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Saturday, January 8, 2005
Dear Quado Readers, Today we continue A Course in Creation. Each weekly message contains: A message specifically intended to help you create a life of joy, peace and love
Personal notes on our journey
Books to read, meditations to listen to, whatever I am guided to recommend to you.
If you miss a message in the series, just go to A Course in Creation. They will all be posted there. Thank you for joining me on this journey.
Love & peace, Carrie
*** Today we will continue our Course in Creation, an aid to helping you create a life of joy, love and peace. For this is exactly what you are made of, and what you will want to learn to express during your stay here on earth, during this precious life which is yours to expand upon and create as beautifully as you can.
Today, I would ask you to be very aware of what you have within you. Be aware of your mind, of your ego, of your thoughts. Be very aware of your body and how it feels as well. Turn your awareness to the inside, and be one with how you are, how you have taught yourself to be in all of these years of your life. Heighten your awareness of what is, and then gently begin to change it, begin to nudge yourself toward new ways of being.
Do not expect that you can completely change yourself overnight. You will gradually evolve, beginning now, with the conscious insertion of new ways of thinking and being. It will begin and you will have moments of great strides, great clarity, moments of bliss when the world opens before you and glows in goodness. You will also have times when you step backwards into fear and doubt. And when these times come, you will need to learn to just forgive yourself, release any blame or criticism, and walk through whatever passages you must traverse and come out again on the other side.
But let us begin with what you need to do, what steps you need to begin to learn. Think of yourself as a little baby. You will crawl sometimes. You will make faltering steps and occasionally you will fall down. But you will pick yourself up again and move forward, and each time you do this, each time you have the courage to pull yourself up and take a few steps forward, your muscles will be learning how to put the patterns together, your mind and all of your nerve endings will be learning new ways of coordination, you will be growing stronger and stronger with each step you take. The occasional fall just means that you have not yet grown as strong as you need to be. But it also means that you are stretching your capabilities and this is good. The falls, the mistakes, are a natural consequence of growth. If you do not risk the occasional fall, then you will spend your entire life crawling, never taking the risk to stand up straight and tall and walk forward. And as you begin to grow in strength, you will learn to walk faster and faster, then to run, to run even across the rocks, skipping across the top, with total faith that you will find a foothold. And someday, you will sprout wings and begin to fly.
And so it takes all of this, the discipline and early training, as well as the courage to risk doing what you have not done before. And it takes faith. Faith in yourself and your ability to create a life of beauty and wonder. And faith in the help which is there for you, surrounding you on all sides. Let faith and courage be the companions to the deep love of yourself that you have begun building within you. Call them to you as your friends at all times. And then, risk it. Have the courage and the faith, love yourself enough, to allow yourself to take the risk of creating a new life for yourself, a life of love and joy and a deep, deep internal peace.
And so, let us begin with quieting down your mind. You will want to meditate in order to learn to control your mind. You may do this any way that you please. You may use the recorded meditations that I have dictated or you may use others. You may also decide that you prefer more silence, and you may simply breathe quietly. If you choose to do this, the meditation is very simple. Just close your eyes, breathe and pay attention to your breath as it enters and spreads throughout your body; then pay attention as it leaves your body. Just watch it with your mind's eye and be one with your breath. This is a very simple, very effective means of meditation which you can do anywhere and at any time.
You may also combine this with a mantra, either a mantra of your own, or simply using the word 'om', saying it silently to yourself as you breathe in and again as you breathe out.
As you meditate, do not be frustrated if your mind drifts. When you become aware that you have drifted, then bring your mind gently and easily back into your focus. Some people are able to stay more focused than others. It is not important. You will be as you will be. Let it be. Do not push and do not force.
The important thing to know is this: meditation will work for you whether you are doing it “correctly” or not. There is no right or wrong. There is only the exercise of doing it, and this will have its effect. Every day, without fail, spend at least fifteen or twenty minutes in meditation, whichever form you like. If you can, do it more than once a day, but at least once.
If you are extremely pressed and cannot spare the time one day, then do a shorter meditation. But do not skip it. Even if you spend five minutes breathing and focusing on your breath, this is better than not doing the meditation.
The meditation is a time when you will reach up into the world which is beyond this world. It does several things for you. First, it opens your mind to the world beyond mind. Secondly, it trains your mind to be quiet.
Your ego-mind is grounded in fear and doubt. It is focused on what you have been told by others in this society. It is entirely focused on achieving success and control in the world as it sees it, which is a world of fear and doubt. Your ego-mind lives in a desert, a desert where it must compete for resources, where people may be doing you harm, where it is a dog-eat-dog struggle each day to survive. And it just goes on and on, circling around on itself, finding fault here and there, criticizing you, criticizing others, placing judgment. All of this is the function of the ego-mind. One minute building you up by telling you how stupid and incompetent and ill-meaning others are and then the next moment tearing you down by telling you of all the mistakes you have made, by filling your head full of regrets and guilt. All of this noise must stop.
And it begins with meditation, a time when you bring the ego-mind down a notch, bring it into some degree of quiet, and open your mind up to the truth which is you, the truth of your higher self, the truth of your loving self.
The true self which is you is not centered in ego, fear and doubt. The truth which is you, the center of you, the heart of rightness which exists within you, is love. Love and peace and joy. When you are afraid, when you are full of doubt, know that it is the ego-mind at work. When you notice this, when you feel this fear in your body and hear the doubt in your mind, be aware. Learn to run up a red flag. And when that flag goes up, stop, take a deep breath, center yourself down into your solar plexus, open up your mind and allow your higher self to pour down love and joy into your mind. Fill your mind with peace and fill your center with peace and love. Allow it all to flow in as it works for you, either in through your breath or in through the top of you head. Practice and you will learn how it works best for you.
Then, when you are full of calm and love, then you may make decisions, choose what you need to choose in your life. But never, never, make your choices from a place of fear and doubt. If you do, you will create a life built on a foundation of fear and doubt, instead of a foundation of joy and love, peace and deep connection with all that you truly are.
And so, in this week, be aware. Be aware of what is in your mind, and gently move to control it. If you are having negative thoughts, stop and restate them as positive affirmations. State the opposite. If you are full of fear, stop and breathe and fill yourself with love instead. If you are full of doubt, stop and breathe and bring in faith.
The antidote to fear is action and love, action and choices which stem from a loving connection with your true self. The antidote to doubt is faith, a deep belief in yourself and what you are capable of, as well as all of the help which is there for you.
Be aware also of your body. Realize that your body is a tuning fork, in tune with your higher self. Pay attention to your center, your solar plexus. Learn to know its feelings. Learn how it feels when it is afraid. Learn how it feels when it is settled and calm. For now, just pay attention.
As time goes on, you will want to make all your decisions from a calm and settled place in your center. Begin by learning your body, learning all of its signs. And then, stop before you speak. Stop before you make choices. Stop and breathe and make sure you are in a calm place in your mind and in your body, make sure that all fear is gone, make sure that your center is relaxed and open and settled. Make all of your choices from this place, and your entire life will begin to transform.
It is not necessary for you to know what is in the future. It is not necessary for you to even have a vision of where your life should lead at this point. Your higher self knows these things and is conveying it to you through your mind and your body. It is all being sent down to you, but it is subtle. It is there, but it is not a loud clamoring noise.
Fear yells in your ears and in your mind. Doubt is a loud, insistent whine. But truth speaks differently. Truth is strong and quiet, lying inside your body with a settled strength, informing you of its presence. And angels whisper gently.
You must learn to quiet your mind, through the training ground of meditation, and through vigilant monitoring of fear and doubt, sending them away. Quiet all of that noise down and then move into that calm and settled place within you. Reach yourself down there. Learn to find that place. Train yourself, through daily exercise, to build up a connection to the truth which is you.
Create your life from the voices of fear and doubt and you will just repeat old patterns over and over and over. Create your life from your center of truth and you will shed those old patterns and begin to move forward. Yes, with baby steps. Yes, with occasional falling down and even a step or two backwards as you learn this new way of being.
Just one foot in front of the other, slowly, slowly. If the way is clear or if it is shrouded in fog, still can you walk forward, step by step, always moving with faith and courage, always feeling the truth within you in your center and streaming into your mind from your higher self.
Make these connections. Consciously work on them. Pay deep and close attention to what is going on within you and then gradually learn to bring it through, learn to bend it to the way you wish to be. And how is that? You wish to be full of love, for yourself and for life itself, and then let that overflow into a deep connection and love of others. And you wish to be full of peace, a deep peace which is focused in now, this moment only. Without worries over the future. Without regrets from the past. Just peace, right now, right here, inside an acceptance and understanding of things just as they are, in all their perfection. And you wish to be full of joy. And this joy will flow naturally out of the love and peace, when you have driven fear and doubt out of your mind and body.
Joy. Yes, joy. You can have this. You can awaken each day greeting the dawn like a bird, singing away in the tree, glorying in each moment as it unfolds. This is the life you will create.
You can do this. It does not matter if you have tried before and think that you failed. It is a process, a process which will continue all of your life. No matter how well you begin to walk, there will be a next stage, a next way of being which is even higher than that. Stay focused always on what is inside you. Pay attention. Know that you create the external from the internal. And that the most important thing you can do for yourself is learn to take dominion over yourself, over your mind and your body. This is the only control which matters. You cannot control the world outside. But if you learn to control the world inside, you will begin to have great influence on the world outside.
You have great creative forces inside you. And they will out. Your personal expression wants to be seen and to shine out in the world. But it begins with controlling the other forces which you have allowed to dominate up until now.
Right now, own this. Right now, take full responsibility for what you think and what you do. Take full responsibility for everything that happens inside your world. Watch your thoughts and take responsibility for them. Take responsibility for your actions. Take responsibility for what you do to and with your body.
The past does not matter. All that matters is this moment right now. And the future will flow out of this. What you think about right now, helps create the future which is moving toward you, flowing out of you. You are creating your future with your thoughts, with your choices, with all that you are.
So get to know yourself. Get to know the creative organism you are. Begin to create a mind and body inside yourself which reflects the truth of what you are, the joyous truth, the loving truth, the peaceful truth. Create yourself from the inside out.
***
I have a confession. I am not a “good” meditator. I drift off continually. I tried various kinds of visual meditation techniques, such as slowly tracing a little blue ball around my body with my eyes closed. That was hard work! I spent quite a bit of money getting my personal mantra hoping that this would bring me to a deeper experience. I like mantra meditation, but I still drift. I have finally settled on the Quado meditations as working the best for me—but I still drift.
Meditation got easier when I accepted that it will be like this for me. Once I released any expectation of what meditation would be like and just let it be, it got more enjoyable. It is not a blissful, “spiritual” experience for me. I do not see or feel anything. But I do it every day because it works. It makes me calmer. It keeps fear and doubt a little further away, enough so I can tell what is me and what isn’t. It just makes life easier to manage.
*
As for me and my life in this last week, I was up in Seattle doing computer consulting all week. It was pretty cold for an LA woman. I am getting on the plane again tomorrow to do more of same.
But the exciting thing in my life is this: I am teaming up with my new friend Maureen Moss (www.MaureenMoss.com) to produce some joint products, combining her wonderful books with the Quado meditations. The results look great so far. Maureen is a terrific speaker and she’s going to be traveling and speaking in 2005. She has a San Diego talk on Friday, March 18th and I will be joining her—to sing!
Here’s an entry from my personal journal: Quado, what about the singing? Quado’s Answer: “The singing is very important. Prepare well for Maureen’s talk. Build a new repertoire. It will lead to your next album. For a moment, stop and see your life as it might be if you were to allow yourself the life of a singer, recording and performing.
“It is possible, Carrie, to make this dream come true, to spend every minute of every day in worthwhile and joyous work. As you step out on the golden path that has been revealed to you, the work you do which benefits others and the work you do for joy will meld and blend and become one. You will find ways to get the best out of your unique gifts and share them in joyous and generous ways.
“Yes, let go the worry and control. Let go. Surrender to plans and ideas and concepts grander than your own. Surrender to joy greater than that you have known. Surrender. Step on the path and watch the world light up with each step. Enjoy!”
OK, I’m ready! I will let you know as I learn more details. Perhaps some of you Southern Californians can join us in San Diego.
*** Please continue with the Quado Meditation on Self-Love and the Quado Renewal Meditation. You may wish to alternate the two meditations or, if you can find the time, use both every day.
Both meditations focus on self-love and the elimination of fear and doubt. I used the Self-Love Meditation for about a month, to build up a strong foundation of love. I now use the Renewal Meditation every day to continue to cleanse myself of layers of fear and doubt, and I return to the Self-Love Meditation if I find myself being critical of myself.
But you should develop your own program of what works for you. The full transcript of each meditation is on this website. Even if you decide not to use these meditations—if you prefer a mantra meditation, for example—please read the transcripts to yourself from time to time.
I read a wonderful book in this last week, A Woman’s Worth, by Marianne Williamson. The book has been out for over ten years, so many of you may have already read it. If you are a woman and you have not read this book, please give yourself this gift. It is short and beautifully written, a fast and easy read, and it says some deeply important things. I would like you men to read it too, but for women, this is mandatory!
Thank you for joining me in this journey. We are forming wonderful energy together, a circle of love which makes each of us stronger and more ourselves. I am deeply grateful to you for your participation.
Love & peace, Carrie |
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