psgrout

Happy 2/22! Where we jumpstart a revolution in consciousness

February 22, 2025 35 Comments

“The miracles you can do are limitless, simultaneous and legion.”—A Course in Miracles

I have never in my life gotten so many daily hugs!

Craig Foster, the South African filmmaker who won an academy award for My Octopus Teacher, welcomes friends, colleagues, even first-timers to his beloved Cape Town with a hearty “Welcome home!”

That’s because all of us, in one way or another, can trace our lineage back to Africa’s San people. All of humanity originated from these magnificent peoples who were able to survive and spread out across the planet thanks to their deep connection with nature.

Although dormant in most of us today, this inherent ability, this knowing still exists within each of our souls.

Yet, when the Taz Grout 222 Foundation decided this year’s grant would be used to support LoveLights Ubuntu Camps in Riviersonderend, original home of our wildly-tuned in ancestors, we had no idea how much it would radically change our lives. Well, except for Taz, my cosmic board president, who undoubtedly had it planned all along. As I often say, having a daughter with such a broad and vast perspective is a real perk.

The mission of the Taz Grout 222 Foundation is nothing less than to transform the consciousness of the world. Until we change the way we perceive the world, until we update the things we value, humanity will continue to focus on an insignificant material reality, one that teaches us to buy products, worry about our appearance, distrust our neighbors and perceive ourselves as separate individuals competing for resources.

These exuberant kids taught me way more than I could ever teach them.

As the Course in Miracles repeatedly says, everything we moderns now perceive as fact is an artificial reality that ignores our true nature.

The Taz Grout 222 Foundation believes we don’t have to live in that distorted world anymore.

We don’t seek to change things per se (that, my friends, is counterproductive and only creates resistance), but to celebrate a more nourishing way of life, a grander possibility. We intend that our new vision will be SO compelling, SO alluring that people CAN’T WAIT to jump on board.

Every year on 2/22, we pick a project or individual to support that is already celebrating a higher truth, that is already rejoicing in our inherent wholeness, intelligence and beauty.

I could go on and on about our time in South Africa. We played, we sang, we danced, we loved. But I think the following pictures say it best:

Ubuntu is a word that means I am because we are. At the camps we hosted more than 100 kids from 4 to 18.

We tromped around the river and the mountains where the San practiced their ancient wisdom.

We decorated rocks, collected from the river, to spread messages of hope.

This is Robin Goff, the powerful miracle worker who started LoveLights 20 some years ago as an offshoot of the Light Center, her 95-acre healing retreat in Baldwin, Kansas. I am so lucky to be her neighbor, friend and cohort in spiritual mischief.

In addition to LoveLights and the Riviersonderend Ubuntu Camps, we are also funding a five-acre home for the wonderful Yacouba Maiga who for 20 years has been changing stereotypes and empowering women in rural Mali.

Congratulations and Happy 222 Forever to all!

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).

Tuning in to the eternal broadcast

February 20, 2025 19 Comments

“There are only two mantras, yum and yuk. Mine is yum.”–Tom Robbins

Happy Thursday, beautiful friends.

Mike Dooley and I just had a public conversation with his TUT Adventure Club. Or maybe it was his Possibility Trainers. Either way, it was a great reminder (at least to me) that most of our assumptions have outlived their usefulness.

We both agreed that it’s time for those of us who believe in the higher frequency to step up, to generate a field that has nothing to do with “the world.”

The world we see now is simply a picture of old thought forms that have condensed themselves into temporary materiality.

The key word is temporary.

As much as we want to hold on to what we know, it’s time to dive headfirst into the new, the as-yet-to-be.

As you all know, I use a gazillion synonyms for what some folks call God. The one I’ve been pondering lately is dynamism. That’s life, that’s what’s true.

So we can cling to old structures, habituated ways of being or we can let go and trust the invisible, the part of us that’s eternal, indestructible and dynamic.

It’s only scary when we look through the lens of our old assumptions.

But mostly today, I wanted to share this video that you’ve likely seen, but is worth a second three minutes of your time.

Sending you SO MUCH LOVE!

#222 Forever

What a relief!!

February 11, 2025 46 Comments

“To live in victimhood is to live like a beggar.”—Byron Katie

What a relief….

…to learn that my happiness comes solely from me.

What a relief…

…to learn I can question my thoughts…

…to know I don’t have to believe them…

…or give them my precious energy.

What a relief…

…to know that while my thoughts are never going to stop, I have no responsibility to take them seriously…

…Or invite them in for tea.

What a relief…

…to recognize that my thoughts are mostly conditioned patterns…

…and that if I continue to shovel coal upon them, they will cost me my life and precious energy.

What a relief….

…to know life, real life, is the exact opposite of the life my thoughts blab on about

…and that it’s safe to take my attention off my thoughts and just be.

#222 Forever!

Ridiculously blessed

February 7, 2025 46 Comments

“Chasing the light doesn’t necessarily look good on paper.”—Heidi Hook

Many years ago, I created an iPhone app called “Planet Goodwill: 365 Ways to Share the Love.” For each day of the year, it suggested a simple (very simple) act of random kindness that anybody could do anywhere.

It included leaving a cupcake for your mailman or taking a flower to your favorite barista. When I say I created it, I came up with the idea, wrote the copy and secured the photos that popped up to announce each day’s fun new act of generosity.

The technical part of the app was handled by a company in California that soon went under and the app disappeared, although I still have its beautiful icon on my phone.

And I still hang on to the intention of spreading a little bit of light each day whether it’s a simple “thinking of you” text or a secret love note left on a stranger’s car windshield or — as I’m choosing to do today –a blog post that celebrates the ridiculously beautiful things that keep landing in my inbox. Like the video of the crow helping a hedgehog across the street or the note of synchronicity from a reader whose bill for 22 things at Costco came to exactly $222 at :22 after the hour.

I especially got a kick out of this story of synchronicity, shared with me by John Milton Branton at JMB Films:

“Dear Pam

I’m driving my sons to school when I notice a mini-trampoline that someone has placed beside the road. I decide I’ll come back and scope it out later, which I do.

I park a few houses away and notice, directly across from where I’ve parked, a little free library. Now I’ve driven down this street many times, probably daily for the last month, and I never saw this take-one/leave-one library before.

I’m going through the books and I see this E-Cubed title, decide it’s some kind of math book – ugh – and pass over it. Nothing interests me, but as I’m about to leave E-Cubed falls off the shelf and I catch it. Okay, so maybe it leaped into my hands. I see it’s not a math book and, well, it’s calling “take me home, take me home.” Which I do.

Part 2. I have a lot of books and a lot of rewriting to do so E-Cubed ends up on a table beside my desk for a day or two. As I’m not reading anything for pleasure at the moment, I pick it up and start browsing. Pretty soon, I’m reading huge chunks of it at a time. It’s definitely got my attention.

Part 3. I read the part about the butterfly experiment from E-Squared. And I think, well I’ll give that a try. And I’m thinking, it’s January in Vancouver and there’s snow in the forecast so “there ain’t gonna be no butterflies. “Bring it on, Universe,” I say anyway. “Show yourself.”

Part 4. My son and I make a trip to Urgent Care because we both have coughs that aren’t going away. His blood work comes back showing pneumonia. I’ve just got the normal respiratory virus that’s making the rounds so I’ll just have to tough it out. He gets the drugs.

My dear friend Martha Creek sat next to this tattooed friend for her entire cruise to Antarctica.

A few hours later the prescription’s ready and I hop into the car to head to the pharmacy. I start the car, the radio comes on with a song I’ve never heard before. It’s soft and soulful and makes me calm and peaceful. I look at the readout of the song title on the screen, “God, will heal you,” it says. Whoa. Message from the Universe? Pretty hard to deny but it ain’t no butterfly!

Part 5. I’m wandering through my local Shopper’s Drug Mart and decide I better stock up on Kleenex. I pass a shelf full of Kleenex but decide to pick it up on my way out since my hands are full and I don’t have a shopping cart. I’m on a completely different aisle and there’s a smaller Kleenex display on a low shelf – packages of six wrapped together. And they’re on sale. I bend down to grab a pack and I notice the design on the boxes is butterflies – lots and lots of big fat butterflies! And not just butterflies but words in Latin. Maximus: highest; Purus-pure; vitae-life; Highest pure life! And butterflies. On a Kleenex box.

I surrender.”

Thank you, John, for sharing the love. And for reminding us all that miracles are always around for those with the eyes to see them.

And thanks to each of you for promising to have the very best weekend of your life.

#222 Forever!

Don’t miss the party

January 29, 2025 81 Comments

“I turned to the rose and exclaimed, ‘it’s beautiful!’ and beautiful it became.”–Rabindranath Tagore

Just a few of the precious faces I saw in South Africa. Stay tuned for a full report on 2/22

I barely know where to begin. As most of you know, I left right after Christmas to fly to the other side of the world. I spent three glorious weeks in South Africa, getting hundreds of hugs from hundreds of kids who came to the Ubuntu summer camps that the Taz Grout 222 Foundation helped fund this year. Soon after arriving home, I manifested a long-desired intention to see the amazing Cloud Cult in concert which also entailed traveling.

But I’m back now and fully committed to amplifying the truth that surpasses the narrative we’re continually being fed. Right now, we’re being inundated with the opposite of hope, so much so that some of us have temporarily forgotten the following three facts:

1.We each have great reserves of energy within us – by some estimates more than 7 X 10th to the 18^th joules of power which translates to roughly 30 hydrogen bombs. That means we have the power to fill the whole world with light.

2. Each one of us contributes to a resonant field of either peace or war, of either love or fear, of either truth or illusion. Every thought is a unit of energy. And we get to decide which ones to nurture. I refuse to let someone else’s viewpoint or beliefs interfere with my reality.

3. Outrage does nothing but cripple us. Fear and worry do nothing but deplete our energy. Once I step outside the narrow spectrum of consensus reality, I notice that the world still pulses with immense delights.

So my plan is to harness all my thoughts and all my energy to call forth the beauty and light that exists within all things. In other words, I will NOT miss the party.

#222 Forever!

Getting into the sea

December 27, 2024 16 Comments

“I am the patriarchy’s worst nightmare.”—Elizabeth Gilbert

There’s an episode in the tv series, Shrinking, where the characters, clad in nothing but their underwear, tramp into the ocean to communally discuss whether or not one of them should adopt a baby.

I dig the idea of getting into the sea whether it’s literal (as in their case) or metaphorically, because it means stepping into something completely unknown, surrendering to waves that aren’t predictable or controllable. And I especially love when we do it communally as a human family.

If I believed in New Year’s resolutions (I absolutely don’t—humans, most of which are already walking anxiety disorders, do not need any more pressure), mine would be something about diving headfirst into the sea, into life without parameters, without expectations, without any idea of what’s going to happen next.

The reason resolutions (or, in my case, the lack thereof) are on my mind is because I will be ringing in 2025 on an African savanna, far from civilization’s reach. In other words, this post is to tell you, my dear comrades in spiritual mischief, that I probably won’t be chiming in much for the next three weeks.

Instead, I’ll be with the Taz Grout 222 Foundation that is supporting LoveLight Africa’s Ubuntu summer camps in 2025. Ubuntu, of course, means “I am because we are” and, yes, it’s summer right now in South Africa.

Rather than simply pony up financial support, I decided to jump in, to also offer my presence and assistance to the amazing Robin Goff who started this consciousness-changing outreach as an offshoot of the Light Center that just happens to exist 30 minutes from my home.

I’ll have a full report on February 22 (2/22) and, for anyone with an innovative idea for rewriting the dream of the modern world from consumption and acquisition to the dream of creativity and self-expression, by all means, send a pitch with the description of your big idea to: taz.grout.222.foundation@gmail.com. We still have money to give away!

For those new to the party:

The Taz Grout 222 Foundation was launched to honor my brilliant daughter who spent 25 short years on the planet inspiring everyone who knew her to live and love better. Her heart possessed more capacity than mine will ever possess. Everything she stood for was some variation of these themes: create relentlessly, love fiercely and do quiet, kind things for the underdog.

Every year, the foundation offers a grant to a project or a person (often both) who, as Liz Gilbert said in the above quote, represents the patriarchy’s worst nightmare.

We look for projects that address the following ideas:

1. A change in perspective is our greatest need. We believe all people (no exceptions) long to be generous and create beautiful things.

2. Today’s hopelessness is based on false premises. We look to defy the old story of scarcity, lack and the need to fight for resources. We aim to prove that the universe, once liberated from no-longer-working paradigms of scarcity, is generative and endlessly abundant.

3. The us against them model is kaput. We believe all humans are interconnected and that even tiny actions have great significance.

As we start this new and exciting year, never forget that the single most important thing you could ever do to change the consciousness of the world is to be tender and merciful to yourself.

As Taz forever reminds me, “Time here is short and precious. So, please, mom, be kind to yourself and venerate every delicious moment.”

#222 Forever!

Anyone but my mind

December 17, 2024 27 Comments

“On and on the mind spins its tales.”—Eckhart Tolle

In interviews, I’m often asked about mentors. Who do I look to for advice? What books do I read?

And while I admire SO many teachers and have read thousands of books, my current guru of choice are the birds right outside my window.

They come in different colors, different sizes, different species and, yes, they occasionally jockey for the best territory on our bird feeders.

But never, as far as I can tell, do they hold grudges or ruminate or make up stories about their differences.

If they had a human mind, they’d be squawking a story like this: “Can you believe what that woodpecker just did to me? He thinks he owns this bird bath. He has no consideration whatsoever for my feelings. How could I ever be expected to trust him again?”

And this is why my practice is to bypass my human mind and rely instead on the deeper awareness that’s underneath it all. I’ve found this inner aliveness (hidden beneath my mind’s squawking) is much kinder, more compassionate and has no interest in keeping the crazy going.

The mind, on the other hand, constantly spins its wheels, furiously attempts to solve things.

“Just give me a problem, any problem,” the mind urges.

But my mind, I’m discovering, isn’t capable of solving problems. It’s extremely gifted at creating problems, projecting falsehoods, exacerbating suffering. But it doesn’t solve a lot of problems. In fact, its insistence that there’s a problem is where it all begins.

We live in a culture driven by the mind, driven by the will. Our penchant to think we have to figure everything out confines us to a conceptual straitjacket. “Create your best self,” the mind likes to shout. But the mind only sees a teeny slice of reality, most of which is spiritually drained and echoes nothing but old perceptions.

So my mentors will always be the birds, the trees and the alive dance of presence that lives south of my neck, forever waiting patiently for me to catch on.

#222 Forever!

You can’t be a little bit pregnant

December 11, 2024 22 Comments

“There is no room for anything but joy and thanks today.”—A Course in Miracles

While most people think Martha Stewart is Snoop Dogg’s bestie, turns out his real “ride or die” is what he calls “the gangsta holy ghost.”

Who knew that he and I shared this confidant, this ally, this #1 homie?

Luckily, the Holy S (who, come to think of it, probably is a bit of a gangsta) has plenty of time for everyone.

Considering Snoop’s active social calendar (he’s everywhere from the Olympics to wine bottles to T-Mobile commercials)–it’s a good thing the Holy S is infinite and on call 24/7.

Whenever I ask to see things differently or when I need help of any kind, Holy S responds ASAP.

And I notice that when I rely on Its guidance rather than my own foolhardy beliefs and assumptions, I’m a gazillion times happier and more at peace.

The Holy S constantly reminds me that when it comes to reality, there is no compromise. I’m either living in love or living in fear. I’m either proclaiming truth or making up illusions.

You can’t love a little bit. Or proclaim a smidgeon of truth. Like heads or tails, it can only be one or the other.

Only love is real, says the Holy S, and all arbitrary rules, old stories and random limits only “exist” if I continue to believe in them.

So here’s to Snoop Dogg, the Holy S and a holiday season filled with love, joy and the only reality that could ever, will ever be true.

#222 Forever!

Sayonara to old assumptions, habits and beliefs

November 20, 2024 46 Comments

“It’s in times when division is fierce that we must reach for each other and hold each other much, much tighter.”—Chelan Harkin

Feliz miércoles, amigos!

Thought I’d take a minute to share a beautiful miracle that happened to me this morning.

Miracles, of course, happen on the daily. Heck, they’re happening every second of every day.

The one I’m about to share is classic ACIM which describes a miracle as “a shift in perception from fear to love.”

Today’s Course lesson (“I gladly make the ‘sacrifice’ of fear”) asks me to let go of self-deception, false images and other barriers I’ve been known to erect against love.

So here’s what went down:

Last week I struck up a conversation with a fellow gringo at a coffee shop. I happened to mention I was an author so he went home and googled me, landed on my website.

The next day, I got three urgent emails from him about how important it was that we get together again. His cryptic messages indicated he was desperate. He even tried to track me down through the community I visit here in Ajijic.

My noisy ego (you know that voice that will say or do anything to keep us from wholeness and joy) pounced. It made a strong case that I should probably steer clear.

But it didn’t feel quite right. So I decided to ask for guidance.

I wrote back and said I’d be open to meeting. Turns out he and his wife also lost a daughter when she was in her 20’s. Turns out, he was absolutely correct. The three of us did need to meet.

We ended up having what the Course calls a “Holy Encounter.” Two and a half hours of beautiful, meaningful sharing.

It was particularly poignant for me because A) I did just what today’s lesson advised (‘sacrificed’ fear) and B) I received even more evidence that the only limits that could ever hinder me are those in my mind.

I feel so blessed for the opportunity to share love and to surrender all false beliefs about people being separate or scary or different from me.

We’re all, to paraphrase the old Firesign Theatre, beautiful bozos on the very same bus.

Oceans of love, my friends!

#222 Forever!