I have been doing a series of teachings on the “Holy Spirit Guides” messages on “Be Watchful with Me.” * This one is on joy and learning to look at the beliefs that cause pain before they cause pain.
Recently I saw the movie Moneyball, and it begins with a quote by Mickey Mantle: “It’s unbelievable how much you don’t know about the game you’ve been playing your whole life.”
So true! Well here’s to learning more about how to play the game!
The message begins with Holy Spirit speaking on artificial joy, which is joy based on the world and certain outcomes. In other words, if my happiness is dependent on things being a certain way, this is not perfect joy because it follows that if things aren’t a certain way I will not be happy.
HS: “One must watch the mind for signs of artificial joy. All of the beliefs that cause pain are hidden within the search for artificial joy. In order to know true happiness, one must free the mind of beliefs that cause pain. In order to free the mind of these beliefs, one must see them and recognize them. However, one need not experience pain to see and let go of the beliefs of pain. One can mind-watch during periods of artificial joy and release beliefs that are the cause of all pain.
“First, one must be willing to be aware of artificial joy as it is experienced. One must be willing to question the mind.
Am I happy because another person is saying, or doing a specific thing?
If the situation were different, would I feel differently?
Am I feeling secure because I have or attract certain situations or things?
If these situations or things were no longer available to me,
would I feel secure?"
An example that comes to mind is the changes in the economy over the last few years. Thinking of life as a classroom is an idea that I find very helpful. I am here to learn who I am in truth; that I have already been given everything, and that I am a creation of God, free and unlimited, lacking nothing. How can I really learn this if I put my faith and trust in a retirement plan or a job or something else?
We can probably all see that if we had a retirement plan, relationship, health or something else that made us happy, and it was lost in one way or another, of course, initially at least, we would probably feel unhappy.
On the day that I was planning to teach on this message, I woke up feeling that I didn’t want to teach on it because I didn’t fully understand it. As I pondered skipping it, my inner teacher began to explain it to me.
We are not being asked to project lack and pain into the future, but to look now at the false beliefs that create pain. We can look at false beliefs while feeling happiness so that we don’t have to create from those false beliefs in the future.
If I had a healthy retirement plan and felt happy because of that, but looked at my mind to see that I would feel unhappy if I lost it, I can see that I have false beliefs about where my future security lies. This has been an interesting one for me to look at in the last few years because many people have told me about losing a large portion of their retirement plan. I don’t even have one, and yet, I have not felt fear about that. I’m on the “let go and let God” retirement plan. We'll see how that works out. ;)
This doesn’t mean, however, that I have not had to look long and deep at the false beliefs that my financial well-being lies out there. Since I have increased my willingness to let go of the belief in lack and limitation, I have seen long held thoughts of lack fade away.
So as I look at my life and notice that I would feel unhappy if certain things changed, my inner teacher told me to ask this: “What would I have to believe to feel unhappy if…? What would I have to believe to feel unhappy if I had less money, health, beauty, love…?
HS: “When this question is asked, basic beliefs within the mind will rise to the surface to be questioned. For example:
I am lacking in myself.
I am unworthy.
There is something inherently fearful within existence
that I must be protected against.
“When one sees that specific outcomes or temporary joy are a cover or mask over these beliefs, one sees how one has built a house on shifting sands. For as long as these beliefs are held to within the mind, they must at some point manifest within the experience."
The question came up during the teaching, “Could you be happy if you had no money in the bank?” I can readily see that I would experience unhappiness if I had no money in the bank, and all I am being asked to do is to look at this fact, and then, look at the false belief underlying it. Obviously the belief in lack and limitation is at play here. Do I believe that I am not a child of God, and that I cannot really trust that I will be led to some other avenue of income, sustenance or abundance? We aren’t asked to pretend to be happy when we are not, more profoundly, we are simply asked to look deeper.
HS: “As one questions the mind during times of joy, one may uncover such thoughts if the joy is based on artificiality. This is a wonderful use of time. For when one uncovers fear thoughts at the base of artificial joy, one may choose to release those thoughts before they manifest as pain. In this way, one creates more joy within experience by removing the cause of pain and the perceived need for specific outcomes in order to be joyful.”
I love this: “this is a wonderful use of time” – we can use time to uncover false beliefs.
~ Have fun! ~
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The audio of this teaching was recorded on 9/25/11
and in it I share much more than I was able to here.
* This message is called “BE watchful with Me, part V”, dated January 20th, 2007,and can be found on this site: http://www.reginadawnakers.com under “monthly archives”. Also on this blog, in Course Note #119, I have archived all the audios in this series.
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