Jim Patterson

Lesson 47

God is the strength in which I trust.

If we could only rely on ourselves for all of this there would be reason for us to have doubts.  This isn't the case though.  This lesson is all about reminding ourselves exactly where our strength comes from, and that this is why we can have confidence.  We don't have to worry that we don't "have the stuff" to do what needs doing…

Unlike God, the Unified Field, Yahweh or whatever you want to call the supreme power of the universe we are not all knowing, all powerful or all anything at all…  At least not without reconciling ourselves to Him.

In today's lesson we look beyond our own (seemingly) meager abilities and see that our true strength which is capable of anything, comes not from our own strengths, but from those of our creator.

Four five minute practice sessions are necessary, but frequent and longer ones throughout the day are recommended.

Close your eyes and start with the main idea.  Then search for thoughts about situations that left you feeling weak or inadequate.  Then repeat the main idea.

In later sessions you should be able to reach down into your mind to a place of safety.  You will experience the peace and confidence that you are entitled to.  

Lesson 46

God is the Love in which I forgive.

The workbook begins the lesson:

"God does not forive because he has never condemned.  And there must  be condemnation before forgiveness is necessary.  Forgiveness is the great need of this world but that is because it is a world of illusions.  Those who forgive are thus releasing themselves from illusions, while those who withhold forgiveness are binding themselves to them.  As you condemn only yourself, so do you forgive only yourself.

Yet although God does not forgive, His Love is nevertheless the basis of forgiveness.  Fear condemns and love forgives.  Forgiveness undoes thus undoes what fear produced, returning the mind to the awareness of God.  For this reason, forgiveness can truly be called salvation.  It is the means by which illusions disappear."

Now perhaps you understand why It is that I think of forgiveness more in terms of reconciliation?

Today's exercise periods are three five minute practice sessions and  as many shorter ones as possible.  Thinking of as many people as possible that you haven't forgiven.

God is the Love in which I forgive you, [Name}.

God is the Love in which I forgive myself.

This is the most important lesson so far.  It goes to the very heart of what transforms and liberates from the illusions we have been seeing.

Seeking to live a life of enlightenment brings to mind a joyful life for most people, and rightly so.  There is so much in the emotional lives of most people that is destructive and dangerous that can and should be eliminated.  Without being simplistic, this alone can bring about a life that is joyful as opposed to the ebbs and flows of stress, anger and sorrow experienced by billions today.

Does a joyful life mean a life without sorrow at all?

No, it doesn't.  I've known several people that underwent religious awakenings that resulted in what appeared to be a constant stream of ebullient happiness that eventually went through periods of near manic states.  When it finally ended, the individuals spoke of experiencing a fear that if they succumbed to sorrow that they had failed.  "God would be disappointed in me for not maintaining my joy through trials."  

This stems from an unrealistic view of what joy is.  Happiness differs from joy in that it is about an event or the general surroundings someone experiences.  Joy, on the other hand is more of a pervasive state of satisfaction and serene well-being that permeates ones whole being and experience and existence.

How do you then reconcile sadness with a constant state of satisfaction and serenity?  Aren't these irreconcilable?

No one an argue that there are things that occur in life that are very sad.  We lose people to sickness and death as a matter of course, and it would be the equivalent of insanity to expect anyone to be happy about that.  To expect yourself to feel anything except sorrow over these events would be equally ridiculous.

It is not just appropriate, but right to feel sadness over the loss of a loved one, or over any tragic event.  When that sorrow overwhelms all aspects of life, that is another matter.  

Sadness, and even mourning need not be experiences that take us out of our peaceful and serene state if we don't view these as attacks on ourselves.  

When I lost my mother six years ago, I definitely experienced a period of sadness as she had succumbed to a chronic illness and her life had been tough for a long time.  The sadness was an occasion for recalling the closeness that we had shared over the years, and I allowed it to occur naturally without resistance.  I didn't fight it at all…

Think about that for a minute:  Who, or what could I possibly have been fighting?

On the other hand, if I had allowed myself to view the experience as an attack on myself, the sadness would have taken a very unhealthy turn.  Since there is no antagonist to grapple with it is an impossible struggle to win, and becomes an unending cycle that eclipses all else in ones awareness.

By experiencing the sadness, or in this case mourning I was able to allow it to run it's course without marring my memories of someone very special to me.  My peace and serenity remained intact and in retrospect even the sadness I experienced is recalled with a sense of peace and a form of satisfaction.  

Getting to a place where this is possible doesn't require years of therapy, or that you relive all of the past conflicts in life either.  All that is necessary is to give up attack thoughts.

Attack thoughts are those stray negative emotions and inner dialogues where we view what goes on around us as constant competition (or yes, attacks).  

Let's be totally candid here and ask if we really believe that we have a real conflict with the person that has 25 items in the express lane at the grocery store.  You get the idea I am sure.  Let them go.  They are stealing your joy.

It is really quite amazing what a feeling of setting down a very heavy load you will have.  A very heavy load that never needed to be lifted, let alone carried any distance at all!

When I find myself at all feeling any form of attack thoughts about anyone or any situation, I simply recall the NLP assumption:

"Everyone is doing the best they can with the resources available to them."

This makes it quit easy to also realize that whatever conflict I perceived was an illusion, because the way other parties experience the same incidents have no resemblance to my own.  

Letting go of whatever residual tension is within me becomes much simpler now.  A brief bit of meditation, and usually a Ho'oponopono prayer and it is gone…

Living a life of joy means being willing to let go of conflict and attack thoughts.  The periods of sadness and mourning will take care of themselves as long as we don't resist them, but allow the to be experienced as they are.  Nothing more…   Nothing less…

You may be surprised to find that they add to the richness of your emotional life and that you can recall them in a positive light.

Lesson 45

God is the mind with which I think.

The workbook begins this lesson with:

Today's idea holds the key to what your real thoughts are.  They are nothing that you think you think, just as nothing that you think you see is related to vision in any way.  There is no relationship between what is real and what you think is real.  Nothing that you think are your real thoughts resemble your real thoughts in any respect. Nothing that you think you see bears any resemblance to what vision will show you.

Today there are three – five minute practice sessions done much like yesterday's.  Simply sinking into our mind past all other thoughts stating the main idea above.  Once relaxed and with awareness just centered on this thought, allowing a few of our own thoughts to come in.  Then:

My real thoughts are in my mind. I would like to find them.

For me what is happening here is at the heart of salvation, or reconciliation.  Reconnecting with God, his thoughts naturally become my thoughts as was his purpose.  On the other hand, decades of relying on my own false vision and false thoughts mean that I will have to spend some time allowing this process to take effect.

My experience with the process so far leaves me very happy to allow this to occur.

Lesson 44

God is the light in which I see.

What was it that prevented sight in the past?  Our separation from God, the Unified Field or whatever you want to call the creative force in the universe prevented accurate sight.

Without that light we are just stumbling around and can't tell if we tripped over an ottoman or a lion.  And where does that light come from?  It is God's light, but it comes from within us.

Three practice periods today of at least five minutes.  Longer would be good, but only if there is no sense of strain.  The workbook says that this lesson is of a different nature than prior ones, and I would agree.  I have done this before in other studies and it does exactly what it should.  This lesson is a release from hell.

Simply begin by stating the main idea above, and then slowly close your eyes.  Now allow your consciousness to sink down into your mind, leaving behind all interfering thoughts and intrusions.  This should bring about a sense of peace and calm.  Just allow your attention to rest gently on the main idea.  

This should be almost effortless.  You cannot accomplish this through strength of will, or by concentrating and working harder at it.  If you find yourself doing so, stop and try again later.  This is about allowing.  Allowing yourself to float down past all of these into your consciousness and finding God and his light…

Lesson 43

God is my source.  I cannot see apart from Him.

And this is the point to me of it all.  Salvation and the whole enchilada.  We MUST be reconciled to God in order to see, which is our purpose to begin with.  Because seeing as we have seen is involved in the salvation of the entire world.

Three practice periods of about 5 minutes apiece today where we again randomly select items to apply the thought to:

God is my source. I cannot see this desk apart from Him.

God is my source. I cannot see that picture apart from Him.

And so on…

But today we have a second part to our exercises.

I see through the eyes of forgiveness.

I see the world as blessed.

The world can show me myself.

I see my own thoughts, which are like God's.

God is my source.  I cannot see apart from Him.

A thought from the workbook that really struck me:  Salvation is the undoing of what never was.

Lesson 42

God is my strength.  Vision is his gift.

Our seeing will come about because it is God's will.  And since it is His strength that will bring it about and not our own, we need not worry if we can do it. 

It is vital that we come to understand this cause and effect relationship.  Many of the people I have worked with that struggled with this life did so because they couldn't grasp cause and effect reasoning.  

Just two practice periods today of from three to five minutes, early in the day.  Start out with the main thought and then:

Vision must be possible.  God gives truly.

God's gifts must be mine, because He gave them to me.

As I then meditated on these thoughts a lot of material from previous lessons represented themselves.  Just as the workbook said they would.

After the two practice periods the workbook says that many shorter periods throughout the day should happen, but not to actively search for thoughts to apply.  Rather let them just surface on their own and consider them in light of the thoughts for the day.

Today's thoughts seemed to be another gathering place for past lessons to ruminate and grow.

Lesson 41 

God goes with me wherever I go.

A sense of isolation and some level of depression is the normal result of having lived without this knowledge being a part of you at a very elemental level.  

At this point I already see that this will be eliminated by this process.  The above thought almost seemed too basic to be included here until I thought about the feelings that had gone before these lessons.  The importance of this cannot be overstated when you consider that it means that holiness can never be separated out either.

All forms of negative thoughts (attack thoughts) are therefore banished forever as the source of all that is good, perfect and yes, holy is always right there.

Just one long practice period today.

Sitting in a quiet place, close your eyes and say the above thought to yourself.  Now simply sink down deep into yourself and seek God.  Find that place where you always is.

Throughout the rest of the day, return to the thought occasionally and remember the experience of the long session.

Today's lesson felt intensely personal and yet not at all uncomfortable.  

Last week I published my second book on Amazon Kindle: Instant Asthma Relief – Get Relief From Asthma Symptoms Without Drugs or Side Effects and to date it has already been downloaded several hundred times.

More importantly I've been getting a ton of positive feedback from people that have not only read the book, but are applying what they have learned.  And they are getting results!

A reader from the UK wrote:

When I've tried to do without my medication before I have experienced a tightening in the chest and difficulty in breathing.

Then I happened upon your book.  I am a bit of a health fanatic now and recently I have taken anti-ageing very seriously.  I take regular exercise, eat wisely, especially plenty of fruit and vegetables, and I've also started to meditate and relax.  I think this has helped my asthma to some extent and I feel very fit compared with what I have been.  I had always known about breathing from the diaphragm, probably from the buteko method, but I had never practiced it consistently or consciously.  However I have followed the instructions in your book and although it has only been a couple of days, I have gone without my medication and have felt very well.  It's early days yet, but I'm impressed so far.

Many thanks.

Best Wishes,

GV  in the UK

Feedback like this means so much to me as my primary motivation in writing this book was to bring just such relief to as many people as possible.

For those of you that have already read the book, let me know if you need any more input or assistance in your search for asthma relief.

Thanks again to all that have responded!

Jim Patterson

Lesson 40

I am blessed as a Son of God.

A reminder that we are not just entitled to life without stress, anger and attack thoughts.  We are blessed with happiness and good things of all kinds.

Lots and lots of short exercise periods today.

I am blessed as a Son of God.

I am happy, peaceful, loving and contented.

I am blessed as a Son of God.

I am calm, quiet, assured and confident.