Mind Training

We are addicted to ego thinking. Mind training is an essential tool as we move toward sobriety.

 You are much too tolerant of mind wandering, and are passively condoning your mind’s miscreations.

Lesson 95 tells us:

We have seen the extent of our lack of mental discipline, and our need for mind training. It is necessary that we be aware of this, for it is indeed a hindrance to our advance.

 In addition to recognizing our difficulties with sustained attention, we must also have noticed that, unless we are reminded of our purpose frequently, we tend to forget about it for long periods of time.(we slip into our addiction of ego thinking)

 Structure, then, is necessary for us at this time, planned to include frequent reminders of our goal and regular attempts to reach it. Regularity in terms of time is not the ideal requirement for the most beneficial form of practice in salvation(saved from what? our own delusional thinking). It is advantageous, however, for those whose motivation is inconsistent, and who remain heavily defended against learning.

 Do not, however, use your lapses from the schedule as an excuse not to return to it again as soon as we can. There may well be a temptation to regard the day as lost because we have already failed to do what is required. This should, however, merely be recognized as what it is; a refusal to let our mistake be corrected, and an unwillingness to try again

 When we fail to comply with the requirements of this course, we have merely made a mistake. This calls for correction, and nothing else. To allow a mistake to continue is to make additional mistakes, based on the first and reinforcing it. It is this process that must be laid aside, for it is but another way in which we would defend illusions against the truth.

 Let all these errors go by recognizing them for what they are. They are attempts to keep us unaware we are one Self, united with our Creator, at one with every aspect of creation, and limitless in power and in peace.

Lesson 95 gives us some practical advice for mind training. One of the major obstacles to sobriety is the extreme difficulty of discerning when we are thinking ego thoughts, thinking with the wrong mind, and when we are thinking God thoughts, thinking with the right mind. How can we address our addiction when we don’t even know when we are using? We must be vigilant. We must monitor our thinking carefully. As we work our program, examining the ego thought system, bringing ego thought to the light, mind training and doing the Holy Spirit’s bidding, the fog of our delusional thinking will begin to thin. Our right mind, our miracle mind, will more and more frequently be used.

As the fog dissipates, we will learn to see the difference between the hell of ego thinking, insanity and drunkenness and the Heaven of miracle thinking, sanity and sobriety. Let us always remember that every hour, every minute, every second that we engage in this process, someone hears the Voice of hope, the stirring of the truth within his mind, the gentle rustling of the wings of peace, the possibility of Heaven on earth.