It is true! Falling into the comparison trap is an opportunity to heal the mind. If you are like most people, you’ve occasionally fallen into a trap of comparing yourself to others. This is a recipe for feeling like crap. Theodore Roosevelt summed it up perfectly:
“Comparison is the thief of joy.”
But A Course in Miracles gives us “another way.” In the pain of comparing yourself to others, there is a shining miracle waiting for you to receive it. The desire for recognition is an opportunity to look at our desire for specialness WITH Spirit. The desire for something we think another has that we don’t have is an opportunity to look at our belief in lack WITH Spirit. In this video I share how the comparison trap is a huge opportunity for healing.
I love hearing from you! If this message resonated with you let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.
Thanks for sharing this helpful insight. Hard to surrender the quest for “specialness”. It seems to have a compelling “buzz” to it…a buzz without reward, perhaps.
Hi John,
I agree – specialness is very compelling! It lies at the foundation of the whole ego thought system. The good news is we only need a tiny bit of willingness to see it differently. You’re absolutely right – it is a buzz without a reward.
Amazing timing, as seems to happen so often these days! I have drawn the “comparison” card (from osho zen deck) twice in past week, which has similar message to what you’ve shared here. It is also one of my favorite aspects of the desiderata that we have hanging in our home that reminds me to let go of comparison. One of the things I noticed that I want to let go of recently was ‘ambition’… which is often considered something to be applauded in our culture. I want to trust grace instead. We were recently listening to Ram Dass audio speech which also opened my eyes with this same message you share about ‘specialness’. Enlightening! Thanks again for sharing from the heart. xo, Jules
PS – Another thing that has helped me with this is realizing that we each have our own sparkling light within… like each flower bud that opens to bloom…. that we can bloom without needing to compare or be a ‘special’ bloom/light…. that we are already beautiful beings, without need of ‘becoming’ anything… including ‘special’ – that is a big one for me as I’ve struggled with many of the same things you mentioned about outreach and ‘shoulds’. Remembering to simply ‘be’ and in so doing to also share the love/voice that I’ve been given as part of my being and let go of any concern to where the seeds we share may land and whether or not they grow…. does that make sense? Lots of love to you dear. 🙂
Julia – this is so beautiful! First, I really resonate with letting go of ambition. I’m totally with you on this! Rather than trying to “get somewhere” something inside of me just moves me forward and opportunities just show up out of no where. It feels like a lack of striving and it feels super free! I also love your analogy of the flower blooming and letting go of outcomes. So perfect! Thank you for sharing – I feel like your words further strengthened these ideas in my own mind. 🙂
Hi Corinne – How do we look at something WITH Spirit? Many years ago, I had extreme intense fear and guilt rise up with the force of a rocket ship. Unfortunately I defended myself against this and subsequently I have these extremely tight energetic tensioning bands running through me which also manifest in tension running all through my jaw and head and tight knots in what would be called the chakras. This makes me feel cut off from everything and my “head” closed to Spirit and unable to communicate. I’ve tried all sorts of things to try to release this deep inner tensioning but nothing seems to be working and it seems to block me off from receiving the miracle so then I don’t know how to take things or look at things with Spirit. Any suggestions or inspiration about this? Thanks Corinne. love Annie
Hi Annie!
Here is one way to think about “looking with” the Holy Spirit. Imagine that you are in the projection booth of a movie theater and that you are projecting your fears/beliefs/perception onto the screen below. Now imagine that the Holy Spirit is standing with you in the projection room and you’re both looking at the screen. Your willingness to let the Holy Spirit look at the screen means that you have opened yourself to receiving a miracle. It’s as simple as that. Or more simply, “looking with” implies that you are not keeping your belief hidden. You’re inviting Spirit to look at it with you, and to look past what is false to the truth beyond. I hope that helps!! xo