In Jeanie’s View – Workshops
michael held a workshop series in Johnson City, TN back in February 2004, it was my first exposure to this work and a grand eye opener to many areas of my life. Beginning the very next week I began facilitating a Mindshifter Support Group. We met every Tuesday night and watched videos and did worksheets – supporting each other in continuing the work of doing our own process. Although I personally have moved on an
now travel with michael (who is now my wonderful husband) taking the tools to people all over the globe, the support group in JC still continues to meet.
I wrote the following summary after that first week of workshops back in 2004 but ran across it the other day going through some files and thought I would share it here. The links here in the list take you directly to my notes on each specific workshop within this article. If you want to read them all, just scroll down. The links within the text take you to the pdf version of my notes.
To all who read here, enjoy with my blessings and love, jeanie
THE COIN OF THE REALM
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME … AGAIN?!
ON CREATING CONSCIOUSLY
EMPOWERED TO HEAL
LAWS OF LIVING
CODEPENDENCE TO INTERDEPENDENCE
MINDSHIFTERS
STILLPOINT BREATHING
Here I explore a different group of workshops and messages and I will attempt to express the impact they have had on my life.
LIVING, NOT SAYING THE LORD’S PRAYER
COMMUNICTION DID YOU HEAR WHAT I THINK I SAID?
CIRCLE OF LIFE AND HOW TO PLAY IT
GETTING THE STRESS YOU NEED
HEALING THROUGH RELATIONSHIPS
PURPOSE PERSONAL POWER AND COMMITMENT
MIND BODY BIO-ENERGETICS
COURSE IN MIRACLES – LESSON RESPONSIBILITY FOR SIGHT
“THE COIN OF THE REALM” – The Sunday service was a celebration indeed! The music and meditation set the stage for the sermon. I felt the Spirit move within me and had to ask myself, “ What coin am I trading in? Have I bought into the world’s way of thinking?” Being honest, I really had placed too much value in things . I do believe we are all made in the image of God and God is Love, therefore, I AM LOVE. It is the stuff we are made of! If I am not remaining in that state of being then I am not “living”. With my newly found determination to live differently I went through the week of michael’s workshops and my life has truly changed. I realized that once I acknowledged the truth there was no going back and no excuses for not going forward. Responsibility hits hard and I know it will require commitment to make changes but wow what fulfillment awaits me. Michael gave us tools each night to use in this process – and it is a continual process – but the tools only work if we use them – it is up to us to do our own work.
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME … AGAIN?! offered the explanation for the repetitive patterns in my life. I found hope – things can be different and I am not a lost cause. Michael used the example of a tuning fork and how it resonates and causes another tuning fork to vibrate because it is on the same frequency. When I realized that I am an energy field and the same principle of nature applies to me, it was a revelation. To know that I actually am the one who creates these repetitive events. The fairy-tale of “The Rose and the Butterfly” touched me as deeply as any scientific fact. The rose and butterfly fell in love and then the butterfly flew away. When the rose uprooted itself to give chase, it caused it’s own death because it made something more important in its life than staying connected to its source. I will stay connected to my Source and live. I want to live continuously in the Presence of the Love of God regardless of whatever is happening in my world. I wish to give up any other thoughts (graven images) that my mind presents as more important than experiencing Love in my physical, mental and spiritual being. Nothing else is more important.
ON CREATING CONSCIOUSLY was another eye-opener for me. I have been trying to change the effects of my life instead of the causes. That is insanity – doing the same thing and yet expecting a different result. It won’t happen. Then to add to the craziness is the fact that by focusing on the effect I have actually created more of the same. I am going to change the seeds I sow because I definitely want a different crop. I am going to change MY WORLD … then I think it will spread and change other people’s world as well. That is my goal anyway.
EMPOWERED TO HEAL explained more fully how we are an energy system. A cell or gene can not turn itself on or off. However, our body can and will chemically reproduce in our cellular structure the frequency put out by our thoughts (mind energy). And our body does not distinguish whom the thought is about. If I truly believe another person deserves my anger or hate, I give them a carbon copy of the disintegrative energy, but I myself get the original and it will destroy my system and cause my own death. The result is not worth the negative thoughts. Neither the other person nor myself deserve that destruction. With clarity of purpose, I am holding to Truth and stepping back into being! I will take responsibility and remove disintegrative energy (sin) from my system through forgiveness (changing the realities in my mind not pardoning another person) and I will stand in Love. I have the power to clear out my temple (my body). I was created to be eternal and that is my desire.
LAWS OF LIVING embraces the fact that we are not designed to be governed by the laws of men, yet I did not fully understand the real laws….the laws our Creator established. I learned about the three filters in the mind and that my words and behavior are affected by which filter is active. Fear destroys the mind, hostility destroys the body but when the filter of love is active there is no conflict or regrets. I must raise my intents to a goal, filtered through love and then my perception of circumstances will likewise be filtered through love. Staying connected to God (Love) and living abundantly is more than possible, it is my birthright! For everyone to be in harmony with the first law – love toward God, neighbor and self – would create an ideal world – the one God intended.
CODEPENDENCE TO INTERDEPENDENCE was an awakening. I discovered how my perception of and my reaction to the person of power in my childhood have affected my past and present life. The realities in my mind have played out repeatedly throughout my life and all of my relationships have followed the same pattern. As a child I would submit, keep quiet, not express what I really felt, whatever it took to make my ‘Power Person’ happy. I hated the look of disappointment, the impression of anger and the feeling of failure that happened when this person was not pleased with me. So I would suppress and deny my feelings in order to be acceptable (which I mistook for love – that was a poor substitute). I was always “doing” and not just “being”. Then resentment would grow from those packed down emotions and eventually I would rebel and discord would happen in our relationship. This first was with a parent but the same scenario happened in other relationships in my life. These situations never ended well. Now that I am aware that it is all an inside job I can move into interdependence and freedom. I have the tools and understanding to clear the “alter” (my mind) of the goals I hold and apply love and allow my unconscious to unfold the hidden things. Remove the veil of the temple (the division in the mind between conscious and unconscious). I want to do more than just survive – I want to live in the fullness of God’s love and share that love in a real relationship.
On Friday night, we did a MINDSHIFTERS® exercise which “is a thought about an issue in your life about which there are negative thoughts. MINDSHIFTERS® are designed to be used as a written process. When properly used they are an opportunity, through resonance, to surface, process and release the negative thoughts.” My MINDSHIFTER was “The sole purpose of the universe and everyone in it is to love, nurture and support me.” I began by arguing that people only supported me when my goals were “acceptable” by their standards. I doubted this statement because even people who should have supported me (parents, family, pastors) did not – so why should the universe. I felt unworthy. I felt I had failed. I really wanted to be loved. Then from deep within came a lesson I had been taught as a child – “You are a sinner, unworthy of anything but God’s wrath. Jesus died for you and you are unworthy of even that salvation. It is only by grace that it is offered to you.” I am so lacking. If I am unworthy of God’s love then how can I stand a chance with the rest of the universe? I know my purpose and I am not even fulfilling that. So I accept these thoughts as true. I submit and don’t argue (power person reaction). My jaw is tight and I am holding my breath – locking down. Then I recall the resonance. I am not expecting support. The universe is giving me exactly what I am asking for – nothing! What needs to happen is a mind shift. I release old realities from my mind. I will be still and listen for God to speak. He assures me it will come true….all I have to do is ask, believing.
We ended the week the next morning with STILLPOINT BREATHING. The best way I can describe this is to say it is a controlled method of breathing that opens us up and allows God (LOVE) to move through the entire system and clean out with super processing speed anything less than love that we are willing to let go of. I believe that God created man in His image (God is Love) and God breathed into man the “breath of life”. We are the very image of Love and we hold the breath of God in us. What power and yet we make light of the gift we hold. Breathing will unlock and release – just as the opposite is true – “holding the breath” will lock down anything we don’t want to deal with or face. This exercise was a gentle experience of self-acceptance and deep serenity. I connected with God as never before. It was safe to feel. This was the first time I truly felt, physically and spiritually and emotionally, loved by God and that I am worthy receiving that love – I will never be the same.
This has reminded me of something a speaker (I believe he was Jewish) shared at a conference I went to a few years ago. He said in his language that God’s name is not pronounceable. It is YHWH and actually sounds like a breath of air (Yah). Vowels were added later for it to become Yahweh, also translated Jehovah by the Hebrew. So, he concluded with two questions, When we are born, are we alive because we took our first breath or because we spoke God’s name? When we die, is it because we take our last breath or because we quit speaking God’s name?
I choose to speak God’s name and breathe deeply of His Love and live in the mind of Christ and allow His breath to cleanse me of what does not belong.
One of michael’s Sunday morning sermons, “LIVING, NOT SAYING THE LORD’S PRAYER” rendered the Aramaic interpretation of what is called the “Lord’s Prayer”. Y’shua said for us to “pray in this way” not repeat the words he said. He was giving us the instructions to become the space of Love in the world not a set of words to memorize. I was amazed that prayer, in Aramaic, means “to set a trap for God”. At first my Southern Baptist upbringing jumped up and said, “Wait a minute! We can’t and shouldn’t trap God.” but as I forced myself to listen further it all became clearer. As an antennae traps a signal to a particular channel and gives a clear picture through the television set for the world to see, our lives are to be a constant prayer trapping God and always giving a clear picture to the world of His Love. This will only happen when we are in perfect alignment with Him – trapping His signal – showing Love. WOW! That explains the “pray without ceasing” verse. I always wondered how someone could be praying 24/7 but when you look at the Aramaic meaning as constantly showing our true being – as God’s Love – it makes sense that we can do that without ceasing. To just say the words of ANY prayer is only head knowledge but to live the way He taught is heart knowledge. This resonates with a feeling I have always held – many people “claim” to know the Lord as Savior and yet their lives reflect the total opposite. They can say all the right words but the fruit of their life proves the truth is not in their heart. We must do our work too – follow Y’shua’s example to eternal life. The Lord’s Prayer (our instruction) is to acknowledge, worship, appreciate, forgive – and if we do, then His wisdom comes alive in us, attunes us, empowers us, penetrates us and we become what he created us to be.
COMMUNICATION DID YOU HEAR WHAT I THINK I SAID? – there is a saying, “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below..” (Hamlet, Shakespeare). Perplexed!! Do I really not know what I mean? Do I really say one thing and mean another? I wanted to ask michael, “How do you think you know more about me than I know about myself?” I didn’t ask, but I learned this day that my speech is a reflection of what’s inside and all michael was doing was “listening” to my words. For example, I said, “they did thus and so but I don’t have any bad feelings toward them.” If I am blaming someone else for what I feel then I am in denial and am suppressing the issue. I still see them as the cause instead of the trigger. I am not taking responsibility for my own reality (what I see and feel) and by my words I am saying that I really do still hold onto the bad feelings. I did not realize that there was a buried frequency within me that was driving my words and my life. My physiology does not distinguish who my thoughts are about but produces what is asked for – so I receive the bad feelings – my dis-ease. My denial actually puts more energy into the issue – michael explained it is like pushing down on a spring; the potential energy to fly off is greater when suppressed. I need to change ALL the frequencies that are in me that are less than Love. What a process! The frequencies can be weakened, and eventually be gone, through the process of forgiveness (not pardoning, see my notes on Why Is This Happening to Me..AGAIN?!). The key is to catch myself through my speech and acknowledge where I am and then change the words that I use as I forgive. When my focus (my goal) changes then I will see the change in my physiology and the change in the direction of the flow of my life. I stop and think before I speak now and I frame my statements positively. At least I am working on it and I still have a way to go on this one. It takes practice and awareness – not a job for the wimp.
CIRCLE OF LIFE AND HOW TO PLAY IT – goodness – how many words can fit on one white board? Michael shows two pathways in life, the upper path and the lower path, and what results from going either path. It begins with an event, which triggers a reality, and from there we chose which path to go. The upper path begins with taking responsibility for the reality we hold. If we continue this path we have certain behaviors we will do, i.e. breathe, love truth, stay connected, willing to learn and accept feedback. We look for the best in another (that is true humility), we are abundant and desire an increase for all, and we have true relationships, which are sacramental. We have “in-to-me-see” which is not sex but a physical intimacy that is a celebration of relationship. We do not love but WE ARE LOVE. We achieve a body of fluid light, joy, peace and aliveness and thus are winners regardless of the circumstances in the outside world. The lower path begins with denial of responsibility. If a person continues this path they also have certain behaviors they will do, i.e. holding the breath, blockage of truth, confusion and addiction to something to hide the pain. Addictions can be drugs or alcohol but can also be junk food or even hostility. The person on the lower path feels disempowered and insecure. They attack others, want an increase for only self, and are incapable of love in a relationship. They operate an exchange program where others are approved of as long as things are going their way – it is sex with a body and not relationship with a being. Manipulation and fear and are prime drivers of their behavior. These frequencies are stored as toxic crystals and toxify all around them. They drive away intimacy and are in constant turmoil, unconscious to their own plight and thus are losers even if they own it all materially. Notice when I discussed the upper path I said “we” but when discussing the lower path I said “they” – that is because I choose to be on the upper path. Honestly, at times I have found myself on the lower path but with the tools I can now see what the proper behavior should be and correct my direction..
GETTING THE STRESS YOU NEED – who says I need stress? Yes, I have plenty of it but who needs it? Michael explained that there are stresses, which keep us alive, i.e. without the stress of thirst we would not drink, and we would die. Here we learned that there are three filters over our Pool of Intentions (in front of brain). Intentions must pass through a filter to become active. They are filtered through HOSTILITY, FEAR, or RAHKMA (LOVE) and only one filter can be active at one time. (Y’shua said a fountain does not give forth sweet and bitter and that man can not serve God and man) Intentions convert to Goals, which are also filtered through one of three filters in the back of the brain, they are HOSTILITY, FEAR, or KHOOBA (LOVE). Goals lead to and drive behavior. How do we know what filter is set? We analyze our thoughts, feelings and behaviors – our realities – are they loving or fearful? Are our words loving or negative or destructive? If goals are filtered through anything but Love then we hold stress we do not need. Stress is the difference between the way we want something to be (our Goal) and the way it is (or the way we perceive it to be). Behavior becomes the mechanism that balances this difference. The degree of behavior is the same as the degree of the difference (or stress). The greater the difference the greater the stress. We need to have a repertoire of behaviors to pull from when stress appears – one behavior-changing tool is to learn to cancel the Goals (forgiveness).
HEALING THROUGH RELATIONSHIPS – Michael explains in this workshop how we all start out as LOVE as babies, then we become doers to be approved of by our Power Person (usually a parent, this is explained in my notes on CoDependence to Interdependence). We hold resentment for giving up our true nature and this resentment is the foundation for all our future relationships until we forgive it. We go into a relationship with a bag of garbage (usually matches their bag of garbage) and we each hide it well until the other gives us the look and up comes our stuff. We have the opportunity here to see that together we are vital enough for all the toxicity to surface and we can support each other, work through it and be done with it. Our relationship will actually be stronger because of the conflict. However, most people get to this point and say, “I don’t feel this way unless I am around you.” And they get rid of the very person who could support them in dealing with their realities that are less than love. Michael offers a tool called the Commitment, one version is to be said to yourself, to say to everyone you are in relationship with. We all have relationships – with significant others, with siblings, with parents, co-workers, friends and neighbors. This works with all relationships. Michael and I used the most current version of the Commitment in our wedding as “our Pagra” and at this point I would like to share that excerpt as an explanation of this tool. I encourage everyone to use this tool.
Y’shua, more popularly known as Jesus, is the source of the thought system we have joined in making our guide in life. The larger purpose, beyond our human selves, is the commitment to do whatever is necessary, within our power, to spread the WORK of Y’shua by creating a Holy Partnership of the Soul … that we may together do God’s work … sharing all that is good within us … with all whose lives we touch. Throughout our lives we have each sought to be a light to the world and now, in our joining, hold, as the Primary Purpose of our marriage, to increase that light and our service to humanity. In Aramaic, the language Y’shua used to deliver His magnificent teachings, it is understood that each person has a Personal Code by which they live. Conflicting Personal Codes are the cause of much stress in a marriage. In the Aramaic thought system, a new third entity, called a Pagra, is formed when two people marry and that Pagra has its own Personal Code. The Pagra is formed by marriage partners who, by agreement, submit their own Personal Codes, their own way of doing things, to the Personal Code of the Pagra. After deep prayer and meditation, our vows taken are the Personal Code we choose to live by in sharing our lives together.
I promise to TRUST you enough to tell you the Truth and be True to you. I commit to always be sweetness in your life, to nurture you daily and treat you LOVINGLY, Gently and with Respect in my thoughts, words and actions, whether in your presence or not. In every interaction, I Commit to affection for you, always looking for and acknowledging the highest and best in you and surrender to LOVE, our true nature. My connection to God (my Source), my relationship with you and our Serenity will always be more important than any issue. I open my heart to embrace you in my Love, and I open my heart to be embraced in your Love. If anything unlike LOVE comes up, I will hold us in my heart and listen as I learn to speak, experience and be RESPONS-ABLE for my own realities. I am here for and with you. I promise to keep communication open and keep LOVE conscious, active and present AS WE HEAL, CELEBRATE LIFE and GROW TOGETHER!
PURPOSE, PERSONAL POWER AND COMMITMENT – We all have the same Primary Purpose – that is to develop a viable, conscious, spiritual body. Then we each have a different Secondary Purpose and it is not to just go punch a clock and make money – so what is our purpose in this life? How can you know what you are here to do? Once you have your Secondary Purpose (and it will be in alignment with the Primary Purpose) then you look at your goals and decisions and only do that which supports your purpose. This in turn keeps all your behaviors in line with purpose. When “on purpose” you are empowered and have the capacity to be aware of and live out of your highest guidance. Michael asked, “What takes you out of your purpose?” He went through the process of how as a child enthusiasm is squashed and that affects the pineal gland and then pain is suppressed affecting the pituitary and on down a list until we become unconscious of our higher selves and the gonad system ceases to eradicate itself from life. We need to step into doing Purpose, take back our Personal Power and Commitment. We went through an exercise that resulted in the beginning of our purpose statements. First make a list of 10 unique characteristics or talents (skills that are natural) that you have, then make a list of 10 things that you enjoy doing (behaviors) and then a statement describing your vision of the perfect world (looking at it from a higher place). Then complete this sentence: I now use my _________(pick three or four skills from the first list) to _________(pick three or four behaviors from the second list) and create ___________(describe the perfect world). Sitting back and looking at the two lists I immediately realized that many of them complimented each other so these are the ones I chose from the list. For example: some form of learning, teaching and listening was in both lists and secretarial administrative abilities definitely help in all three. My second list also included things like travel and romance, which I could easily tie into the pattern I was seeing. My perfect world was free of conflict – oops, let’s reword that positively to a world full of people committed to love, truth and harmony. When I left that workshop I had the basic purpose statement for my life, however, as michael had recommended, I continued to pray over and meditate on direction and after 6 months, the following is my final statement.
I now use my love for learning to search for Truth and then use my teaching skills to share my understanding with those whose path I cross. I now use my organizational/administrative abilities to serve God not man. Whether I listen or speak, work or play, wherever I go on this earth, whatever relationships are created – I will stay committed, fully aware, responsible and connected to God. I will radiate the Love in me, be a clear voice to my calling, so that my life produces a longing in others to follow in the way of Truth, to live for God, and to likewise make a difference. To have such an impact on this planet that we create the shift toward love and truth and harmony as God originally created us to live.
MIND, BODY, BIO-ENERGETICS – Michael doesn’t do a workshop on this one but mentions the tape often in other workshops. The first hour of the video is an interview with Bruce Lipton, the second hour is the same interviewer and michael. They both say the same thing from different perspectives. Bruce is a cell biologist who talks about the study that has shown that when we think a thought we produce a neuropeptide. This travels our system and finds a cell with a matching receptor site. Locks in and the cell duplicates the neuropeptide and we are now living with the chemistry of our thought. This body-mind unit does not know the difference in “who” the thought is about – so think hate toward another person and it is like taking a poison and hoping the other person will die. It won’t happen. We get the original of our thoughts. It is all energy – if we don’t like the way our life is heading or what we are experiencing then we can change it by changing our mind – that is forgiveness in Aramaic.
COURSE IN MIRACLES – LESSON TITLE RESPONSIBILITY FOR SIGHT. Two years ago I could not have told you what the Course in Miracles was even about. I’m not real sure I can now either, however, a great insight for me during one of michael’s classes was that the Course itself says, “don’t study the Course.” Further explaining that you will just develop a belief system that won’t serve you. I know a lot of churches that have their separate belief systems and most really don’t serve the people – their dogma does not open peoples’ sight to see the Truth. The Course says that if you can say something in words then it is not the Truth. Wow that is confusing. The Course has the same thought system as the Aramaic translation of the scriptures in that both teach true forgiveness – not pardoning. That is that if you don’t like the output of your mind – then change your mind. Michael said the body’s mind is the mind of Adam and Adam comes from the root word adamos or red clay – we are carbon-based beings. The atomic number for carbon is 6, meaning 6 electrons, 6 neutrons and 6 protons. Now this really was an eye opener. The number of the beast in scriptures is 666 – it is us – our past not a creature to rise up in our future. It is also our generational garbage. In the scriptures it tells that the Jews wandered in the desert (the unconscious) until the old generation (from genare meaning cause) died off and then they could enter the promise land. Our old 666-memory bank has to die or be changed to enter the Promised Land of conscious co-creation. Our mind energy turns into the world we see and we will swear it is truly happening. The Course constantly says “the world you see” is an overlay. That is what michael teaches, if I am in pain, the pain is mine, and it is mine to change. My mind will distort what I am feeling and tell me it is out there. Be responsible for sight – the world is not outside.
