About Founders' Blog
5-15-12 Letting Go Of Being In A Hurry
Have you ever wondered why we are in such a hurry? So many of us hurry when we eat, when we walk, when we talk, when we interrupt someone's conversation, when we have sex, when we are on our computer, when we are driving, and even when we stop to smell a beautiful flower.
We are all in a hurry to leave one place, and in a hurry to get to another place. What is this all about?
Why are we always in such a hurry, not only physically, but in our minds as well?
We believe we are in a hurry because of Fear.
Fear inspires the need to hurry, which in turn causes us to miss the best part of life -- the precious Present, the moment that is filled with love.
Does being in a hurry bring us love?
Does being in a hurry bring us peace of mind?
We believe the answer is No.
Being in a hurry manipulates our decision making process, and makes it easy to have a busy mind and body. It is the opposite of having a still mind; it is the opposite of experiencing our spiritual core.
If you value love, peace of mind, happiness and experiencing oneness with all of life, listen to your heart when it tells you to slow down and place less value in always being in a hurry.
Have you ever experienced this definition of sanity/insanity? If so, please share in the comments below, or on our Facebook page, which you can visit by clicking this link.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
5-1-12 Our Definition Of Insanity
A popular definition of insanity comes from Albert Einstein, who defined it as, "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
This is a very good definition, and applies to things like work or projects. But what about our interaction with others?
We believe we are sane when we are experiencing ourselves as love, and giving that love away to others around us.
Therefore, when we are hurting another person, our ourselves, we are insane.
You might think this is a harsh definition of insanity, or being crazy, but ask yourself: when is it ever better to hurt someone instead of sending them love?
Have you ever experienced this definition of sanity/insanity? If so, please share in the comments below, or on our Facebook page, which you can visit by clicking this link.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
4-15-12 Thoughts on Patience and Impatience
Have you ever noticed that when you are impatient with yourself or someone else, it is actually a disguised form of mental attack?
Thoughts like, “Why can’t she hurry up?” or, “Why is he taking so long?” or even, “Why can’t I just finish this already?” seem harmless, but they are unloving judgements we make about ourselves or others. When we judge, we are immediately on the defensive, operating from a place of anger and not love.
Would you consider the idea that it is high time we no longer see any value in attacking others or ourselves?
If so, hold those unloving impatient thoughts in your mind the second they form, and turn them into loving thoughts about the person that inspired them.
“Why can’t she hurry up?” can become, “She deserves to take all the time she needs.”
“Why is he taking so long?” can become, “I believe he will finish his task successfully.”
And best of all, “Why can’t I just finish this already?” can become, “I am doing my very best work, and I know I will finish in the right amount of time.”
In our experience, when we choose to embrace the consciousness of the present moment, and know the moment is filled with truth and love, the word “Impatient” disappears from our vocabulary.
Our temporary departure to the world of the ego may cause us to experience of the illusion of separation, but when we begin feeling patience once again, there is no room for impatience because we are re-centered in love, in our innermost hearts.
Do you have any stories about a moment of patience and/or impatience? If so, please share in the comments below, or on our Facebook page, which you can visit by clicking this link.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
4-1-12 What We Really Want
An important question we enjoy asking ourselves and others is:
"What is it you really want?"
In the past, our ego minds had a whole list of wants, such as: a certain amount of money in the bank, a house, a fancy, fantasy car, and certain kinds of clothes.
Our egos dangle these things in front of us, and if we manage to satisfy these wants, we discover they are never enough. Our ego’s law states, "Nothing is ever enough."
Another hidden rule of our ego is, “Seek but never find what you are looking for."
There is a predictable result after listening to the voice of our ego; we continue to have periods of worry, dissatisfaction, irritability, anger, greed, guilt, depression, an insatiable desire to obtain and consume, and fear that would saturate every part of our being if we let it.
Another question we enjoy asking is:
How about considering making peace of mind, and inner peace, the only things we truly want?
When we make peace our only goal, we begin to live in a consciousness of giving rather than getting, of forgiving rather than judging or condemning ourselves or others, of becoming love finders rather than fault finders. We begin to discover that peace can exist in the deepest part of our being.
Is it possible that inner peace and love is our true inheritance and that we have allowed our ego to block the awareness of our true being?
We look forward to receiving your thoughts and comments on the above.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
3-15-12 The "To Be" List
We have discovered that starting our day with our “To Be” list instead of our “To Do” list brings us a sense of peace and happiness far beyond anything we have previously experienced.
It is a profound way of celebrating our “being,” the essence of love that is our true identity and our true natural state of happiness. Doing this each morning has changed our state of mind far beyond anything we have ever experienced.
Our “To Be” List serves to reminds us of our core self which is so often hidden from our daily awareness by the bus-i-ness of our daily doings and thoughts. It helps to remind us of our “spiritual self,” rather than our “doing self” as we bring forth the essence of our being as the Love that we truly are. This daily reminder emphasizes that we are more than just our physical bodies and that the Love we give and receive is lasting and, literally, affects the world around us.
We say the list out loud and it has a deeper effect than just reading or thinking the words. We always begin with the commitment that “today is going to be the best and happiest day of my life.” No matter what happens this day, the following thoughts on consciousness enable us to learn and grow from every situation without exception.
Today, my being is:
The light of the world
The essence of love
Unconditionally loving
Unconditionally forgiving
Spirit, not a body
A co-creator of love
One with all that is
Guiltless
Ageless
Fearless
Patient
Formless
Timeless
Peaceful
Compassionate
Kindness
Tenderness
Happiness
Non-judgmental
Grateful
Generous
Eternal
Honest
Grace-filled
Faithful
Trusting
Open-minded
Open-hearted
Caring
Giving
Innocence
Unmeasureable
Click here to download a frameable PDF version of The "To Be" List.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
3-1-12 Dogs As Teachers Of Love
We have felt for a long time that if we were as happy as dogs, we would wag our tails too!
The Issaquah Dock where we live on a houseboat is the only dock in the Marin County Bay Area that allows pet dogs. Our dear friend, Lynn, used to work at the Center for Attitudinal Healing and now lives on a houseboat a few minutes from us.
Lynn recently had a foot operation, and the other day I brought her some fruit and paid a visit.
Her dogs are named Maggie and Oreo, and they have become old friends. When we pass them on the dock we always stop, no matter how busy we are, and take time to pet them and enjoy their love.
Our son, Lee, has a dog named Luke. Lee has very limited hearing, and Luke goes to Lee and gets his attention when someone knocks on the front door, or when the telephone rings. They have a beautiful loving relationship with each other.
Our other son Greg and his wife, Lucia, have a dog named Maverick. Everyone thinks of Maverick as a human with a 180 IQ. In restaurants, he sits under the table and does not move an inch; some restaurants even allow him to sit at the table. He looks straight ahead, and never begs for food. When Greg goes fly fishing for trout, and hooks one on his line, Maverick jumps up, catches the fish in his mouth and brings it over to Greg.
Let us never forget what wonderful friends dogs - and all animal companions - can be, and what great teachers they are of unconditional love. Please feel free to share your own animal stories in the comments below.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
2-14-12 What If We Made Every Day Valentine's Day?
What if we made every day Valentine’s Day?
We like using our imagination which allows for a mindset where nothing is impossible.
It is our belief that the world continues to suffer from lack of love because we let our belief in our fearful mind -- which makes decisions based on fear, not love, and conflict, not peace -- take over.
What if each of us celebrated every day like Valentine’s Day, a day of giving love to everyone we see or even think about? It would mean giving love to politicians who continue to be dishonest and throw mud at each other; giving love to those we thought were our enemies; choosing to experience love rather than fear; choosing peace instead of conflict and demonstrating love rather than fear.
Please consider joining us in making love the way we live our lives each timeless moment that we are here on earth.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
2-1-12 Ten Minutes Of Hell
Recently, Diane and I were flying to Orlando, Florida and I thought it would be a good time to clean up my computer’s desktop. There was an item I did not need any more so I put my cursor on it and clicked, “Send To Trash.” After I did this, to my astonishment, everything on my desk top disappeared, and I mean everything.
Now, Diane is the tech person in our family, but I could not talk with her because she had gone to the restroom.
I woke up that day, practiced our daily spiritual lesson, and we got to the airport in plenty of time to have breakfast. We were looking forward to our trip to Orlando and we were feeling very peaceful.
And then, with lightning speed, my inner peace disappeared.
I was angry at myself because I felt I had done something stupid.
I was full of fear because I was terrified all my data was was gone forever.
I found myself blaming my computer for playing this nasty trick on me.
I was consumed with fear. The fact I could choose to forgive myself and my computer did not occur to me.
Fear and self blame was all I could think about.
I made this situation the most important thing in my life. My mind was going in a frantic circle.
Finally, after minutes of circular thinking, I reminded myself that I could see this situation differently. I could choose to forgive myself. Just as I began this process, but had not finished it, Diane came back to her seat. She calmly told me that, for some reason, everything had probably been sent to the the trashcan icon. And indeed, everything was there and was retrievable.
I had to smile at the moment of hell and fear I created for myself and give tremendous respect to how fast the ego can come rushing in if I am not on guard.
Now, I know I am not the only one who has experienced this in some form. Personally, it makes me want to be even more diligent in choosing peace, and not letting fear sneak into the front or back door of my mind. And of course, I find it immensely helpful to have a partner that does not join me in my moments of insanity and self-made hell.
Have you experienced your own Ten Minutes Of Hell? Please share your story and comments below!
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
1-1-12 The "To Be" List
This is a list to remind ourselves of our “true being” identity, which is the spiritual self - the light and love that is always in our hearts and is eternal and everlasting.
This list can also be known as the “core values” we were born with, and which we sometimes hide from ourselves by thinking unforgiving thoughts at others, and ourselves.
We feel it is a list worth reading and making a part of your life every morning as you start the day.
The “To Be” List
My being is:
- The light of the world
- Unconditionally loving to everyone with no exceptions
- Unconditionally forgiving to everyone including myself
- Peaceful
- Kindness
- Gentleness
- Tenderness
- Generous
- Honest
- Helpful
- Caring
- Non-judgmental
- Grateful
- Faithful
- One with all of life
- Formless
- Timeless
- Eternal
- Joyful
- Open-minded/Open-hearted
- Compassionate
- A spirit, not a body
- Gratitude
- Grace-filled
- Eternal
We hope you stop and consider these ways of being as we all move into a wonderful new year.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
12-1-11 The Most Important Gift
As we come to the end of 2011 and the beginning of holidays of different faiths, it becomes a time for giving gifts to family members and friends. The newspapers, magazines, radio and TV bombard us with enticing advertisements showcasing things to buy with anywhere from small to huge amounts of money.
Sometimes, in the holiday rush to buy things for others, we forget about the most important gift we can give to one another. It is a gift that costs nothing, yet is priceless.
One of the most important gifts we can give to one another and the world is our unconditional love.
This means being unconditionally loving, unconditionally forgiving, compassionate, kind, grateful, peaceful, and joyful - even to those we had previously thought of as our enemies. Let there be peace on earth… and let it truly begin with me.
Wishing you and yours the happiest of holiday seasons!
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
11-15-11 Thoughts On Open-Mindedness
It has been our experience that, when we are caught in the spiderweb of the ego thought system, is easy to become rigidly attached to that ego thought system, which is based on believing that our bodies are our true identity.
When we hold onto rigid beliefs, there is great temptation to make other people who don’t hold on to our beliefs wrong, and even to attack others when their beliefs are different from ours.
Our rigid beliefs tend to make us not open to considering everything that arrives on our plate; rather, we act like robots who function automatically.
It may be well to consider that open-mindedness by letting go of our attachment to the ego’s thought system, and loosening the hold the ego seems to have on us.
There is a sense of freedom when we see the value in being open-minded, in looking at everything through new eyes with no past hinderances keeping us in chains.
Please leave us your thoughts or comments on open-mindedness in the comments below.
Love, Peace & Blessings,
Jerry and Diane
11-1-11 There Is No Death, by Gayle Prather
Gayle and Hugh Prather and the two of us have been amazingly close friends and fellow students of A Course of Miracles for thirty years. As couples, we have worked together during our years for what seemed like day and night.
Because of our close relationship with our spouses, we have sometimes wondered how we might respond when one of us made their transition on to the next life.
Hugh Prather passed away unexpectedly about a year ago. In the November 2011 issue of the Holy Encounter, published by Miracle Distribution Center, Gayle writes about her experiences in dealing with loss and grief since that time.
We found Gayle’s writing extremely helpful to us, and were moved to share it with you.
Love and Peace,
Jerry & Diane
There Is No Death
The Course tells us that “death is the central dream from which all illusions stem,” and I can tell you that when you lose someone you love, the world becomes very real. The ego invites you to a misery feast where separation and loneliness are the main course. Other egos expect you to be miserable, and some are offended if you do not seem to be grieving in the accepted way. Please do not assume from this that I am denying the pain that losing a loved one brings. I am not. However, I am telling you that death also brings the opportunity to fully experience and commit to the truth of A Course in Miracles because grief focuses the mind in a way that lesser problems do not. Hugh and I noticed this in Santa Fe when we had two groups—a general one and one for parents who had lost a child. Most of the people in the first group worked somewhat halfheartedly at forgiveness and the other spiritual principles we presented; the parents’ group focused intensely on everything we talked about because they were in such pain. Consequently, they experienced the truth behind the words; they lived what we were saying and they taught us an invaluable lesson: there is no compromise in the Truth. The world is either real or it isn’t, but most of us live between these two dualities—we give lip service to the truth but we also want the world to work.
Nothing in the world can make up for the loss of a child or a husband or wife or any loved one, but there is another reality that can open, a place where we literally experience a truth that cannot be denied. In the year since Hugh’s death, I have come to believe absolutely in Lesson 163: “There is no death. The Son of God is free.” I feel Hugh’s peaceful, happy, loving presence every hour of every day. I talk to him; he talks to me. Of course there are times when I cry because I miss his physical presence, but our oneness with each other is still there; it did not die; it cannot die. It is eternal.
A woman told us that she had miscarried late in her pregnancy and never saw or held her baby because the doctor said it would be best that she not see her little girl. This woman spent years in pain, anger and fear about the loss of this precious little life. She was angry at God and had turned against all religion. But one day she found herself drawn to a church for the first time in years. She went in and knelt before the altar, not knowing what to say or do. Suddenly she felt someone kiss her on her cheek and she knew that it was her little girl letting her know that she was fine and that the love between them was real and untouched and whole. It’s easy to dismiss such stories as wishful thinking or even delusional, but I now know without any doubt that they are more real than the picture of separation that the world paints.
And so what message does Hugh have for you? Simply this: Do not be afraid to love; forgive quickly and easily; trust your Self, the Holy Son of God. Never forget who you are. Don’t take the world so seriously; let it fade from your sight so that you behold Love’s splendor. And like Bill Thetford says, “Never forget to laugh.”
-- Gayle Prather, September 24, 2011
10-8-11 Dr. Jerry Jampolsky On Oprah's New Show
In an all-new five week series, Oprah's Lifeclass, Oprah Winfrey reaches back through the show's 25-year history to teach the lessons that matter most to her. She will share her most personal revelations, and what she thinks now about those iconic show moments and guests.
The second show of the series is on this Tuesday, October 11th and focuses on Anger and Forgiveness. Midway through the class, Oprah honors with a brief clip from 1990 the influence of our Founder, Dr. Jerry Jampolsky as the one man whose definition of forgiveness changed her life.
The show airs at 8:00 pm EDT / 7:00 pm CDT and on the West Coast at 8:00 pm PDT on the OWN. To find the OWN channel in your area, just go to www.Oprah.com and type in your Zip Code in the upper right hand corner.
We hope you will join us and the international Attitudinal Healing community in watching this very special show!
Love and Peace,
Jerry & Diane
9-15-11 Following Your Own Heart
Written on the plane from New York to San Francisco
In Attitudinal Healing Support Groups, one of the guidelines for people in the group is to refrain from giving advice.
We incorporated this guideline of “no advice” because we believe in empowering everyone to find their own answers, their own direction and their own guidance by learning to listen to their heart -- the teacher that is within their heart, who has their personal answers.
We believe the best way to make decisions is to listen to the voice of love that comes from our heart, rather than the voice of fear that comes from our ego.
When we choose to start the day with the single goal of inner peace, it is possible to learn to have faith and trust in that inner voice in all that we do. The result from that decision moves us in the direction of experiencing inner eace.
In one of our books, tilted “Me First And The Gimme Gimmes” (for children ages 4-104), we suggest:
“Right from the start
Follow your heart”
Please share your thoughts or comments on following your heart in the area below.
Love and Peace,
Jerry & Diane
9-1-11 Healing The Pain - A Reflection on 9/11/01
This article was originally written by Drs. Jerry Jampolsky and Diane Cirincione on September 12, 2001. It was mailed to the New York Times as a Letter to the Editor, in response to the attacks on September 11, 2001.
Like millions of people all over the world, we have been in a state of shock, bewilderment and dismay, with feelings of great sadness, grief, and anger that anything this outrageous could ever happen. We, our nation, and the world are sharing a grief process that has such magnitude that it defies description.
Part of the grief we are all feeling has to do with getting in touch with all of our emotions and being able to share them with others. Anger is often a part of the grief process. We, as people who have worked in the death and dying and grief areas through Attitudinal Healing for over 25 years, know how very important it has been for those in grief to be aware of our anger and to share our feelings without attacking others with our anger. Grief is a process that for most of us takes time. It encompasses stages of denial, shock, anger, confusion, deep sadness, and more.
Sometimes some of us become attached to our anger and we want to retaliate immediately. We want to make other people hurt as we have been hurt. Perhaps this early part of the grieving process is not the time to make decisions for revenge and retaliation. Perhaps it is a time for a spiritual awakening, a time when we call on a Loving God, a Higher Power, to help us find a creative solution to the injustice, anger and fear that we are experiencing. It is not sign of weakness to feel compassion not only for the victims and their families of this calamity, but for all the people in the world who are suffering.
Is it not possible for us to have a gigantic heart full of compassion and love rather than to carry the big stick of revenge? Is it possible that retaliation might not help to heal the world but could actually only render more pain, making matters worse?
Martin Luther King, Mahatma Ghandi, and Nelson Mandela did not exercise hate, anger and retaliation for all the tragedy and deaths that had occurred to their people. Rather than concentrating on the problem, they concentrated on the solution by bringing a power greater than ourselves into the equation. They felt the power of Peace and Love, and eventually Forgiveness, to be fundamental to the healing process for all the pain and grief that had been endured.
We pride ourselves in having a great country, with freedoms others only dream of. Yet we are not perfect, and perhaps part of the solution is to look at our nation’s errors and our personal mistakes of the past, correct them, and forgive our past. Absolutely nothing justifies even the thought of the heinous crimes that have occurred. It is important for each of us to search and find the deeper root causes of these malicious manifestations of others hate and revenge. We must certainly track down these terrorists and stop them. While they must be brought to justice, will that end and solve the underlying problem? Hardly. Problems are not solved at the level of the problem. More violence does not solve violence. We must raise above the level of the problem to another level to find the solution. To find that solution we must go deeply inside and reach to the place where we connect with our Higher Power, by whatever name it is known to us. There, and perhaps only there, will we find our own connection to the problem--as well as our connection to the solution.
Let’s avoid any tendency to be myopic by failing to see larger solutions at hand. Events that change the course of our lives or the course of history are never simplistic. There are always multiple layers of lessons and learning and hopefully, transformation that emerge over time. We each have a responsibility to honor all of our fears, anger, deep losses, sadness, and frustration, all of which are so important to the healing process. Likewise, each of these areas are influenced by events at hand. We also have a spiritual responsibility to not let those emotions, our most powerful tool, be manipulated and used to foster agendas that we cannot, in our own hearts and minds, endorse. It is imperative that while the current level of force, security, and lock down is vitally necessary, make no mistake that we are currently under complete government control, down to internet and phone communications. While this may well be necessary at this stage of the game for security reasons, it is imperative in a democracy that it also be time limited.
This is a time for prayers and asking for help to be a vehicle for bringing Light into a world that seems at the moment to be in greater darkness than we have never seen before. It is a time to ask for God's help to bring more love and compassion into the world through our own lives. It is a time to look at our own relationships and to heal those relationships, where we are still holding on to anger and rage. It is a time to be patient as we learn to find more creative and loving, rather than destructive, solutions to the difficult problems that we in the world face.
Let us join together and not get stuck in the anger and hate of who is the strongest. Let us instead seek to be the most compassionate, the most caring, the most loving and the most peaceful. Let each of us take personal responsibility for exposing and healing our own thoughts, attitudes, and shadows. Let us join hands and step into the Light together, a transparent and, therefore, translucent reflection of each other. As each of us heals, the world heals with us.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
8-15-11 The Golden Rule
We believe in simplicity. What could be more simple than the golden rule?
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
This is truly the core of Attitudinal Healing.
- It is loving everyone as your brother and sister.
- It is seeing no separation between yourself and others.
- It is a focus on “giving “ rather than “getting.”
Jerry likes mental pictures, and he often uses the mental picture of seeing everyone as his Siamese twin.
If you picture that in a meaningful way, you quickly remember that when we are angry at someone, or rude, and attacking them with our words or thoughts, we are really hurting ourselves.
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" can be looked at as practical spirituality in action.
Please send in your thoughts, ideas or experiences about this blog.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
8-1-11 Doing The "Impossible"
How about joining us in doing what we once thought was impossible?
Let us decide, one day at a time, to live for 24 hours without making judgments about others or ourselves.
May we do our best to let go of seeing any separation, and see everyone as our siamese twin.
Won't you join us?
Please get back to us about your thoughts, ideas and experiences in the comments below.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
7-15-11 Thoughts On Love And Linear Time
Is it possible to change our belief about the purpose of linear time?
So many of us, ourselves included, have spent a good part of our lives feeling the purpose of time was to achieve; to save for the future so we can be secure; to believe the past will predict the future; to interpret people’s behavior so we know whether we can trust them.
When we stop and think about it, all of the above are functions of our egos, based on fear.
The world would be so different if we felt there was no linear time, and each moment we are in is eternal time with no past or future.
Wouldn't it be a more peaceful planet, if we felt the purpose of time while we are in this physical world is to share our love with each other?
What if there was truly another reality where there was only love, and no fear, no time, no past, present or future?
What if we could believe with all of our heart that love was all that existed?
What if there was only oneness and no separation?
Please let us know your thoughts about this blog and its questions in the comments below.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
7-1-11 From Hawaii: Some Thoughts On Roots
On our early morning walks (6:00 AM) to the 24 hour gym, we like to stop and hug one of the huge Fire Wood trees that grows near where we stay. We see this as an exchange of love and an exchange of energy.
The long roots of big trees that go deep into the ground remind us to focus on our own spiritual roots, which are beyond measurement.
We find that starting our day with a reminder of our connection to that which created us - God, Source or whatever name you might want to use - is like having a rudder in our ship steering us in the direction we want to go, to the home we never really left.
These wonderful Fire Wood trees reach up to the light of the sun in the sky.
We find we need much reminding each and every day that we are the light, and that we are here to be messengers of light and love.
So rather than living with the roots of fear in our heart, we prefer to do our very best, living with the roots of love and being grateful to the trees we hug for reminding us of this.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
6-15-11 Letting Go With Laughter
If there is one thing most of us do not do enough of, it is laughing and not taking ourselves so seriously. It is important to let go of what other people might think of us and feel free to be silly.
Some years ago, we decided to surprise one of our dearest friends, Dorothy Thau of Aspen, Colorado, and do something creative that would make her laugh and, at the same time, help her feel our love for her.
We decided to buy a pile of cellophane and ribbon and bows, and then we took a taxi to her house.
We asked the taxi driver to help us, and he gladly engaged himself in our plan.
We had the taxi driver wrap both of us in the cellophane packaging, with ribbons and bows galore.
We decided to be the wrapped up birthday present we wanted to give her.
The taxi driver could not stop laughing. He rang her doorbell, and then hid behind a tree to see what was going to happen.
Hal, Dorothy’s husband, came to the door. We thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head!
Then he hollered up the stairs to Dorothy and said, “There is a present for you at the front door, and you better come right down!”
Dorothy came running down the stairs... She burst into laughter and, as we remember it, we laughed all through the night.
Please send in your creative experiences about love and laughter to us.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
6-1-11 Finding Peace In Troubled Times
We seem to live in a world that is dominated by fear. Fear is seen in so many forms, and all forms have something to do with the body.
The symptoms of fear originate in how we see the world. When we see the world from our ego mind’s point of view, we experience judgments, grievances, loneliness, a sense of isolation, hopelessness, fears of rejection, sickness, limitations, and a fear of death.
In the new 3rd edition of Love Is Letting Go Of Fear by Jerry, he talks about attitudes toward fears of financial instability, and fear of terrorists and wars.
The world that has been established by our ego minds has an enemy, and it is called peace of mind.
We believe that peace can only come from within, and must begin with ourselves.
The core of Attitudinal Healing is the belief that health is inner peace and healing is letting go of fear.
Perhaps more than ever before in the history of humankind, it behooves us to focus and totally commit ourselves to live each day with peace of mind as our only goal and forgiveness as our only function.
Let us not focus on our transitory bodies, which are only costumes; let us focus on healing our minds and choosing to experience the inner peace that always rests in our hearts no matter what is happening in the outer world.
May we all join together and focus on living in a consciousness of giving, loving and forgiveness, rather than attacking each other. Let us stay in a consciousness of love and hopefulness.
Please send us your thoughts and comments regarding our current blog.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
5-15-11 Heaven As A State Of Mind
Is heaven a place, or could heaven simply be a state of mind?
Give Kids The World in Orlando, Florida is an amazing place to visit. Our dear friend, a survivor of Auschwitz, created the vision of this unique village over 25 years ago. Jerry is on the Give Kids The World advisory board and we both have been supporters of the village these past 25 years. We have continually been inspired by Henri’s vision and the courage of these families who live in the land of unconditional love where only love can be found and where, for that eternal moment, fear has disappeared. It is a memory that these families hold on to forever.
Give Kids The World is a place where children with catastrophic illnesses who are facing the intimate possibility of dying can stay with their families, free for a week. Over 7000 families go there every year. They live in beautiful villas; they are given free cars and cameras to use during their stay; and they are given free tickets to all the Disneyland parks and activities.
Within the village there are swimming pools and all the ice cream you can eat with no one hovering around saying, “You have had enough!”
For the children, these are seven precious days during which many find themselves laughing for the first time in months. And the rest of the families find themselves in a state of joy. They live these days as if there is no past or future, and only the present moment truly matters.
The letters the families write afterwards often share that their experience at the village was the closest thing to experiencing heaven on earth that they could imagine.
But perhaps these families are truly experiencing heaven. All the volunteers give them unconditional love. It is a place where there is only love, kindness and gentleness. No one is angry or upset with anyone. No one is making judgments. And there is a common bond formed between the children and families who have all been experiencing through the same challenges.
If we consider heaven as a state of mind, then it is something that is obtainable right now, each and every moment we live within these temporary bodies.
When our mind set becomes one with all minds, when we choose to give unconditional love to everyone we are with or think about, when we hold no grudges or unforgiving thoughts, when the only thing we choose to experience is the peace, love and joy in our hearts, and when we look only at the light in each other and ourselves – in that moment, there is no fear of death, and it can be a way to experience heaven within our minds and hearts.
Please share your thoughts and comments below.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
5-1-11 Two Poems On How Your Attitude Is Everything
No matter what is put on our plate each day, we can always choose to shift our perception and look at the situation as somehow holding a positive experience from which we can learn.
The following poems were forwarded to us recently by our dear friend, Christine Comaford. Author(s) unknown. They touched our hearts.
Your Attitude Is Everything
There once was a woman who woke up in the morning,
looked in the mirror,
and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.
“Well,” she said, “I think I will braid my hair today.”
So she did, and she had a wonderful day.
The next day she looked in the mirror
and saw she had only two hairs on her head.
"Hmm," she said, “I think I”ll part my hair in the middle today.”
So she did and had a grand day.
The next day she woke up and looked in the mirror
and noticed that she had only one hair on her head.
"Well," she said, “today I am going to wear my hair in a pony tail."
So she did and had a fun, fun day.
The next day she woke up and looked in the mirror
and noticed there wasn’t a single hair on her head.
"Yay!" she exclaimed. "Now I don't have to fix my hair today!"
Your Attitude Is Everything
Be kinder than is necessary,
For everyone you meet is
Fighting some kind
Of battle
Live simply
Live generously
Care deeply
Life is not about waiting
For the storm to pass…
It is about dancing in the rain
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
4-15-11 Giving And Receiving Are Actually The Same!
The tragic crises of earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan, uprisings and fighting in the Middle East, fears of nuclear contamination, financial insecurities, storms and floods causing devastation all create an opening of our hearts more than ever to those who are being deeply challenged.
But does there have to be a crisis for us to open up to each other? Whether there is a crisis or not, let us ask ourselves a question: Wouldn't the world be a better place if we didn't exclude our love from anyone?
We can choose to see others as either being loving, or that they are fearful, and giving a call for help and love. This doesn't mean we have to "do" anything (although we might be guided to do something). Rather, it allows us to send them love and healing from the deepest part of ourselves to the deepest part of themselves. We believe all love that is sent or given is received in some form or way. Since giving and receiving are the same, when we offer love and healing to others, we also receive it for ourselves.
The first principle of Attitudinal Healing is "The essence of our being is love.” When we believe, and then know, the truth of this principle, we are continually giving unconditional love to everyone and, therefore, receiving it for us.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
3-15-11 Inner Calm In the Face of Tragedy
With the devastating tragedy following Japan’s earthquake, tsunami, loss of life, destruction beyond belief, nuclear plant breakdown and emissions, there is a mixture of great fear of the unknown future… and at the same time, great compassion for the people of Japan and how they as a nation are relating to this crisis.
It behooves us to ask the question: How can each of us respond to what we are seeing and hearing and still not be fearful?
How can we maintain a sense of inner peace while all hell seems to be breaking loose all around us?
It is times like these that it can be helpful to remind ourselves that there is a peace within our hearts that always is resting there. The peace of our higher power is always one with us, and not diminished by our outside world and all the tragic things that happen in it.
It takes a lot of self-discipline to look beyond the physical world of form we see and to believe, and then know, that another reality is a world of love and light and peace where with no separation - where love is consistent and changeless.
Hopefully this tragedy has brought a new focus to all of us regarding compassion and the desire to help others on a day-to-day basis.
A simple point is when we live each moment in a consciousness of giving and helping another; when our hearts are full of compassion, the fear our ego generates from current events starts to dissipate and disappear.
May each of us remember that we do not need tragic events to remind us of our connection with each other.
We invite you to share ways you have found to maintain your inner peace during trying global times.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
3-1-11 The Art of Compassion
We invite you to join us in making the ART OF COMPASSION one of your most important daily functions this month. Compassion to us is a demonstration of the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” A compassionate person has a sincere empathy and sympathy for the suffering of others that allows them, in a certain way, to get inside the other person and sense how they feel, and then lose their self-identity in their loving, caring attitude for another.
Compassion is an attribute of love for everyone. It allows us to experience Oneness of Spirit and a higher connectedness of our hearts and minds. A compassionate person does not come from a place of fear. They have no anger, judgment, or feelings of separation as they open their heart to become one with the other person’s heart.
When we let go of our blocks to love, compassion becomes as natural to us as breathing; we will stop attacking others and ourselves; and, we will be joined by that compassionate attitude rather than separated by a warring one.
Consider joining us in:
- Starting the day with a consciousness of giving and caring to everyone we meet or think about, with no exceptions
- Seeing and treating everyone as if they were truly a part of us
- Letting go of personal grudges and forgiving the world, and everyone in it, including ourselves
We would love to hear from you about your thoughts or stories about compassion.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
A new book by Karen Armstrong titled The 12 Steps to Compassion is well worth the read. It is one of the best books on Compassion we personally have read. You may wish to join the Charter for Compassion that she mentions her book.
2-18-11 Finding Inner Peace During Chaos
"We can learn to experience inner peace even when there is chaos going on all around us."
Our egos would have us believe that it is not possible to have a sense of inner peace when there is so much fear and uncertainty in the world we see and experience.
However, when we learn to listen to our inner voice of love, there is an inner peace that is always abiding in our hearts. When we let go of the belief that the past is going to predict the future; when we let go of the assumptions that our egos would have us make; when we let go of our greed and always wanting more; when we live in the present moment and not the past or future; and when we live in a consciousness of giving, we can begin to rediscover the inner peace that is there for us to experience.
In working for over 35 years with adults and children who have cancer, AIDS, or other life threatening diseases, we have found when they live in the present and do their best to be helpful to others, inner peace is obtainable in spite of the incredible challenges happening to their bodies.
To learn more about experiencing inner peace during chaos, we recommend the new 3rd edition of “Love is Letting Go of Fear” (released January 6th) "Teach Only Love” and “Beyond Fear," which you can find in the AHI Marketplace on this website.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
1-21-11 We Can Retrain Our Minds
There is another way of looking at the world and another way of looking at life and death.
Working with families with children who are facing death has shown me that there is another way of looking at life and death, and living and dying.
They have also taught me the value of living life one day at a time, and the importance of discovering that it is always possible to experience peace of mind inside even when chaos is going on all around me or in my body.
The people I spend most of my time with are no longer alcoholics. They are like-minded people who are also on a spiritual pathway and who believe that nothing is impossible. They also, like myself, tend to believe it is possible to retrain our minds to believe there are only two emotions - love or fear - and to see our fear as a call of help for love.
The above is from the Introduction of Love Is Letting Go Of Fear - Third Edition, which was just released this month by Random House.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
1-5-11 Each Day Is A Timeless Day
May the beginning of this New Year be greeted by us with joy, love and a determination to live in a consciousness of giving and being helpful to others.
May each day become a timeless moment where we live in the present with an absence of judgments and hurts from the past and fears about the future. Let us live with a reality of being love and reflecting that love and the light to others.
Would you be willing to still your mind for a moment and take this quote to heart? In our work in Attitudinal Healing, rather than interpreting behavior, we choose to see others as either loving, or fearful and giving us a call of help for love.
In each timeless day may we not take ourselves too seriously and remember that laughter can be as important as breathing to our health and healing.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
11-3-10 Becoming A Love Finder, Not A Fault Finder
“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” Mother Teresa
Among Mother Teresa’s many amazing qualities was her ability to take something complex and simplify it. We were fortunate to have met with Mother several times, and one of the things that impressed us the most was her commitment and devotion to her spiritual pathway.
Would you be willing to still your mind for a moment and take this quote to heart? In our work in Attitudinal Healing, rather than interpreting behavior, we choose to see others as either loving, or fearful and giving us a call of help for love.
Isn’t it time to stop condemning others and ourselves? Could you imagine what would happen if each of us began to resist the temptation to judge others and ourselves and, instead, become love finders instead of fault finders? We believe we would become happier and more peaceful.
We invite you to do this for one week and see how you feel. Please email us your experiences.
Love & Peace,
Jerry and Diane
10-4-10 Starting the Day With Our "To Be" List
We have found that what tends to cause us a lot of stress is our daily “to do” list. We have found that we, like many others, often have long “to do” lists and at the end of the day, we are tempted to be frustrated because we have not finished everything on the list.
We have created a “to be” list, and we start the day by reciting it out loud while still in bed. Then we review our “to do” list after we get up and in gear. And guess what? Our day inevitably becomes more peaceful as well as more productive.
You can make up your own list each day or use the same one over and over. Our list generally goes like this:
My “to be” list is having an attitude of being:
1. Unconditionally loving
2. Compassionate
3. Kind
4. Gentle
5. Forgiving
6. Honest
7. Open-minded
8. Caring
9. Giving
10. Non-judgmental
11. Mindful
12. Open-hearted
We are suggesting that you might choose to start the day with your “to be” list for one week and then see for yourself if your days are not happier and more peace-filled.
If we have a day that is going really badly, we often “reboot” the day and actually, consciously, start the day over again by reciting our “to be” list out loud. It is incredible how effective this simple practice can be in restoring the day.
We would love to hear from you about your experiences of incorporating the “to be” list into your life. Please feel free to post on our Facebook page!
Love & Peace,
Jerry & Diane
9-21-10 A Month For Gratitude
We find that there are days when we focus on the wrong minded things like our frustrations, our grievances, and our hurts that we end up being irritable, edgy and depressed.
One of the aspects of what we call “right minded" things is focusing on our gratitude. When we start the day with a gratitude list we end up peaceful, happy and light hearted.
An attitude of gratitude has the power to heal our hurts, our irritability and our mood
For ourselves, we are going to make the month of October, GRATITUDE MONTH.
Would you like to join us in the endeavor and send us a story where choosing an attitude of gratitude helped bring you or someone else inner peace?
Love & Peace,
Jerry & Diane
9-7-10 Today Is the Happiest Day of Our Lives
We are just back from our first trip to UlaanBataar, Outer Mongolia. The new Attitudinal Healing Center there is growing rapidly and co-creating groups with NGO’s working with AIDS, persons with disabilities, abused and homeless children, persons in wheelchairs, the blind, as well as folks wanting to incorporate Attitudinal Healing with the challenges of their everyday lives.
By utilizing Attitudinal Healing Principles, they are learning that often what they believe is what they experience. Recently a friend pointed out to us a quote from President Lincoln that states, “You are as happy each day as you decide to be.” We and many others, both in Mongolia and elsewhere, who live by the Principles are determining that we can decide to be peaceful and happy each day no matter what appears on the plate of life.
Each day we wake up and say out loud that today, we decide anew that this day is going to be the most peaceful and happiest day of our life. And we are discovering that it really works - that in life, your attitude actually IS everything!
We look forward to and would love to receive comments from you about your experiences in deciding to be happy each day.
Love & Peace,
Jerry & Diane
7-13-10 Independence From Our Egos
This July, as always, the United States celebrated its Independence Day. We decided to make this day and this month a celebration of Independence from our egos.
Our egos filled with fear seem to have so much "crazy glue" around them, they become like fly paper, and the more we try to shake loose from our egos filled with fear, the more entangled we become with them.
We find if we take one second at a time to focus on getting beyond our bodies, and sharing our love with other, that our egos will lie down for that one second and we feel free and independent.
Please comment below and tell us about your experiences of becoming independent of your egos, even if only for one moment!
Love and Peace,
Jerry and Diane
6-8-10 Recognizing "Being" Instead of "Doing"
One of the focuses of Attitudinal Healing is to let go of the blocks that interfere with experiencing ourselves as love and giving that love away.
We have experienced that the main blocks to love are generally our judgments of ourselves and others, our attachments to guilt and blame, our control issues, the interpretations we make on others and ourselves, and our belief that we are only bodies doomed to die and that’s the end of it. These are strong manifestations of the ego’s system that keep us from experiencing love and inner peace.
Another manifestation of the ego system is that we get caught up in our “to do list” and achieving, and feel guilty when we have not completed our impossible list. We seem to make our “to do list” more important than “being.” Would you be willing for just a week to wake up in the morning and focus on what we call our “to be list?” This would mean that you could wake up every day and say to yourself:
Today I recognize that my “Being” is:
• Unconditionally Loving
• Compassionate
• Peaceful
• Gentle
• Generous
• Honest
• Trustworthy
• Kindhearted
• Mindful
• Open Minded
• The Light of the World
Love and Peace,
Jerry and Diane
4-13-10 Love IS The Answer
There is an old saying that April showers will bring May flowers. We like to think that our purpose here on planet earth is to be gardeners who plant seeds of love. Some of the seeds will blossom into flowers almost instantly; some might take a few months, while others may well take years. In their own time all of them will blossom. When we plant these seeds and give our love away to others, we do not measure it or get focused on the outcome. We believe that all love sent is ultimately received at some level.
Attitudinal Healing has to do with letting go of the blocks to love and learning to not be afraid of it.
We often ask ourselves, “Are we here to love or are we here to judge?” Have you ever thought of what might happen if each of us would make a decision not to judge others or ourselves? That would mean that we would be loving ourselves and not excluding our love from anyone?
What would happen if each of us decided today to see only the light in each other and not our lampshades… the costumes we wear?
What would happen if in our minds in every challenging encounter we said silently, “YOUR LIGHT IS ALL I SEE AND IS BUT A REFLECTION OF THE LIGHT IN ME?”
We might then find that, indeed, Love actually IS the answer.
Love and Peace,
Jerry and Diane
2-26-10 Happiness Is A Choice
This month we celebrated President Lincoln's birthday and were reminded by our dear friend Carlos Santana of a quote of his that went something like, "We are only as happy as we decide to be."
That quote is what Attitudinal Healing is all about. Our happiness is not dependent on external factors. Our happiness is our natural state of mind. It is only the self-imposed blocks we put in the way of love, such as unforgiving thoughts, that cause our unhappiness.
We can make a decision to be totally happy and peaceful no matter how hard we work with what is put on our plate.
We want to thank so many of you who have come to the new AHInternational website and shared so many beautiful comments and helpful feedback. Please invite your friends and family to visit www.ahinternational.org and share it with others - all are invited.
Love and Peace,
Jerry and Diane
1-18-10 Another Way Of Looking At Life
The mind can be retrained. Within this fact lies our freedom. No matter how often we have misused it, the mind can be utilized in a way that is so powerful an agent foe change that at first it is beyond anything we can imagine. However, before the mind is retrained, it seems to be nothing but tightly locked compartments. We sense our potential, but it is held behind "closed doors." As you may already know, these blocks are really only attitudes in need of healing, and because they are attitudes that we alone have chosen, they can be altered. With each small change, another "door" springs open. At the beginning we feel trapped and unable to escape our limitations, but as each unhelpful attitude is put aside, we increasingly see that our mind was never meant to be compartmentalized. All our potential has always been at hand because our mind is, when healed of our grievances, whole. The final barriers to our happiness are self-imposed.
Comments
How can I help?
I have been desperately looking for a job/income and asked the Holy Spirit (HS) what to do. No answer but I then asked (or did HS?) how can I help? No answer but my wife and I then sat down for a coffee with our respective books - mine by Lee Jampolsky and hers by you two - and I just knew I must ask you, "How can I help?"
I'm in UK and have many talents (e.g. writing, publishing, running workshops, accounting etc) but no money or income at the moment and so I'm asking, "How I can help?"
Please let me know if The Great HS has an answer for us.
Kia ora
Philip
Thank You for continuing your most important work!
Thank You for continuing your wonderful work!
This Day I Choose To Spend In Perfect Peace!
http://www.kidscandoit.com/blog/
And thanks again for writing your wonderful endorsement for one of my books!
Sandy Humphrey
http://www.kidscandoit.com/blog/
Thanks so much and thanks again for your wonderful endorsement for one of my books!
Sandy
Jerry, Diane - you sweeties! I had the great joy to met you in Dortmund, Germany. and it was such a rich encounter for me. since then I was able to forgive. thank you thank you so much for sharing your love and lived acknowlede. i cannot find other words than thank you thank you!
so many books I read in the past, but nothing was so impressive as your speech. you are blessed and so we are all!
the simplicity always strikes me.
love
Now that I've found the AH International Website, the Founders Blog is my favorite part. Please keep on sharing! Thank you...
"Why not Love one another as if it were All there is?"
Thanks,
Elaine
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