Let the universe do the heavy lifting, 2.0

“I don’t have to be perfect. I just have to show up and enjoy the messy, imperfect and beautiful journey of my life.”– Kerry Washington

It happened again—three emails in a few short days from folks who are wondering what to do if they don’t immediately get their blessing from Experiment One. So I want to share this story.

I wrote E-Squared 9 years ago. It was originally called God Doesn’t Have Bad Hair Days and I loved it with all my heart. I affirmed that it would be a bestseller. I made the intention that Oprah would snatch it up and invite me on her show.

Instead, it did a monster-sized belly flop into the great sea of literary has-beens. It quickly went out of print, one of only two of my 16 books to ever do so.

In fact, my editor (of that book) said, “I just don’t understand it. This book is just like The Secret.”

Yes, my book debuted at the exact same time as the movie, The Secret, a whole year before the book, The Secret, came out.

So here’s what I did? I let it go. I waved the white flag and began focusing on other stuff. I wrote three travel books for National Geographic. I wrote this really cool TV series about an ecovillage. I did everything I could think of to keep open the channels of joy and abundance.

Now I’m not suggesting that I never crashed or walked through a few valleys, or ever bought into the recession and the continual bad news about my chosen career. I even wrote a piece about it for Huffington Post that you can read here.

But instead of pitching a tent in the land of “poor me,” I kept believing. I kept recognizing that it was only me that could block the world’s largesse. It was only me who could build walls to keep my good away.

My only job, the way I see it, is to enjoy every moment of my imperfect, messy, beautiful life.

And guess what? The book was polished up a bit and came out this year as E-Squared. And all those things I affirmed earlier. They’re coming to fruition, just like I envisioned them.

So I will repeat here, what I wrote last time I got the question: “What if I make an intention and it doesn’t happen?”

First and foremost, DO NOT BEAT YOURSELF UP! Do not ask yourself, “What am I doing wrong?” Do not make the erroneous conclusion that the universe does not have your back.

In fact, the very best tact when you’re unable to find your intention is to say, “THANK YOU!!!” “Thank you for showing me that I still have..…oh, maybe just a tad bit of resistance.”

And then go out and do something really fun, something that makes you sing with joy. If you can’t think of even one thing that makes you smile, that’s a sure sign your channels of love and joy are not as open as they could be. Again, no biggie. Feel free to borrow one of the many things I do when I notice my channels are blocked with twigs of negativity and self-doubt:

** Dance around the house. Put on some lively music and go for it.

** Get a stack of dollar bills and go out and give them away. I know a guy who uses hundys, but I’m still more comfortable using ones.

** Sing a happy song as loud as you possibly can.

Your only job (and that word probably demonstrates part of the problem) is to go out and get happy.

When you’re happy, life works. In fact, number one on my hit parade of intentions is something I borrowed from Yogi Bhajan: “To make myself so happy that others get happy just looking at me.”

When manifesting, you’ve undoubtedly heard that “How is not up to you.” These days, I’m not even so sure “What” is the best strategy. I prefer to focus on “Why?”

Why do I want money? So I can have an amazingly awesome time.

Why do I want to write books and blog posts? So I can use my God-given gifts.

Why do I want a meaningful, expanding relationship? So I can be a more loving person.

That’s what all of us really want—to have an amazingly awesome time, to use our gifts, to be loving human beans. And I’ve discovered that when I start “being” those things, the “whats” flow like a hawk in a tail wind.

The universe wants to give us every good thing. It is only our resistance that stops it from stampeding towards us like a herd of wild mustangs.

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