AGING MIRACULOUSLY PART ONE CLASS NOTES
As with everything else, our experience of age is determined at least as much (if not more) by our thoughts about it as by its objective reality. Our culture is dominated by attitudes regarding age that tempt us to constrict emotionally into anxiety and fear as we get older.
Our opportunity is to rethink age, to contextualize it differently, both as individuals and as a culture. Each of us, as we live our lives and as we participate with others, can choose thoughts and behavior that shift the dominant paradigm from one of limitation and fear to limitlessness and love.
This is not always easy but it is doable. I’ve created this course to guide your process and uplift your ability to rise above the thoughts that otherwise hold you back. We need a new vision and a new sense of possibility for age. And we need to support each other in this so that a genuine cultural shift can occur.
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As you go through the course, you will find yourself grappling with thoughts and feelings that may not always be comfortable. Things will come up that perhaps you hadn’t thought about in a while; as I wrote to you earlier, this may not always be fun.
But we heal through a kind of emotional detox process. According to A Course in Miracles, God cannot take from us what we are not willing to release to him That means God will only remove from our consciousness what we are willing to release to Him. To do otherwise would be a violation of our free will.
In doing this course, you are giving yourself the gift of healing. But this is not an instantaneous process; it is a soul’s journey. For the duration of the class, and beyond, you will be taking a deeper gaze into the recesses of your own heart. You will find there some tears still left to cry, perhaps, but on the other side of the tears you’ll find a new inner peace and an ever increasing joy.
SHIFTING OUR THOUGHTS
According to A Course in Miracles, a miracle is a shift in perception from fear to love. But in order to shift a fearful thought, first we must recognize it for what it is.
So many thoughts about age, bred into us from our earliest years, are by the time we reach middle age almost instinctive. We think, “Of course I think a certain way. That’s just how it is!”
Yet we can take a stand here. There is no “just how it is” – about age or about anything else. And your greatest power to change your life is to rethink it.
How do you do that? You begin by becoming clear about the thoughts you are thinking now, so you can change the ones that hurt you.
Your task is to bring your beliefs about age into your conscious awareness.
Begin by writing down your honest feelings about age. Try to be as complete as possible, and be honest about your fears. No one is going to read this but you, so feel free to be as honest an authentic as you can. Below are examples you might relate to…
1. I feel I’ve become invisible.
2. I’m afraid of getting sick.
3. I’m afraid of being ignored.
4. I’m afraid of being poor.
5. I’m afraid because I have no savings.
6. I’m afraid my spouse will leave me.
7. I’m afraid my family will abandon me.
8. I’m afraid I won’t be able to work.
9. I’m afraid of death.
10. I’m afraid I waited too long.
11. I hate myself for the mistakes I made.
12. I resent what others did to me.
13. I’m afraid I’m no longer attractive.
14. I feel I threw away the best years of my life.
15. I’m afraid of being sick.
16. I’m afraid of being lonely.
Look at that list. Just allow yourself to see how full of fear it is. As it says in A Course in Miracles, we should be ware the power of an unrecognized belief. Every thought you think, either positive or negative, affects both your body and your mind!
But spiritual transformation involves more than a decision to simply think differently. It often takes more than an act of will to change our thoughts, for some are so deeply ingrained that it takes God’s help to change them. But when we take the first step, expressing our willingness to change, the power of our decision then activates God’s power within us. This enables Him to do for us what we sometimes cannot do for ourselves.
Here are examples of some miraculous changes in thinking…
1
Fear says…
I feel I’ve become invisible.
Love says…
God’s radiance is always visible, and I grow more radiant with each passing year. It is my inner light, not my external beauty, that is the source of my visible power.
2
Fear says…
I’m afraid of getting sick.
Love says…
My body is programmed for perfect health for as long as it serves my soul to remain on earth. My prayers, meditations and positive thoughts are the guardians of my health and healing.
3
Fear says…
I’m afraid of being ignored.
Love says…
To the extent that I do not ignore the beauty in others, people will not ignore the beauty in me. My contribution to the world around me, and the interest others have in me, is not determined by my physical age.
4
Fear says…
I’m afraid of being poor.
Love says…
God is sending me endless opportunities for abundant, right livelihood. May I enthusiastically embrace them without dictating what they should look like. I affirm the infinite creativity of the universe in providing me the abundance I need.
5
Fear says…
I’m afraid I don’t have enough savings. What if I get sick? How will I live?
Love says…
In God, there is infinite supply and I claim my inheritance as a child of God. The universe is programmed to fulfill my needs. In the name of God, I command all fear to depart my mind, which I claim for the power of Love and Love only.
6
Fear says…
I’m afraid my spouse will leave me.
Love says…
Every day may I become more positive, more generous, more compassionate, more interested and more interesting. I embrace the love that is coming towards me. I do not burden my loved ones with neediness, but rather bless them with my generosity that I might receive as I choose to give.
7
Fear says…
I’m afraid my family and friends will abandon me.
Love says…
We create what we defend against; therefore, I do not defend against being abandoned. Rather, may I generate the energies that attract the love of others. May I become more interesting, more generous, and more of a blessing on the world around me every day.
8
Fear says…
I’m afraid I won’t be able to work.
Love says…
The older I get, the more my accumulated wisdom makes me valuable to the world around me. I am lifted by God to the place where I can give and receive in the most perfect way.
9
Fear says…
I’m afraid of death.
Love says…
May the Holy Spirit transform my thoughts of death, and open my inner eye that I might see that life goes on forever. I place the hour and circumstances of my physical death in the hands of God, that I might peacefully depart this world in a way that brings joy to myself or others.
10
Fear says…
I’m afraid I waited too long and wasted too many opportunities.
Love says…
It is never too late to show up for life. The universe is eternally creating new beginnings and opportunities to be now who I was not before. What miracles I deflected have been held in trust for me by the Holy Spirit until I am ready to receive them. May I receive them now.
11
Fear says…
I hate myself for the mistakes I made in the past.
Love says…
I atone for the mistakes of my past, and seek to be a better person now. The Atonement allows me to begin again at a higher level, having learned from my mistakes of the past. The past is over and it has no power over me, as I open to receive and give God’s love today more deeply than I did before.
12
Fear says…
I resent what others did to me.
Love says…
I forgive others for their trespasses against me. Only love is real. The love I gave is real, and the love I’ve received is real. Nothing else exists, except in the realm of illusion. May the Holy Spirit enter here and cast out all illusions from my mind. Only love has any power over me. I release all thoughts of victimization and attack, for I am released from the effects of my wound as I release the one who wounded me.
13
Fear says…
I’m afraid I’m no longer attractive.
Love says…
While I no longer have the beauty of youth, I have another kind of beauty that is equally amazing. I do not disdain my physicality; I do attend to it with attention and love. I treat it still as one of the gifts I give the world, for such it is.
14
Fear says…
I feel I threw away the best years of my life.
Love says…
In the realm of ultimate Reality, there is no time. Whatever I missed before, is available to me now. Not increased age but only diminished receptivity can block miracles from my door. I am open to receive not only the gifts of today, but any gifts of yesterday I refused to receive before. Such is the miraculous mercy and generosity of God.
15
Fear says…
I’m afraid of being sick.
Love says…
My body is programmed for perfect health for as long as it serves my spirit for me to remain upon this earth. I pray and meditate to maintain my health, and heal any wounds or sickness that I might have. God’s Divine Physician is tending to my body every moment, and healing angels surround me. I dedicate my body to the purposes of Light, that every cell might respond to its divine assignment.
16
Fear says…
I’m afraid of being lonely.
Love says…
I cannot be lonely, so long as I take every opportunity to bless the lives of those I encounter. Either with a smile, a kind word, or even a silent blessing, I will give as I would receive. The entire world is my ministry as I see its only purpose as a place where I can spread my love.
Dear God,
Where I have thoughts about age
That hurt me,
Please change my thoughts from fear to love.
I surrender to you all my thoughts and feelings.
Please send Your Spirit
to enter my heart and renew my mind.
Where I am tempted to feel fear because of the age of my body,
Remind me of my eternal spirit.
Please remind me who I really am
That I might fear no more.
Amen
The thinking of the world is 180 degrees away from the thinking of God, and it takes conscious effort to repudiate the power of a fear-based thought system. That is why you are taking this class: to consciously let go the vicious thoughts that, if left unchecked, have the power to depress you.
You were not programmed to have a depressed Act 3! We are programmed by the thought system of the world to fear, but we are programmed by the Holy Spirit to love. Place your mind under the Holy Spirit’s guidance that He might turn your pain to peace.
CHALLENGING AGEISM
How we age is influenced deeply by the world around us. It is challenging to be more positive about age when we are surrounded by negative cultural imagery, but not all the news is bad news! With the aging of the baby boomers, I think in many ways the situation is improving – but we still have a long way to go.
Many people, at least unconsciously, are still deeply ensconced in ageism. Ageism is alive and well in America today, but it should be passionately challenged. Each of us has a role to play not only in changing our own lives, but in changing the conversation our entire society is having with itself.
The first thing we must challenge is the idea that younger people have greater gifts to give. In fact, the gifts of wisdom – more than technology or any gifts of the outer world — are essential if we are to survive and thrive as a species over the next hundred years.
While the young understand things that are happening now, the older among us understand those things that do not change. The eternal patterns of life are as important as temporary trends. And one without the other is an incomplete understanding of life.
The most important currency of the 21st Century is understanding. Some things we understand not because of book learning, and not because we did everything in life just perfectly so far. Much of what we understand in our more mature years are things we learned from the scrapes and bruises of having lived life to its fullest, with all its ups and downs. We can honor the paths that got us here, even if they were not always pleasant or even obviously fruitful. If those paths led us to wisdom that we have now, they are to be honored.
On the level of energy, what’s happening in America today is not so much that people are aging in a downward spiral; it’s that people are feeling the inner pull of an upward spiral, but don’t quite know where to put their energy! And it is that void, that I-don’t-know-what-to-do-with-
That is why we must recreate our context for the experience of age. As we come to respect the wisdom that it gives us – not like some booby prize, but for the bounty that it is – then we will transform not only our personal experiences but our entire social milieu.
A Course in Miracles teaches that all thought creates form on some level. Harmful thoughts should not go unchallenged. Whenever we hear anyone express even a subtly derogatory view of people who are older, let’s politely but firmly challenge that. Even when said as a joke, the idea that older people are in any way “less than” is a prejudice with potentially painful consequences for an aging population. Unconscious prejudices toward older people can have financial, social, and even physical consequences and should not be ignored. It’s time to recognize this form of social toxicity and change it.
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I hope you feel that these class notes, combined with Video One, give you a lot to think about this week. Think, pray, write, and share with others. You’re not alone in your search for a transformed experience of age. And remember – you’re not going downhill, you’re aging miraculously!