Shampoo Series – “In my defenselessness my safety lies.” Lesson 153, A Course in Miracles

There is no incompatibility between me and Paul that total defenselessness wouldn’t solve. That may be true with everyone, of course. There is only One of us here.

“Defenselessness is strength. It testifies to recognition of the Christ in you. Perhaps you will recall the text maintains that choice is always made between Christ’s strength and your own weakness, seen apart from Him. Defenselessness can never be attacked, because it recognizes strength so great attack is folly, or a silly game a tired child might play, when he becomes too sleepy to remember what he wants.

Defensiveness is weakness. It proclaims you have denied the Christ and come to fear His Father’s anger. What can save you now from your delusion of an angry god, whose fearful image you believe you see at work in all the evils of the world? What but illusions could defend you now, when it is but illusions that you fight?”

The full text of this lesson is found here:

 http://miraclevision.com/acim/wbk/pc/workbook153-1.html

 The terminology of A Course in Miracles is very Christian. I like that.

Katie says, “Defense is the first attack.” 

Can you find that?

Think of 3 ways you can prove that thought from your own experience and understanding.

Love, Ann

“Peace in our minds and in our lives is a cause-effect relationship.”

                                               – Ann O’Johnson

5 Minutes to Deep Peace on Thursday 9/13

You will be entertained at the very least and enlightenment is an option.

http://advancedmeditation.com/cmd.php?Clk=2095310

Thursday, 9/13, there is a teleconference call where you can learn more about this. There will be sample meditations and a chance at a free gift worth $400.

http://advancedmeditation.com/cmd.php?Clk=2095310 

Trust me. You want to try this. The IAM Meditations are the product of the fertile mind of Steven Sashen who is also responsible for much of the Shampoo Method we talk about here every day.

It’s completely safe. I’d trust this guy with my life.

This feeling, this is what we have all been looking for our whole lives. It’s like coming home.

Love, Ann  

Shampoo Series – Handling Criticism

Say I told you that you were a 500 pound green alien?

Would that bother you? No.

You don’t believe you are a 500 pound green alien. You don’t even think they exist.

But if I told you that you were too fat or too dumb or a failure or whatever your own pet insecurity is, yes, it would bother you a lot.

It would also bother you if you thought I was fat or dumb or a failure, but I’m sure you could care less if I were a 500 pound green alien, other than you might want to capture, study or talk to me.

Why?

Because you believe it of yourself.

And you don’t like it.

In other words, you agree!!!

And you don’t like that in yourself.

Do you see the way out?

Would you like to reduce the stress and enjoy it the next time someone criticizes you/agrees with you?

Try saying this: 

“I can see that. What do you suggest?”

Try it. See what happens. 

Many thanks and much love to Steven Sashen who taught me this much truer perspective on annoyance.

Love, Ann

Shampoo Series – Annoying is When . . .

someone else does something that bothers you when you do it.

Seriously.

We only get upset when we have done the same thing and not liked ourselves for doing it. Or when we have that same annoying character trait.

Why?

Because you believe it of yourself.  And you don’t like it.

In other words, might you be at least as annoyed with yourself as with the other person?

Check.

What are you favorite annoyances?

Fat people?

Stupid people?

People who drive like you do?   🙂

Do you see the way out?

Relax. It’s obviously fine to be that way. You’re that way.

You might wonder whether you could be any different or do things any differently?

Well, could you?

I’ll bet if you could have you would have.

And you certainly can’t go back in time and change it now!

Isn’t that a relaxing thought?

It’s done. Nothing you can do about it.  

Which way do you think it will be easier to remember and see a different choice in the future? Peaceful or annoyed?

Peaceful, of course.

So relax.

The way not to be annoyed by others is to accept that you’re sometimes fat or dumb or you drive crazy .

And the way to do it differently in the future, is to relax.  

Many thanks and much love to Steven Sashen who taught me this much truer perspective on annoyance.

Love, Ann

Shampoo Series – The Finger – Sex and Anger

Everyone knows this one.

The finger. The bird.

It means something that is both sex and anger.

There’s a clue here.

I’ve been in groups of women over the past few years where one or another of us has made the statement that we would make a sacrifice for our country and do the nasty with Dubya if it would just get us out of the war. The man is clearly sex-deprived. All that misplaced creative energy spent in a fuck you war, rather than the bliss of two bodies blending.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Everything and nothing, really.

In some ways, George W. Bush is the best thing that could have happened to our country. It’s like what I said in a blog a few days ago – for things to be perfect, something has to go wrong. If that isn’t intuitively obvious, read the blog. There’s a search box on the right.

I’m not saying that the only or even the best way to handle anger is to have sex; however, when our creative energies don’t have anywhere to go, anger is the likely result.

What’s the opposite of anger?

According to Phil Laut, the healthy side of anger is Determination. My experience supports this. He says, “Anger is the intent to do something, contaminated with the illusion of helplessness.”

Love that.

You might want to read it twice.

Notice that it says the “illusion” of helplessness. Why? Because we’re not helpless! Ever? Ever. Do I need to bring up Victor Frankl again?

A Course in Miracles says that “All anger is the attempt to make someone feel guilty.”

In other words, it’s manipulative. It’s a projection. And it is not real.

Depression, they say, is anger turned inward.

Does that fit with your experience if you’ve ever been depressed?

Sex can be good for depression.  : ) 

There is a lifestyle called “Taken In Hand,” that is basically a Domestic Discipline relationship, similar to a Domination/submission relationship that seems to involve spanking and sex. There is a web site about this. I’m not going to try to analyze all of the sex and anger components here or how that works for couples involved with it, but it has some interesting aspects.

Is there a difference between sex and making love? There could be. Those could be opposites to some people depending on how you think about them.

Casual Sex and Lovemaking? Casual Relationship and Commited Relationship?

Separation and Union? Alone and Together?

Frustrated and Satisfied. Now, there’s a pair!

Aroused and indifferent? Hmm.

What other opposites can you think of that relate to sex and/or anger?

I’ve mentioned a lot of potential opposite pairs. Does that suggest one of the Shampoo Methods?

Mm hmm. Re-Pairing Opposites.

The directions are over there under Pages anytime you want them, but here they are again, too.

Take a pair of opposites like Anger & Determination or Frustrated & Satisfied.

Imagine Anger (or whatever you are working with) in one hand. Make it a pretty complete picture with all 5 senses.

Imagine Determination in the other hand. Again, make it complete as you can.

Then go back and forth, noticing the differences.

At some point, you will realize that you are bouncing back and forth between a kind of black/white, good/bad duality and that there is a third place.

Let’s call this third place the “truth place,” a place beyond duality, the whole of the yin-yang, not the parts.

If you are using your hands for the pair, you may notice that this 3rd place is the fulcrum, at your heart.

Bring your hands together at a rate of speed that is comfortable for you and place your palms against your heart. Breathe into this whole, truth place and notice any shifts in your energy, any relaxing.

Wonder what your Next Step might be now that you are in a place of wholeness. It may be more exploration or maybe you know what to do.

And if you happen to run into Dubya, show him how to do some of these Shampoo Methods, will you?

Love, Ann

“Perhaps it will be helpful to remember that no one can be angry at a fact.  It is always an interpretation that gives rise to negative emotions, regardless of their seeming justification by what appears as facts.”

– A Course in Miracles, M-17.4:1

Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.

– Marcus Aurelius

 

GO SEE FREEDOM WRITERS

Yes, I am shouting it from the rooftops!!!

It is a TRUE STORY of a teacher whose class wrote their stories. and triumphed over their circumstances. 

What circumstances?

Everything you can imagine: gang violence, rape, abuse, drugs, guns, moral questions and more.

The book is real. I cried all the way to Borders and bought 2 copies. One for me. One for Bryce. (see previous post)

If you have a child –  

If you have ever been a child –  

This movie is one of the most inspirational stories I’ve ever seen, and I specialize in inspirational stories.

www.imdb.com  for theaters and showtimes  

If you are a teacher, see www.freedomwritersfoundation.org for more information. Please, please, please see the movie.

I’d like to have a fraction of the impact with my story of healing incest that these high schoolers did with theirs, a fraction, and I’d be thrilled.

OMFG 

Blessings, Ann