While it is not one of the ten charac­teristics of God's advanced teachers (M-4), kindness none­theless is a principal attribute of those who have journeyed past most of the ego's specialness...

How often during our lifetime has the question been posed to us, “Why don’t you just let it go and get on with your life?” This is probably equal to the number of times we have asked this of others or of ourselves. Usually this question comes when all of us have become weary of the endless practice of trying to do just that – to let it all go.

Does God have a specific plan for us, something in particular He wants us to do with our lives?

Most of the time I find human nature to be depressing. We all seem so clearly out for ourselves. Put us together and inevitably trouble ensues; we fight, we divorce, we molest, we rob, we kill. We wage war not just on the battlefield, but on every field—in the bedroom, at the office, even on the highway.

Rather grudgingly, most of us, at least superficially, accept the idea that God has the power, yet we behave in a manner which wrests the power from Him. All of us have an authority problem, and that is reflected in everything we do.

The title of my talk today is “Dealing With Disappointment.” How do we deal with disappointment? How do we cope with disappointment? It’s common in the New Age and spiritual community – the New Age spiritual community that I’ve been involved with for many years – to usually want to deny that we are disappointed. Nobody wants to admit it. Nobody wants to admit anything negative about themselves. They would never say they were disappointed.

Here are several poems by ACIM student Shirely Schieber.  Please feel free to download as long as you give her credit.

Each situation presents us once again with an opportunity to heal or not, to remember the peace of God or to fall into our endless pit of guilt. I saw how easily I could project my anger onto the world, but I also saw how easily my child washed it all away with his simple words.

"The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught.  It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance.  The opposite of love is fear, but what is encompassing can have no opposite.  This course can therefore be summed up very simply in this way:  Nothing real can be threatened.  Nothing unreal exists.  Herein lies the peace of God."

Attitudinal Healing offers a way to enable us to consciously choose to let go of fearful attitudes and embrace a loving and forgiving path.  The goal is not simply to change behavior, but to re-train the most powerful instrument of change we possess, our own mind.  Thus, Attitudinal Healing occurs when we realize that our own thoughts, feelings and attitudes about people and events are what cause us conflict and distress.