Embarrassment

Anger, Full Length Talks, Stress and Worry 30+ mins, Abuse, Blame, Communication, Comparison, Conflict, Dark and Intense Emotions, Denial and Repression, Ego, Embarrassment, Expressing, Fear, Guilt, Hate, Rejection, Shame

Expressing Private Thoughts

We are fearful, even of our thoughts, and we push our fearful judgmental thoughts out of our conscious awareness. But our thoughts don’t have power over us. In the safe environment of an “expression session” we let any feeling, anything that is hidden, come to light. With this practice we learn to allow all of our thoughts into awareness. None of our thoughts are actually true, and we can learn to overlook anything.

This recording took place at A Gift of Happiness Week-Long Retreat (David Hoffmeister and Frances Xu – Morning Session), Wilbetree House, Mudgee, Australia (November 5, 2016)

Sex < 5 mins, Embarrassment, Expression, Guilt, Holy Instant, Private Thoughts, Repression, Sex, Sexuality, Shame

All Those Shameful, Shameful Sexual Thoughts

Does it feel like you carry shameful sexual thoughts or guilty secrets? If you would know the holy instant, you have to have a willingness to hide nothing. Let’s get everything up and out and not have anything pushed down and repressed. This is for the whole universe! It’s important not to single out certain subjects and topics as better or more embarrassing or shameful than others. Anything that’s blocking the light needs to be released. Whether we talk about awkward thoughts or seemingly shameful thoughts, it’s the belief they are true where the guilt comes in.

Stress and Worry < 5 mins, Embarrassment, Error and Sin, Expressing, Guilt, People-Pleasing, Private Thoughts, Rejection, Shame

Exposing Private Thoughts

To learn “A Course in Miracles,” you must question every value that you hold. At our Monastery we have two guidelines that help us do this: “No Private Thoughts,” and “No People-Pleasing.” Every day people expose their private thoughts at expression sessions.

Anger 5–10 mins, Abuse, Anger, Awareness, Bringing Illusions to Truth, Conflict, Denial and Repression, Embarrassment, Error and Sin, Expressing, Guilt, Healing, Private Thoughts, Shame

Denial and Suppression

If you notice the mechanism of denial and suppression, you’ll notice the ego uses it to hold on to secrets and private thoughts. You can smile, put on a happy face, have a stiff upper lip. You can maintain a facade of dignity and peace, and even have a pride about the surface level things. But if you have an inner churning, the thoughts surrounding that upset need to be expressed and released. Jesus points the mind towards a purified state of being. Healing takes place as you clean and clear the mind.

Anger 5–10 mins, Deception, Embarrassment, Fear, Forgiven World, Jesus, Movie-Watching, Sex and Sexuality

Icons, Images, and Identities

Icons, images, and identities such as Jesus and Buddha are held very personally in the separated mind. Even these universal metaphors need to be released from the limited ways in which we think of them so that we are not offended by another’s identifications, pictures, or associations with them. Have you ever felt embarrassed about discussing Jesus in public? Have you ever felt afraid to curse, as if you might upset an anthropomorphous god?