“When you believe something, you have made it true for you.”—A Course in Miracles
If you’ve read my books or talked to me for more than say, 15 minutes, you already know I’m a HUGE fangirl of A Course in Miracles. It probably sounds more dignified to say “I’m a student of the Course,” but who wants to be dignified. Certainly not this dancing fool.
Besides the quote at the top of this post, I also read this passage (I’m paraphrasing) from the Course this morning: “Your safety, peace and joy are totally beyond question except by you. In fact, any perceived problems are not problems of fact. They are problems of understanding.”
So one of my goals is to change our understanding of the world. I’ve also called it changing the dominant paradigm. So here’s a little story I heard when I was in the Okanagan Valley the weekend before last:
Winfield, British Columbia is part of a little town with no more than 12,000 people. It’s wedged between a couple ski resorts and a beautiful lake. To give you some idea of its stellar beauty, let’s just leave it with this: the entire Okanagan Valley is popular with Canadian hockey players in the off-season.
One day, at the Winfield Tim Horton’s (Tim Horton was a well-known hockey player whose name now graces some 4600 coffee shops across Canada), a guy in the Sparkling Hill workshop I gave with Olympic coach Dirk Stroda told us he drove up to the window only to be informed that his coffee had been taken care of by the person in front of him. Inspired, he decided to “pay it forward” to the next car in line. Later, he was talking to his neighbor who works at that Tim Horton’s and was told the giving to the car behind went on for a full four and a half hours. FOUR AND A HALF HOURS of unbridled generosity. And you thought the world was a scary place?
What might you do today to start a chain of blessings?
Pam Grout is the author of 17 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and the just-released sequel, E-Cubed, 9 More Experiments that Prove Mirth, Magic and Merriment is your Full-time Gig.
26 Responses
Pam: The universe continues to blow my mind. I was reading Conversations With God this morning and the last thought I was left with was the realization that I was seeing some of my blessings as problems….and there are no problems. And then I get this! THANK YOU for carrying the message.
Of course, I can’t NOT carry the message. It’s my mission!!!
Total Awesomeness!! Thanks for helping me to set the tone for my day!
My pleasure, Randie Kindle!!!
YES! And it’s fun too! Last week I saw this gentle elder woman walking about Trader Joe’s with her basket in her arm, picking up a few things to buy. I saw, her, you know what I mean? I kept “seeing”her as I did my shopping. We ended up at checkouts next to one another and without a second thought I turned to her and asked if I might buy her groceries for her today. Her face lit up and she was overwhelmed with joy. Surprised as heck too. It was only $9 but you’d have thought she’d won the lottery. The love that swirled around me and her and the checkout guy was palpable. Strangers? No. Friends who just met. She joked that she’d wished she bought more and the guy laughed and said where was I when he was shopping. It was a joyful moment and I was the luckiest one of all.
We had a similar occurrence here in Charleston, SC over the summer. A person in drive through paid for the coffee in the car behind them and the “pay it forward” went on for close to two hours. A Starbuck’s employee noted that over 237 people had paid for another person’s morning java! This was such an event it made our news outlets! We need our media outlets to share more and more of these experiences…as do we in our social media outlets so people can see how much goodness their “really” is out there!
How cool! Good for you, Charleston!!
Great story Pam – I’ve heard many like it in recent months.
When living in the California Bay Area, I would pay the toll when crossing the Dumbarton Bridge to Berkeley, S.F. and beyond.
Now in the Inland Northwest, I give either $5 to the barista of the local Dutch Bros, or offer my full stamp card (for a free drink) to them and tell them to give it to the person in line behind me. It never fails to amaze the teens and twenty-year old working there. Their smiles alone are worth giving the gift.
Cheers!
Reblogged this on Brussell's Sprouts and commented:
What might YOU do today to start a chain of blessings???
Just a thought: Healings from all the Ferguson, MO activities may begin this way?
Great story and great replies. I will do this the next time I have a chance.
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I do not like how your reply window blocks me from rereading your message or will not let me share with friends….shame on you as I am trying to get my friends to form a group of E Squared and Cubed……
Not sure why it does that. I didn’t set it up that way. But I can highly recommend getting a group together. It makes all the difference. Blessings!!
renee….until you get your group formed, you can join in the fun on facebook here –
https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/612535715434778/ (if the link does not work, it’s E-Squared Manifestation Group…it’s a closed group)
Pam
I am reading your book E2 (on recommendation) yet nothing , absolutely Nothing yet has worked.
I am shocked as nothing works Doesn’t stop me believing in the greater good just shocked that it dosent work😩😫😩😫
E2
Thetesa anal
Sent from Theresa’s iPhone
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Here’s a blog post I sometimes send when people aren’t seeing their blessings:
http://pamgrout.com/2013/09/23/the-fact-that-the-field-exists-changes-everything-weve-believed-about-our-role-in-creation-gregg-braden/
Blessings,
Pam
Hey Pam Mr. Tim Horton is from my hometown and started his little coffee shop here! We Canadians especially here in Ontario love our Tim’s!! We’ve been playing that marvelous game of paying for the next car behind us for years now! See how nice we Canadians are eh?!!
that’s canada. There is a Tim’s in Kapuskasing, and one in Brandon, and one in Edmonton, and in Golden, BC. among others. Medicine Hat, Leamington, where they have speed bumps coming up to the drive up window, Sudbury, pay it forward always goes forward, except in Washington, DC.
You Canadian are truly nice! Thanks for setting such a great example.
Reblogged this on Spirit In Action and commented:
I love being reminded of this sort of thing:-) I’ve been wanting for a while now to start a chain of blessings by helping people learn to grow food. Starting seeds, sharing baby plants and knowledge about caring for them. I have been thinking about it often for years-but being stuck mostly in bed and isolated the practical outcomes of this idea eluded me. The other day on a rare outing I saw something amazing in the local library: a flyer about FREE Seeds and gardening assistance, and neighborhood gardens project a local group is partnering with our city and libraries to help people (especially in our low income “challenge area”) to grow fresh healthy food.
As Jeff Goldblum once said in Jurassic Park “Life ALWAYS Finds a Way! “. The Universe found a way to make my dream come true even without my knowledge or participation. How cool is that? !;-)
PAMMMMM…..I am hanging on by my fingernails to the YES ! sign that I got a while ago after I did the inner guidance experiment….Obstacles and pitfalls galore but I still believe it will work out in the end….PLEASE advise what to do when I find myself getting into that not so nice negative space….How do I keep my focus on YES! when everything says No ? How do I keep my focus on the fact that miracles will happen…however ludicrous the idea may seem at the moment….?
You won’t be surprised to hear that just a couple of days ago while placing my order at the Taco Bell drive-through, I told the woman on the other end of the microphone that I’d like to pay for the order from the car next in line. I have no idea if that driver did the same, but I was smiling the whole way home!