“We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.”― Carlos Castaneda
Harper’s magazine recently listed mistaken reports of animals in distress compiled by an animal rescue shelter on the island of Guernsey.
A sick seal on a beach ended up being a duvet.
A dead cat was a hand puppet.
A gull hanging from a fence was a carrier bag.
An injured bird was a blond wig.
A stray pug was a frog.
I laughed at what they cleverly headlined “Faux Paws” because these mistaken distress calls are so quintessentially human. Over and over, we think there’s something to worry about, something to report, something we need to fix. That’s how we spend our lives.
But in reality, most of our problems are nothing but perceptual distortions.
The Course in Miracles is very clear. Our view of the world is mostly illusion. When our crazy perceptions have been removed, the truth that has always been there will appear, a truth that can do nothing but make us indescribably happy.
May this weekend be the best one of your life. This dancing gorilla will show you how.
Pam Grout is the author of 18 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and the about-to-be released, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.
16 Responses
Yes. Not just to follow my bliss but to lead from it!!!!!!
I really appreciate this, Tarik! 🙂
Haha. LOVE! You write, “Over and over, we think there’s something to worry about, something to report, something we need to fix. That’s how we spend our lives.” Thanks to you and so many other amazing teachers, I feel so fortunate to know the truth of the opposite: that we have so much to love and enjoy and appreciate in life.
Just this morning the thought dropped in my head, “Live your life like the taste of lime. Live your life like the sound of a piano from a second story window. Life your life like a carousel ride on a summer afternoon.”
There are so many delights to encounter. Your post today is one of ’em! 💥💓💥
#thankyoupamgrout
Okay this is totally weird. This morning, after I did my usual meditation, I read the chapter on Laughter from Thank and Grow Rich. I put the book down and turned on my phone…and someone (someone who normally doesn’t text me funny things) had texted me that gorilla dancing clip and I laughed so hard and KNEW it was the Field. Now I get an email from the person who wrote Thank and Grow Rich that mentions the friggen gorilla! I’m laughing even harder! 🙂
Thank you very much!!
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That’s so very true. Sure hard to do sometimes but still very true!!!
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As Dr Robert is fond of saying…stop thinking, live in the moment,live in the present
This blog post was manifested by yours truly! I have always worried about animals. Early this morning I thought about how when I was about 6 my mom took me to the pet store and I cried thinking they were killing the dogs in back. My mom laughed and said no they groom them back there. I have rescued many and in the last few years I tried to see things differently. Most recently I have rehomed a cat and stay up at night worrying about her. I felt like I couldn’t enjoy my life unless all animals are safe. In the last year I tried to change the way I thought about things and, I too, would think I would see a dead cat and it would be a t shirt. How about the time I saw a neighbor shoot a cat and toss it off the side of his property later discovering that there are blow up targets that are small and white looking like a small cat. For me, I tried to trust in the universe so when I see a turtle cross the road and worry but looked back in my rear view, I see the next person stop to help I smile thanking them. I also tried to trust that we are all here learning and choosing, in our own way, what we need for ourselves. This post is exactly what I needed. Our minds are powerful and I would rather focus on “all animals are safe and happy” or “people are kind to animals.” I needed this post. Thank you!
Holy crap, Pam! My friend recommended your book, E Cubed just the other day. I’m going through a really terrible time and I thought, “What the heck.” so I downloaded it and started reading. Now, I’m a Wiccan and firmly believe in what you say, but I have a habit of thinking I don’t deserve the good things that come my way. So I did the first test and asked the Universe to send me a hummingbird or a raven (my spirit guides). Guess what I got less than 24 hours later…BUTTERFLIES! I think I’m on the right track. Thank you so much.
Dear Pam, I hope you get this!! I just laughed out loud at this post….. Something exactly like this happened to me recently… In Australia, we have these absolutely beautiful parrots called Pink and Greys…. ‘ One rainy day, I was on my way into town, when I came across a dead pink and grey at the intersection…. I was heartbroken as they are such beautiful playful and funny birds. I looked over to the curb nearby and there was a troup of about 10 more all standing and watching and grazing… I thought “Oh, no!! That’s it’s family, they’re probably all grieving and so sad about what’s happened, their squashed little mate, brother, sister or mum or dad no longer here for them….” Each day I passed the intersection, the bird was more squashed and unrecognizable… Each day I was just as heartbroken and finally had to force myself not to look. Finally the rain eased, and as the bird “dried” on the intersection, I realized it was a pink and grey cardboard box!!!! Ha ha ha … I fooled my self and tell the story alot to laugh at how our perception can get so easily twisted!! Loads of love and gratitude to you, Ava xx
A late bloomer but I’m just reading “Thank and grow rich” …I’m loving it 😘
This weekend is fabulous so far! Next weekend will be too as I will be at Omega attending your workshop with a phenomenal friend I met many years ago in college:)
Thank You Pam for the insights on our views on animals. Today, after a rainstorm last night, my husband & I were taking our 1/4 mi. walk to the mailbox. Yep! I’m still trying to make the trek each day, and after 2 yrs.post stroke, I can do it without a cane! ( Most days!) We came across a very tiny frog, ( at first he looked like a dead leaf), who had come out to cross to our pond, and made it only half way across the gravel road. Looked like he was starting to “bake”. We carefully picked him up, shielded him from the sun wrapped in my current issue of a monthly magazine.( That’s about all I get, plus many bills from doctors, after retirement). We placed him in the still cool mud next to the pond. Have a good day, Frog! My husband & I respect living things, and enjoy that you do as well… Loved the gorilla! Bless You for all your posts.
Dear Patricia……I was just thinking about you the other day and couldn’t remember seeing a recent post…..so, BINGO! now I have an update on your recovery! Ask and you shall receive?…….I’ve thought of you often and sent healing Light for a speedy recovery. Such a lovely story about the froggie. I’m sure s/he was happy you had come to it’s rescue. I see you well and taking brisk walks, apparently not time just yet otherwise you would have missed the frog! Lots of love and hugs, Diane.
Illusions can lock you down. For me the turning point has been looking past the illusion or really looking at the dance meant to distract me.
I left 67 days ago..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Wow an abusive situation. I was going to say relationship, but no such thing was happening. And it is amazing what has happened. I was constantly constipated, not now. I have lost weight and am returning and seeing my “real” size. I got a job and have been promoted 2 times in 5 weeks. All this stuff has been happening. I started looking at homes to buy rather than paying a weekly room believing all I deserved was a hole to live in. SO SO much has changed…just because I said…why are you trying to distract me with the show…what is really going on? Why do you not want me to see what is over there? Hmmmm
Pam,
Last night I read E-cubed straight through. As I was reading the first couple of chapters where you recap E-Squared, I read “the dude abides” and the “VW Jetta” principles. I stopped for a second and asked myself what exactly would I need to see to be convinced of the validity of what you say.
I decided that in 48 hours I would need to see the name “Mimi” in real life — not on TV or the Internet — as this was the obscure nickname my mom used to call me when I was a child. (That was 55 years ago!) Only she used it and it’s obscure enough that, to me, it sure beats butterflies or something like that. I finished your book last night and, since I wasn’t ready to go to bed, I picked up an English mystery novel I’d gotten at the library. I opened it and on the opening page was a quote the author used to set the tone of his novel:
Knock hard. Life is deaf.
–Mimi Parent
There it is. Mimi. Within 2 hours of me deciding that Mimi would be my sign. Not only that, though. I had no idea who Mimi Parent is, so I looked her up. She’s a French Canadian artist born in Montreal. My own mother, who called me Mimi, was a French Canadian born in Montreal.
Needless to say, I’m going to be putting the universe to work here through your wonderful books and exercises.