Regina Dawn Akers

Hello Dear Friends,

We often recognize and accept guidance when it comes to us in the affirmative, such as go here or do this. In fact, we tend to look for guidance in the affirmative when we ask, “Where shall I go; what shall I do; what shall I say and to whom?”

However, it can be more challenging to accept guidance when guidance comes in the negative or the “don’t go there, don’t do that, don’t speak to that one” way.

In the last six months, I have experienced the opportunity to say “no” to several different offers. Although the offers were often aligned with things I would enjoy doing, there was an intuitive feeling to say “no.” At first this was very confusing for me. I didn’t trust my internal “no,” especially as the other party persisted in making the offer. But after a lot of pain caused by not listening to my “no,” I finally learned to say, “No, I won’t go there,” “No, I won’t do that,” and “No, I won’t speak to that person.”

After I learned to fully trust my “no,” I felt to pick up a book that was loaned to me many months ago. In that book, there is a story about Jesus and a test that some monks put him through. In the story, Jesus had not eaten for a long time. He was very hungry. The monks placed him alone in a room with two plates of food and two glasses of wine. At first, he thought someone was going to join him. Then he realized that both plates and both glasses were for him.

Jesus picked up the first glass of wine and prepared to drink from it when he heard in his mind, “Not that one.” He put the glass down and drank from the other one. Then he started to eat from one plate of food when he heard, “Not that one.” He pushed that plate away and ate from the other one.

When he was finished, the monks came in and told him he had done well to listen and trust his guidance. The wine and food he did not partake of was drugged and would have made him very sick.

This story shows two things:

1) Holy Spirit guides us in what to do and what not to do. Our thinking and judgment is not needed. We only need to trust the affirmative and negative guidance that we are given.

2) There is no sacrifice in Holy Spirit’s guidance. Notice that Jesus did get to eat and drink.

People often ask me what they should do. I cannot answer that question for anyone but myself. Each one must discover his or her own guidance. But it is helpful if you remember that guidance comes both in the “do that” and “don’t do that” form. Feel within to find what is right for you, and trust that.

With Love,

Regina

Hello Friends,

NTI Revelation, Chapter 20 says:

Peaceful dreams end in peace. For one who has seen the peaceful purpose of awakening cannot see fear in dreams. The purpose is the same and has not changed, but this one can see it now. This one can see it now, because this one has learned to remember who he always is.

To me, this passage is really interesting. Notice it says that “one who has seen the peaceful purpose of awakening cannot see fear in dreams. The purpose is the same and has not changed, but this one can see it now.”

This answer seems to imply that there is a state of mind, which we might calll enlightened, that still has a purpose of awakening. In other words, a mind in this “advanced” state of mind is still learning.

This reminds me of some things that Peace Pilgrim shared:

“There were hills and valleys, lots of hills and valleys, in that spiritual growing up period. Then in the midst of the struggle there came a wonderful mountaintop experience–the first glimpse of what the life of inner peace was like.

“Now there is a living to give instead of to get. As you concentrate on the giving, you discover that just as you cannot receive without giving, so neither can you give without receiving–even the most wonderful things like health and happiness and inner peace. There is a feeling of endless energy, it just never runs out; it seems to be as endless as air. You seem to be plugged in to the source of universal energy. “

Notice that Peace Pilgrim said the struggle is over, because she doesn’t need to be “pushed” into doing the right thing anymore, but she says “the progress was not over.”

I’ve always had the feeling that the “I’m done” attitude of enlightenment is ego. NTI Revelation seems to say this too. Look at this quote from NTI Revelation, Chapter 19:

The thinking mind desires the delay of true desire. In the hour when true desire is nearly full force, the thinking mind will look for a way to lead you from your true desire, possibly also by leading you to think you are fulfilling it.

It seems that when we reach a specific level of love, there is an ego temptation to say “I have arrived.” This, I am certain, is an error. It leads us to deny the ego when we seem to “slip out of harmony.” When we deny the ego, we aren’t letting it go. In other words, progress is stalled.

I think it is better to say, “My purpose is still the same, only I am more clear about it now.” With this recognition, we continue to ascend the “stairway to Heaven”, but we ascend it with the joy that comes from recognizing only one purpose for all things.

With Love,

Regina

~ha ha~ It’s a funny subject line, but it is true. I had an experience a couple of weeks ago where, for just an instant, I was an apple.

I was sitting next to my daughter, and she was eating an apple. Then suddenly, just as she bit into it, I was the apple. It was an amazing experience. I felt her bite into me, but it didn’t feel like I would have imagined it would feel. I felt teeth cut through me, but yet the teeth never touched me. It was like the energy from the teeth cut through the energy of me. And it felt glorious. It felt like love. It felt like sparkles…like an explosion of energy crystals dancing around each other.

I think two things have stuck with me since having this experience.

1) In the instant that I was an apple, I was not Regina. I was an apple. But “I” still was.

This reminds me of another experience I had last winter. It lasted for about 2 minutes. In that experience, I wasn’t identified with anything in form. I wasn’t Regina. I was observing her and there was a memory that I used to think I was her, but I couldn’t identify with her in those 2 minutes. I wasn’t identified with anything, but “I” still was. It’s interesting how the “I” doesn’t stop, even though I can be identified with a different object or no object at all, don’t you think?

2) Being an apple helped me to see that all is love, and it is only our judgment of it that says it is not. I mean, after all, I would have judged that being bit into was a bad experience. But it wasn’t. It was an experience of love. In that instant, there was only love.

I suddenly felt to share this with you, and I’m glad I did. It feels good. Sharing this experience feels like extending love. I feel like I am saying, “I know who you are,” and yet, there is no form in who you are. But I do know who you are…at least a little, because I have experienced it a little. You are pure love, and I am grateful to know you. I look forward to getting to know you better. ~smile~

In Love,

Regina

Hello Friends,

I was reading something in NTI today, which led me to ask, “Can I choose enlightenment?” The only answer that I heard was, “Yes, of course.”

This answer makes perfect sense and does not make perfect sense, depending on the voice listened to within the mind. For some, the crap seems so thick and so real that it seems impossible to choose enlightenment. But that is only because the mind has not yet accepted that it chooses not to be enlightened. The mind must accept this fact first or it can never choose enlightenment.

ACIM and NTI teach that only love exists. If this is true, and I submit that it is, then we must choose every experience that isn’t love, because we could not experience it if we did not choose it. If we choose every experience that isn’t love, we literally choose not to see what is. We choose not to be enlightened. And if ‘not to be enlightened’ is a choice, we can make a different choice and choose enlightenment.

It’s just a decision. How many times has Holy Spirit told us this? And yet, we refuse to believe. But what if it is true? If I can choose enlightenment, then I simply need to make that choice and be vigilant about it. But how do I do that?

It’s really very simple. (Maybe not always easy, but definitely simple.)

1. I must trust that I am innocent. When I believe that I am guilty, I fear my own thoughts. When I fear my own thoughts, I am not honest with myself about them. If I am not honest about them, I am not making conscious choices, and if I am not making conscious choices, I
cannot choose enlightenment. So I must trust that I am innocent. Whenever I feel that I am guilty, I must rest and let that perception go. It is never true, and I must never let myself believe it, regardless of what it seems I have done.

2. I must trust. Fear seems to be the greatest obstacle to God. If I want to know God within my experience, I must let go of fear. Trust is the antidote to fear. Whenever I notice that I fear anything, I must choose to let go of fear. I must choose to trust, and I must choose to be firm in trust.

3. I must rest. The ego is a part of the mind that spins and spins and spins. It spins to create fantasy, and fantasy is not enlightenment. Therefore, I must learn to rest. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I need to meditate. It simply means that I need to notice when the mind is working to create fantasy, and I must choose to rest right then and right there. If my mind is telling me that I am being disrespected, I must notice that is not love, which means it is fantasy, and I must rest. I must stop listening to the mind’s fantasies, and I must rest. (Resting is the same as letting go. This is the process called forgiveness.)

4. I must be grateful. Like trust, gratitude is an antidote. Gratitude is the antidote to judgment. Whenever I am grateful, I am not judging. I am simply appreciating what is. We make the mistake of judging first and then being grateful only for that which we judged as worthy of gratitude, but if we choose gratitude first…gratitude for all things…there is no judgment. Judgment is rejection. When there is no judgment, there is only love.

There may be other steps that are not coming to my mind right now, but these four choices seem to be the main ones.

By making these choices, I choose enlightenment. By making these choices consistently, I begin to experience that which I have chosen. My experience at first may be only small glimmers of enlightenment, but those small glimmers are convincingly real. As I begin to
experience glimmers of enlightenment, I make these choices more. And so I experience more, and I make the choices more. And so on, and so on, and ~smile~.

With Love,

Regina