"A Course in Miracles" - a song a day
I am rarely miserable these days, though I was pretty much always that way when I was young. Gradually over time I learned some things that lightened my outlook considerably and led me out of chronic misery to a more functional emotional "set point" ... but I was still wracked with doubts and fears, and probably wouldn't have described myself as truly happy.
Somewhere along the way I discovered that happiness is a choice, and took on practicing it, and in recent years, happiness has become my natural emotional place. Sure, I still not infrequently get impatient, frustrated, annoyed, upset, fearful, doubtful, and a whole range of emotions ... but I usually return pretty quickly to a happy, grateful place (sometimes it happens pretty naturally, other times it takes a bit of effort) ... and these days I spend the bulk of my time there. And I am hugely grateful for that!
Most of this happened before I discovered ukulele a couple years ago ... and playing uke has only enhanced my state of happiness. And yeah, when I do go to some dark place, and remember to and am willing to grab a uke and play something ... it is a great tool for helping raise my emotional state. And playing it a lot when I'm not particularly miserable helps to keep me in a happier state more of the time.
One of several things that has helped me in this journey over the years is that a few years back, I did the entire 365 lessons of the "Workbook for Students" from "A Course in Miracles". It's quite an amazing work ... neither religious nor anti-religious ... it's an experiential training that deeply shifted my way of seeing and interacting with the world to one of peace and love and oneness. I did not get through the entire thing in a year ... I think it was more like two and a half years! ... but I did complete the entire thing. Pretty amazing for me, since I know myself as much more of an enthusiastic starter than a diligent follow-through-er or finisher.
And ... then over the years, I stopped using the principles as diligently, and stopped doing the practices as much ... I moved on to other things that also helped me, but I got away from some of the fundamentals that kept me most grounded.
Two weeks ago Friday I saw a movie, James Twyman's "A Chorus in Miracles", a documentary of his year spent traveling around visiting other ACIM practitioners, and recording a song with collaborators for each of the 365 lessons. I was moved by the movie to pick up the lessons again, starting with #1 on Saturday, and by Monday I had started my own little
"A Course in Miracles" song-a-day project. Today is Day 12, and I am about to record my Lesson 12 song.
Meanwhile, here's the
playlist, starting with Lesson 1: