Meet Susan Michel

We recently connected with Susan Michel and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Susan, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

I found my true purpose when I discovered A Course in Miracles. Through its teachings, I realized that my purpose isn’t something outside of me that I need to chase–it’s an inner alignment with peace, love, joy, and happiness.

ACIM teaches that it cannot define the meaning of love, because that is beyond what can be taught. Love is who and what we are. Instead it guides us to identify and release the blocks that keep us from recognizing the presence of unconditional love within ourselves.

Once I allowed myself to connect with this ever-present love, something shifted. I knew my purpose was to teach what I was experiencing–because in the ACIM framework, as we teach, we learn. Sharing the message of unconditional love, deepens my own understanding of it.

Ultimately, ACIM’s view of unconditional love is everything I was seeking. And in learning to embody it, I found the purpose I had always been looking for.

ACIM clearly states in its introduction, “Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.” What this means is only the love is real. The negativity in the world is based on fear and fear is an illusion.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I help people identify and process emotional pain so transformation can occur and they can grow and open up to their innate brilliance. In today’s world, we are taught that to create a positive life, we must think positive thoughts. That is only partial truth. Without stepping into our pain first, joy is impossible. I initially learned this truth while struggling with clinical depression in 1985. As a young woman, I felt abandoned and betrayed by my dad and everyone else in my life. My life’s journey hit a major turning point, at the age of 20, when I tried to commit suicide twice. With 6 bottles of sleeping pills inside of me, I imagined my father lying over my dead body in tears. I wanted him to feel my pain. Then I realized that I didn’t really want to die, I just wanted to kill the pain.
My joy was on the other side of all that pain and I didn’t have the tools to process it. Once I found them, I found that the keys to true transformation are acceptance, forgiveness and gratitude. Joy is found my surrendering to our inner essence, not by getting cought up in the madness of the external world. When we start connecting to our internal guidance system, life starts to flow more smoothly. My mission is to show the world how to use our internal guidance system to shift from a fear-based thought system to compassion and unconditional love.
I teach the transformational truth of a spiritual thought system that I have been studying for over 30 years entitled A Course in MIracles. ACIM is a non-dualistic thought system that teaches that only the love is real. To connect to the truth of who we are we must honestly and courageously identify and release the blocks within ourselves that cover our true light.
My book is entitled Surrender to Joy: From Suicide to Serenity. It is available on Amazon. As a Spritual Life Coach, I help my clients use life’s triggers as opportunities to heal. My coaching is based on the transformational truth of A Course in Miracles. My website is www.surrendertojoy.net. Clients are invited to contact me at [email protected] for a complimentary coaching session to help them identify and release inner blocks.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Looking back, the three qualities that were most impactful on my journey were acceptance, gratitude, and forgiveness.
1. Acceptance & Taking Responsibility-One of the biggest shifts for me was learning to take responsibility for my life instead of blaming people or external circumstances. When I fully own my experiences–even the most challenging ones–I release the victim mindset. I’ve come to understand that the hardships I face are opportunities I create for growth and learning. In this awareness, I realize I am never a victim.
2. Gratitude-Cultivating gratitude has helped me stay grounded in what I do have rather than in what I lack. When I focus on the blessings in my life, I feel more empowered and more connected to the energy of unconditional love. Gratitude opens my heart and keeps me aligned with a higher perspective.
3. Forgiveness-Forgiveness has been the most transformative practice. As I work on forgiving everyone who has ever hurt me, I naturally become more self-forgiving. In that softness, I connect with the energy of innocence–a place where I remember the Truth of who I am. My favorite affirmation is, “I embody the essence of innocence.”
These three qualities continue to guide me, strengthen me, and deepen my connection to peace and unconditional love.
For anyone early in their journey, my advice is to intentionally practice these qualities every day. They aren’t just ideas–they’re muscles that strengthen with use.
1. Acceptance-Start by accepting the present moment exactly as it is. Instead of resisting what’s happening, try meeting it with curiosity and openness. A powerful affirmation that I love is: “What if everything is just perfect, right here, right now?” This simple question shifts you out of fear and into trust.
2. Gratitude-Begin a gratitude journal and write down all the things you’re grateful for-both big and small. Over time, this practice trains your mind to focus on abundance rather than lack. I see this transformation in my clients all the time: as their mindset shifts their energy shifts, and their life begins to reflect that change.
3. Forgiveness-Forgiveness is a discipline, and it requires honest effort. Start by being williing. As you choose to release your grievances-even little by little-you’ll find yourself reconnecting with joy and with the Truth of who you are. Unforgiveness is one of the biggest blocks to happiness, and letting it go opens the door to peace.
Developing these skills isn’t about perfection. It’s about showing up, practicing and allowing yourself to grow in love each day.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?

A Course in Miracles has played the most important role in my personal and spiritual development. The nuggets of wisdom that it offers are endless, but a few have been especially transformative for me.
ACIM teaches that only love is real–and when we are connected to love, we are connected to our true nature. It shows us how to align with the power of love by releasing the unconscious blocks that keep us in fear. One of the most liberating ideas is that there is no sacrifice in doing God’s Will, because God’s Will for us is the same as our own. When I allow myself to live in joy, I become a conduit for love–a miracle worker in the truest sense.
The Course reminds me that God is love, joy, and happiness, and anything outside of that is our own miscreation. When I am joyful, I am connected with God; when I am not, I have simply forgotten who I am. ACIM teaches us to surrender to joy–not to search for it outside ourselves. True peace, love, joy, and happiness are only found within.
One of the most powerful messages is that Jesus does not want to be worshipped; he wants us to remember that we can be like him. In both ACIM and the Bible, Jesus teaches, “What I have done you can do also and more.” We are meant to extend God’s love, to be miracle workers ourselves–and that is the only way we will ever truly be happy.
ACIM also teaches that love has no opposite. It is all-encompassing. And the fastest way to return to the fullness of love is through forgiveness. Through forgiveness we attune to God’s higher vibrational frequency. It is how we hear His voice, receive His guidance, and experience true joy. We don’t have to chase happiness. We simply need to surrender to it.
Ultimately, God is not separate from us–He is the Truth of who we are. By surrendering to God’s love, we come home to ourselves.

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Image Credits

Photographer – Carol Evans
Make up artist – Lynne Avalon

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