Although the term happy dream is used relatively infrequently in A Course in Miracles, it remains an extremely important concept and holds a crucial place in the Course’s theory and process. Unfortunately, it has often been a concept badly misunderstood by Course students. These misunderstandings relate directly to the students’ view of the nature of the dream and who the dreamer is, the nature of reality, and the interim and ultimate goals of A Course in Miracles. We begin with a definition of the happy dream, taken from Circle of Atonement’s Glossary-Index for A Course in Miracles:

A way of experiencing the world that sees the world through the eyes of happiness, a state of mind in the world that is totally healed. The concept of the happy dream straddles illusion and reality. Being in this world, it is still a dream; yet being happy, it is a reflection of reality. It is a dream of waking and thus leads to full awakening. The holy relationship, in its mature state, is a happy dream. The happy dream is not a collection of more pleasing external forms. It is a state of mind. 

EXAMPLE

As I am preparing my travels to the UK with my family I applied for an infant passport for my newborn. All done & well played by the rule & in time, I was confident it would arrive in time for our flight.
This was not the case – 2 weeks before our flight, there was still no passport in sight.
I called the US Department of State which handles foreign & consular affairs here in the US & they told me the passport was sent out already – they even gave me the tracking number so I could check it online. And so I did – the passport was scanned delivered, but I never saw anything in my mailbox.
Bizarre, I thought – in fact I was scared the $2000 I had invested in my flight from Los Angeles to the UK would be in vain. I caught myself in fear mode and realized that I wanted to change my state of mind. I wanted to have a different experience with this whole passport situation. And so I did.

Now that I was aware, (Step 1) I chose to change my experience by choosing a state of peace (Step 2). I made myself aware that this is not the end of the world and forgave this situation – I’m sure it has a higher purpose. My feeling immediately improved (Step 3). I was more connected to source again. Nothing I should do or complain about, for example that the bureau lost my infant’s passport (Step 4) Inspired by my thoughts coming of this space I called the local passport office which gave me helpful advice. There was a way to obtain a passport within 1 day if your date of travel was within 2 weeks. Since that was the case I pursued this path I got my infant’s passport on the same day that I applied. By practicing (Step 5) I kept myself in a happy state of mind, creating my experience a lot smoother without being rude or unkind to people at the passport office.

HOW YOU CAN LIVE THE HAPPY DREAM 24/7

By literally seeing the world through eyes of happiness.
Yes easier said than done – I know.
But there are tools out there to practice and come to a level of mind-mastery with this concept of living a happy dream.
If you are living a happy dream great – you can stop reading here.
But the big question is – what if you are not living your happy dream in this moment?

Here are the steps to living the happy dream when you are not experiencing it:

1. First you need to become aware and willing to change your experience

Willingness simply means being open to the possibility of change. In my experience, one benefits the most from big willingness. We tend to become entranced by our problems and fears, so it takes real effort to change our minds. We must want to change without compromise. To say, for instance, “I am willing to stop when my mind begins to think negative nonsense, and choose loving thoughts instead.” Instead of, “I can’t,” you say, “I can”. Instead of, “I am not worthy,” you say, “I am totally worthy.” We must be willing to let go of the belief that we’re limited, unworthy, and not enough.

2. Choose peace / happiness

When you are in a state of turmoil, be aware that you can choose differently. This is hard for people to grasp, but you need to be aware that you are the divine creator of your reality. You can ALWAYS choose your experience & menal state of mind.
By choosing peace you give your inner wisdom permission to shine its light in your mind. This is why it’s important to choose peace in every circumstance. For instance: When you have a job interview, you can go into it thinking “I want peace” instead of “I’ve got to have this job.” Instead of thinking, “I’ve got to make more money,” remember “I want peace.” This reorientation of your thinking takes your attention from the world “out there” and brings you within, where your true power resides. When you choose peace and calm, you can more easily receive the prompts of your inner guide.

3. Your Feelings = Your Barometer

It is very easy to determine whether you are living your happy dream or not. Are you feeling enthusiastic & a level of peace? Yes, great – that is a sign that you are following your inner guidance an living a happy dream.
As said above – living the happy dream is the closest that we can be in the dream expressing our reality: Love.
Tune in regularly with how you are feeling to determine whether you are on track.

4. Let Go of Should’s, Have Do’s & Need To’s

When we let the Should’s, Have Do’s & Need To’s run our life we lose our inner joy & feel unhappy. They are verbal cues to us that we are probably following the ego’s limiting thoughts, which we have taken on as our own. We live a separated experience in which our world is not yet healed. In the happy dream we do not feel compelled to take action on these verbal cues because we live in a state of mind in which there are no obligations or things we “have” to do. We are a free spirit expressing our oneness with our creator.

5. Practice, Practice, Practice

Are you living the happy dream yet? Your feeling with tell you as they are your barometer. If you are not forgiving or happy in some areas in your life, you know there is still work to do. So get to it – practice, practice, practice – this is what this dream world was created for: to experience ourselves and extend our awareness of Love’s presence & eternal happiness.

If you feel compelled to dive deeper into this work you can do so by reading my best-selling book “Live Your Happy” which is all about how to embody the teachings of A Course in Miracles (ACIM) and live your happiness to full capacity, because you can – believe it or not – you can be completely free of all the turmoil and problems that seem to happen in your life right now.

Love & Light
Maria

www.mariafelie.org