Dear friends,
 Marcus Aurelius: “the best revenge is to not be like that.”
     I have often felt that we know we have truly forgiven a terrible act against us, when we live a good life as if it had never happened.  I also see the above quote to be about breaking the cycle of abuse or addiction or negative thinking. We may have been born into a violent household or an unloving one, but we do not inherit the tendency to live that way. We either shake it off or absorb the consciousness into our worldview.  We have the choice at any age to discontinue its influence.
     Most of the acts against us are carry-overs from that person’s childhood. They have adopted the behavior of defense, which can result in violence against others, or themselves.    It is quite astounding how quickly the mind can let go of such habits once a spiritual image of who we are has been discovered.  One of the most life-shifting moments for me personally was when I learned that who I am has never been damaged nor diminished by what others have done to me.
     That awareness lifts us out of the mode of fixing ourselves or pretending to be something, into the realization of our intactness and how we can proceed from now, leaving the past where it belongs. It is simpler than it is easy, but it all depends on how we integrate our wholeness into everyday choices. We might say it this way: when the soul is involved in our choices, it tends toward love; love of self, love of the world, love of others, despite their behaviors.
      You are the observer of what others have discovered about themselves or continue to believe. That is why New Thought Spirituality can change the world for the better; because it teaches that we are all capable of changing our perceptions about ourselves and when that happens, everything can be new.  Our part is to see through the appearance and to love the Being behind it, including the one in the mirror.
Stay tuned in,
Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com
 
 
   
 

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Dear friends,

Have you noticed that whenever you forgive someone, release a resentment, heal from anything, what you have done is return to yourself?  We have an originating place, a starting point for our own Be-ing.  All Good starts there. During the Olympics this week, there have been a few “false starts,” when a participant jumps out before the official signal and delays the race. They must start again.  It is akin to us as we act on false beliefs of lack or fear or self- rejection.  Our desire is delayed. Nothing changes until we clear our mind and return to ourselves, restore our sense of who we are and what is possible and begin again.

 This “going out and coming back” is something we have done all our lives without being aware of it.  Once we learn how powerful it is to release what we have believed to be true, and to rethink our position, our lives are so much less stressful and more productive. It is a considerable shift from looking at the objective world to know what is true, and to find Truth within our own mind. It is there. It is the wholeness, the pure potential factor that is the core of everyone.
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 Think about it.  Every great story of someone overcoming great setbacks or rising out of poverty or horrible abuse, is the story of someone who returned to Self and wrote themselves a new story.  Nothing happens without a change of mind and, as the Buddhists state, “nothing changes but Mind.” Mind does not age or run out of power or new ideas.  It is always exactly what it has always been; the voice of the creating universe whispering its presence in every one of us.

​Stay tuned in,
Carol Carnes