“Truth merely wants to give you happiness, for such its purpose is.”—Course in Miracles

“Lay your interfering thoughts aside.”—Course in Miracles

My thoughts provide an endless source of entertainment. Most of the time, they’re busy replaying the past, or constructing a future.

Instead of living in “The Holy Now,” where miracles are natural and joy is unstoppable, I put up a barrier. I let the past direct the movie of my life.

By believing today is going to resemble yesterday (and we all do—that’s how we decide things) we leave no room for change, no room for all the good the universe is trying so hard to bestow. There is a HUGE stockpile of blessings just waiting for you to lay down your continuous reactivation of the past.

Over and over, instead of viewing the delicious juiciness and endless possibilities available in this now moment, we plan the future using yesterday’s replay. The present has gifts of its own, but we keep returning to yesterday. Hard to believe, but the present doesn’t need our help!!!

As the Course in Miracles so clearly states, “Without the continuity of old ideas and sick beliefs, present confidence will direct the way.”

Esther Hicks talks a lot about pre-paving. Deciding in advance how you want things to be. Every time, I head out on a new trip with a new group of travel journalists, I pre-pave camaraderie and having a great time. I picture laughter. Well, guess what? That’s exactly what I get. Here’s a YouTube of my latest group (I just returned last night) in Mexico. We had a blast!!!

Pre-paving is powerful mojo. Just make sure you don’t pre-pave the past. Pre-pave something unexpected, something unlimited.

Once we let go of all our planning, all our struggling and all our beliefs that it’s our job to figure life out, the universe, whose only purpose is our good, will flood us with blessings.

Without defenses, fool bullheadedness and insistence in living everywhere but in the now, we can expect joy that constantly increases. That’s diggity!

Pam Grout is the author of 16 books including the recently released, E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality.