Book Excerpt: May Cause Miracles by Gabrielle Bernstein
PAGE 5
How It Works
This book is meant to be a guide for you to create subtle shifts for miraculous change. Therefore, don't get hung up about the process. If you follow the simple daily steps, you'll be hooked up with all you need. Try your best not to skip ahead or practice more than one exercise a day. Each lesson is artfully placed right where it needs to be. Do your best to stick to the plan—but if you feel that you need to stay on a specific day for a little while, that's totally cool. Feel free to repeat days if you need to go deeper into the exercises. But trust ultimately that there is a plan that is well crafted for you. Each exercise will create subtle shifts. These shifts are miracles. And the more miracles you add up, the more miraculous your life will be.
Before you start exercising your love muscles, it's important that you prep for your journey. So next are a few things you'll need to know and prepare before starting your journey.
Prepare to Meditate
A superneat part of this book is that many of the exercises are self-reflective and very calming. I'll guide you throughout each day to establish and deepen your own meditation practice. Each exercise has written guided meditations that are also available bundled together as an audio album on my website, www.gabbyb.tv/meditate .
Your Meditation Space
To heighten your self- reflective experience, I suggest you set up a meditation space in your home. Maybe it's a corner in your bedroom, a nook in your office, or simply the edge of your bed. Find a space where you can be alone and feel at peace. My meditation space at home has a meditation chair (as seen on my website www.gabbyb.tv/meditate), candles, incense, Post-its with positive affirmations, and inspirational images and quotes. Most important, it is a space where I feel centered and calm. You will use your meditation space for your morning and evening exercises. This space will become sacred to you. It's likely that it will become your favorite place to hang.
Your Journal
In addition to your meditation space, you'll need a journal. You may want to have it with you throughout the day to document your shifts, so make sure it's small enough to toss in your bag.
Self- Care
Throughout your miraculous transformation you may feel overwhelming emotions. This is a good sign, trust me. But if you're not making self-care a priority, your emotional breakthroughs can morph into meltdowns. So make sure to activate specific self-care activities throughout each day. For instance, I love lighting a candle and taking a bath. The simple exercise of taking a bath is an act of self-care that supports me throughout all kinds of shifts. Regardless of what's going on, my daily bath is essential. So pick one or two acts of self-care that you will incorporate into your practice. You may want to be extra conscious to eat healthful foods, drink more water, or sleep more. Know that this is a transformational course that will crack you wide open. Be prepared to keep yourself in balance by consciously paying attention to self-care. Eat well, sleep well, think well.
Be Aware
Throughout your journey, remain mindful that fear is tricky. Right when you think you've got the love thing down, fear will sneak back in. This is nothing to be afraid of— just be aware. Being conscious of your fear behavior helps keep it in check. Also, since you'll be working your self-care so well, your fear will have less room to creep up. Love will take up so much space in your mind that fear won’t have anywhere to go but out. Trust this and know that love will always shine brighter than fear.
Getting Down to Business
Now that I've laid the groundwork for your miracle-minded process, it's time for you to set your schedule. I suggest you begin the exercises on a Sunday. Each new week begins by reading the upcoming week's introduction. So this coming Sunday, read the introduction for Week One and start Day One on Monday. You don't have to stick to this routine, but test-drive my suggestion and see if it works with your schedule. This process isn't meant to be rigid; rather, it offers you guidance to create your own transformational practice.
Take this practice seriously. Trust that as you change your thoughts, your actions and experiences will change accordingly. As A Course in Miracles says, "You may believe that you are responsible for what you do, but not for what you think. The truth is that you are responsible for what you think, because it is only at this level that you can exercise choice. What you do comes from what you think." Each day of the practice you will be guided to "exercise the choice" to change the way you think. As you add up new perceptual shifts you will begin to see miraculous changes throughout your life.
Now it's time to let go, be guided, and expect miracles.
This book is meant to be a guide for you to create subtle shifts for miraculous change. Therefore, don't get hung up about the process. If you follow the simple daily steps, you'll be hooked up with all you need. Try your best not to skip ahead or practice more than one exercise a day. Each lesson is artfully placed right where it needs to be. Do your best to stick to the plan—but if you feel that you need to stay on a specific day for a little while, that's totally cool. Feel free to repeat days if you need to go deeper into the exercises. But trust ultimately that there is a plan that is well crafted for you. Each exercise will create subtle shifts. These shifts are miracles. And the more miracles you add up, the more miraculous your life will be.
Before you start exercising your love muscles, it's important that you prep for your journey. So next are a few things you'll need to know and prepare before starting your journey.
Prepare to Meditate
A superneat part of this book is that many of the exercises are self-reflective and very calming. I'll guide you throughout each day to establish and deepen your own meditation practice. Each exercise has written guided meditations that are also available bundled together as an audio album on my website, www.gabbyb.tv/meditate .
Your Meditation Space
To heighten your self- reflective experience, I suggest you set up a meditation space in your home. Maybe it's a corner in your bedroom, a nook in your office, or simply the edge of your bed. Find a space where you can be alone and feel at peace. My meditation space at home has a meditation chair (as seen on my website www.gabbyb.tv/meditate), candles, incense, Post-its with positive affirmations, and inspirational images and quotes. Most important, it is a space where I feel centered and calm. You will use your meditation space for your morning and evening exercises. This space will become sacred to you. It's likely that it will become your favorite place to hang.
Your Journal
In addition to your meditation space, you'll need a journal. You may want to have it with you throughout the day to document your shifts, so make sure it's small enough to toss in your bag.
Self- Care
Throughout your miraculous transformation you may feel overwhelming emotions. This is a good sign, trust me. But if you're not making self-care a priority, your emotional breakthroughs can morph into meltdowns. So make sure to activate specific self-care activities throughout each day. For instance, I love lighting a candle and taking a bath. The simple exercise of taking a bath is an act of self-care that supports me throughout all kinds of shifts. Regardless of what's going on, my daily bath is essential. So pick one or two acts of self-care that you will incorporate into your practice. You may want to be extra conscious to eat healthful foods, drink more water, or sleep more. Know that this is a transformational course that will crack you wide open. Be prepared to keep yourself in balance by consciously paying attention to self-care. Eat well, sleep well, think well.
Be Aware
Throughout your journey, remain mindful that fear is tricky. Right when you think you've got the love thing down, fear will sneak back in. This is nothing to be afraid of— just be aware. Being conscious of your fear behavior helps keep it in check. Also, since you'll be working your self-care so well, your fear will have less room to creep up. Love will take up so much space in your mind that fear won’t have anywhere to go but out. Trust this and know that love will always shine brighter than fear.
Getting Down to Business
Now that I've laid the groundwork for your miracle-minded process, it's time for you to set your schedule. I suggest you begin the exercises on a Sunday. Each new week begins by reading the upcoming week's introduction. So this coming Sunday, read the introduction for Week One and start Day One on Monday. You don't have to stick to this routine, but test-drive my suggestion and see if it works with your schedule. This process isn't meant to be rigid; rather, it offers you guidance to create your own transformational practice.
Take this practice seriously. Trust that as you change your thoughts, your actions and experiences will change accordingly. As A Course in Miracles says, "You may believe that you are responsible for what you do, but not for what you think. The truth is that you are responsible for what you think, because it is only at this level that you can exercise choice. What you do comes from what you think." Each day of the practice you will be guided to "exercise the choice" to change the way you think. As you add up new perceptual shifts you will begin to see miraculous changes throughout your life.
Now it's time to let go, be guided, and expect miracles.
