LLiivviinngg AA CCoouurrssee iinn MMiirraacclleess Week 7 Homework Turning Self-Criticism to Self-Acceptance With Reverend Jennifer Hadley Copyright © 2011 by Reverend Jennifer Helen Hadley. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher. Published by JenniferHadley.com. Printed in the United States of America. For more inspiration to live a life of love, visit www.JenniferHadley.com. Turning Self-Criticism to Self-Acceptance Homework ............................................ 6 Opening Prayer .............................................................................................................. 6 Identifying Inner Critic .................................................................................................. 7 “We must weed the mind just like we would a garden.” ............................................... 9 A Course in Miracles Lesson 37 ..................................................................................... 11 Thomas Edison ............................................................................................................ 12 Finding Freedom Class ................................................................................................. 13 “… diminishing your light with that self-criticism…” .................................................. 14 “… the voice of the ego that is inflamed.” .................................................................... 15 Embracing the Beloved ................................................................................................... 16 “… think of some mistake that you have been so critical of yourself…” ...................... 18 “I started with myself moment by moment…” ............................................................ 20 “That’s why our holiness blesses the world.” .............................................................. 22 “Undo the inner critic.” ............................................................................................... 23 “… let us release the identification with the inner critic…” ......................................... 24 “… consciously invoking the Holy Spirit to assist us…” ............................................... 26 “We’re accepting our healing right now…” ................................................................ 28 “… each one of us releasing the hidden splendor right now…” ................................... 29 Affirmations ................................................................................................................. 30 “We shine the light of love on Mother Earth and all her beings…” ............................. 32 Living A Course in Miracles Week 7 TTuurrnniinngg SSeellff--CCrriittiicciissmm ttoo SSeellff-- AAcccceeppttaannccee HHoommeewwoorrkk With Reverend Jennifer Hadley November 11, 2011 Opening Prayer Rev. Jennifer Let us begin with a breath of gratitude and a blessing. We’re blessing ourselves and we’re blessing the whole of humanity, all life, the whole world. We’re stepping into an awareness of our holiness. It is from this position that we can bless the world. Breathing in gratitude with our hands on our hearts we’re tuning into the heart, remembering that our true identity is love. And we’re stepping into the willingness to be the love of our life and we invite the Holy Spirit, the higher self, the holy self to join with us in our awareness so we are always one with the one. In this moment we are opening our minds, opening our awareness to say yes, I am one with the one, not separate, joined with all of our brothers and sisters. And we’re willing to accept the truth of our being which is that we are creatures of love and light. This is our true identity and we’re willing right now to release any false identity, any false identification with a a sense of separateness. So any thoughts that we’ve been thinking that obstruct the flow of divine wisdom, intelligence, truth, harmony and wholeness, we let them go right now, releasing any thoughts that could obstruct the free 6 Turning Self-Criticism to Self-Acceptance Homework flow of abundance and prosperity, clarity and purity, releasing any thought that obstructs, any belief that obstructs, any pattern, any ego pattern. And we’re cultivating our willingness to hear divine guidance, to hear clearly divine insight, to feel it, to know it, to see it, accepting that it is our nature to be in the flow of wisdom. We gratefully remember ourselves and we share the benefit with everyone, all of our brothers and sisters, all beings lifted because of our willingness right now. In grace and gratitude we let it be and so it is. Amen. Amen, Amen, Amen. Identifying Inner Critic While we’re in this prayerful state with our hand on our heart, breathing these deep breaths of gratitude, let’s just stay in this space right from the beginning. And I’m inviting you, if you can with eyes closed, tune inward to recognize where it is that you are most critical of yourself. I’m sure it’s not difficult. If you’re critical at all you’re aware of it. Just noticing what are the thoughts you think about yourself that are unkind and critical, less than loving, judgmental, opinionated, the thoughts of attack that you fling at yourself. And if you’re listening to the replay, I’m going to invite you right now to pause and make a list of some of these attack thoughts that you feel, you experience, you notice in your mind that you think, that perhaps you’re in agreement with, to pause the tape and make a list of them. Just what are the thoughts? And as you’re writing them, just before you pause I’m going mention I encourage you not to write them as an “I am” statement but to say perhaps “You are.” You are. So you can pause the tape right now. We’re listening live. We’re going to continue. And I’m just going to give you a couple of breaths here to center into, a couple of thoughts that you have that you inflict on yourself, these attack thoughts. With Reverend Jennifer Hadley 7 Living A Course in Miracles And notice the vibration of them. Just notice the tenor or the tone of them, the feeling tone of them. And now I’m going to invite you to imagine yourself as a child, as a young child who’s learning, figuring things out and I’ll just allow you to imagine yourself as that young child at whatever age that comes into your mind. And imagine that child self sitting right in front of you. And you are a teacher for that child. That child is depending on you for wisdom, for insight, for guidance, for clarity. That child is depending upon your maturity to guide, to instruct, to lead. And now, especially for those who are listening in repeat, you can say these things to that child. Say these thoughts that you have written down, the “You are” statements to this younger self. So you may want to pause and do that. For those of us who are continuing live, just thinking about saying those things to that inner child. It seems so unkind doesn’t it? It seems devastating, so hurtful, not what anyone would do who would want to be a caretaker. So in last week’s class, in the homework class particularly, we were speaking about responsibility and how vital it is for us to recognize that our thoughts are producing our experience. They are creating our experience and we are responsible for our thoughts. This is our greatest responsibility in this world is our thoughts. And we are responsible for the thoughts that we think about ourselves. No one else is responsible for that and truly no one can make us think anything. No one can. That’s an illusion. No matter how persuasive someone is we can still have dominion over our mind. And as spiritually mature adults it is our responsibility to have dominion over our mind and to weed out any choking, diminishing, destructive thoughts that are in the garden of our mind. 8 Turning Self-Criticism to Self-Acceptance Homework “We must weed the mind just like we would a garden.” We must weed the mind just like we would a garden. If you treasure the garden you do not allow the weeds to take over. If you cherish the fruit, if you cherish the flowers, if you cherish the plants of the garden, you do not allow the weeds to take over. So fundamentally we must cherish ourselves. So recognizing that that inner child, that tender place is always there, it’s always there. Many of you may have said, “I can’t say those things to my inner child, not consciously, not from an awakened state, not now that I’m sitting in my loving heart. Because I’ve said a prayer and I’ve partnered up with the Holy Spirit I can’t say those things to my inner child. It’s too unkind. I’m too aware of it now.” And that’s fine. You don’t have to do it. It’s about being that awakened, that aware and that sensitive. One of the things that I find is that almost all of the people who are attracted to the teachings that I offer, what I share from my experience, my learning, my life experience, most of the people who are attracted to it are very sensitive people, highly sensitive people, extremely empathic people. Many of the people who are attracted to what I offer are what I think of as light workers and light-preneurs. So people who are in the business of shining their light as teachers, as grandparents, as parents, as healing practitioners and people who are in service, people who volunteer a lot, so we’re light workers. We know that the light is within and we are dedicating ourselves to shining that light. So as highly sensitive people, the negative, critical thoughts that we think about ourselves are really crushing, really, really hurtful. And they affect our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies. So many people will go to great lengths to purchase supplements, to take treatments, to go hear a guru or buy a book or take a class or travel to be in a lecture, all kinds of things. But they won’t actually sit for 10 or 15 minutes disciplining their mind to be kind and loving and nurturing. And so there’s a split. They’re looking outside of themselves for the healer.