Letting Go of Old Stories
by Nancy Bowers, RScP
“Let all things be exactly as they are.” (ACIM, W-268)
“I do not know what anything is for.” (ACIM, W-25)
Sometimes, I notice that I am still stuck in the past. It’s not that I am ruminating on times gone by, only that I am acting as if I whatever/whomever I am witnessing presently is as it once was. But if I treated television that way, for example, I would still be using rabbit ears to try to tune into my evening’s entertainment. I would have a rotary phone and be unable to call for help if I got a flat tire on some lonesome road. I wouldn’t be able to send and receive test messages. I’d have to trek to the library to look up anything, because no Google. I have no difficulty letting go of the old technology and embracing the new, so why do I sometimes behave as if people are more fixed?
Life is change. Everything is evolving.
Granted, we are analytical creatures and it can be useful to categorize, especially when trying to establish and maintain order, but how often have I short-changed someone because I failed to be present to who they have evolved into? When I think I know who someone is based on my past perceptions, aren’t I shrouding the present with the past? Am I failing, then, to notice how they may have softened around the edges, let go of some of their anger, made peace with their own demons? I’ve grown, why should I assume they haven’t???
“Let all things be exactly as they are,” A Course in Miracles tells me. Shed the guilty lens. See the innocence. Each of us is the Divine expressing. When I address the Christ in you, my experience will be very different than if I treat you like you are your past mistakes. I cannot open my heart to the beautiful person you are becoming if I have closed my heart because I fear I cannot trust you with it.
I decide what everything means for me. Healthy boundaries may seem necessary but how will I know who you are if I have decided in advance that you are not to be trusted? How will you have the opportunity to be your best self, your Higher Self, if I enter the interaction from a place of suspicion and mistrust?
Only God is sacrosanct. The Divine within is unfazed when others seem to demonstrate bad behavior. You cannot offend me. The only way to feel offended is to decide another’s misguided behavior was deliberate and malicious, but even if that was the intension, I decide what it means for me. If I choose to be offended, then I am choosing to play victim, usually so ego can re-affirm your guilt and whisper lies about the truth of who you are. It’s a great strategy for eschewing any responsibility but it won’t precipitate healing.
I can choose again. I give everything the meaning it has for me, so why not step back a moment and rather than allowing myself to get sucked into drama and conflict, just choose peace. I see the world through the lens of my thoughts and beliefs. The things I dislike are merely the unhealed part of my mind. I see them so I can release them to the Holy Spirit and experience the Love God would have me know.
When others trigger me, I can see that I am in control of that trigger. Being reactive is not necessary, it’s simply misguided conditioning. I can unlearn such behavior. I don’t know what anything is for so why judge and miss the opportunity to witness what wants to be healed? If I can’t be present to what is, if I am listening to the egoic part of my mind that is focused on,”me, me, me,” I won’t be able to heal. I can only heal once I stop deflecting.
Here is my default prayer from the Course to help lead me back to my right mind:
²I am here only to be truly helpful.
³I am here to represent Him Who sent me.
⁴I do not have to worry about what to say or what to do, because He Who sent me will direct me.
⁵I am content to be wherever He wishes, knowing He goes there with me.
⁶I will be healed as I let Him teach me to heal. (ACIM, T-2.V-A.18:2-6)
May you, too remember to choose peace, to let go of the stories of that past and be present to the gifts you are being offered. God is for you. Always. May we all let go of thinking we know what anything is for and allow God to show us His Love.
“I will step back and let Him lead the way.” (ACIM, W-155) It’s so much easier. It’s so much more loving. It is the path to inner peace.
So, goodbye, old stories. Let me be an instrument of God’s peace. We’ll be the love that God knows we are.
Namaste.