104: (A Course in) Miracles at Work—On Spiritual Intelligence with Emily Bennington

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For show notes from this episode, visit pivotmethod.com podcast if Change is the only constant, then let's get better at it. Here we go.

Hello everybody. Welcome back. I am thrilled to be here today with Emily Bennington, who is an author and teacher of contemplative practices for both secular and spiritual audiences so that we can all learn to live and lead with grace. Emily is now the Executive Director of the Circle of Atonement, publisher of the complete edition of the spiritual classic A Course in Miracles. That spiritual text was the and inspiration for her third and latest book and the topic of today's show, Miracles at Turning Inner Guidance into Outer Influence Fun. Pivot Path Story Emily and I have known each other online since 2011, which was right after I had left Google. Emily had written a book for young professionals and I had just come out with Life After College and we've been in touch now for seven years ever since, as our Pivot paths have been winding around and in parallel to each other. And so you can imagine, given that I've been pivoting even the direction of this podcast with guests like Elizabeth Gray Saunders on Divine Time Management and Michelle Assad on her time in the CIA. I was so thrilled and inspired to see Emily move in this direction of miracles at work, having written more about life, say, traditional career in business previously. So with that, Emily, welcome to the show.

Oh hi Jenny. I just love you. I cannot be smiling from ear to ear. I know we have never met in person, have we? But I just absolutely feel like I've known you because of all these years that we've been in communication.

Me too. And we clearly have to remedy that. And I was marveling today at how similar our paths have been and you're kind of one step ahead, I would say, at every turn where, you know, I would love to hear how you Pivoted from, let's just call it the mainstream career track into miracles at work and discovering course in miracles, and then making the bold decision to say, I'm putting this front and center into my career and my next piece of work.

Okay, so one thing that we have in common is that we both started our quote unquote career track with younger professionals. And so I started working, helping new graduates transition from college to career. And that was super fun. Really loved it. But then I got an interest in helping women who were interested in transitioning from transitioning to executive management. So one more, one pivot, right? And so what I discovered was that those women had different challenges. They were more at. At a mid level of their career. And so the challenges that they were facing weren't so much, how do I get my first job? Or how do I impress my new boss. Their challenges were, my partner just had an affair, my child is sick. I can't deal with the overwhelm that I'm facing in this leadership role. And I have a team that's dependent upon me, and I can't let them see me weak. I mean, all of these really bigger life issues. And what I discovered was that I couldn't help them without bringing in spiritual principles. And so what I did for a long time was I brought in.

Principles from a course, but I called it mindfulness. Because if you call it mindfulness, particularly in business these days, it tends to get adopted more quickly than you say, well, I'm actually going to give you principles from this funky little path called a course in miracles. So when I was teaching the path of the course, but I was using different language, more secular language, and what I was discovering was that it was making a real shift in the women that I was helping. And so eventually I did that for a few years, and eventually it was like, okay, I'm starting to feel inauthentic by not saying where this is coming from. And so slowly I started to say, okay, I'm teaching course principles. I started running online classes. Not, you know, kind of under the radar. But what I discovered was that the transition was less fearful than I thought it would be. I really honestly thought that the corporate women that I was serving, as soon as I brought spirituality into it, would recoil and fire me. And some did, and that was okay. But for the most part, I found that they were like, well, whatever you're teaching, I want some more of it, so wherever it comes from, let's go deeper. And so that's how I've made the transition. And Then miracles at work is just the result.

I love how you describe wanting to be authentic to yourself. I can relate to that. I felt like I tried to squeeze little things into pivot here and there. But I'm realizing in the years after the book has come out that it's missing some of the biggest, most crucial things that got me through a really tough time of change. And I know one thing that the course teaches is not to proselytize or be overly preachy about it, but to kind of live the messages in the course. So let's get everybody caught up. Can you share for anyone who doesn't know or hasn't read the work what a Course in Miracles is and what attracted you to it? I'm curious if you had a religious upbringing of any kind, but more so, who tends to be attracted to the course as opposed to any other type of faith?

Okay. Oh, that is such a big question. Because the course is for those who are unfamiliar with the spiritual path of a Course in Miracles. It is a teaching that is. It claims to be channeled, and it is a teaching on how to essentially.

Forgive in the world. So there's. So it's such a cornucopia. It is such a spiritual buffet. So it's really, really hard to kind of narrow it down to one thing. But the essential gist of it is knowing who your true self is. And the gist of that is you are never separated from your source, so there's nothing that you lack. And so much of how we behave in the world, both in terms of what we strive for and both in terms of how we treat each other, is because we feel a lack in some way. And so what the course teaches is that that lack doesn't exist. And if that lack doesn't exist, then there's nothing to strive for, and there's no one that you can't forgive. Because if you don't lack anything, then there's nothing they could have done to you to make you feel a sense of lack, if that makes sense. So that doesn't mean that you don't strive, but what it does mean is that you go through life with a different mindset. You go through life with essentially what the course calls vision. And the heart of vision is completely complete and absolute equality. So you understand what the course calls your inestimable worth, which means you have value that just cannot be quantified, and so does everyone else. And so when you start to look at absolutely everyone you see as equal, then it changes the dynamic of Your relationship with them. And as you start to see them for who they really are, which is, you know, the course would use the language sons of God, then you see yourself that way too. And it's just a whole different mindset. And it absolutely changes the way in which you navigate through. Through life and through the world.

What a beautiful summary. Thank you. Those, those themes of forgiveness and oneness were so beautifully woven throughout your book, which, again, is a book about miracles at work. So I love the way you've blended the course with how to show up every day. And we spend, as you say, we spend more of our day at work than even sleeping in large part. And so it is very inspiring to read. And I've dabbled reading the course, but you've inspired me to go back and really dive in. But through your book, Seeing Oneness and also Perfection, you quote a line from the course, perfection is not a matter of degree. And then you say, perfection doesn't mean kind of perfect. Perfect means perfect. And that. I loved this line of your book, too. You say, there's no such thing as finding or achieving success that is sustainable over time. You attract success based on who you are and the values and character you bring to every interaction you have, AKA love.

Oh, yeah. And it's true. And so much of what we consider spirituality or religion, although I don't necessarily conflate those two things, we think of it as this part of our life that's off to the side. So on Sundays, or when I'm in my meditation or when I'm in my yoga class, then I'm going to practice this universal oneness and this namaste consciousness. But I'm going to go to work and be just as competitive with my colleagues as I was the day before. And so what I was really interested in is, okay, well, if we are learning in our yoga class, for example, that the light in you is equal to the light in me, and I'm bowing to the light in you, then why can't I take that to work? And what's stopping me from doing that? And how can I get better at bringing those principles off the mat and into my everyday? Yeah.

One of the things that gets in the way is that when it comes to work, we often tend to see, as you say, career and money from a place of fear. We worry about having enough money, we worry about competition, and we worry about success. And it seems like those things are more in the water. It's almost subversive. Like we don't even realize that we're coming from a fear based. I love what you said. Namaste consciousness. Like, you know, I went to yoga for five years while working at Google, but I still carried this underlying fear of enoughness or worrying about promotion or worrying even about money. Like, oh, if I leave, will I have enough money? So how did you start to reconcile those underlying fears? And that at the root of it, it's separation with what you were learning in the course.

Oh, honey, I hear you on that. I graduated from college and my first job was with a boss who, God bless him, he. It was so. It was such a formative time in my life, and he was a key influencer for me. And he was saying things to me, like, to be the best, you have to beat the best to your clients. Don't care that you're sick. You know, it was this really like, run, run, run mentality. And so I. I adopted that. And I always like to joke that, like, I was like Devil Wears Prada. For a while, I thought that in order to succeed in my career, that there had to be some sort of armor in the way in which I approached myself and my job, which cut me off from the emotion and just humanness. And so my very first performance review, my boss said, your technical work is good, but FYI, no one on the team respects you. And so I can't promote you because of that.

Brutal. I know. But he ended up saying, I'll help you. And he became my mentor and co author of my first book. So it ended up being just a great story. But in that performance review, I realized that that mentality that I had been taught wasn't serving me, and it wasn't serving anyone else. And so I knew that I needed to shed it, but I didn't know how. And we're not taught the principles of Namaste consciousness in the general business culture. In the general business culture, we're taught to be the best is to beat the best. And so you have to go to tools like spirituality. And the course is amazing at this, to learn how to really see someone so that the rising tide lifts all boats. So the course is absolutely, from start to finish, filled with teachings that say you can only succeed as your brothers succeed. And you can't know yourself unless you know your brother. You can't.

There's another teaching in the course that I love is in my defenselessness. My safety lies. And so much of what we're taught about how to quote, unquote, succeeding is that defensive armor. And what the course teaches is just that your real strength is in your kindness. Your real strength is in your capacity to be a channel for love. A miracle in A course in miracles is defined as an expression of love that has a healing effect on another person. And so much of what we're taught in business, and even Jenny, so much of what we're taught in small spirituality is about protecting yourself. In business, we call it protecting your place in the world, protecting your place on the org chart. And in spirituality, we call it protecting your happiness, protecting your inner peace. But so much of that is just a handmaiden to selfishness. And so what we have to do is learn how to extend through our own behavior, love. And that's what's going to change ourselves. That's what's going to change business, and ultimately, that's what's going to change the world.

I have such a big smile while hearing you talk about all of this. And it's so true that it. It's easy to get triggered. It's as easy to get triggered at work as anywhere else, as in relationships. And one thing that comes up a lot in the book is just, you know, kind of co workers or situations where people are butting heads. And I just love the way that you've shared that our salvation lies in each other, in seeing each other as perfect and seeing each other as equals, in not judging. And yet, of course, the definition of a trigger is that we lose it. You know, as you say, we revert to fear, and we don't act from that calm place of intention and miracles. And one thing, I loved the way you illustrated you have a penny for your thoughts exercise and how it serves as a metaphor for projection. Can you share that with listeners?

Yeah. So the idea is that if I pick up one penny at some point throughout the day, it's not going to weigh on me that much. But if I pick up one and then the one after that, one after that, and have 50 of them in my pockets, then that's going to weigh me down. It's going to eventually become uncomfortable, and our grievances are the same way. So if I have a little grievance, then it might not affect my day too much. But if I'm continually going through my day looking for reasons to be mad, looking for reasons to attack, looking for reasons to feel like a victim, then that is going to weigh me down. And that's what we call baggage. And we don't tend to look at our grievances through the lens of, oh, how did I bring this into my life? Or how am I recreating this? By allowing it to live in my head. How am I magnifying this in my head and making it worse than it actually is? We don't tend to have that level of self awareness. All we want to do is look at the other person or the circumstances in our life and say, it's their fault. They did this to me. And the more we look at someone else as the cause of how we're feeling, then that's just simple projection. And so we have to find ways to dissolve that so that we can take ownership of what we're experiencing and again, see things differently.

One thing that I really liked about that metaphor was that.

When our bag of pennies or grievances becomes too heavy, we even start unconsciously throwing pennies at other people. You know, so it's like, if we don't care, what is it? Spiritual hygiene, I've heard it called. It's like you almost. Meditation is a way. It's a spiritual shower. It's like every day, you got to do it every day. Something to just clear your psyche and your soul. And that if we don't do these types of practices or have this type of awareness, then we start to collect the pennies for grievances. And when it becomes too heavy, we don't even notice that we're doing it. But off a penny goes, and we just judge our neighbor. Judge someone, there's another penny, shoot them down, there's another penny. He doesn't know what he's doing, you know, and we. It's like our backpack's full, so it's then easy to start sprinkling them elsewhere. And then I notice for myself on a day where I meditate, it changes how I carry myself throughout the whole day. I. And not always. None of us are perfect. I mean, my goodness, you know, but it's. It makes a difference.

Oh, you're right. I mean, with.

I mean, I guess we are perfect, though, according to the course.

Yes. Perfection is not a matter of degree, Jenny.

That's right.

But you're right, we do. If the pennies and the grievances get too big, too heavy, then we just hurl them at other people. And essentially, we can do that with one penny just as easily as we can do it with a backpack of pennies. And from a course perspective, it's all the same.

Well, when we got on this call, you shared your exciting news, that you have since pivoted since the book came out, and you're now executive director of the Circle Of Atonement, who is the publisher of the course. Tell us how that came to be. And even when your book Miracles at Work came out, kind of like, you know, what happened once you released this publicly and how you ended up as executive director.

So this is the best story ever. I love it. What ended up happening? Well, it's the best story ever for me, and I'm sure that your audience will find it relevant as well, because what tends to happen, Jenny, and you know this as well as I do, is that you can plan every aspect of your life and then nothing works according to that plan. And then something falls into your lap that you never expected, but it turns out to be better than the wildest dreams you had imagined for yourself. So what happened was in the fall of 2016, after I had written Miracles at Work, I was looking for blurbs.

I was reaching out to course teachers and seeing if they would provide a testimonial for my book. So I sent the book to Robert Perry, who's a well known course scholar. I say that like there are so many. I think he's like the only one. But he's been teaching the course for 32 years now. And I admired him from afar and had respected his organization, the Circle of Atonement, though I wasn't affiliated with them in any way. And I reached out to him and I said, hey, here's my book. Marianne Williamson is doing the forward. Can you endorse? Can you provide me with an endorsement? And he writes me back. And in true Robert fashion, he's like, I read your book. He read the whole thing. And he's like, I think that I'm going to decline to endorse it because I think that there's some elements of the course that you have mistaken. And so at this point, I had written the book, but I still had some time to make edits. And so I said, can you meet with me? Because I certainly don't want to misrepresent any aspect of the course. Can we talk about what you see so I can fix it? And we did that and just totally hit it off. And then I said, well, would you be willing to be part of my book launch summit, which you were a part of too, Jenny. And. And so he said, yes. And so I interviewed him for that and then the tech blew up. And so I was like, I'm sorry, I have to ask you to do this again. So he did it again. And so by this point, we're like three hours deep into conversations about the course. And afterwards he reached out to me and he said, okay, well, since I've helped you with your book, let me let you in on a secret. And the secret was that the Circle of Atonement was reissuing a version of A Course in Miracles, which is a massive deal because Robert had spent the last 12 years going back to the original notes of the scribe and developing the book from scratch. And what he discovered in that was that there were 45,000 words that were missing from the book that we all thought was, quote, unquote, a Course in Miracles. So there was all this teaching that wasn't in the original book. And he found it and brought it into this new version. And he said, I have this product. Can you help me? And in the process, first of all, picked up my jaw, and I was like, yes. And in the process, we just developed a good working relationship. And by June. So we started working together in January, just me just volunteering. And by June, I was like, I don't want to do anything else. And so that's how I landed there.

That is so incredible. I really. I mean, one thing that the course teaches is being open. And as one of my favorite prayers as well, is the highest good for all involved that we can't ever really know. This is why I feel I learned, at least with my second book, it's so pointless to have very specific metrics of success. It's fine. Like, it's fun to kind of might as well dream, but not get attached to any of it because these surprises come out of the woodwork that there is no way you can plan for that are priceless and immeasurable.

Yeah. Not in a million years would I have thought that I would want to ditch my corporate speaking career and my solopreneur career. Well, first of all, never would I want to ditch my very lucrative corporate speaking career for spirituality, which is not as lucrative. And certainly I would never thought that I would have ditched that for being the executive director of a small spiritual nonprofit to help them grow. So. So you just, to the point of what you do here, Jenny, you just never know what life is going to hand you. Our job is to just be aware and say yes.

And so are you on the practical business side of things? Are you going to stop doing your speaking and let's call it your personal brand side of things? Are you putting pause on that for now?

For now? Yeah, I am. Although I do speaking engagements now under the umbrella of the Circle, and I speak on the course. So it's really funny that this Path that I was so hesitant to share, that I was involved with just a few years ago, I'm now on stage in front of hundreds of people saying, yes, I'm Emily with the circle fitsonement, and I'm here to talk to you about the course. And it's just funny.

It's amazing to follow those threads. And I'm sure this is really personal. It kind of relates to what I asked you earlier. But.

It seems like a course in miracles is related. I mean, it's channeled from. According to the original author. I think her name is Helen. I'm sorry, am I getting that wrong?

No, Helen Schuchman.

Helen. Okay. Channeled from Jesus, basically.

Where does it differ? Or is this a kind of a spiritual, not religious path? How do you describe that? Given that some of the teachings might sound similar to Christianity, where does it fork or differ?

Okay, yes. So you asked me earlier, and I didn't answer the question of did I grow up in a religious household? And I'm happy to say that I grew up in a Presbyterian church with the best version of Jesus, the Buddy Jesus, Right? Not. Not the Savior Jesus, not the judgmental God, not the Old Testament God. I grew up with a very loving sermon on the Mount Jesus. And so I always had a connection with Jesus, the wisdom teacher, not so much Jesus, the icon of particularly evangelical Christianity. Those are two separate beings as far as I'm concerned. And one of them actually walked the earth 2,000 years ago, and the other is the result of all those pennies that people have thrown at him.

And so.

When the course was claimed to be channeled from Jesus, I was really curious about that.

And it was just. So everyone knows. That was in around the early 1900s, right?

No, it was actually 1965.

Oh, okay. Okay.

So the course came through from 65 to 72 and was published in 76. So what you learn in the course, just to give you one example of what I was talking about before, is if. And this will help for anyone who feels attacked in their life and who doesn't. Right. Somebody's coming at you verbally or physically. And what we're taught is an eye for an eye, right? They're attacking you, you attack back. Well, what Gandhi said, and I think Gandhi was correct, is an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. And so what the course teaches is, get this. Those who attack are poor. Their poverty asks for gifts. So in other words, when someone's attacking you verbally or physically.

They'Re in a state of lack. They're poor. And so what they need is not your attack back. They need your love. They need your kindness back. And if you're able to do that in the moment, you are living the teachings of someone we know named Jesus.

Yes.

So there's so much connection there between historical Jesus teachings, wisdom teacher teachings, and what you find in the course. And from that standpoint, I think it's authentic.

Thank you so much for sharing. I love what you just said, and it ties into a nuance that you touch upon and I still find a little fuzzy for myself, which is. So let's say you're being attacked. And instead of attacking back, you can have love and realize that this person, you know, hurt people. Hurt people in a sense.

Where's the line where that empathy is no longer helpful? I don't even know if it would be called empathy at that point or, you know, some say pity certainly is not helpful. There's a certain type of relating that creates separation. And you share the example of Marianne Williamson, when a woman stood up in her audience and shared all of her traumas and her pain. And Marianne chose not to kind of enter that pain with her. But I always find it tricky if I'm listening to someone. I also don't want to be cold or a robot and just say, like, I'm not going to acknowledge your pain because. And I know you're studied and you're a practitioner of nonviolent communication. So I would just love to hear your thoughts on this. I know I haven't phrased it super clearly.

No. But I know exactly what you're talking about and what the course says. And I think this is what you're referring to, is to empathize is not to join in suffering. And so what we tend to do when someone comes to us and unloads their life problems is what we cock our head to the side and look at them and say, oh, gosh, that's so hard. And then we go right into the suffering with them. And what the course teaches and what Marianne brilliantly demonstrated in that story that I share in Miracles at Work, is that we can hear them, we can listen to them in a compassionate way. But what Marianne did to that woman in the workshop, and I'll just share very briefly, this woman stood up in the middle of one of Marianne's. It was a career workshop, and she just said, I can't get ahead in my career because of all these life problems, abusive spouse, blah, blah, blah. I mean, it just went on and on and on. And Marianne comes down from the stage, she goes over to the woman, gets in, you know, gets right in front of her, touches her on the shoulder and says, that's an amazing story, and I bet you get a lot of attention for it, but I'm just not going to go there with you. I see you as God sees you, and I will be your eyes until you see yourself that way, too. And I was like, whoa. And then she looks around and she goes. She looks at all of us and she goes, and all of you with your old, poor thing faces are only joining her in her suffering. And I was like.

What just happened? It was amazing because what Marianne was doing was so perfectly demonstrating what we're asked to do in the course. And it's not to meet someone at the level of their problem. It's to see them for the perfection that they are and to be their eyes until they see that of themselves. And I just. I've never forgotten that moment. I share that story all the time, but it's just absolutely something that has left an imprint on me that will never leave.

It is. It's so powerful, and it still takes mind wrapping, you know, because I picture the audience, and I picture. Well, what else would they. I mean, I guess there's a way to look and tilt their heads out of pity and horror, and there's a way to do it out of love. And it sounds like that's what Marianne was describing is like, I see you as God sees you, and I, I. I just hold you as perfect in my eyes. And even Nelson Mandela says a quote that I'll paraphrase and butcher. But it's like, if we see the best in someone, they tip. They tend to rise to that occasion that. It's like by us holding that vision, we create the space for people to move into their higher self.

Oh, that's good. Yeah. And there's a real difference between pity and compassion. And pity is one of those areas where we put people below us. And in part, the course addresses that, too, and it says something. I'm going to butcher this as well, but it's along the line of we do that because we want to do that, because part of us sees ourselves in them. And. And so if we can see that in them, then it takes it away from us. So you pass by a homeless person, and maybe you give a dollar, and you feel good about giving a dollar because that's what makes you feel good in the moment. But secretly you're like, oh, thank God, that's not me. And so what the course is asking you to do is to not pity someone because that puts them beneath you, but.

To see the strength and the magnitude that's inherent in them, because it's inherent in all of us, because we're equal. And so that's what we're asked to see. Yeah.

I can share an anecdote on that. I recently started volunteering at the Bowery Mission, which is blocks from my house. And I am honestly sorry that I didn't start doing that sooner. I've lived in New York seven years, but alas, no time like the present. And so I go and I serve meals, and usually about 200 men come through. And this is an area of the Bowery that used to be really.

Even more gritty than it is now. But still, at night, I would speed up whenever I'd walk down the sidewalk in this patch of the street, you know, there's often homeless. Some people are on drugs. You can't really tell. But clothes are tattered and hanging out outside. So I would always put my head down and speed up walking through. And similarly, in my neighborhood, you know, I grew up in San Francisco, there are homeless people around, and I never have known exactly what to do. Do you give everyone a dollar? I've thought about, do I have just $5 Starbucks gift cards in my purse? Like, in increments of 100? Like, I have a. Have 20 of those at a time. Anyway, after starting to volunteer at the mission and serving meals and greeting everyone and with such joy, like, I was so happy to look every person in the eye and ask how their day is going, if they wanted to engage with me. And after a week of doing this, I now walk through the street in a different city because I'm looking at homeless. Some of the homeless people or the men who are kind of just hanging out around corners, like, are you my friend? Are you my friend from the mission? You know, some of these guys, I've learned their name, and it's like I live in a different city because I'm now looking to these men as my friends from the neighborhood. Whereas before.

I saw separation.

Yeah, yeah, I know. And it's such a balance, too, right? Because in some ways, you do have to protect your safety. You don't want to be naive. But at the same time, I love that you're expanding. Experience has taught you that no matter whether you're, you know, in a fancy ballroom or in an alleyway in New York City, everyone can be your friend. And I just. I adore that. And I adore you. Thank you for doing that.

Sure. I mean, I like what you said. It's true. Like, I still. If I'm a woman walking alone at night, I'm kind of on guard. Doesn't matter what a person looks like. I just have an extra layer of awareness. But it was that. It was that. There's a possibility. Is there that.

Yeah.

Because as some of these men come through, and it's mostly men, there are a few women, so I'm not trying to be sexist or anything, but it was more men that came through. But, like, people have such radiance and such joy and not everybody. But everyone's carrying, man. I've been reading these books by Father Gregory Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart and Barking to the Choir. I mentioned these in a recent podcast with Jason Wang, who's a former prisoner now working with those who are coming out of prison and teaching them entrepreneurship. But Father Gregory says something, a quote, about.

Not judging the poor for what they carry, but standing in awe of. Not judging the poor for the burdens they carry, but standing in awe of how they carry them. And in the lens of kinship, not one upmanship, of course, but I just think that that's such a beautiful principle as well.

Yeah. I mean, it's what I was saying before about the example with Marianne. I mean, it's. It's. You can empathize.

You can become passionate, rather, without joining someone in their suffering. I mean, there. If you think about what would be.

An example of joining in the suffering.

Oh. To what we do every day, you sit down for lunch with a friend and she's telling you what's. Her boss is a jerk. And you're responding with, I know. And the last time that we talked, this is exactly what he did. And I can't believe that. And you're treated so poorly there. And he's a bully. And you are very. That's so unfair. Like, that's where we go, or we do what everyone was doing in the room at Marianne's workshop, that. Oh, you pour. Poor thing. Gosh, you really are a victim. And all we do is reinforce that side of them. We reinforce the victimhood versus reinforcing the strength. And I can't think of anything more beautiful than going to. You said the Bowery.

Yeah, Bowery mission.

Going to Bowery Mission and reinforcing the strength of the people that you serve. Because I guarantee you, 99% of their day, if not 99, 99.9% of their day, is people feeling sorry for them. And if not. And that's and that's at the high end. Right? Feeling sorry is the high end. It probably goes downhill from there to being disrespected. So for you to come and to have this mindset of seeing the strength in them and not joining them in their suffering because everyone does that, but to see them as God sees them. Ah, what a gift.

Yeah, it's, it's a practice. I'm at the beginnings of it, but thank you. And, and I know you have to run, but I could talk to you about this all day. We may have to do a follow up. Miracles at Work, part two. Emily, thank you so much. Again, if you could leave listeners with one.

I don't know, one piece of homework or, or even an inquiry or a favorite line of yours from the course that we. I would love to hear it and then where they can find you if they want to keep in touch.

Oh, there are so many wonderful lines in the course. I just don't even know where to start.

There's a line though, that I have in mind for today. Each day we practice a new line and one that I have as a screensaver on my phone is I would see you as my friend that I may remember you are part of me and come to know myself. And so that's just such a heart of course teaching that if you remember that everyone is a part of you, then there's nothing you can give to them that you're not also giving to yourself. So if you're attacking them, you're attacking yourself. If you're loving them, you're loving yourself. If you're generous with them, you're generous with yourself. I mean, it just, if you really kind of understand that, then you can get out of a lot of this mental turmoil that really affects our life in so many negative ways just by seeing your brother as your friend. That's it. And so that's what the course asks you to do. But it's so much harder than, it's so much easier said than done. So it requires a daily practice and the course is actually an hourly practice of checking in with this and checking. And when I say checking in with this, what I mean is checking in with love. We check our phones, Jenny, statistically 150 times a day and we don't check in with God at all. And so when we do, though, we come.

To embody his qualities and premiere among them all is unconditional love. So that's where I would end it.

That's so, so beautifully said. Just incredible. Such powerful insights for us to reflect on. And as you say, and the course says that transformation is available in a holy instant. It doesn't have to take years and years. It's available to us right now. The second ever refreshing Emily, thank you so much for being here. What a joy. Thank you for doing the work that you're doing in the world.

Thank you Jenny. And yes, we will have to rectify that and get together next time I'm in New York.

Yes, Next podcast will be recorded live.

Let's do it.

Love it.

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Pivot podcast. Make sure you don't miss an episode or my insider tips and templates by signing up for Pivot List, a curated twice monthly newsletter where I share the inside scoop on what I'm reading, watching, listening to, and the latest tools I'm geeking out on. Sign up@pivotmethod.com pivotlist get show notes from this episode@pivotmethod.com podcast and connect with me on Twitter at jennyblake.

Remember, build first, then your courage will follow. Hasn't it always.