“Look for the little hints of magic glittering at the corners of your life.”–Martha Beck
As a grounded travel writer, I’ve had to use my imagination this year. Instead of exploring new countries, I’ve traipsed through my little town’s 54 parks. Instead of elephants on the savannahs of Africa, I’ve oohed, I’ve aahed over giant local tortoises. I’ve hugged a lot of trees—which, believe it or not, often hug me back.
But mostly, I’m practicing living in magical realms. In different dimensions that have always been here, but I’m frequently too busy to notice.
It takes some dislodging of old patterns, of recognizing that looks can be deceiving. Readers of my books know I have a thing for quantum physics. Studying the science behind what I think of as “reality” helps me escape the trap of form. As I said in E-Squared, the material world “aint what it’s cracked up to be.”
Rather than detracting from life, learning about my illusions actually enhances it. I’ve said it before, but I have to keep reminding myself that nothing is solid. Physicists exposed that fallacy more than 100 years ago. Things we see are 99.999999999 percent empty space.
Those “things” we think we see out there, according to David Bohm, are “a phenomenon of connecting light rays which go back and forth, freezing them into a pattern.” Our brains literally make up a story based on our frozen patterns. Everything is actually energy.
Even my body is not solid or stable. At a cellular level, it’s in constant flux. My stomach lining is replaced every five days. Skin is reformed every two weeks. I have a completely new set of lungs than I did six months ago. The very oldest cells in my body are at most 10 years old—which, come to think of it, could explain my behavior at times.
At an atomic level, this turnover occurs at breakneck velocities. And my eyes trick me. As one rather startling example, this big rock known as Planet Earth is whizzing through the galaxy at 67,000 miles per hour.
Which gets me to the headline of this post. Rather than depending on what my eyes show me—an illusory world at best—I’m leaning in to the kingdom of magic, the world of infinite potentiality where anything and everything is possible. Once I let go of my brain’s many fabrications, I begin to notice all kinds of miraculous things. Perfect solutions show up. New adventures (which can be had anywhere, at any time) unfurl before me. I even get messages from Taz who according to conventional old school thinking is nowhere to be had.
Starting tomorrow, like I always do, I’ll begin Lesson #1 from A Course in Miracles. The first 50 lessons are there to help me unravel illusions, to transcend the fear that insists my number one goal should be protecting the body. I’m reading a wonderful book by a Buddhist teacher who suggests repeating this four-word mantra: “This is a dream.”
I’ve been repeating it a lot and even saying it “out loud.” It’s amazing how much lighter everything feels when I approach life this way, when I recognize that all my problems are just fascinating dramas that I literally concocted out of empty space and frozen light patterns.
Perhaps the children’s song, “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” says it best. “Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily. Life is but a dream.”
That merry river is where I’ll be in 2021. I hope to see you there. #222 Forever
Pam Grout is the author of 20 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest book, The Course in Miracles Experiment: A Starter Kit for Rewiring Your Mind (And Therefore Your World) that has just been turned into an app. Badass ACIM (badass-acim.com)
46 Responses
Thank you so much for your blog, posts and the reminder of infinite possibilities.
It is my pleasure. I write them for myself. It’s what I need to hear and remember.
Happy New Year 🎆🎊🎈
Love it! I was just yesterday telling a friend that our lives are like our souls sticking it’s fingers into the world giving us an experience. Like a hand in a bucket. And yes, playing with the quantum physics of life is cool. As ever, thanks for the reminders.
Thank you! Every time I get a message from you, it makes me smile and feel lighter. I read the course in miracles experiment in two months. Now going to start with one day at a time. Thank you for your humor, love and wisdom Love joeann
I’m going to commit to reading a Course in Miracles with you. I’m also reading Atomic Habits at the moment – which is brilliant. Happy New Year Pam. Thank you for all you have given me this year. Hedgehog! From the UK. X
Thank you Pam for another lovely post. Happy New Year to you x
THANK YOU!! So beautifully perfect. And I have post-it notes around my house with “THIS IS A DREAM” on them (perhaps the same Buddhist teacher? I did a dream course with him.).
Wishing you the magic reality of the spaciousness of our Hearts & Spirits. Miracles abound. Much love to you, dearest Pam. Maureen in Birch Bay, Washington (Where I hug trees all the time… and they do indeed hug back.)
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This will be copied, pasted and printed. I forget and needed reminding. I got it again today. Merry, Dreamy New Year. We are on lesson 331 of your book and then will start again. Best reading ever.
I’m so happy you are in the miracle zone. It’s is amazing. As Dr. Hew Len says, it’s getting back to Zero. And thank you for the reminder that tomorrow starts the Course of Miracles with you again.
Can you share the name of the book written by the Buddhist teacher?
Happy New Year, and THANK YOU for lightening my life!
I’m interested too> :))
Pam, I always look forward to reading your posts. They are magical and very inspiring. Always optimistic.
I love your books so much that I bought E-Squared for a friend. She had great results with most of the experiments. Whatever the reason, I wasn’t successful with any of them.
Anyway, I just want to wish you all the best for a very happy 2021.
HI Pam, great blog, first of all as you know I’m also fascinated with quantum physics. Please tell me where I can learn more about frozen light? I’ve never heard that before. Also I love ” This is a dream” mantra. I think it a lot to stay sane in a sometimes insane world, but I like the mantra to solidifing it deeper in my psyche. And I LOVE the illustration. Anita talked about this metaphor when we were at the sermon on the mount (the Wayne Dyer Cruise that he never made and Anita and 3 other amazing teachers gave talks instead.) So Thank you so much for this inspiring blog and yes I know we write this stuff for ourselves as much as we do it for other people who are ready and open to explore.
Happy New Year and Taz and you are Together Forever, there is absolutely no doubt of this! Love U
Thank you, Pam. Once again your words have brought me comfort an inspiration after receiving news from a friend of a serious health diagnosis. Happy New Year to all.
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Enjoy the dream of the New Year.
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Dear Pam, your posts are always the bull’s-eye. So grateful to be on your mailing list going into 2021. Many blessings and all good things, Danielle
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Pam, A Very Happy New Year to you and your clan of all dimensions. Thanks for sharing and and making the cruise through the inbox that much brighter. Wonderful “Travels”, Deb Sipes
I certainly hope to see you there too!
Have a wonderful year, Pam!
Viviana
Dear Pam, have the most wonderful and adventurous 2021. Here in Germany, we’re nearly there 😉 Like you I’m going to start (again) with a Course in Miracles from tomorrow.
The dream has just begun….
A very happy New Year all, stay safe!
Thank you Pam for the reminder of infinite possibilities….I seem to often need a reminder!!! It’s also heart warming reading the messages here….a reminder of the love and connection that is available to us all (and a reminder to go hug some trees)!! Wishing you so much love, happiness and infinite possibilities for 2021 and always. Much gratitude and love dee xx
I love you Pam. Happy 2021! Thanks for sharing your wisdom and insights
Hi Pam. I just finished your course in miracles experiment. It was lovely spending my early morning with you this year. Another warm New Year hug to you. I so want to create health and miracles this upcoming year. I want to touch as many people as I can with love. I want to be open to Gods will and guidance. Blessings to you and all our world in our new year❤🌠🙏
Thank you so much, Pam.
Sure will, thank you Pam, as always .
Happy and Healthy New Year, Pam!
HEDGEHOG!
xox
Pamela Joy
🦔
Thankyou Pam for a “lucky last” post for 2020 that arrived in my inbox just after sunrise on day 1 of 2021 here in Melbourne Australia. I love this weird time phenomenon that means many of us have already entered the new year whilst many others are still, apparently, in last year. For me it’s 11.27am on 1/1/21 as I write this message but for you in Kansas in the USA it’s around 6.30pm on the 31/12/20. Isn’t that bizarre?! For me, what is now the past is still, for you, the present. And yet it’s all just a label because now is now wherever we are, and whether you’re eating dinner on the last day of 2020 right now while I have just finished a very late breakfast on the first day of 2021, we are still in the same now, wherever we all are. Weird!! And wonderful!
Anyway, whatever day or time it is for any of us, Thankyou Pam for this inspiring post, Thankyou for including that delicious quote by Martha Beck, thanks for that delightful cartoon that explains life in such a fun and easy to understand concept, and Thankyou for being you and sharing your thoughts and experiences with us. I am grateful for you and for this safe place to learn about, share and enjoy life’s magic. ⭐️🌹🦋
A very Happy New Year to you Pam, filled with magic, joy, laughter, light and love, and I look forward to more inspiring stories in 2021.
With love from Jenny Louise 😘❤️🤗
I am truly trying to wrap my head around this. Yesterday, my younger brother, who was in excellent health, died. Apparently, a tooth abscess leaked into his blood and sepsis overwhelmed his body. I’m in shock, and, on another level, celebrate that he got to leave this level without drawn out suffering. Everything has changed for me, and a huge hole in my heart has opened. I am grateful that he had a wonderful life, raised beautiful children and left all who knew him feeling blessed. Hoping when my time comes, I may do the same. Hold those you love and can reach closely. Pick up the phone and call someone you may not have spoken with in a while. Nurture your friends like you do your garden. Grief is a season I must pass through, as is Winter. I intend to treat myself gently, as I go about traversing this unknown territory…..
A hug to you Shoshana.
Shoshana, I am sorry for the loss of your beloved younger brother.
Love!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS POST PAM!!!!
Thank you so much Pam for the magic you help to inspire into my life. Yesterday, as I was looking after my 15month old granddaughter, I was singing “Row, row, row your boat ——“ to her over and over and delighted in the words “ Merrily……life is but a dream”. And, so it is. Beautifully. Jo ________________________________
Just had to pass this on because it made me laugh out loud with the amazingness. I often play the game of ‘give me signs of Infinite Potential’ and I will often see 222. This time, knowing that Taz sends you hedgehogs, I thought okay show me a hedgehog wondering how that was going to manifest in Australia. I was waiting for the bus and went into Instagram and the first post up was an Echidna (looks like a hedgehog) swimming as the ABC festive season picture. I just burst out laughing with joy and awe and gratitude. And I give thanks for Pam Grout and her willingness to keep putting it out there for us all to witness for ourselves. Thanks.
Thank’s for your wonderful words for a wonderful new year!
Pam – your email today helps clarify this topic of I’m not a body. It’s gives me a more “logical” or science based way of understanding. I was recently reading a book by David Hoffmeister and in it he said he learned somewhere to repeat “It’s only a Dream.” I wanted the reminder to do the same, so I painted a rock that sits next to my computer. (I don’t think I’m able to attach a photo of my rock.)
Love you and wish you a beautiful new year! ~Pam
This is spot on!!! I share this with folks and they look at me as if I have 4 heads… hmmm, maybe I do!!!
Sweet Pam! I’ve been receiving this blog post in my inbox for years, and have thoroughly enjoyed all your books. I feel like I know you, even though we’ve never actually connected (here in the physical realm, anyway). This post says so beautifully the things that have been on my mind lately. Something shifted for me this past year that I barely even noticed, but is so huge– the idea that this physical experience we are having is so limited and only a very thin slice of what is “actually happening”. It’s just so fun to read this and have you explain it more beautifully and eloquently than I ever could, thank you. Sending you so much love.– Meghan
Happy New Year to you, Pam! Thank you for all the joy and light you bring to my world.
Happy New Year Pam!!! I have to say that I have enjoyed the book immensely! In fact I looked forward to your inspiring words every day with my morning coffee. I can’t thank you enough. You really helped me keep my head out of my asshat this entire year. You can be sure I’ll be starting the book all over again today. And this blog post says it all. Way to go my fine friend! Here’s to the magical realms!!! ❤️222❤️ FOREVER
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Happy New Year Pam! And thank you for being you.
Thank you Pam. I look forward to being in your dream and to continue to look forward to your wisdom and love.
Thank you Pam. You always write so beautifully. You are dreaming a good dream.
Hi Pam – E-Squared is a ‘universe-moving’ piece of creativity and information flow! Any plans to do any workshops or talks or podcasts in 2021 ??