“I like to keep my nose to the joy trail.”—Buffy Sainte-Marie
When Taz was young, before she started kindergarten, I often started our day with this game plan from Psalms 118:24. “This is the day the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad.”
Now that I think about it, this spontaneous outburst was probably the genesis of the A.A. 2.0 program that I created and wrote about in Thank and Grow Rich.
When we start our day on what Buffy Sainte-Marie calls the “joy trail,” we literally practice alchemy. When we point our lens towards all that’s going right we rearrange atoms and reconfigure every aspect of our lives.
It’s one easy thing we humans can do to move ourselves into the proximity of Truth.
Tomorrow is the day my country stops everything and devotes itself to counting blessings. But I figure, I’ll keep right on counting, the day after and the day after that.
And for those who might want a refresher course, here’s A.A. 2.0 once again:
My name is Pam G. and, as of today, I am launching a brand new chapter of A.A. Unlike Version 1.0, my A.A. stands for Amazing Awesomeness and it only has two steps.
Step #1: Admit that…..”Something amazingly awesome is going to happen to me today.” First thing every morning, before throwing off your covers, before leaping out of bed (and it doesn’t take long in this program before participants do leap out of bed with joy and expectation), before firing up the old Mr. Coffee, proclaim to the world that something unexpected, exciting and amazingly awesome is going to happen to you today. It takes what, three, four seconds? Yet it’s one of the most important things you will ever do. The first few minutes of every morning pre-paves the next 24 hours with positive expectations. It sets up a powerful intention, a forecast on which you can focus.
And it never fails to come true.
Step #2: Come to believe…..in blessings and miracles. Pretend you’re a private investigator assigned the task of finding all the beauty and largesse in the world. The dominant paradigm might suggest otherwise, but practiced with regularity, this ritual will force you to see things in a whole different way. Instead of looking for problems, be on the hunt for new blessings. Take on the mission each day of reporting back with at least three pieces of amazing awesomeness, three blessings that are different than the day before. I often liken myself to Lewis or Clark, scouting important new territory.
Because we get out of life whatever we focus on, practicing these simple two steps has the power to override and overturn the accepted paradigm.
Like Bill W.’s A.A, that has reformed the lives of millions, this new program (A.A. 2.0) can transform a “nameless squad of empty glass thinkers.”
I invite others to join me in tweeting their blessings (only rule is it has to be different each day) to my Twitter feed. Or feel free to leave your blessings here. By expecting and looking for a different, more kinder reality, we can, together in one jubilantly mighty whoop, uplift and lighten this tired old world.
Don’t you think it’s time?
#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)
41 Responses
Dear dear Pam, I could not agree More 🦋💝🦋💖💖💖💫🦋💝🦋💫
Thank You for this and I am gladly a member of A.A 2.0 and await Every Day amazing awesomeness 🦋💝🦋🦋🦋💫💫💫🤩💖
With Love, Teija and Pelonteet 🦋💝💖💝🤩💫🤩🥰🥰🥰💝🦋💖❣️
Heya Pam – long time listener, infrequent caller.
I think the current tension between what you offer (which I love times eleventy-billion) is the current political climate whereupon certain actors are projecting a falsehood as if they believe it with all their fibres, thus muddying up the space where this notion is empowering and lovely.
Building on that, I know more than a few humans whose medical confounding ideas have extended beyond that particular sandbox into covid and vax denialism which impinges upon others’ health not to mention the safety of the entire medical system in the US and many other countries.
Again, I love the sentiment and pursue it fully, but I think the potential limitations of the model need to be recognized and tempered by what I can influence versus what I can control. I can influence my own immune system or my reticular activating system, but I do not control them. The environment influences them, but does not control them. They are only truly controllable by the Yogi dudes deep in Nepalese caves sweating sheets off their backs in 30 degree weather.
Much love!!
Much love to you, too, my friend. And thank goodness for the Yogi dudes! Interesting times, no doubt and you are so right. We each have our limited sphere of influence. Within my possibility posse, there are differing opinions on the issue you mentioned and while discussions occasionally get heated, we return again and again to our commitment to healing the divide in our little fractal of society. Sometimes, that’s the best we can do. But for me, that’s enough!
Fair points and it infiltrates doesn’t it??
Yes! Love, trust and breathe.
Rinse, repeat. 🙂
Thanks Psgrout!!
I am so grateful to be alive this beautiful day!
I’m so glad you’re alive this beautiful day!!
For me, the amazingly awesome delight I experience is I see something beautiful every.single.day! I posted one of those things on my instagram account ashleylynda1 and invite everyone to experience an image that symbolizes joy and freedom.
Something beautiful every single day. I LOVE that! And its true!
Pam, Blessings and joy from my house to yours. Keep doing what you do. You make a difference in human consciousness which will change the world.
Changing human consciousness is the ONLY thing that will ever change the world! Thanks!!!
Blessed to be alive & joyful moments to create beauty, kindness and spread Loving thoughts daily 🙏💞✨✨✨🌱💚💚💚🌎🌍🌈💫✨
May we all spreading loving thoughts daily, hourly, moment by moment.
Another tremendous e-mail – thank you, Pam, for your awesomeness!! I’m especially thankful today for going to several typically busy stores (especially pre-holiday!) before work this morning and the roads were clear and the stores were, too!! Unbelievable! Have a blessed, Happy Thanksgiving!! You’re a blessing to all whose lives you touch with your wonderful wit and wisdom!! Peace and love, Lisa XO
Thanks!!!
I was blessed just this morning with insight about wanting a certain thing vs. “letting go” and leaning toward “magic” (which is my preferred word for “miracles”). And yes, this post dovetails quite nicely, quite perfectly, in fact. Thank you! 🌼🌼🌼
Magic, here we come!
Love this, thanks! And in addition to Lewis and Clark, we can remember Sacajawea, the guiding feminine light on the path 😉
YES!!!! Let’s hear it for the guiding feminine lights!!!
Awesome & Happy Thanksgiving. I am thankful that my flight went very well, landed early & we got an upgrade on the rental car. Even the drive to the NY airport was a breeze & I mean that.
YAY! And that’s how it works!!!
Such a beautiful idea Pam. Looking forward to doing this , sharing, and inviting others on board. Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. We are blessed to have you in our lives.🤗
Watch out! It changes everything!
Grateful to you, Pam! I appreciate you. 🙏🙂
Thanks!!
I thought I was a glass half full kind of girl, but this situation has thrown me for a loop to say the least. This is a great reminder to look for the good. It’s easy to find it in my world. Harder to find it out there. So that’s my mission, look for it out there, thank you for the reminder! Love your attitude!
I’m grateful that people are courageous and standing up for the right to put what we choose in our bodies. I’m glad that there are infinite miracles in the world!
Yes, those infinite miracles are where I’m pointing my lens.
I had a delicious peanut butter cookie gifted me yesterday. This morning a squirrel blended in with the redwood tree. My coffee was extra delicious!!
Thanks for keeping the gnarly vibes going, The Dude!! And thank you for continually uplifting posts, Pam Grout!!
Thank you so much, Pam! ❤
I am grateful for your wisdom and humor Pam Grout, thank you. I am grateful for love, the constant glue that holds all our lives together!
with a nod to A>A> 1,0 … I’m lifting a glass of champagne to A>A>2.0.. and virtual friends Inspired, Pam.Thanks for the invitation.
Right on Pam…simple and so timely! Thanks
Thank you Pam! Happy Thanksgiving and #222 Forever. God bless.
So love this Pam. I am grateful for my wonderful boss and my beautiful family. I celebrate them everyday for their kindness.
Happy Thanksgiving to my US friends from Gail in Brisbane, Australia. Been enjoying Pam’s writing since I discovered in 2013. Keep safe while the pandemic continues and believe we will all come out safely on the other side. Blessings and Gratitude and Love will always overcome Fear.
I’m just going to add one more blessing, because this is a biggie for me.
Today I woke up and said the “expect blessings” words and then I realized that I had already had one. I slept about a full 8 hours, the first time in maybe 2 months +/- for more than 5 hrs at night. A great incentive to continue with this process!!
Thanks, Pam and Happy Thanksgiving. 🌻
So grateful for my husbands help with cleaning the house and peeling all those potatoes for our Thanksgiving gathering today. Blessings to all 💖
Not only did I have a great day at work. I was surprised by a chocolate turkey waiting for me on my desk and 2 bottles of wine came later in the day. I had just read you email and went to work..
It’s sooo fun.😁
How nice Pam!! You are the best law of attraction teacher in the world!! very grateful 🙂
My sister is exactly the way she is supposed to be and I know gratefully know that right down into my belly!!! The simple beauty of being on a beach with the clearest of light, with family again and hugging old friends was so amazing. I felt this ! !
Thankyou Pam! You and this blog post are two of the amazingly awesome blessings for me today 😁 And the other one is the wonderful magical synchronicity of the Universe. How’s this for a fabulous synchronicity: I was talking with several friends the other night about Facebook and the topic of my gratitude posts came up. (I had started doing a daily gratitude post a couple of years ago after reading about your daily practise of sharing three things you’re grateful for with your positivity posse) Anyway, I hadn’t posted one in a while as I’ve not been visiting Facebook much lately so after the chat with my friends I decided to write a gratitude post the next day. When I was about to write it I decided to check my email first and voila – there was this blog post about daily gratitude!!! I couldn’t quite believe the timing! (& I started to write a comment here then but got interrupted and never got back to finish it until now.) So, I’m now going to write my gratitude post on Facebook regularly again, and maybe I’ll do so via your twitter feed every now and then too. So thanks for being the most amazingly awesome spiritual blog poster in the world and for reminding us of how powerful gratitude – and a daily gratitude practise – really is. 😁💃🙏🎁😇
I’m late in reading this post (today is 11/28/21) but it reminded me that just a few short days ago (when I was feeling blue) that I alone could turn around my current situation – just as I have so many times in the past. I began by letting go of worry & fear & chose to focus on gratitude for all that I have & all that I have been given. It should come as no surprise to anyone here that by switching from fear (& despair) to one of humble gratitude, each day has been wonderful on many levels. I expect that as long as I continue of this path of gratitude, the days ahead will be wonderful as well.