistance is collapsed.

Sabotage is a self-punishment! What emotions do you have about success? What physical symptoms might have developed to keep you from being successful?

You have the ability to take control and move into the successful place you want to be, but if you are continuously sabotaging yourself, look into the past to see where you first learned that being successful might not always be a good thing.  Who told you this?  If you can pinpoint a memory, see what emotions come up, surrounding that issue, and tap them away with EFT.

If you feel you need help in locating what the problem is, please feel free to contact me about doing an EFT session with you.  I love practicing these techniques, and those in the EFT community know that 90% of the time it is used…it works!

I AM…Jodi
www.godisaverb.com/blog

   Not long ago, someone asked me if I thought being on Earth was like being in school…a place where we learn lessons.  I smiled as I remembered I did believe that for the longest time.  But my answer was no, I no longer believe that.  Moving through the ranks and classifications to get to a graduation day no longer fits in with the understanding I have today.  Nowadays, I think of this experience of Being more along the lines of simply that…an experience of Being.  It is us–through the ego–who make it appear we have something more to know.  In reality, as a part of Divine Mind, we already know all there is to know.  No, I no longer feel life is a struggle to master the lessons which guarantee us a move up the ladder of success.  We already have a doctorate!  This thing we call life is much, much more fun than that!  Life is more akin to summer vacation.  Remember the excitement we used to feel on the last day of school–the anticipation of sleeping late, playing with your friends all day, going swimming, playing baseball, family vacations, no homework?  The teachers didn’t even attempt to teach us that last day before summer vacation, because we were too far gone into the feeling of absolute freedom!  It was all about fun. That is how I feel about my time on Earth. 

We are not merely puppets, toyed with by a distant Creator.  We are participants in the process of Being.  We are Experiencers, born of and as Creator.  We are the form of the formless, and we are here with the freedom to choose our experiences and our reactions and actions.  When I wake up, each day, I wonder what God wants to do as Jodi, today.  What experiences will God, as me, choose to have?  And further, how will Jodi interpret those experiences–will she allow or resist?  Will she embrace them, remembering this is just a game of pretend, or will she react negatively, forgetting who she really is?  Either way, it is just so darn interesting to observe her in action!  Are we having fun yet?

In the book, Thinking In The Future Tense, Edward B. Lindaman writes:

     To be human is to be involved, nolens volens, to act and to react, to wonder and to respond.  For man, to be is to play a  part in a cosmic drama, knowingly or unknowingly.

     Gathering information is not enough.  We must seek meaning actively by living boldly and with enthusiasm.  I believe that meaning begins to enter our lives when we discover, by our actions, the surpassing significance of the “right now.”  Meaning is born when we discover that the world of creation is both a problem and a hope.  And the context is always of a universe created by a transcendent God who in Christ “makes sense” out of all things. 

The truth is, we tend to get in our own way, all too often.  We try to outsmart Divine Mind with mortal mind. This is especially true with experiences we decide are “bad.” When something uncomfortable happens to us, we immediately go to the ego for our answers, reactions and responses.  We expect our mortal minds can figure it all out.  We check in with the past to see what happened last time we did this, and we calculate all the possible outcomes that are possible in the future…usually coming from a place of worry and fear.  When things happen that don’t fit into our box labeled “good,” we tend to forget who we are, generally expecting the worst possible outcome.  So guess what we get?  We can only receive that which we give, so giving out a negative vibration doesn’t make sense, does it?  Summer vacation–laughter, fun in the sun, playing with your friends, building sand castles, relaxing, enjoyment?  Now that’s living!  Grab your floatees and catch a wave!

When Lindaman speaks of “the surpassing significance of the ‘right now’,” he is challenging us to remain in the moment where we do nothing more than merely experience what appears to be.  There is no judgement in the now, because it is egoless.  In the present, we are free of past memories and future worries.  It is only in the now moment we can really experience anything, isn’t it?  We cannot experience the past in this moment…we can only recall it.  We cannot experience anything in the future…we can only anticipate it.  In the instant we moved into thoughts of the past or future, we left the present.  We forgot The Presence which is here, now.  This moment–right now–is the only place we can BE.  Stay here. God’s got your back.

Five, four, three, two, one!!!!  School’s out for summer!!!!!!  Wooooooohooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

I AM…Jodi
www.godisaverb.com/blog