Excerpts

Introduction Winter 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 mother's 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 don't forget that right now is a terrible time for the economy. It will be hard to sell a book." My response was confi dent and almost involuntary--words fl ooded out of my mouth. "Thank you for sharing," I said. "But I don't think that way because I believe in miracles." I felt empowered by these words and fi lled with faith regardless of the outside world's 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 I've 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 I'll be straight-up with you: choosing loving thoughts over fearful delusions was a tough transition at fi rst. It seems easy-- who doesn't want to trade in fear for love? But giving up fear is like giving up sugar: they're both sneaky ingredients that hide out in almost everything. And just when you think you've got that craving under control, suddenly it rears its not-so-pretty head again. Therefore, releasing fearful patterns isn't 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 what ever 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 I've 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 I'd 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 There's never enough became an internal dialogue that plagued me at every meal. I'd 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. I'd chosen to carry that limiting belief into my present and replay it in my day-to-day life. And that's the thing about limiting beliefs. They're 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 wouldn't ever make me feel safe and complete, I recognized that nothing outside of myself could fi ll me up. I learned that real happiness doesn't 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 fulfi ll 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 signifi cant change wasn't what I experienced, but instead how I experienced it. As a result of following the Course's suggestions, I've 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 I'm going to show you how to do the same. How to Become a Miracle Worker The fi rst 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, I'd 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 I'd lose my sense of calm. When I acknowledged my fears around negotiating for more money, I realized it was related to a fear that I'd acquired as a young woman: that women shouldn't ask for more. This was an outside projection the world had created and I'd chosen to believe it. I honestly don't 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, I'll reinforce the message that witnessing your fearful patterns is the fi rst step to detaching from them, and I'll provide support and guidance as you witness your own fears in all areas of your life. Then comes willingness. You can change a pattern only if you're willing to change it. A Course in Miracles says that the slightest willingness is all you need to receive the guidance to change. When we become open to letting go of our fear, we open our heart, mind, and energy to be guided to a new perspective. Willingness raises your consciousness of new possibilities and ignites what I call your ~ing (your inner guide). Your ~ing is the voice of love, your inspiration and your intuition. Your ~ing steers you out of fear and back to love. All you need is a little willingness to get your ~ing on and receive guidance to change. This guidance will come in different forms: intuition, inspiration, and sometimes even through synchronicities. Often we can experience intuition as a strong inner knowing that offers us guidance of some form. Inspiration can be experienced as a feeling of fl ow and excitement that comes through in moments when our thoughts and actions are aligned with love. Then there are moments of synchronicity, which are really groovy--like when you're thinking about your mother and she calls or when you keep hearing about a new book and the next day it falls off the shelf in the store. As you add up the exercises in this book, the presence of your inner guide will become more apparent while intuition, inspiration, and synchronicity will flow naturally. Three other components are key to living a miraculous life: gratitude, forgiveness, and love. First comes gratitude. An emphasis on gratitude is the only attitude for the miracle worker. Living a grateful life creates more abundance, ac cep tance, and appreciation. To transform your fears back to love, you must embrace a grateful way of being. Then comes forgiveness. The act of forgiveness is to the miracle worker as lettuce is to the raw foodie. Forgiveness allows us to cleanse ourselves of the old, junky fear and shines light on the darkness of our worries, doubts, and suspicions. Rather than continuing to play the role of victim, we can forgive and be set free. With each choice to forgive, we shift our perception from fear to love. Finally, there is love-- the most crucial ingredient. A Course in Miracles teaches that the only thing missing in any situation is love, and where there is fear there is no love. Therefore, living with an open heart and embracing love as our true purpose is essential to living a miraculous life. Excerpted from May Cause Miracles: A 40-Day Guidebook of Subtle Shifts for Radical Change and Unlimited Happiness by Gabrielle Bernstein All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.