All posts tagged The Course in Miracles

Christmas Card 2022

For those of you who know me well, my Christmas Card is early this year! Some years it doesn’t make it out until March!

For those of you with whom I am more recently acquainted… Yes! I do understand that it is a very strange thing to receive a Christmas Card in February! (It doesn’t really ever go out as late as March… well, once maybe! 🙂 ) But it has become a bit of a tradition over these last few decades that it arrives in midwinter…

It is my wish to send a special gift – something from my heart – to celebrate the Joy of the Holiday Season, and to remind us to keep cognizant of the Spirit of Love and Kindness throughout the year! I am a great believer in the power of words. Since my teen years, I would collect quotes and stories about Christmas and send them out to everyone as my Christmas Card. Eventually, I began to write my own original stories. (This, as it turns out, takes even longer! 🙂 )

I am inspired by the experience of each Christmas Holiday Season and every year, I am stirred by its beautiful values. I love to celebrate and savor the time… I usually don’t get to baking until some mid-January weekend. I capture whatever bits of Christmas Magic I can throughout the winter and weave them into a story that I hope will delight you and lift your spirit whenever you may read it!

So, you may choose to dismiss this as, “Oh, that Crazy Guy is sending out Christmas Cards in February again!” or you may choose to receive it in the spirit in which it is sent: May you enjoy all of the Magic and Sparkle and Beauty of the many Gifts of Christmas (Peace on Earth! Good Will toward Everyone! Love and Kindness, Compassion, Generosity and Cheer! Wassail! Wassail!) Boy, oh Boy! Could we ever use more of those things now…

I hope that you will appreciate this years’ story: It is the story five brothers. Perhaps you have met some of them already. And it is about the importance, and sometimes the difficulties and challenges, of sharing the unique gifts we bring to the world!

So please, if you will, make yourself your favorite warm beverage – a Hot Cacao is always nice! – sit back this lovely day or evening, allow yourself a brief respite, and have a nice read, enjoying the magic, wonder and delight of “Five Brothers’ Unique Gifts…” (more…)

9 Comments

by Arnold J. Mungioli on February 12, 2023 • Permalink

Posted in Christmas, Uncategorized

Tagged Appreciate Everything, Carousel, Christmas, Christmas Card, Christmas Card 2022, Christmas Stories, Christmas Story, Death, Five Brothers' Unique Gifts, Gift Giving, Give Abundantly, Giving, My Fair Lady, Robert Browning, The Course in Miracles, the Void

Posted by Arnold J. Mungioli on February 12, 2023

https://livethequestionsnow.com/2023/02/12/christmas-card-2022/

Christmas Card 2020

It’s early this year, I know! For those who know me, my Christmas Card usually arrives sometime in February — but this year, we’ll break with tradition, and celebrate early! 🙂
The idea of sending this out after Christmas is in part to remind us all to celebrate Gratitude, Readiness, Openness and Willingness, and all the values of Christmas the whole year through… Perhaps this reminder is as much needed now as ever. We’ve all been through a lot this past year. One begins to wonder if there is any rhyme or reason to it all. This year’s Christmas Story invites us to consider another perspective on just how much of what we experience is the randomness of time and how much of it — well, as The Course In Miracles puts it, “What could you not accept, if you but knew that everything that happens, all events, past, present and to come, are gently planned by One Whose only purpose is your good?“ And so, inspired by that idea, I offer the following short story for a quiet January afternoon.
Perhaps you would like to make yourself a cup of hot chocolate, or bubbling herbal tea, or some delightful warm beverage, and take a few minutes to cozy up and enjoy this little story...

The Gift from the Cabinet with the Mullion Doors

by Arnold J. Mungioli

I could tell you what set it all in motion. I was there when the Youth arrived. He had a curiosity and a kind of insistence that comes from decades and decades of asserting one’s free will, and never appreciating the true gift that free will is – or life for that matter. I had never been a fan of free will, myself – not when given to those in the physical realm, anyway. I had always maintained to the Supreme Being that life on earth was too great a gift for a Soul to comprehend, let alone handle their own choices. It would inevitably lead to pain and troubles. It was someone from the physical realm – went by the name of John Keats — who once wrote, “Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an Intelligence and make it a soul?”

(more…)

12 Comments

by Arnold J. Mungioli on January 17, 2021 • Permalink

Posted in Christmas, Uncategorized

Posted by Arnold J. Mungioli on January 17, 2021

https://livethequestionsnow.com/2021/01/17/christmas-card-2020/

Adventure in Goodness

2020-01-01 09.46.58 What’s New?

New Year!
New Decade!
New Chance!
New Moment…

Here we are!
2020.
1990 is officially 30 years ago!
And I remember so many moments of the Nineties and why do they seem so much more recent than they actually were?
When I think “30 years ago,” I am still thinking 1968!
Time is a most peculiar construct.

Let us Look Ahead!
Firstly, (more…)

Messier Than Usual

Step Forward. It’s Messy!

As folks mostly know, this is Messy March!
Oh, I realize we are nearly a week into April!
And Celebrating Messy March in April… isn’t That Messy!???

Messy March is a Season I celebrate, and it is not literally the 31 Days of March, so much as it is a state of Permission to Make Mistakes, Try Stuff, Take a Risk, and Make a Mess.
I celebrate Messy March every year, and the timing is always So Perfect! It seems to show up just when it’s needed Most!

Not satisfied with where things are?
Take a Risk!
Make a Mess!
Boldly Dare!
Rarely do we risk everything and witness every next step of our Journey going smoothly.
When we brazenly risk, we shake things up!
And the first step of an improvement or a change of course can often be Mess
The Possibility for something new begins at the end of our Comfort Zone!
It’s the stuff we need to do that we don’t know how to do that will lead us to the next phase of our Journey.
And here we are
In the Messy Middle!
In the April of Messy March!
This March has been So Messy that I haven’t even had time to publish this post until Now!
My friend RICK, whom you may have read about in previous Messy March Posts and who was the Inspiration for this Season’s Creation, has been equally swamped and it looks like we shall be celebrating this year’s Messy March sometime later this month!
And we invite You to do the same! (more…)

2 Comments

by Arnold J. Mungioli on April 5, 2019 • Permalink

Posted in Holidays & Celebrations, Journey, Seasons

Tagged Acts of Service, Ahh Meditation, Dare, Grateful, Manifest, Messy March, Messy March 2019, Rick Flynn, Take a Risk, Taking care of the Elderly, The Course in Miracles, Wayne Dyer

Posted by Arnold J. Mungioli on April 5, 2019

https://livethequestionsnow.com/2019/04/05/messier-than-usual/

Imperfect and Sweet

Nothing perks up a Winter’s Day like Baking a Batch of Cookies!
This week was a time to delight in Baking!
People have told me over the years that the timing in January is quite ideal, as having gotten through the Holidays and all of the treats that they bring, it is just the time when a new treat may be welcome!
I send Holiday Baking to my Accountant’s office every year!
It feels good to let them know that their hard work behind the scenes is Appreciated! They do such a great job, and are among the many unsung heroes that fill our Day to Day Lives.
I bake a few extra for MOM, my Partner, my Office, the Neighbors…

Baking is always Fun to do! It is also a bit of work!
I find that quite often in Life those two things go together.
(more…)

3 Comments

by Arnold J. Mungioli on January 27, 2018 • Permalink

Posted in Beauty, Community, Cookie Recipes

Posted by Arnold J. Mungioli on January 27, 2018

https://livethequestionsnow.com/2018/01/27/imperfect-and-sweet/

Choose Christmas!

Fixing a cup of Sugar Plum Spice Tea …Takes only a moment!

I am very much a Christmas Person.
I Love It!
All of It!
I Love the Brightness of the Faerie Lights at the onset of Winter!
I Love the Kindness!
It also helps that my Partner is the Living Personification of the character of ELF that WILL FARELL played in the Movie.

I Love the Madness of Family Get Togethers —
Seeing Relatives I haven’t seen in a year, when I am at my absolute worst — Tired and Bleary-Eyed and Feeling Overweight!
I Love the torpid wee hours of the morning wrapping presents for people I Love!
I Love creating some inspiring Christmas Card story that doesn’t usually manifest until Valentine’s Day or sometimes Easter!
I hate SantaCon.
Last WeekEnd was SantaCon.

One of many Drunk Santa-Con-Artists passed out in Penn Station last Saturday for the children to see

C’mon! Using Christmas as an Excuse to get drunk and fall down in the street, plastered.
It seems ingenuous, Reactive — not in keeping with the Spirit of this Holiday — taking a hatchet to the Holiday and smashing it just for the sake of ruining it,
They were out in ill-fitting Bright Red Suits and wreaking a bit of havoc, creating a kind of PottersVille.
I Choose Bedford Falls!
I was spending time with MAMA who is approaching 90.
I choose “IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE!”
And that’s the thing: You get to choose!

Do you wanna’ run through the snow calling out, “Merry Christmas, You Beautiful Building And Loan!!!” or do you choose to sit at your desk and count your money and snarl like a curmudgeon, “And a Happy New Year to you! In Jail!”
It’s Your Choice!
Christmas is just a Week Away.
Create the Christmas you would like to have!
You want Bright Lights?
Hang a string — takes five minutes!

We wear our Christmas Socks to Work! It brings us Cheer!

You want to have a Lot?
Give a Lot!
As THE COURSE IN MIRACLES tells us, “Having rests on Giving, and not on Getting.”

Want to feel some Christmas Spirit?
Go and Help someone in need.
Offer some Kindness.
Create some Holiday Magic where it is least expected.
…Can be a simple thing!

Nathan' sayin' we can't don a Santa Hat while we work

Nuthin’ sayin’ we can’t don a Santa Hat while we work

Commercially, the Season is rushed to create a kind of buying frenzy.
But Actual Christmas?
It happens Simply.
And without Pressure.
It’s Fun.
It’s not a StressFest.
It’s a MagicFest!

Sometimes we pause in the middle of work to listen to our friend & colleague’s favorite Christmas Carol from when he was a Child — This is us on the “Ole’ Ole’ Ole'” part

When I was a kid, the Tree went up Christmas Eve.
(SANTA brought it!)
There was no “Black Friday.”
(And if there was, nobody paid any attention to it!)
You didn’t even think about Christmas until around December 15^th…
Then, all of a sudden (and at the same time feeling it had taken forever to arrive), there was a rush of excitement…
‘In just over a week, it’s Christmas!’
You began to make a List and shop for some presents.
You might decorate a little bit the weekend before — certainly not more than a week in Advance!
SANTA brought the Tree.
It was simply decorated and went up Christmas Eve Night.
You would often Make Gifts!
MOM sewed and DAD assembled toys.
It was FUN!
It was MAGIC!
And there was No Pressure!
It was something you did because you wanted to do it!
It was all focused around the day itself.

The SEE’s Candy Order arrived last night! Ready for Treats…

So, if you’re like me, and you are Crazy Busy at Work right now and feeling like you are way behind because you haven’t started it yet,
It’s Not Too Late!
In fact, you’re Way Earlier than we used to do it!

So have your Christmas!
Choose Christmas!
It is yours for the Taking!
…Yours for the Making!

Maybe you wanna’ bake a batch of cookies or Pumpkin Bread this Weekend?
Maybe you wanna’ pick up a Christmas Tree and decorate it?
Maybe you wanna’ Volunteer at some Holiday Event at a Soup Kitchen or Homeless Shelter?

Maybe you don’t have 60 days to prep for Christmas,
But maybe it doesn’t take that!
It’s still over a week away.
In the Sixties, we were just beginning to think,
“Hmmmmm…. What would I like to do for Christmas this year?”

A spontaneous purchase while at TRADER JOE’s — There will be some Kissin’ this Christmas!

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Vulnerable in the Soup

vul·ner·a·ble (vŭl nər-ə-bəl) adj. 1.a. Susceptible to physical harm or damage
b. Susceptible to emotional injury, especially in being easily hurt
c. Susceptible to attack
—American Heritage Dictionary

The Deaths of those 49 kids in Orlando kicked off this tumultuous Summer in the shadow of what I find to be a fairly Terrifying Presidential Election Campaign, all making us aware of just how Vulnerable we are.
Grieving for the Lives of: (more…)

2 Comments

by Arnold J. Mungioli on July 16, 2016 • Permalink

Posted in Community, New Beginnings, Speaking Out

Posted by Arnold J. Mungioli on July 16, 2016

https://livethequestionsnow.com/2016/07/16/vulnerable-in-the-soup/

Call to Joy

“God placed in the mind the call to Joy.
This call is so strong that the ego always dissolves at its sound.”
— T, 69. The Course in Miracles

What is your Call to JOY?
Is it to Write?
To Sing?
To play some Musical Instrument?
Is it to Paint?
To Garden?
To go for a Walk?
Is it to enjoy an evening with Friends?
To see Theater?
To bring a child to see a Movie?
To build a Snowman?
To build a treasured Memory?
(more…)

1 Comment

by Arnold J. Mungioli on January 31, 2016 • Permalink

Posted in Gratitude, Journey

Tagged Call to Joy, Deifne Joy, God placed in the mind the call to Joy. This call is so strong that the ego always dissolves at its sound, How to find Joy, Joy, Joyful, Search for Joy, T 69, The Course in Miracles

Posted by Arnold J. Mungioli on January 31, 2016

https://livethequestionsnow.com/2016/01/31/call-to-joy/

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Some Good Movies

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
THE SIXTH SENSE
SAINT RALPH
I AM
PRIDE
THE GOOD LIE
MAO'S LAST DANCER
MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON
CALENDAR GIRLS
WALK ON WATER
CINEMA PARADISO
SLIDING DOORS
THE LIVES OF OTHERS
LOCAL COLOR
BREAKING THE WAVES
EVERYBODY'S FINE
READY? OK
INKHEART
THE LIVING END
MARRIAGE, ITALIAN STYLE
THE BUBBLE
BIUTIFUL
GYPSY w/ ROSALIND RUSSELL
and Anything by PETER HEDGES
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All posts tagged The Course in Miracles

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Some Good Movies