Lynn is in her third week of recovery and will return to live presentations soon.
Let’s all wish her speedy recovery!
https://youtu.be/KywUtz3mW8Y
The above link is to your intuitive readings.
Here is the recording from the previous year:
copyright (r) 2007 Lynn Woodland
October—the Dying Season
Now, fully into fall, we’ve entered the dying season. The world is going dark; the overgrowth of summer is fading and, as Halloween draws near, there’s a gaudy cultural display of all things frightening and deathly. But costume parties, horror movies, and yard displays don’t quite mask the somber truth of death this time of year as the number of people making their transition increases with the dark.
Many of us live in constant fear of dying. We may not even know that it’s death we fear. We might call it loss, change, endings, or feeling out of control. Even if we rarely give the subject of death a thought, the reality of this absolute ending and ultimate loss of control is always with us, affecting how we go about life. Deepak Chopra suggests that “All fear is ultimately the fear of mortality in disguise—the fear of change.” So, we’ll begin our work in the “dying season” by addressing fear.
A Course in Miracles teaches that healing is letting go of fear; that miracles happen in the absence of fear; and that when fear is gone, what remains is love. Fear is antithetical to love. To tap into the limitless power of unconditional love, we need to move beyond fear. Our greatest safety and power lie in the defenselessness of unconditional love.
When we focus attention on defending ourselves from harm, we automatically hold in mind a picture of danger and of our vulnerability. As we see the world filled with victims and dangerous circumstances, we inadvertently root ourselves more firmly in this reality. We perpetuate a reality in which there’s always danger to ward off. At best we create the experience of escaping harm rather than one of experiencing safety. At worst, we magnify what we most fear. As I sat at my desk writing these words, in September of 2006, I heard a sad example of exactly this on my radio: an official report came out saying that the war in Iraq, the supposed front line of the war on terrorism, had actually produced far more terrorists than it had eliminated.
Loving in the Face of Danger
It’s one thing to appreciate these spiritual truths. It’s quite another to live by them in the face of “real world” evidence of the ever-growing dangers all around us. Loving in the face of danger seems either ridiculously naive, too saintly for normal people to accomplish, or simply insane. Even before terrorist attacks turned the experience of flying into such an unnerving security shakedown, I noticed I invariably got sent off on a trip with the well-meaning, “Have a safe flight!” and virtually never with, “Have a great (lovely/peaceful/relaxing/happy…) flight!” Mostly we take it for granted that we need to be ever on-guard to survive.
In spite of the abundant physical evidence and cultural pressure to take “sensible precautions,” there’s other compelling evidence that love keeps us safer than protection. For example, Carolyn Miller, in her book Creating Miracles, interviewed many people who had experienced miraculous escapes from what would ordinarily be certain death or dire harm situations. Whether the situation was of driving off a cliff, maneuvering an out-of-control vehicle through speeding traffic, or dealing with deadly assaults, many people shared a common experience just as death or attack looked inevitable. As they recognized that the very worst was about to happen, instead of a fight, flight, or freeze response, they became very peaceful and calm. Fear diminished and their perspective broadened to include a concern for the others present. Those in the midst of vehicle crashes spontaneously acted to save their passengers or those in an oncoming vehicle. Those being attacked were able to step out of the victim role and show compassion and kindness to their abusers.
When their perspective shifted, miracles happened. The attacker peacefully left or the maneuver aimed at sparing the lives of other motorists turned out to save the driver as well. Through story after story, Miller offers anecdotal evidence to support her conclusion that “love without attack is the necessary and sufficient condition for miracles.” She says that to cultivate miracle-mindedness “means behaving like someone who is fearless, well-intentioned, innocent, and, ultimately, invulnerable.”
Peace Pilgrim, whom I’ve mentioned frequently in these lessons because she so beautifully modeled many of the spiritual principles we work with here, also perfectly embodied the “miracle-mindedness” of which Carolyn Miller speaks. Peace Pilgrim, the somewhat elderly woman who walked all over the country talking about peace to everyone who approached her, often found herself in the company of so-called “dangerous” people. What she said on this was, “If you have a loving and positive attitude toward your fellow human beings, you will not fear them.” In the book, Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Work in Her Own Words, she recounts an example of this in practice:
Once I was hit by a disturbed teenage boy whom I had taken for a walk. He wanted to go hiking but was afraid he might break a leg and be left lying there. Everyone was afraid to go with him. He was a great big fellow and looked like a football player, and he was known to be violent at times. Everybody was afraid of him, so I offered to go with him.
As we got up to the first hilltop everything was going fine. Then a thunderstorm came along. He was very terrified because the thundershower was very close. Suddenly he went off the beam and came for me, hitting at me. I didn’t run away although I guess I could have—he had a heavy pack on his back. But even while he was hitting me I could only feel the deepest compassion toward him. How terrible to be so psychologically sick that you would be able to hit a defenseless old woman! I bathed his hatred with love even while he hit me. As a result the hitting stopped.
He said, “You didn’t hit back! Mother always hits back.” The delayed reaction, because of his disturbance, had reached the good in him. Oh, it’s there—no matter how deeply it’s buried—and he experienced remorse and complete self-condemnation.
What are a few bruises on my body in comparison with the transformation of a human life? To make a long story short he was never violent again. He is a useful person in the world today.
The Fear We Don’t See
While we certainly recognize panic and moments of acute fear—even nagging worries and doubts—there’s a whole realm of fear that lives a little or a lot outside of our awareness. These are the fears we take so for granted we don’t even think of them as fear anymore. They’ve blended into what we think of as normal. This “normal” realm is like the submerged part of an iceberg: huge and dangerous, shaping our personalities, limiting our possibilities, and unconsciously attracting struggles and pain into our lives. These are the fears that cause us to be on guard and defended around strangers, and even around friends; the fear that anticipates the worst possible outcome before there’s any reason to do so; the fears that we’re not good enough, that we won’t be loved or supported, or that there’s not enough for us.
Our ego, the part of us that operates from fear and tries to control the external environment to maintain order and safety, strives to construct our lives to side-step things we consciously or unconsciously believe to be dangerous. But no amount of the ego’s protective maneuvering can ever truly keep us safe. Just as we think we’ve got everything under control, something unexpected happens and we’re once again plunged into the role of victim, buffeted by external circumstances.
Imagine, for example, being deeply engaged in conversation with someone you desperately hope to impress. All’s going well and you’re flying high until your next trip to the bathroom reveals that you’ve had a giant booger on your nose the whole time! For many of us in that situation, the physical clutch of fearful embarrassment that registers in our gut may be every bit as extreme as if we had been threatened with dire bodily harm.
I once had a dramatic lesson in the power of fear many years ago when I first started teaching classes on attitudinal healing. I was presenting a lesson on a principle of attitudinal healing that says “Health is inner peace, healing is letting go of fear” to a group of a dozen women, all friends, who had contracted with me to lead a six-month training in attitudinal healing for them. As an approach to this principle, I asked them to think about what they feared and, in particular, what fear was present right here and now in this group.
The women were all intelligent, self-confident, all with families, most with careers, all apparently successful in their lives. The overwhelming response to the latter part of my question was that no one felt they had anything to fear here and now in this group, and in fact, some considered the question ridiculous.
I, on the other hand, was feeling quite a bit of fear, though I was much too fearful to admit it. At thirty, I was the youngest woman there by ten or fifteen years. As both an outsider and a “young upstart,” I had been finding it difficult to work with the closed dynamic of this group of long-time friends, many of whom seemed to have come more for an afternoon social break away from the kids than to study the principles of attitudinal healing.
Just as I was sinking more deeply into fear because my planned presentation was failing (how could I teach them how to let go of fear if they believed they had none?), a wasp flew into the room. Suddenly, women who seconds before were a picture of strength, composure, and invulnerability were now cringing, running, and shrieking. One had removed her shoe and was attempting to beat the wasp to death. The room dissolved into chaos.
Being much less afraid of wasps than of this particular group of women, I managed to regain my composure and call the group to silence. Everyone stopped except the wasp, which had been whacked once or twice and was now stumbling across the middle of the floor. I reached down to let the wasp crawl into my hand and we looked at the tiny creature that triggered such a large reaction. Suddenly we all realized how much fear lives quietly within us under the surface, and how easily it can erupt and shake our equilibrium.
This level of fear is ingrained and stifling, limiting our choices and possibilities in ways we don’t realize. If we’ve lived a lifetime in a cramped closed space, we don’t know that wide open spaces exist and don’t include them in our range of options. We may not even notice that we’re uncomfortable. When I ask people in my workshops to imagine the feeling of absolute safety, many have difficulty even imagining it, and those who can are often amazed at how different it feels from their normal state.
The following is a simple exercise for replacing the habit of fear with the habit of safety. It will help to develop the relaxed, peaceful state of mind that allows inner guidance to come through when we need it. If you practice it often it will be easy to access when confronted by a fearful situation. Practice this for a week or even just a day and see what happens.
Exercise I: Creating Inner Safety
Remind yourself many times each hour of the day that you are safe. Say to yourself, silently or aloud, over and over, the words, “I am safe.” It’s not necessary that you believe these words. “I am safe” is the belief you are creating, not necessarily the belief you hold.
From time to time, as you affirm these words, take several deep breaths, relax and imagine a safe feeling. Let it start in your stomach as a soothing, peaceful sensation and radiate through your entire body and then slightly beyond, forming a safe, comforting cocoon around you. Feel your stomach relax into deep safety and well-being…. Feel your shoulders relax as though you’ve just had a weight lifted from them…. Imagine a hard and heavy layer of protective armor now dissolving out of every part of your body because it’s no longer needed.
Imagine that you’re naturally protected by this state of peaceful defenselessness. Picture this safety as a beautiful light of unconditional love that fills and surrounds you. See this light attracting to you everything that’s for your highest good and repelling everything that’s not. Imagine this light to now be in place around you all the time, even when you’re not thinking about it. Put yourself to sleep this way at night.
Inner Safety Creates Fortunate Serendipity
Some years ago, during a time when I was feeling particularly fearful, I worked with this exercise intensively. After several days, I felt a shift and my anxiety gave way to feeling deeply peaceful and protected. That evening as I was leaving the somewhat remote country retreat center where I held a weekly class, I got a flat tire halfway down the long, completely dark drive leading to the main road.
Although I was often the last person to leave, this time there just happened to be one group member behind me who, in a matter of minutes, changed my tire and got me back on the road. As I drove the long way to my home in the country, I was filled with a sense of gratitude that my tire had gone flat when and where it did with help instantly available. At this time before cell phones, my worst fear was to be stranded in the middle of nowhere with car problems.
I was reflecting on my good fortune, feeling protected and at peace, when I suddenly felt my car wobble and klunk. The other tire had gone flat. I had an instant of panic. Here was my worst fear: on the highway in the middle of the country late at night, a flat tire and not even a spare to put on! But then I realized that I was just yards away from the only exit for miles and miles that had a service station immediately off of it. So I klunked the short distance to the station and left my car to be serviced the next day. Before I even had time to consider how I’d get home from there, a man who saw my situation offered me a ride. I felt intuitively that he was a Good Samaritan rather than someone to fear and I accepted his offer.
When I got home, I realized that all of my mishaps had only added an extra thirty-five minutes to my drive home. The next day, it fit perfectly into my housemate’s schedule to give me a ride to pick up my car. Through the whole experience, except for those seconds of panic on the highway, I felt peaceful, protected and safe. What’s more, I’d been meaning to get my two bald tires replaced but kept putting it off for lack of time. The thirty-five minutes it took out of my life proved to be far more efficient than the hour or two it took at my usual tire dealer. In a strange way, the process of getting two flat tires on deserted roads late at night actually reinforced for me that I truly am safe—more so than if the whole thing hadn’t happened. I saw that I could encounter one of my worst fears and still be completely protected.
Listening to Inner Guidance
The state of inner safety that Peace Pilgrim so beautifully demonstrated is accessible to all of us. We all have the potential to create an aura of safety powerful enough to impact the world around us. We don’t need to be saints, and it doesn’t require hard work so much as consistent attention. Neither is it a matter of testing our bravery by exposing ourselves to frightening situations. Walking down a dark alley late at night in spite of our fear, because we believe we “should” feel safe, will more likely attract fearful experiences to us. Learning to recognize and release the habit of fear, however, frees us to hear inner guidance about when and where we’re safe and when we’re not. Peace Pilgrim was a big proponent of listening to inner guidance and doing what’s sensible. Looking both ways before crossing a street, she said, is sensible—fearing streets is not necessary.
Inner guidance about our safety is always there for us when we’re willing to listen. There are subtle signals that come to us through our thoughts and feelings that guide us to be in the right place at the right time and out of harm. When I lived in the country in Maryland, I was in the habit of taking long walks along a beautiful, isolated trail far from main roads. I seldom encountered anyone other than a handful of retired people taking some mid-day exercise. I felt very safe there. It was a place I went for peace and solitude.
One day, from a distance, I saw a young man walking toward me on the trail. Something about him felt “wrong.” The only young men I had seen here were invariably jogging, or biking, or strolling with a girlfriend. This man was alone, walking slowly and unsteadily. My instincts sensed potential danger. The “safe” thing to do would have been to turn around immediately while there was still a distance between us and head quickly back to the main road, a couple of miles back.
A thought came to me clearly, though, telling me that I would be safe and I was to continue forward. I asked this guidance why I should test myself this way when I felt afraid and it would be so simple to just turn around. The answer I received was that if I turned around now I would never feel safe walking here again. This felt true and I continued. The piece of trail that was between us went under a highway, supported by a large concrete abutment. He came to the underpass first and I saw him slip behind the large concrete wall, out of sight. My fear escalated as I envisioned being ambushed. Still I continued, reminding myself that I am safe. He didn’t reappear and I passed through safely, never even encountering him directly. I walked about another mile down the trail; then started back. He was nowhere to be seen on my return walk.
I came back to this place many times after that. Never did I feel afraid. I truly believe that I was “protected” that day and the experience of following my inner guidance left me feeling safer in the world. I was more certain that I would know in other situations when it’s appropriate to go forward in spite of my fear and when to retreat.
Creating Inner Safety and Addressing Fears
As important as it is to affirm our safety, it’s also important to listen to our fears and address them. This might sound contradictory, but in practice, no matter how much we may want to believe we’re safe, if we feel strongly afraid at a gut level, our fear may be so intense that it overrides our intention to believe we’re safe. When a fear is very big, it might be more effective to take action to address it in a physical way at the same time that we work on changing it at the level of belief.
For example, if you’re very worried that someone will break into your house, along with affirming your intrinsic safety, it’s wise to install good locks and a security system. Without these practical steps, your fear may take up so much of your attention that you attract exactly what you fear, thus strengthening your belief in your vulnerability. By taking physical action to address your concern, your attention will be freer to focus on the inner state of safety instead of on danger.
We each need to listen to our own level of comfort or fear in determining what we need to do to be safe, and take whatever physical steps will allow us to put worry aside and focus on safety. While Peace Pilgrim felt perfectly safe walking alone at night in the most dangerous inner city neighborhoods, if you feel afraid of this, then don’t do it. Your fear would send out a broadcast that could attract harm to you.
At the same time, if you feel perfectly relaxed and at peace in a situation that others find frightening, you don’t need to increase your level of protection in response to someone else’s fear. Be careful not to let others talk you into believing you aren’t safe. This puts a ripple in your peace of mind, and it’s your inner peace that keeps you safe in a situation that might be dangerous for someone else.
As a middle-aged adult, I sometimes recall in horror and amazement my teenage habit of jumping barefoot onto a city bus and spending all day walking around the inner city of Baltimore having adventures, skipping innocently and fearlessly through broken glass and God knows what else. I remember feeling joyful, unstoppable, and full of life on those days. By evening the bottoms of my feet would be black with city dirt, but never cut or bruised. Now I find that when I walk barefoot in my own back yard my feet seem to find every stone, splinter, and glass sliver. Often our innocence of danger creates such an aura of safety that we easily avoid harm. As we become “wiser” and know more about potential dangers, we lose this protective shield.
Cultivating an attitude of safety walks a very fine line that is neither a defense against danger nor a denial of it (as in “If I pretend it’s not there, it’ll go away”). Pretending that danger won’t find us is different from truly feeling safe. In denial, we tune out our feelings and instincts rather than listening to them. Whatever we ignore in this way tends to come back to us in a disowned form through circumstances that feel outside of our control.
Cultivating a natural state of safety involves listening carefully to all of our instincts, feelings, thoughts, and fleeting impressions rather than tuning them out. The following three steps all play an important part in creating an experience of safety. Each step is equally important and must not be left out.
Steps for Cultivating a State of Inner Safety
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Identify your fearful thoughts and beliefs and consciously replace them with affirmations of safety. In other words, change your semi-conscious inner dialogue from, “Uh oh, what if ____ happens?” to, “I’m always safe/It’ll work out fine/I’m always safe in God’s hands/etc.” We often talk to ourselves incessantly about our worries and everything that feels outside of our control. A way that we can always exercise control, even when we feel most out of control, is by choosing our words and where we give our attention.
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Create the inner feeling of safety, as in the earlier exercise on “Creating Inner Safety.”
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Pay attention to your level of fear in various life situations. Fear is a very specific physical sensation. Notice when you have even a little bit of a fear sensation in the pit of your stomach, or when you’re tensing up, or sweating, or having any kind of ominous or anxious feeling. These are signals of fear. Don’t ignore these! When they’re present, practice the above two steps and ask yourself what action would help to alleviate these physical sensations.
Sometimes when we experience a generalized feeling of anxiety that’s not related to a specific event or circumstance, or when a current event triggers a big fear response because it reminds us of something in the past, the first two steps may be all that’s needed to eliminate the fear. When they aren’t enough, it’s important to listen to the fear and find appropriate action. Sometimes this means taking obvious, practical steps, like locking your door or not walking alone at night. Other times it may mean doing something, or not doing something, even though you can find no “sensible” reason behind it. Your gut feeling may be telling you not to attend an event or drive down a particular street. Even though you may not have any visible reason to follow these instincts, they may be important messages from your intuition, steering you away from harm. Take whatever action will best help you redirect your attention away from danger back to inner peace and well-being.
Exercise II: Meditation on Safety
I recommend doing this meditation after you’ve had a chance to work with the first exercise on safety for at least a day or two.
Become comfortable, take some deep breaths and relax. Inhale deeply and exhale just as deeply several times. Take as much time as you need to quiet your mind and relax your body….
Say to yourself, silently or aloud, the words, “I am safe” and let a peaceful, soothing feeling begin in your stomach and radiate through your entire body, and then slightly beyond, forming a safe, comforting cocoon around you. Feel your stomach relax into deep safety and well-being…. Feel your shoulders relax as though you’ve just had a weight lifted from them…. Imagine a heavy layer of protective armor now dissolving out of every part of your body because it’s no longer needed. Take a moment to just bask in this experience of deep peace and let it heal you.
Picture yourself now in the familiar settings of your life: at home with family or friends, at work, in your neighborhood, with your communities of friends and acquaintances. Imagine how it would feel to be absolutely safe in all of these situations. What would it be like if you knew with certainty that everyone in your life sees through to the true essence of your being and loves you just the way you are? So there’s nothing you need to hide; no need for any of your armor or defenses. Even if you don’t believe this is possible, imagine what it would feel like if you did.
How does your body relax and open and come to life when you feel safe, loved, and accepted?
Picture in your mind’s eye: all the people you know, both intimates and acquaintances, looking at you with love and appreciation. Feel your shoulders drop and your chest fill with warmth and energy. Breathe deeply and comfortably….
As you envision everyone extending their love to you, imagine as well that each person in your life has something precious to give you. If you’ve ever felt there to be only a few people whose love you want or who have anything to offer you, let this limited belief relax and feel what it would be like if everyone held promise and delight for you, even those people you used to judge or whose judgments you used to fear. As you imagine this, feel your whole body, from head to toe, fill with pleasant warmth and well-being. See yourself overflowing with the light of unconditional love….
Now, imagine yourself in a place that would normally trigger fear: walking down the street alone late at night; walking into a party where you don’t know anyone; being among people around whom you feel judged or inadequate; speaking in front of a group; being alone among people you believe to be dangerous.
Imagine what it would feel like to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are still safe; that your perception of others as dangerous is false. Imagine yourself in a dangerous situation and suddenly all your false perceptions fall away and you see only people who honor and care about you and wish you no harm. Instead of feeling separate, you recognize yourself among beautiful souls who have something wonderful to give you. Even if you are alone in your dangerous situation, you see now that you’re never alone and always safe in the hands of God. As true perception replaces false, feel your body become soft, relaxed, and overflowing with the deep peace of unconditional love. See the scene that once looked dangerous now be filled with harmony and blessings.
Now, imagine living in a world that offers you nothing but love and acceptance. As you walk down the street, instead of encountering strangers, you see souls who recognize your beauty and worth as you do theirs. Everywhere you go, you’re met with new opportunities to be valued and treated with high regard. There is nothing to fear, nothing to hide, nothing to protect. If it’s difficult to imagine, picture yourself seeing through the eyes of Peace Pilgrim or another role model for living in peace. Take a moment to live in this world. This is how we begin to create peace on earth.
When you’re ready to end your meditation, do so with some deep, full breaths. See how long you can keep your “true perception” of a peaceful world as you go about your day.