“The only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances.”
― Jon Krakauer
My two-year-old granddaughter, Nona, just did a two-hour practice run of the preschool she’s starting next month. Unlike some kiddos who might be a little leery of leaving mom and meeting new people, Nona, when she saw the playground full of new kids, started bouncing in her car seat and with a flourish of her arms said, “Look, it’s MY FRIENDS!!!!”
That’s how I feel about all of you here on the blog. MY FRIENDS!!! And I am glad that all of us here on Planet Earth are starting to recognize that EVERYONE is our friend–even those who are playing the part of something else. Our assignment right now is to have a blast loving everyone and everything–even the stuff that is masquerading as a big fat mess.
And with that, I’d like to re-run a blog post from last year. Enjoy!!!
Because I view the world through rose-colored glasses, I don’t always recognize gloom and doom. Circumstances that others call “tragic” don’t necessarily get the same response from me. Sometimes, I’m even a bit cheeky about it.
Seven months ago, a beautiful young woman named Amanda Poe wrote to tell me she was reading E-Squared and consequently lost her job.
I responded like this:
“I am always of the opinion that losing one’s job and even one’s mind can be a very holy place.”
I told her congratulations and that I couldn’t wait to hear what happens next.
I’d forgotten about this correspondence until a couple weeks ago.
Amanda wrote with me this story:
“I’m very excited to tell you what I’ve been up to. You were right. Losing my job was literally the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I found myself again. I had always been so fearful of money, but when I lost my job.. somehow.. for 5 months I was completely and fully supported by the universe. With no savings and living on unemployment. I promise I still don’t know how it worked out!!
“I now have a job that I love, and I’m soo thankful. I wasn’t even looking for a job, but someone told me about this one and I got it the exact week that my unemployment ran out. I just learned to fully trust.
A lot of other crazy things happened.. I developed a better relationship with my mother.. I received free hair (weave/extensions) after asking the universe for free hair.. then I’m actually on a billboard promoting the hair .. just crazy things!
So, being the curious type and a lover of crazy things, I had to ask. Here’s what she said.
“While I was unemployed, I needed new hair extensions. (You know.. there are needs and wants.. and good hair is a NEED!) I put up an image of a girl who had curly extensions down to her knee caps on my screen saver on my phone. I put it up because I was communicating to the universe that I needed new hair. I didn’t care about the image… I just threw the long hair up there.. I just knew I needed free hair!!
My friend sent me a link to a Facebook post where a hair company was looking for models for their upcoming hair shoot. I submitted my pic and they chose me! They told me I’d get the blonde bob and that I could dye it later. I said “ok” – but when I got there.. they put in different hair. They put in curly hair that was down to my knee caps because they said the other model was acting too diva’ish and they had to let her go. So, now they’d chosen me to be the model for the billboard! The one with the long curly hair just like the one in the picture on my background on my phone.
No seriously.. how many other people have you seen with extensions to their kneecaps??? Its just crazy.
My life goal is to bring the spiritual gurus to teach spirituality to the masses in a super fun way! I’ve finally uploaded my first video under a brand new brand.
Help me in supporting Amanda on Twitter @spirituallydope and on the below YouTube video where you can see her cool new hair.
And remember that we get to decide whether to give the events in our lives a thumb’s up or a thumb’s down. No one can take that power away from us.
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 recently-released sequel, E-Cubed, 9 More Experiments that Prove Mirth, Magic and
7 Responses
I love Amanda’s Story about the hair extensions! I should think of something outlandish to see if the Universe has a sense of humor!! Thanks.Steph From: Pam Grout To: svalko2003@yahoo.com Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2015 1:56 PM Subject: [New post] Why Judge Judy wins Emmys and I don’t #yiv9998931273 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv9998931273 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv9998931273 a.yiv9998931273primaryactionlink:link, #yiv9998931273 a.yiv9998931273primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv9998931273 a.yiv9998931273primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv9998931273 a.yiv9998931273primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv9998931273 WordPress.com | psgrout posted: ““The only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances.” ― Jon Krakauer My two-year-old granddaughter, Nona, just did a two-hour practice run of the preschool she’s starting next month. Unlike some kiddo” | |
Glad to you count you as one of my friends, Pam Grout! And I always love a reminder to never judge a situation (or a person) that is not what I think I want in my life. I have actually done some EFT tapping on just that subject. Thank you for all your wonderful reminders! A day with an e-mail from you is a sunshine-y day!
Ooo where’s the link to the video?? I want to see that HAIR!!
Such an Inspiration, I hope to continue to inherit great things such as this from the universe!
I was reading this post and came across the line “I am always of the opinion that losing one’s job and even one’s mind can be a very holy place.” I can vouch for the second. I grew up in a family with a lot of restrictive rules and an expectation of perfection. I’ve worked in an extremely stressful job for years, and last November my husband was in a serious accident and my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. My teammate at work quit suddenly and a difficult project that had to be done at the end of the year had become all my responsibility. 2 days before Thanksgiving I lost my mind. I couldn’t sit still, I couldn’t focus on anything, I was panicked thinking I would lose my job just a few years from retirement. I ended up commited to a psych hospital for 4 days to be sure I didn’t hurt myself. Following that, I was required to spend a month in a day treatment program. I wasn’t allowed back to work until I completed that, after the end of the year. I’m 59 years old, and although I’d been anxious for as long as I could remember, I had never been through anything like this, and I was terrified. The day treatment program was excellent. I learned how I had allowed the strict rules of my childhood to become the guiding force of my life, to the point where I had developed a serious anxiety disorder. I was distrustful of strangers, and every small thing that went a bit wrong became a major concern for me. My husband, thank goodness, was a calm, laid back person who shielded me and calmed me when I was anxious – which was almost constant. The therapists in day treatment required me to set daily goals. One of the goals had to be something just for my own pleasure, and I chose reading. Day after day, I had hours to sit and read – a pleasure I hadn’t allowed myself to enjoy in a long time. E-Squared was one of the books I discovered and read during this time. I had read about the Law of Attraction, but it had never seemed to work for me. Little did I know that it was working right then, when I heard about your book. I was intrigued by the idea of experiments to help me learn how to use the Law. I started by asking for a sign in 48 hours. Almost all the time had passed, and there had been a few things that I thought could be the sign, but they didn’t knock my socks off. Then I was given the assignment of starting a journal, and I knew I had some empty notebooks at home. I took my recovery very seriously, and I wanted something special, so I picked a notebook with a pretty design that had caught my eye in a store some time ago. For some reason, I felt inclined to look on the back, although it was highly unlikely the back of an empty notebook would have any information on it. This one did – it was a design created as part of a project by students at SCAD – the Savannah College of Art and Design. My oldest nephew was a senior at SCAD. OK, that did knock my socks off. I knew immediately that was my sign. As one of the other experiments, I decided I wanted to see a little red wagon, like the Radio Flyers kids have. I was out shopping with friends in a little village with lots of shops, and they had gone ahead. I saw an older man with a cane waiting to cross the road, very hesitant. Before, I would have been afraid of insulting him if I tried to help him cross. That day, I felt inspired to ask him if he could escort me across the road, and I took his arm. He slowly moved with me, and traffic stopped for us as we crossed. I caught up with my friends in a shop where I spotted a miniature Radio Flyer wagon on a shelf. Well, it took me by surprise because I had figured I’d see a full size one, but here was the unexpected. I had to buy it. Except the store owner wouldn’t let me – he had seen me out the window escort the old man across the street, and the old man was a friend of his. He insisted I take the wagon in appreciation. Since then, a number of amazing things have happened. One of my goals from therapy was to check my finances to see how soon I could retire, to reduce the anxiety. I had not checked my financials in some time – I had always assumed I’d retire when I was 65, but I was afraid to check, with so many people nowadays finding they can’t retire like they’d hoped. When I did the math instead of thinking of all the things that could go wrong, it seemed like I could retire – NOW! I checked with a financial planner, and he agreed. I asked my husband if he knew I could retire, and he said yes. I asked why he hadn’t told me, and he said because of my anxiety, he could have told me 10 times and I would have come up with 10 different reasons why I couldn’t do it. And he was right – I knew it as soon as he said it. He said he figured I’d never trust that I could retire safely. But now I am retiring at the end of the year. I returned to my job, afraid they would let me go since I abandoned a very important project. I learned when I got back the project did fail – but not because of me. Another area had not been able to complete their piece of the project, but had not reported it, and it came to light when I left. My boss apologized to me for not realizing that concerns I had expressed about the other area’s work were valid. He asked me if I’d be willing to wait a few months before retiring, and I decided to allow a year, because I’ve worked there for over 3 decades and I need to train someone. I felt that I needed to do that – that it was my way of sharing abundance. I have learned to believe in the abundance that exists for all of us, and that it’s not selfish to ask for some of it – it is endless, I’m not taking it away from anyone else. ( I decided to test the ‘endless’ part when we went to a casino with friends. As your experiment to ask for something bit, I asked to win $1000 – and I did! But I was still skeptical – so I asked to win another $1000, but I moved to penny machines. Who can win $1000 on a penny machine? Well, if you win the biggest jackpot on the machine, the answer is – I can! With a little help from the FP!). I live in joy now – not momentary, quick-to-fade joy, but real joy, trusting the Dude and my fellow human beings. I’m thankful for your books, whcih were exactly what I needed when I needed it. And losing my mind was, indeed, sacred – almost the best thing that ever happened to me (only meeting my eternally supportive husband was better, and he is now reaping the benfits from all those years of support, because he has a happy, grateful, fun partner.) Thanks so much, and you are so right – things that seem tragic can be the best things that happen to us. The Dude abides! Debbi
Bravo!!