LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE:
https://fromanxietytolove.com/35
TRANSCRIPT
This is From Anxiety to Love Radio, the show about undoing anxiety through A Course in Miracles and other pathways of love. Gain insights and tools to deepen your awareness of the peace that already exists within you. I’m your host Corinne Zupko, author of the award-winning and best-selling book “From Anxiety to Love.”
[Music]
Hey friends! Welcome to today’s episode!
This is Episode 35 called, “Feet on the ground and fingertips in Heaven.” From Episode 30 onwards, I’ve been sharing the unexplainable experiences I’ve had over the past two years and while I’ve been trying to share my story chronologically, it’s been challenging because so much is interwoven. So we’re taking a little detour today.
I was initially stuck on which direction to go in this episode until a listener helped me out by leaving a comment on a prior episode saying that they were trying to make sense of my connection with the earth and the body, being that they’re studying A Course in Miracles. So I feel moved to go in “the body” direction today, so thank you to the person who left that comment. It really helped me out.
My view of the body has evolved based on my experiences and a helpful quote in A Course in Miracles. Not too long ago, in the midst of multiple synchronicities per week and these synchronicities were happening almost daily, while I was feeling a deep connection with the earth, I was guided to a passage in A Course in Miracles that stopped me in my tracks.
This is a quote from the CE and URtext editions of A Course in Miracles about Jeane Dixon, a woman who was a well-known psychic and astrologer of the 20th century:
In A Course in Miracles, Jesus says, “Actually, Jeane Dixon was right in her emphasis on “Feet on the ground & fingertips in the Heaven,” though she was a bit too literal for your kind of understanding. Many people knew exactly what she meant, so her statement was the right miracle for them.”
I want to emphasize this one line from Jeane Dixon: “Feet on the ground & fingertips in the Heaven”
Because this sentence has been the right miracle for me.
After doing what A Course in Miracles says to the best of my ability for over 25 years, I’ve been guided to drop back into my body and into a deep connection with the earth.
Now when I say I’ve been guided back into my body, that does not mean it is in opposition to anything A Course in Miracles teaches, even if it initially sounds that way.
Yes, the body and the earth are part of the dream. I know that, I feel that. Being in my body and being connected to the earth does not negate that.
There’s actually a paradox here.
And the paradox is that the more I’ve come back into my body (with my feet on the ground), the more opportunities I’ve had to heal the mind (with my fingertips reaching to heaven).
What I’m going to do in this episode is share five points about what this Jeane Dixon quote of “feet on the ground and fingertips in heaven” means to me as a student and teacher of A Course in Miracles. So the first point I want to make based on my experience is as I’ve just said:
The more I’ve come back into my BODY, the more opportunities I’ve had to heal the MIND.
Initially, this sounds like it is the opposite of what the Course is teaching. The Course teaches us that as we heal the mind, the body heals because the body is an effect of the mind. True healing can happen only at the mind level. This is true!
But I’m speaking of a different pathway to get to the same result – which is ultimately the healing of the mind.
Let me give you a recent specific example from my life.
So after 25+ years of studying ACIM, I still had a significant problem of absorbing other people’s energy. I had a complete lack of energetic boundaries. My husband and I share a deep bond and we joke around that we get “sympathy pains” with each other. For instance, a few months ago, (and this really happened) my husband was struggling with swollen knuckles from arthritis, so guess what. I got swollen knuckles too. The knuckle sympathy pain was actually not funny at all – I need to learn how to stop doing this. This is not the kind of “bond” that I want!! My swollen knuckles were actually the best (and simultaneously the worst) demonstration of sympathy pain I had ever done and I wanted to stop doing it. But based on my studies with A Course in Miracles, I couldn’t seem to uproot this pattern.
I could say I was engaging in the misuse of empathy by joining in suffering (there’s actually a section in the Course about this). Or perhaps I was projecting how my husband would feel and then I was somehow taking it on, but knowing these things, or simply “handing it over” didn’t change anything. Following Course teachings to the best of my ability did NOT budge this pattern. My pattern was so entrenched and the workings of it felt so automatic that I couldn’t seem to dislodge it practicing the Course alone.
What A Course in Miracles did for me in this case, was remove everything around my unhealthy pattern, so I could see it more clearly. And from there I could be directed in how to heal. In this case, I was guided to use other modalities to help address this pattern, because the Holy Spirit meets us where we are. There’s nothing wrong with A Course in Miracles, I just wasn’t ready for direct healing.
While I’m still a work in progress in this area of absorbing other people’s stuff, I was led, literally guided through a cascade of synchronicities into a training program (get this) on how to have energetic boundaries and how to stop taking on other people’s stuff. It’s a program based on the chakras and to do the work you have to be IN YOUR BODY. You have to feel into these different energy power centers in the body. You have to have your “feet on the ground” to intuitively sense what is stored in the body for it to be recognized and healed.
It exceeds the scope of this episode to get into the details of how I’m healing this pattern of absorbing others’ energy, but we’ll be returning to this down the road.
But this topic of sensing what is stored in the body to see it and then heal it relates to the second point I want to make about having our feet on the ground, and that is: The ego hides trauma in the body.
This is an idea that I learned from Freedom Cartwright, co-host of the LOVE LENS. Initially, I remember thinking, “wouldn’t the ego hide trauma in the MIND?” But then I remembered that the body is in the mind. So naturally, the ego would hide trauma in the body being that the body is in the mind.
So if the ego hides trauma in the body, to uncover hidden trauma, we have to be IN the body to feel or connect with that trauma. We cannot be up in our heads during this exploration.
We have to have our “feet on the ground”, while we remember the truth (in other words, while we have our fingertips in Heaven).
There’s a whole scientific field called epigenetics and there is much discussion about intergenerational trauma. And what is being shared is that the trauma our ancestors have experienced can actually affect how our genes are expressed in this lifetime. For instance, we can be born more hypervigilant if our mom or grandmother experienced trauma.
This is not something that is beyond change, for intergenerational trauma has its roots in fear and we know fear CAN be healed. And when we heal it, we’re not just healing for ourselves, but for the collective.
I’ll say more about trauma treatment in just a moment.
My third point about “feet on the ground and fingertips in the heavens” is that
I have a theory. This theory dropped into my mind during one of many synchronicities that I was experiencing recently.
Here’s my theory.
We know that due to the celestial speed-up, Helen Schucman was asked to step into her role as scribe of A Course in Miracles before she was ready. So my theory is that perhaps, we have received A Course in Miracles before we were fully ready.
Now please hear me clearly, I’m NOT saying it is a mistake that we have ACIM. We need it.
But perhaps it is in our hands before we were fully ready for it, as some of us may maintain strong tendencies to use A Course in Miracles to bypass, to use it to hide from the world, to use it to intellectualize and keep us up in our heads, to use it to attack others, or to use it to strengthen a spiritual ego.
It’s important to note that just like Helen said YES to her role as scribe, we said YES to having the Course in our lives. It’s not a mistake we have it. We all gave consent. And with that comes the assurance that the Holy Spirit will help us where we haven’t been fully ready. It’s all part of the development of trust.
I do believe the Course can take us all the way to God. I’ve thought that since day one. But some of us may be very well helped by taking a step back if there are areas of our lives that the Course hasn’t seemingly yet healed. The Holy Spirit can guide us to exactly what we need if we allow it, perhaps an additional healing modality. I have a social location that comes with a lot of advantages, one of which is good access to healthcare. So in my case, I was able to do some trauma therapy that incorporated the body.
Based on the recommendations of friends and colleagues I got into EMDR therapy. EMDR is an acronym for Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and is a type of trauma treatment. It involves recollecting traumatic experiences and moving your eyes back and forth in order to help the two hemispheres of your brain work together to “digest” the memory so it no longer is taking over in the present moment. It’s no longer overpowering you in the present. I’ve found it to be a beautiful ally to the forgiveness work of A Course in Miracles.
And in case you’re wondering, EMDR is NOT the only type of body-based trauma treatment out there – another such example that I have not tried but that I’ve heard great things about is the Somatic Experiencing technique.
Now does my journey need to look like yours? Of course not. The curriculum is highly individualized.
But what I have learned as a Course student for over 25 years is that I thought I was doing all of the right things according to ACIM, but there were still hidden areas of fear that had yet to be exposed. And to expose those, I HAD to be fully in my body (not just up in my head in ideas). I had no choice… it was as if the guidance DIRECTED ME STRAIGHT DOWN INTO THE BODY in the most gentle and loving way.
Again, I had to have my “feet on the ground” and be in my body, while I remember the truth (with my fingertips in Heaven).
To just recap this point, while it is not a mistake that we have A Course in Miracles because we said YES to it, we may have received it sooner than we otherwise would have because of the celestial speedup. So if there are areas of our lives that haven’t been seemingly healed by the Course, keep an open mind for the Holy Spirit to direct you to what may be most helpful for you, whether that is something in the Course framework or not.
Point number four: To have your feet truly on the ground you have to be willing to process emotions.
This involves being willing to FEEL and to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
We can be tempted when we’re studying A Course in Miracles to take a big bypass around emotions. For instance, I’ve heard fellow Course students state the quote “anger is never justified” and use it to squash their own anger or the anger of others. And just to quickly address this teaching, the Course may say “anger is never justified” (because in reality we’ve never left God) but the Course never says you won’t get angry.
I heard the expression recently that emotions are energy in motion. That makes so much sense to me. The energy of emotions needs to move. If you’ve ever done a yoga class or some deep full-body stretching and you suddenly start crying, that’s emotional energy being released from your body, which your mind is holding in your body. We need to process emotion, feel it, move THROUGH it, in order to clear an open space for our awareness of love’s presence to return.
I had a very wise client once state, “If you sweep it under the rug, it just remains for you to trip on.” This statement is so true. If we don’t process our emotions, they will remain in some form for us to trip on.
And If you’re afraid that feeling your feelings will open up something that will become too much to manage, ask the Holy Spirit for help in navigating your way through.
We can process our emotions first, by feeling them. We can also do so by putting them into words, maybe through journaling. If a lot of anger or upset arises, we can express it safely by punching a pillow if we need to or maybe going into your parked car (or another safe space) and allowing yourself to scream and cry. This is all okay. When you’re expressing emotion with the purpose of healing with Spirit, the emotional release is not to stay in judgment or condemnation of self or others, but it’s to create a clearing for our awareness of love’s presence to return. The purpose of letting emotions flow is different when you’re doing this with Spirit.
Whenever I’ve released intense emotions or have a good cry, I often feel totally empty afterwards (in a good way). So from there I give everything I’ve felt and said to the Holy Spirit. That way I’m not keeping anything for myself. I’m asking for a transformation.
Processing through emotion, having your “feet on the ground,” can be a big support in coming back to remembering the truth of who we really are (with your fingertips in heaven).
And this brings me to my final point, Point Number Five: The stronger the tree roots, the wider the canopy.
Picture a tree for a moment.
For a tree to grow a wide canopy, it has to have roots that go deep and wide in the ground. To grow tall it needs a vast root system of support to anchor it so it doesn’t get blown over by the wind.
What I’ve been learning lately is that the more grounded I am in my body and grounded into the earth, the more my intuitive channels can open up. Just like a tree, the deeper my roots can go, the wider my intuitive channels can open.
Remember our body is just like a tree or another plant or an animal. The body is of the earth, our mind is of God. So we can ground into the earth just like a tree, as we have our feet on the ground and reach our fingertips to Heaven, which is when our intuitive or guidance channels can open further.
And by the way, grounding into the earth is a spiritual practice for me. I picture the Divine Mother at the center of the earth so grounding is a process of connecting to Her. It’s a different image than what A Course in Miracles offers but it is in the same spirit of grounding ourselves in God.
To get grounded into my body (in other words, to truly have my feet on the ground), it requires as we’ve discussed, that I process emotions, heal past trauma, not bypass, all WITH the Holy Spirit, always. When I do this, it actually creates space in the body so you can become more present with your feet on the ground. And as we get better at having our feet on the ground like the roots of a tree, our intuitive abilities can open and grow like the canopy of a tree.
I want to return to the quote I shared at the beginning of this episode.
In A Course in Miracles it says, “Actually, Jeane Dixon was right in her emphasis on “Feet on the ground & fingertips in the Heaven,” though she was a bit too literal for your kind of understanding. Many people knew exactly what she meant, so her statement was the right miracle for them.”
“Feet on the ground & fingertips in the Heaven” has been the right miracle for me.
Just to recap, The 5 points about this quote that I shared in this episode are:
Number 1: The more I’ve come back into my BODY, the more opportunities I’ve had to heal the MIND.
Number 2: The ego hides trauma in the body
Number 3: My theory: While it is not a mistake that we have ACIM, maybe we received it before we were ready. So if there are areas of our lives that haven’t been healed by the Course, keep an open mind for the Holy Spirit to direct you to a healing modality that may be helpful for you.
Number 4: To have your feet truly on the ground you have to be willing to process emotions.
And Number 5: The stronger the tree roots, the wider the canopy. The more you get grounded, the more your intuitive channels can open up.
I hope this episode has been a support to you as you practice having your feet on the ground with your fingertips in Heaven.
In our next episode, we’re going to continue this discussion about the body as we explore the SOUL and the paradox of how being embodied in your body can actually help you come to know your SOUL.
Thanks for tuning in to this episode. If it’s been helpful, please feel free to share it. And I’ll see you next time!
[Music]
I am with you in your journey of undoing fear. I’ll leave you with the last few sentences in my book “From Anxiety to Love.” I believe in you. We’re healing together. Every gain that I’ve made is a gain for you and every gain that you make is a gain for me. My gains are yours and yours are mine because we are one. We’re going to make it. The light in you is TOO BRIGHT to fail. If you buy a copy of “From Anxiety to Love” make sure you take advantage of your free bonus which is three free tracks from the From Anxiety to Love meditation album. Get access at FromAnxietyToLove.com/meditations. Thank you for listening and I’ll see you on the next episode.