This Inner Work Is Time Consuming

Often I laugh with my students over how our inner work chews up time without any outward activity to show for it. There is a lot of vigilance and processing required on the path to peace! So we have a sense of being occupied but we can’t really explain this to others because the work is going on only in our minds.

Whenever I hear about theoretical physicists and their “thought experiments” I can identify. They spend a lot of time just thinking about how the universe of form works. They may eventually jot down some formulas, but for much of the time they are conceptualizing. It is the same with this inner work for inner peace. We may eventually write what we learn in a journal but for much of the time we are busy with understanding the workings of our own mind. We are occupied observing, analyzing, and processing what we learn.


The deeper you go into this process the more important busy-work for the body becomes to you. Those mundane, repetitive, every-day tasks like washing the dishes, sweeping the floor, pulling weeds, walking the dog, etc. keep the body busy but the mind free to think. Your outer life may look tedious and boring to others but your inner life, the life of the mind where you live, is rich and deeply fulfilling. In the sense of wholeness that results from this inner work you no longer need to seek “fun” or “excitement”. In fact, you find them to be unnecessary distractions. You’ve discovered that finding and then maintaining your inner peace is a much more satisfying and worthwhile way to spend your time.

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Learn about the books The ACIM Mentor Articles, The Plain Language A Course in Miracles, 4 Habits for Inner Peace, and Releasing Guilt for Inner Peace at www.acimmentor.com.

Comments

SKR said…
This is so true for me. Sometimes it is like I am almost in a trace or forgetful because my attention is always on this inner peace work. I even feel scattered because I am mulling everything over or observing, etc. I wish I could let it go more often because sometimes I exhaust myself with my "processing and applying." I use to love reading novels and always had books on a waiting list. Last week I picked up a book from the library that came due because I had been excited to read it. It had been wait-listed for about 4 months. When I got it I began reading it only to return it because it just didn't hold my interest. Thanks for writing about this because sometimes I think this isn't normal....ha ha whatever normal is. Thank you for all you do, Liz.
Christine said…
I am "at this point", too!!
Christine said…
And it's not that you don't seem to "enjoy your life" anymore, it's just the freedom that comes with not making things (persons ,places, events, etc.) the "end all and be all" anymore. If something comes your way which you interpret as being "good", then great - be happy. If that "something good" doesn't happen to come your way - still you're just fine! You've discovered your Core.
Anonymous said…
Thank you for writing this Liz. It affirms what has happened here. I used to be a Type A person....now I'm a Type C (which doesn't exist in that conceptualized model of separating people). I am like never before....calm, at peace, observing, watching.

My partner has plenty of money for us to buy stuff and travel, yet it is under-utilized here. There is contentment, peace and happiness just watching squirrels and birds at the backyard feeder, and no reason to leave this. I need nothing more than this. When there is no wildlife at the feeder, then the stillness of the feeder becomes appealing.

Any reason one goes on a cruise or vacation is realized in stepping out into the backyard, gardening, or washing dishes. Here adventure, peace, relaxation, excitement happens simultaneously, NOW. It is an ongoing state of being.
Hal Seeley said…
Keeping one's self busy is what we do and have been doing for a very long time. In may cases it is what brings us value, which becomes the impetus for action, perseverance and passion. It becomes our identity. To me this has been the greatest stumbling block on this path and find myself envious of those who have found that inner peace that has become their value and their passion. As a person of advanced years and a particular physical handicap, I had found myself longing for the things I could no longer do and enjoy. Facing this reality and accepting it has been a long and arduous task, but a successful one. So it is that I find it much easier to be with my inner self, but I was thinking the other day how difficult it must be for a much younger and healthier individual to find value and enjoyment in what we now find as peaceful and joyful. If I was suddenly transformed back to my youthful vigor and wholeness of body, would I continue on this path?
Unknown said…
Liz, you touched a chord with this posting. After years of processing...still going on..but having climbed enough rungs on the ladder to see more clearly what my ego is up to and feel those changes in me that I would have never thought possible at least in this lifetime. Those things that animated me most of my life are now understood as ploys of my ego to distract me from finding my true Self.

Without the course to shine a light on this ego mayhem I called my life, I dont know how I would have found such a relaxed/peaceful place.

The other posters have encapsulated my daily routine perfectly. Things I almost never noticed have come front and center and are welcome visitors to the peaceful Self within. It is odd not to be able to tell others of this journey and when I try describing this process just get strange looks. I trust the change Ive undergone will "speak" more effectively about what Ive been up to.

I find myself being eternally grateful to the Course/my right Self and others on this path who come along at just the right time to reinforce my determination to stay the Course.
George B.
Anonymous said…
How do you deal with body's failings though, especially when others seem to be happy and healthy, nothing is more deceiving than a perception of form, just gotta deal with whatever comes up on a daily basis. Still there are certain expectations people have of you...
will said…
Yes Anonymous. I have been slapped upside the head enough times since starting the Course to know my belief in the whole thing can be awful tenuous. I think I have an ego belief in the Course. I may be wrong. I say that from my experience of when things get really tough. When something bad happens or your in pain or sickness you are as alone as you will ever be in this life. You can be surrounded by people who love you and you are still alone. That's the spiritual road we are on. We conceptualize about the day when we will see through the eyes of the Holy Spirit, but this is a long road. If you believe Jesus wrote the Course it's pretty obvious he walked a long lonely road before he was 'Jesus.'
Unknown said…
Yes l'm here too. Thank you Liz also for ACIM both books in plain language. l tended to ignore certain passages, until now. Looking at these passages with your help and insight, is what has made learning so much more fulfilling.
Christine said…
The first anonymous post at 6:17 a.m. is as if I wrote every word...every word!
nicci said…
i have recently come in from a thirty five year period of remote living on the high plateau of arizona. There i had (especially since retirement) days and nights of sublime quiet and only occasional forays into the busy world of commerce and people. i am now living in a sweet college town in oregon where an abundance of activity swirls around me: restaurants, hikes, concerts, study groups, activist events, live music, leaf blowers, grandchildren's sporting events, farmer's markets, sirens, shopping, on and on. i feel as if i have come back into the world at just the time when my inner life has deepened immeasurably, and the pull toward Love-Truth-God is over taking the mind. my Inner Director, in His sublime sense of humor, has written me into a play of near constant interaction and potential for external distraction right at the time when i no longer desire it. and yet, i seem to have internalized those still nights and long days of quiet inactivity, and been given the opportunity to engage with Love-Truth-God in the bustle of an activity filled urban life. it is all unfolding with . . . grace everywhere.

endless Love, n
Unknown said…
Just back home after a month in hospital with blood poisoning, septicaemia,Doctors tell me it's a miracle I'm still here.Thanks, Liz, for article, and thanks everyone for being here with me. We are never alone;don't listen to ego! love to all,George.

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