Instead of Publicly Spewing, Use a Journal When Triggered

          I’ve heard from some that while they would like to share or read some of the things shared in the A Course in Miracles groups on Facebook, they can’t bear the misunderstanding and attacks in the comments. So, I started a new group, ACIM Resource Safe Space, on Facebook, a comment-free zone where you can post and read without fear of being misunderstood or attacked. Here is how I describe the group on Facebook:

 

A safe space to share and read a wide variety of thoughts and experiences and post resources relevant to students of A Course in Miracles.

 

Please post or repost anything you think will be useful, helpful, or food for thought for students of ACIM, but please do not use this group as your personal platform. You may advertise ACIM events or services, but please limit these to once a week.

 

This is not a community, but a resource center. So, comment only to express appreciation and gratitude. And please no sly attacks in the form of gratitude, such as “Thank you for this forgiveness opportunity.”

 

If you do not like something posted, move on. You do not have to read everything. If you are triggered and feel compelled to express yourself, please do so in a private journal, perhaps taking the opportunity to look at the trigger with Spirit. If you feel inspired to respond to what someone wrote, please wait for any initial emotional response to pass (ego always speaks first) and write a thoughtful post, perhaps initially offline, on the topic, not about the initial poster, and do not link it to the original post or poster.

 

Be an adult. Keep this group a safe place for all and enjoy for yourself the thoughts, experiences, and resources offered.

 

If this is of interest to you, please join and share your original posts or repost what you have read elsewhere and feel would be of value to other students.

 For this article, I want to comment on my suggestion to write in a journal when you are triggered. This can spare you embarrassment, exposure, and regret. Ego always speaks first, and its response is usually emotional and irrational.

And you will often find after the emotional response has passed that you misread or misunderstood that to which you responded. I discovered this for myself decades ago when I wrote letters to editors (remember those?) of newspapers and magazines. I would put my initial response aside for a while before I did a final edit before sending it. When I returned to reread my response, I would reread the article to which I responded to make sure my response was coherent and on point, and I was often embarrassed to discover that I actually made the same point that the writer did, or that I had taken something they wrote out of context. I responded emotionally to something early in the article and then my mind was shut to what followed. This taught me to step away when I had an emotional response, to let it process out, perhaps in writing if it had to be expressed, so that I didn’t say or do something that would hurt another and eventually embarrass me and cause regret.

I read comments on social media and cringe for the person who has spewed without first stepping back and letting their initial emotional reaction pass. Certainly, they must regret this later. If you feel you must get something off your chest, do it privately in a journal. You do not have to be articulate, rational, or kind in your journal. You can let it all hang out. It is a great way to clear your mind so that you can hear Spirit.

My journal is called “Dialogues” because I used to write to Spirit. It was a way to look at what was going on in my mind with Spirit. I could tell Spirit anything, even what I felt was ugly and embarrassing and shameful in my mind. And once I got past those things, I was open to hearing Spirit’s teaching and guidance. I was open to being rational and kind myself—and to myself. After all, my world was my mind—the unkind world was my unkind mind, and the gentle, loving world was also in my mind.

 

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