Gabrielle Bernstein - May Cause Miracles: A 40-Day Guidebook of Subtle Shifts for Radical Change and Unlimited Happiness

Add More ~ing to Your Life

Spirit Junkie

Copyright 2013 by Gabrielle Bernstein

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Harmony Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

www.crownpublishing.com

Harmony Books is a registered trademark, and the Circle colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available upon request.

eISBN: 978-0-307-98694-8

Jacket design by Michael Nagin
Jacket photograph by Dan Hallman

v3.1_r1

For my fianc, Zach.

I honor your miraculous journey.

Contents

Heaven on Earth is a choice you must make, not a place you must find.

WAYNE DYER

W inter 2009 was a turning point in my career. I was in the process of trying to get a publishing deal for my first book, Add More ~ing to Your Life: A Hip Guide to Happiness. At this time the recession had us in a headlock. Fear and uncertainty were at an all-time high, news anchors reported on the ever-growing unemployment rates, and nearly every industry was negatively affected.

I remember sitting in my mothers kitchen telling my stepfather about my book concept. He tried his best to be as supportive as possible, but his fear of the recession was very strong. He responded, This is a great concept, Gab, but dont forget that right now is a terrible time for the economy. It will be hard to sell a book. My response was confident and almost involuntarywords flooded out of my mouth. Thank you for sharing, I said. But I dont think that way because I believe in miracles. I felt empowered by these words and filled with faith regardless of the outside worlds resistance. In that moment I witnessed my commitment to letting go of fear and recalibrated my faith in miracles.

Three months later I sold the book.

For the past seven years Ive been working hard to keep my mind clear of fear and maintain my miracle mind-set. As a result of my dedication to miracles I have become a raconteur for love, inspiring audiences worldwide through my global speaking circuit, books, and social media. Today I live a miraculous life and am on a mission to help everyone do the same. My dedication to miracles got me to this groovy state. But Ill be straight-up with you: choosing loving thoughts over fearful delusions was a tough transition at first. It seems easywho doesnt want to trade in fear for love? But giving up fear is like giving up sugar: theyre both sneaky ingredients that hide out in almost everything. And just when you think youve got that craving under control, suddenly it rears its not-so-pretty head again. Therefore, releasing fearful patterns isnt for dabblers. It requires diligence and commitment. It requires you to become a full-on miracle worker.

One of the key components to my glass-half-full lifestyle is my dedication to A Course in Miracles, which teaches, An untrained mind can accomplish nothing. Over the span of nearly forty years, the Course, a self-study metaphysical guide published by the Foundation for Inner Peace, has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. It can be approached in whatever capacity works best for the individual, and in my experience studying the Course resulted in a full-blown mind cleanse, not to mention a superrockin life.

As a student of the Course Ive learned that to find real happiness we must be willing to look at our fears straight-on. Throughout my practice I was guided to examine all my fears and investigate their root cause. For instance, upon looking at my fearful patterns with food, such as bingeing and obsessing over the next meal, I could understand that my compulsive overeating was a reaction to the childhood anxiety Id picked up at the dinner table. At one time, my mother struggled with overeating. She turned to food to anesthetize her own inner turmoil. Her compulsive overeating affected me because I unconsciously picked up her anxious energy around the dinner table. This seemingly minor experience created a lot of anxiety for me when it came to eating. Unconsciously I took on my own fear around food. The fearful thought Theres never enough became an internal dialogue that plagued me at every meal. Id overeat and speed through meals. I never tasted my food. I never even enjoyed it. I lived in this torturous cycle for years until I became willing to look at the fear underneath my behavior. Once I looked at my fear, I understood that it was based on that false belief that there was never enough. I spent decades in fear of not having enough to eat. Id chosen to carry that limiting belief into my present and replay it in my day-to-day life. And thats the thing about limiting beliefs. Theyre just smoke and mirrors, a bit of mental sleight of hand that leads us in the wrong direction in life. Through my willingness, dedication to miracles, and infinite patience I was guided to all the resources I needed for healing. In time, my food addiction lifted.

Upon realizing that overeating wouldnt ever make me feel safe and complete, I recognized that nothing outside of myself could fill me up. I learned that real happiness doesnt come from getting but from giving. I accepted that true serenity and happiness come from a connection to love. Deep down we all inherently want to love and be loved. When we fulfill our function, which is to truly love ourselves and share love with others, then true happiness sets in.

As soon as I made the Course part of my daily life, I cleaned up my fearful thought patterns. Everything began to change. The most significant change wasnt what I experienced, but instead how I experienced it. As a result of following the Courses suggestions, Ive forgiven my past, released my future, and shown up for the present with love and faith. The changes in my life were beyond phenomenal.

Now Im going to show you how to do the same.

The first step in choosing love over fear is to understand your fear. As a student of A Course in Miracles I learned to become the witness to my fear-based thoughts. Each time I felt fear set in, Id take a deep breath, step outside of my thoughts and actions, and witness my behavior. By witnessing my fears I saw how delusional they actually were. For instance, early in my career I ran a public relations business. Every new client brought a new opportunity to negotiate my monthly retainer. I hated negotiating. It made me feel anxious and jittery, and Id lose my sense of calm. When I acknowledged my fears around negotiating for more money, I realized it was related to a fear that Id acquired as a young woman: that women shouldnt ask for more. This was an outside projection the world had created and Id chosen to believe it. I honestly dont even remember where or when I picked it up, but it stuck to me like glue. This fear-based illusion from the past replayed itself enough times that it became a belief system I was faithful to. But by getting honest about my fear, I determined how this lack mentality had become a fear-based pattern in my mind. Throughout the book, Ill reinforce the message that witnessing your fearful patterns is the first step to detaching from them, and Ill provide support and guidance as you witness your own fears in all areas of your life.