Turn up the brightness!

I was just sitting here reading Workbook Lesson 91, “Miracles are seen in light” when this old NLP (neuro linguistic programming) technique came to mind that I’d like to share with you.  I found it to be very helpful in allowing me to access a miracle-minded attitude.

You know how on an old TV set they have those knobs on the front that can turn the brightness up and down?  Well, go ahead for a moment and just stop, close your eyes for a moment, and think of a situation or person in your life who’s bothering you.  Do this now, and then open your eyes again ONLY when you have a strong thought of that person or situation in your mind.  I’ll wait.

Okay, now for the next part, just imagine that what you’re seeing, hearing, or feeling is all coming from a TV – the TV screen of your mind.  You don’t have to see it clearly though.  Just pretend or imagine that what you’re seeing, hearing, or feeling is on a TV.

Now physically reach out and imagine that you’re turning up the brightness knob so far up that everything becomes pure light.  This is the light of love, and it is the only true reality there is.  Do this now and bath in that pure light for a moment or two, and then turn the knob back down so you can see what’s on the TV again.

Stop and do this now and then come back when you’ve had that experience.

So did you notice that when you turn it up all the way, it’s like you are remembering God?  It is the essence of true forgiveness – you are overlooking your false perceptions and seeing only the Christ.

Then, when you turn the brightness knob back down you can more easily remember that what you’re seeing is just a bunch of fluttering images on a TV screen!  They don’t mean anything, and in truth, they aren’t really even happening at all!

Now, if you really want to shift your feelings about a troublesome situation in your life, it’s important that you turn the brightness knob up and down repeatedly until a real shift takes place.  In other words, turn it up (see God), then turn it back down (see the false TV projection – i.e. the situation or person who’s bothering you).  Then turn it back up again, then back down, etc., etc..

Do this over and over again and you’ll start to notice that what’s on the TV will have less and less power to affect you emotionally.  You’ll remember that it’s just a projection coming from your mind, and that in truth, it doesn’t even exist!

I just did this exercise with my projections about my girlfriend, Melissa.  Lately, we’ve been going through sort of a rough period together, and it’s been on my mind a lot.  So here’s what I did:

1.  I brought to mind the situation with her and all the feelings of doubt, confusion, and guilt that I’ve been experiencing.  I pictured her in my mind, and also ran through some of the recent memories we’ve had where things weren’t going well.  These are what I would call “unresolved memories” – bad memories that keep resurfacing because of the mileage my ego gets out of them to keep me stuck in its game.

2.  Once I felt in my body a really strong association to this whole situation with her, I then put a big TV frame around it all and reached out (physically, to make it more real) and turned up the brightness knob until it all disappeared into the light…

Ahhh, such beauty.  There is only God, only the Light of Christ shining back at me, showing me my true reality…

3.  Then I turned it back down and saw again the whole “mini-series drama” going on with my girlfriend in what I perceive to be my life.  But this time, it didn’t seem as serious.  It was more like a silly soap-opera, but I still felt most of the negative emotions surrounding it.

4.  So I turned up the brightness again.  Pure light.  Pure God.  That’s all that there really is in reality… perfect love.

5.  Then back down.  What a strange pseudo-reality I’ve created here!  There’s this character named Erik and this other character named Melissa, and they are like these two egos having this strange conflict with eachother.  What a weird fiction!

6.  Then I turned it back up.  Nothing but pure white light.

So I did this back and forth, several times just now.  I’d spend a few moments in the light of truth; then a few moments in the darkness of illusion.  And each time I’d return to the darkness of illusion, it would seem less and less scary/real to me.

Right now, I feel sort of like laughing about the whole situation with my girlfriend actually!  It’s really not that serious at all, and in fact, has never even existed…

I think this exercise might seem a bit more difficult if you were using it to let go of negative emotions on a past trauma (like a rape experience or something that, in the ego’s world, is more serious), but not necessarily.  In truth, miracles are all the same, for there is no hierarchy of illusions.  An illusion is an illusion is an illusion.

If you feel so inspired, I invite you to make a short list of several people or situations that you haven’t yet forgiven, and then practice this exercise with them.  You can even turn up the brightness on any “present moment” in the illusion as if its a TV show.

It really IS possible to be at peace with everyone and everything. It’s always only a choice away…