“We, the greatest of all creators, with capabilities to build cities and inspire nations, are squandering our time watching reruns of The Office. We have forgotten that whole galaxies exist within our grasp”
Pam Grout
#1 New York Times Bestselling Author
I am the author of 20 books, two screenplays, a live soap opera, a TV series and enough magazine articles that I haven’t starved in 25 years without a 9-5 job. On this site, you’ll find all sorts of information about my books and about my career as a freelance magazine and travel writer.
If you’re an editor, you can easily click on Portfolio to view writing samples from my illustrious magazine and newspaper career.
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Enjoy!
Pamela Sue Grout
The Taz Grout 222 Foundation was launched to honor Tasman McKay Grout who spent 25 short years on the planet inspiring everyone who knew her to live and love better. Everything she stood for was some variation of this theme: create relentlessly, love fiercely and do quiet, kind things for the underdog.
Each year on February 22, the 222 Foundation awards a $12,222 grant to an innovative project or person with a big idea to change consciousness and therefore change the world.
We look for projects that support the following ideas:
1. A change in perspective is our greatest need. We believe all people (no exceptions) long to be generous and create beautiful things.
2. Today’s hopelessness is based on false premises. We look to defy the old story of scarcity, lack and the need to fight for resources. We aim to prove that the universe, once liberated from no-longer-working paradigms of scarcity, is generative and endlessly abundant.
3. The us against them model is kaput. We believe all humans are interconnected and that even tiny actions have great significance
“Habits create a caricature of yourself.”—Marc Maron
You’ve probably heard of mirror work—where you gaze at your reflection in the bathroom mirror and tell yourself how strong and beautiful and capable you are.
Here’s why I never do that.
That woman who looks at me from the mirror is not the real me.
Focusing on that tiny sliver of a face and a body is like worshipping a single one of my 50 trillion cells. Without the other cells, that one solitary cell is useless.
Finding meaning or identity in my physical body blocks a deeper life force that wants to move through me. It blocks real meaning, real beauty, real substance.
Most of us squander our average 75 years on planet earth believing we are the image in the mirror. We slavishly work to protect it, to keep it going at all costs, to make it look as society tells us it should look.
As the Course so plainly tells me, I am under no laws but God’s. All the strange and twisted human laws of beauty, economics, medicine and nutrition are only enforced when I cling so desperately to that caricature in the mirror.
Imagine how different our lives would be if we didn’t feel the compulsion to perpetually ensure its safety?
When we believe the image is who we are, we’re stuck and scared and unable to see the bigger glories.
We are the life force itself, stars masquerading as separated reflections in a mirror.
Instead of talking to a mirror, I like to notice myself in the night sky, in the Milky Way, in the love that flows in and throughout the entire cosmos. #222 Forever!
Pam Grout is the author of 20 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest book, The Course in Miracles Experiment: A Starter Kit for Rewiring Your Mind (And Therefore Your World).
“Chasing wealth is not the answer. I’ve crunched the numbers. And sitting in a cheap fishing boat with my family is so much better than sitting on an expensive yacht.”—Nick Offerman
While I joyously soaked in Gandhi’s wisdom during the January retreat in Ahmedabad, India, I also learned about his protégé, Vinoba Bhave, whose book Moved by Love is one of many seeds I brought back with me.
I finished his book yesterday and can genuinely gush that I am now officially a Vinoba Bhave fangirl. He’s most famous for walking the length and breadth of India and inspiring wealthy landowners to give away 4 million acres of land to the less financially fortunate.
But the thing that most moved me was his approach to creating change, starting with a goal of freeing society from the bondage of money. I’m pretty sure Taz had a hand in this book coming my way.
Bhave was very clear that money is incapable of solving problems. Believing it is (and aren’t we sold that story from birth?) blinds us to real possibility. A revolution, he says, needs Spirit, not organization and structure.
One man, rooted in Truth (what Gandhi called ‘soul force’), is all that’s needed for Spirit to move, all that’s needed to create societal change. Bhave’s mission was to root out discrimination of every kind and for wealth and property to be shared by all.
I mean, who doesn’t want that really? It is only fear and our belief that we are separate that keeps that beautiful vision from being a reality.
Bhave was fearless. Because he knew he was more than a body, he had no need to protect it. Again, it’s the polar opposite of how we‘re trained from birth. He was able to give everything he had—his labor, his intelligence, his time and his thoughts–to this magnificent vision because he knew who he represented: the highest spirit in all of us.
Never did he coerce anyone to give up their land. In fact, he made it clear that if privileged landholders didn’t feel inspired to donate a piece of their property, he didn’t want it. He was giving them an opportunity. Because that’s what all of us really want—to give, to love, to make our hearts large enough to include everyone.
I could never repay even a fraction of the blessings I’ve been given in this lifetime, but at least I can share stories like this one. Hope you feel as inspired as I am right now. #222 Forever!
Pam Grout is the author of 20 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest book, The Course in Miracles Experiment: A Starter Kit for Rewiring Your Mind (And Therefore Your World) that has just been turned into an app. Badass ACIM (badass-acim.com)
“Let your broadcast of love bless the world.”—A Course in Miracles
Reading through E-Squared to update for the upcoming 10-year-anniverary edition, I was struck by the opening dedication: For Roosky. May your light forever shine.
Roosky, of course, is one of Taz’s gazillion nicknames: Taz-a-roo which led to Roosky which led to the dedication and my hope that the light and love she so clearly conveyed would bless the world. At the time, I was assuming its broadcast would continue here in the flesh.
But as Virginia Francess Sterrett said, “As long as space and time divide you from anyone you love, you simply have no choice but to go into battle with space and time and, furthermore, to win.”
That’s the goal of the Taz Grout 222 Foundation. Not so much to battle, because well, battling just keeps the crazy going, but to defy space and time by keeping alive Taz’s incredible light. Every year on February 22 (that’s today friends!), we give a gift to an innovative project or person with a big idea to change consciousness and therefore the world.
In times such as this, it’s vital to recognize that behind-the-scenes, beneath-the-news there’s a completely different story going on. There are so many of us who only want to love and serve and who really believe with our entire hearts and souls that a more beautiful world is not only possible, but is right now, as we speak, gathering breath.
As usual, the foundation got lots of great pitches for lots of worthy projects. And as always, I consulted Taz (I’m just her ground crew, after all) to finally settle on the following projects for this year’s 222 Foundation gift:
I. I have fallen in love with Bill and Pat Taylor who started the Southeast Asia Foundation to, as they say, give back to the Universe for the countless blessings they’ve enjoyed in their lives. Not only does every single penny go to their mission (all operating expenses come from their own pocket), but they show up themselves, boots on the ground, to make sure every one of their projects begins with and is guided by locals. They take their inspiration from Lao Tzu, insist on both sustainability and religious inclusion and act on the words from an oval river rock Pat once gave to Bill for his birthday: “You cannot do all the good the world needs, but the world needs all the good you can do.”
Thanks to Bill and Pat’s beautiful work (their tagline is “It takes a girl to raise a village”), the 222 Foundation has chosen to fund seven libraries in rural Siem Reap, Cambodia: four for kids, two for high schoolers, one for university students and one for the community. Taz LOVED books and worked at the Grinnell library when she was at university so having access to books, rare in rural Cambodia, is a must for promoting literacy and providing access to new possibilities.
We’re also funding a chess club and providing filters and fuel for water purification towers in Siem Reap. Mostly, we want Bill (he even shared a wonderful 222 story from when he was a 9-year-old Boy Scout) and Pat to know how much we appreciate their open hearts, generosity and unflinching belief that “it’s not merely about the money. It’s about each girl knowing that somebody some place in the world loves her and cares about her and encourages her to make something of her life.”
2. The other project Taz led me to support (isn’t she just brilliant?) is Craftroots, an artistan collective I was able to visit twice when I was in India last month. Once again, I fell in love with their mission. Yes, I fall in love A LOT!
Craftroots works with more than 17,000 artists in rural villages, keeping alive 72 ancient Indian arts and crafts. They aren’t out to scale their model or grow profits or production. Their aim is to bring a conscious shift in society by putting beauty into everything.
The artisans, mostly underprivileged women, aren’t viewed as laborers. Rather, they make up a sisterhood where each artist is genuinely respected, celebrated and encouraged to see their work as an offering to the divine—the divine in themselves and the divine in all life. Artisans pray together, read inspiring quotes each morning and focus on Truth: oneness, belonging and kinship.
Founder Anar Patel (to the right) also participated in ServiceSpace’s life-changing Gandhi 3.0 and says working with rural artisans is the greatest privilege of her life. She described it as her form of worship.
The 222 Foundation’s form of worship is looking for creative ways to burn through our culture’s prevailing trance of scarcity and lack and to provide a pinhole through which new possibilities and ways of being can shine. We are honored to support the above two projects and to remind everyone that there is light waiting for all of us to find. Happy #222!
Pam Grout is the author of 20 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest, The Course in Miracles Experiment: A Starter Kit for Rewiring Your Mind (And Therefore Your World).
“I was wise enough never to grow up.”–Margaret Mead
Just so you know, this is not a plea for birthday wishes. I already feel blessed by each and every one of you. I know (except when I occasionally get cranky) that I’m deeply loved and, if anything, I want to give birthday wishes.
Because that’s how it works. When we’re filled up with love, with the truth of who we are, it can’t help but gush over to everyone in our vicinity—even if it’s the vicinity of a blog. I write these posts for one reason. I love to write them. I do it for me.
And, yes, that’s another gravitational rule of life. When you do what you love most in all the world, it brings blessings to you AND spills on to others like an over-running cup.
When I blather on about the largesse of the world, I occasionally hear comments like “You’re out of your mind.” And I say, THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!
My mind, as useful as it is, has never delivered much joy. It’s too busy keeping track of stuff, making to-do lists and filing all the reasons I should focus on the human meatball part of myself. But boy, when I get “out of my mind,” all I experience is joy and a beautiful awareness that I am so lucky to have occurred at all.
Today’s Course lesson is “There is nothing to fear.” So my third birthday wish for all of you is this: Get out of your fear-producing mind, recognize the Truth and enjoy a big honking birthday celebration on me. #222 Forever!
Pam Grout is the author of 20 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest, The Course in Miracles Experiment: A Starter Kit for Rewiring Your Mind (And Therefore Your World).
“Little by little, you will turn into the whole sweet, amorous universe. Love will surely burst you wide open into an unfettered, booming new galaxy.”—Rumi
Mention the word manifesting and most people think of material items posted on their vision board. To manifest, as popularly advertised, is to bring new cars or jewels or lovers into one’s life.
But manifest, in its true definition, means to create a field that makes something perceivable to the senses. Thoughts and beliefs have energetic patterns that create specific fields from the vast, unknowable, infinite potentialities that erupted along with the Big Bang.
The possibilities are way more than a tiny human brain (the reducing valve, as Aldous Huxley described it) can begin to understand.
Our brains take one microscopic facet of life (say, the human meatball named Pam), place it in the center ring and hitch everything to that 42-foot (the standard length of a center ring in a typical 3-ring circus) field.
Deep grooves of habit diminish the vastness, the spaciousness of what’s truly possible. My dear friend Bob and I were talking about the sheer ridiculousness of believing we understand anything.
Even science can only study the 4 percent of the universe that’s visible. The other 96 percent, the invisible energy we only surmise is there because of its gravitational influence on the four percent we do see, remains unknowable.
So the best we can do is build models or fields that manifest one particular limited reality. Every religion, every culture, every personality is nothing but a manifested field. And, thankfully, none of them are solid or permanent or really anything except a pattern that we manifest with our ongoing attention.
I guess where I’m going with this long, esoteric blathering is that while I’m here, interacting on this fragile zone of earth and sky, I intend to unhitch my attention from the limited center ring and focus instead on life’s incredible vastness, on its never-ending gifts. I mean what are the odds that this collection of subatomic particles that pretend to be Pam even occurred on this rocky planet? What an extraordinary gift!
So call this your weekly reminder that what is manifested now (what we see on the news, in the world) is nothing but a temporary field, one iteration of possibility. By simply removing focus from “what appears to be” and putting it on “what else might be?,” we can create a field that more closely resembles life’s Truth: love, nothing but love.
Before I let you go, I also want to mention that I met yesterday with the incredible Cherie Anderson who created this Sunday’s fundraiser for the Taz Grout 222 Foundation. She gave me a brief preview (including my small part) and let me just say, that it’s going to be the bomb. A love bomb! There’s going to be tapping and a love exercise from Mr. Rogers (yes, that Mr. Rogers) and well, I’m just happy she invited me along for the ride. If I understand correctly, Cherie chooses a different good cause every month and then hosts a mini, on-line workshop where all proceeds go to said good cause.
If you happen to have time this Sunday, check us out here. I’ll be there. I’m sure Taz will be there with her ginormous light and spirit. And, of course, the 222 love energy will be there.
Have a ridiculously remarkable weekend, my friends, and if happens to include this Sunday’s “Will You Be Your Valentine” event, I’ll see you there. #222 Forever!
Pam Grout is the author of 20 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest, The Course in Miracles Experiment: A Starter Kit for Rewiring Your Mind (And Therefore Your World).
“Pam combines a writing style as funny as Ellen DeGeneres with a wisdom as deep and profound as Deepak Chopra.”
-Jack Canfield
“Your book is beyond spectacular. It’s funny, uplifting, delightful and profound. I am ordering six copies for my daughters and their friends. You rock, the book rocks, and so, of course, does Cosmo K.”
-Dr. Christiane Northrup, Bestselling Author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom
“I called your publicity guy and told him that if a 47-year-old Midwestern guy found this perhaps the most insightful and on target book with regard to “how it works” then the best-seller list cannot be far behind. Your journey….message and honesty and humor about the human condition are nothing short of profound.”
-John St. Augustine, producer for Oprah and Friends
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-Michele Lisenbury Christensen, coach, consultant and speaker
“In the parlance of today’s youth–I think you are the bomb!”
—Nicole Seiffert, inspiring reader
