No should, Sherlock!

“I’ve learned that when they call you crazy, it usually means you’re onto something.”—Jacqueline Novogratz

Happy Monday, my peeps! I know I typically send out Friday missives — mainly so I can wish you the most astounding weekend of your life, but thought I’d mix it up a bit.

Plus, while walking around my yard this morning, counting new lilies, adoring the clematis, reveling in the morning’s avian Opus #143, a voice clearly spoke to me—“This is your mission, Pam.”

“Say what?”

“You heard me. Your life’s work is to notice, give thanks, be joyful. And don’t let anybody tell you that’s not enough.”

“Even with all the potential causes, protests, issues I keep hearing about?”

Yes, I’ve been regularly hitting up the Dude with the question, “What is mine to do?”

This morning’s answer couldn’t have been clearer.  

“Love your life, create a field of joy, expand your presence.”

Not the presence, it emphasized, that the world maintains you “should” expand — get more likes, attract new followers, sell more books– but the presence of peace and possibility, of imagination, new ideas.

But what about all the “shoulds” I inherited from my culture: that I “should” build my 401K, keep my fingernails painted, rid my lawn of all those beautiful yellow flowers that eventually turn into white wispy delights?

The rules are extensive, many buried beneath awareness, taken for granted, believed to be absolute duty as a responsible human being.

These invisible “shoulds” are buried in the left hemisphere of our brains, the rational, pragmatic side that constructs a map of the world that currently dominates reality. It alleges I “should” put up defenses, stay safe, stay separate, stay loyal to the dominant narrative. And sadly, that map has formed a world with little room for awe and wonder.

But it’s the awe and wonder, the beauty of it all, as Dostoevsky said, that can save the world. 

So, no, I have not identified any new assignment, any new cause. But I have been given full-throated permission to abandon all “shoulds,” to simply walk through life as a loving, energetic field of presence. To forever enjoy “this very now” and be open to the unbounded truth that surpasses all maps, all limitations, all “shoulds.”

Here’s to enjoying a ridiculously rowdy, sensuously satisfying week, the best of your big, beautiful life.

#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)