Only you can deprive yourself of anything

Growing up I hoped for a computer every year at Christmas. My family couldn’t afford one, but I nonetheless persisted in dreaming. And each year I’d feel sad that my wish was unfulfilled. Years later, when the school of my dreams (MIT) rejected my early-admission application, I thought my life was ruined. And many other countless disappointments in between and since.It is so easy to believe that sadness, anger, emptiness, and all the other “negative” emotions come from things in the world (and our body) not going the way we’d like. But our belief is wrong. This line from A Course in Miracles gets to the truth of the matter: “Only you can deprive yourself of anything.” Nobody and no-thing can make us unhappy. Only we can. And we do that through our misguided belief that fulfillment can be found in the world.When we discover that the source of all joy and pain comes from a choice in the mind (not the brain), then we can begin the practice of returning to the source of all thought (and emotion) - which is our mind’s choice for either the ego or spirit. Deprivation comes from choosing the ego. Indescribable peace and joy come from spirit. The choice is up to us to make.Support the show