Pam Grout

The enchanted yes of imagination

January 4, 2026 22 Comments

“We are born with a mind, open to everything, no fear, no known boundaries, but with each new rule, restriction the mind divides.” – Patti Smith

Buenos dias! Feliz Ano Nuevo! As you can guess, I started Course in Miracles (Lesson #1) again on January 1. My intention, like every year, is true perception.

True perception, according to the Course, has NO LIMITS and is the opposite of how I often perceive the world now.

What could be a better curriculum than that? Seeing without limits, without boundaries, without fear.

I also made a wee side goal of creating something new every day. It doesn’t have to be big or earth-shattering. In fact, rarely will it be. My daily creation can be anything from a quick poem to a doodle on the side of an envelope.

The post you’re reading now is today’s creation.

The germination for this idea started on Christmas.

Rather than purchase a bunch of junk that nobody really wants, we — in my family — decided to handmake all our gifts. Nothing store bought allowed. (See video below)

Kris made ornaments for each person’s pets. Chloe made lip balm from marigolds in her garden. Jim and I painted mini-canvases and made more than 100 tiny gingerbread men.

It was stupendous. The gift was actually making the creations themselves. Demonstrating to ourselves our innate imagination and ability to create.

Everybody needs to know this.

Because if you don’t, you tend to fret and feel that you’re at the mercy of outside forces.

Outside forces insist you need to consume, to watch other people’s creations, to enjoy corporations’ endless offerings in the world.

But that’s not why we’re here. And if we feel beholden to that story, we don’t recognize how powerful we are, how easy it is to imagine something completely different.

I believe it’s the most important thing we could ever learn.

I started 2026 in Bentonville, Arkansas at the amazing Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. I first visited Crystal Bridges in 2014 on a writing assignment. I was sent by an art magazine to cover the museum’s State of the Art exhibit. For a year, museum curators crisscrossed the country, visiting every state searching for working artists that had yet to get the recognition they deserved.

The 100,000-mile journey uncovered 102 artists ranging from Justin Favela and his Lowrider Pinata, a life-size lowrider car made from paper and cardboard, to Andy DuCett’s Mom Booth that featured real moms giving advice.

I’ve returned to Bentonville many times since. And while it wasn’t quite the same start to the year as 2025 where I celebrated on the South African savannah, it provided an amazing high-vibe kickoff to 2026.

Because you can’t NOT think of art in Bentonville, I spontaneously decided to launch this new project right there and then.

Needless to say, I had to manifest all the tools I needed. Paper and pencil were pretty easy to secure. So I now have four pencil sketches (I did two on January 1 for good measure) to my name.

They’re not professional. Very unlikely I’d show them to anyone. But they proved to me that a) I can create whatever I want), b) that whatever I need is always available and c) there’s no reason to succumb to anyone else’s story of what to buy, consume, watch or do.

Here’s to a glorious, blessed New Year filled with love and peace for all.

As John Lennon reminded us, we can have it now if only we want it now.

#222 Forever!!

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Pam Grout is the author of 21 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank and Grow Rich and her latest book, The Ego’s Playbook.

Which version of life do you rehearse and support?

December 29, 2025 26 Comments

“The earth seems to be beseeching us to connect with joy and discover our innermost essence.”—Pema Chodron

I’m not a big resolutions gal. It seems to me that the more I strive to change or seek for something, the more elusive it becomes.

In fact, the very act of seeking starts with the assumption you don’t already have the thing you’re seeking.

And that is never true.

Or to say it another way, you already have the very thing you seek. You wouldn’t know to seek it if it didn’t already exist.

As someone mentioned in last Saturday’s Awakin’ Call, humanity still resides in Eden. It’s just that we’ve lost the eyes to see it. We’ve temporarily misplaced the ability to recognize all the beauty and peace and love that is still very much here.

Instead, we focus on and feed the erroneous stories fed to us by our egos.

If all of us could just realize this, the world situation in which we collectively find ourselves would dissolve. Poof!

Together, we have been feeding a mass delusion and the world is calling for more and more of us to upgrade our consciousness.

Right now (that it takes time is part of the delusion) we have the power to dematerialize the whole thing. Simply by rehearsing and supporting a truer, more beautiful possibility.

Hint-hint! We only call things magical or miraculous because we’ve trained ourselves to believe the mass hypnosis is the truth. We’ve rendered our natural inheritance–ongoing blessings and non-stop assistance and signs–invisible. But guess what? They’re still very much here.

My only intention for the upcoming year is to release every false belief and return my eyes to Eden.

#222 Forever!

Pam Grout is the author of 21 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank and Grow Rich and her latest book, The Ego’s Playbook.

Todos bien!

December 17, 2025 24 Comments

“Every moment you spend on an idea is a commitment to be stuck with that idea and with aspects of that level of thinking. Spending just 10 seconds focusing on a topic that does not serve your interests is to invest your energy along a path that will continue to draw from you and define you.”—Kevin Michel

One of my favorite lines from Louis Armstrong’s brilliant anthem, “What a Wonderful World” is the bit about people shaking hands, saying “How do you do?” when what they’re really saying is “I love you!”

For me right now, the whole world is beaming a frequency of “I love you.” It’s so palpable.

Everything—from hugs on the street to strolling troubadours to giggling children chasing dogs—appears to me as a jubilant chorus of love. I literally see nothing else right now.

Although I rarely understand the language of the men laughing down by the lake or the smiling shopkeeper or the abuelos fussing over their steaming pots of tamales, I recognize the light. I see it in the giant eucalyptus trees, I feel it as I’m hiking down from the mountains. I feel intensely blessed.

Sure, that little voice in my head (the one who had the floor in my most recent book) sometimes chimes in, tries to tell me I should be more responsible, more realistic. And most of the time, I just chuckle at its persistent whining. I notice it, shine a little light on it and, like the kids chasing dogs down the street, I giggle.

As I often say, being suspicious of the persistent voice in my head is my highest spiritual practice. I’ve discovered that it never tells the truth, that it has but one mission—to block light, to keep me from seeing that everyone and everything is saying “I love you.”

#222 Forever!

Pam Grout is the author of 20 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank and Grow Rich and her latest book, The Ego’s Playbook.

Is your catcher’s mitt outstretched?

December 9, 2025 10 Comments

”Our consciousness is the unseen orchestrator of our lives.”—Aaron Abke

Perhaps the best part about being in Mexico and hanging out with all these mighty companions is I get to nod my head vigorously and say, “me, too.”

It’s like having a full-time possibility posse.

Yesterday, for example, my friend Anne said once you know you’re entitled to good, once you fully “get it” that that’s the one and only option, you live your life with an outstretched catcher’s mitt.

You fully expect things to work out, you trust that, despite occasional appearances, life is on your side, dishing up increasing abundance.

It also prevents decision fatigue.

Why pay attention to anything else?

To put it in quantum physics speak, the observer (me) determines what is observed. I decide what I’m going to experience.

Yes, my pesky ego can sometimes be a blabbermouth, so I like to ask it, “Do you really need to go over this again?“

I’m so glad I know better than to take its taunts seriously.

As a recent Course lesson proclaimed, “There is no room for anything but joy and thanks today.”

As always, I get to choose where to place my attention.

#222 Forever!

Pam Grout is the author of 20 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, The Course in Miracles Experiment: A Starter Kit for Rewiring Your Mind (And Therefore Your World) and her latest book, The Ego’s Playbook.

Let’s get together and we’ll feel alright

December 4, 2025 16 Comments

“Who you really are is way too glorious to be defined by any thought.”—Gail Brenner

Several members of my possibility posses back home are speakers, fabulous speakers, who like me, spread the good news of infinite abundance.

They often joke that, once they assign a topic for a talk or a workshop, the universe promptly sends them a message like, “Oh yeah, you wanna talk about forgiveness? Well, prove it.”

While I don’t really believe the universe tests us, I do know my own faulty programming can sometimes throw wrenches into the gears.

Which is exactly what happened to me yesterday. Here I finally publish the book I’ve been trying to write for several years. In it, I proclaim the recklessness of living in our heads, basically encouraging us to ignore the ego’s voice that always insists something is wrong.

I flew to Mexico late Tuesday and spent Wednesday exactly where I don’t want to be–immersed in the thoughts in my head. I couldn’t get pesos out of the ATM, couldn’t get on the internet, yada, yada.

In other words, I completely missed a full 24 hours of loving one of my favorite places in the whole world. I overlooked the fact that the day was a perfect sunny 72 degrees, that many mighty companions (what we Course aficionados call each other) were offering all kinds of help. I failed to appreciate the mountains where I love to hike and the gorgeous ruby poinsettias that are showing off, not in pots, but on actual trees along with all the other beautiful flora here in Ajijic.

Once again, I fell for the ego’s tricks. So today, at morning satsang, I happened to notice the Course in Miracles lesson that’s always chalked on a blackboard at Namaste Village.

“I am affected only by my thoughts.”

Okay, universe, can you get any more clear?

The lesson went on to assure me that I can exchange each fear thought for a happy thought of love.

And if that whack on the head wasn’t enough, I got lots of healing hugs from my mighty companions and sat for an hour with my favorite 200-year-old eucalyptus tree while watching white pelicans and ibis dive into Lake Chapala.

I am so grateful that I only missed one day of this beautiful paradise. And so grateful that closely observing my thoughts — not to judge them or make them wrong (which I admit to doing yesterday) — gives me clear intelligence on where I’m directing my energetic frequency.

And boy, did I get ample proof yesterday that placing attention on the thoughts in my noggin is a surefire recipe for unhappiness.

But I’m here now, back to noticing the spectacular blessings that lie before me in every direction.

Thanks, folks, for your kind comments about the new book. May it bless us all.

#222 Forever!

Returning my life to “upper management”

December 1, 2025 61 Comments

“What we’re trying to do is disassemble the ego so the radiance of Self shines through.”–David R. Hawkins

It’s here. It’s here!

In a memorable scene from Steve Martin’s 1979 hit, “The Jerk,” Navin, as Martin’s character is called, runs excitedly up to a delivery truck. He grabs a parcel, rips it open, begins jumping up and down and screaming, “The new phone book is here. The new phone book is here.”

That could well be me today, announcing that, after a five-year-hiatus, “my new book is here. My new book is here.”

After Taz died, I stumbled to get my writing career back in gear. I continued to write blog posts, as you undoubtedly know, but I experienced many false starts in continuing my previous book-a-year run.

So getting this book out feels like a significant victory. It’s different than my previous works, written from the voice of the saboteur inside our heads.

The Course in Miracles calls this disembodied voice “the ego” and says that as long as we mistake its message as truth, we miss the incredible aliveness that is our birthright.

Ego’s Playbook offers a graphic journey (think picture book for grownups) showcasing the ego’s many cons, its non-stop efforts to keep us from experiencing our true nature. It pokes fun at the ego and invites us to break free.

The bottom-line truth is that all of us swim in an ocean of abundance, peace and joy. We often roll our eyes at this suggestion because well, the voice loop in our head has convinced us otherwise.

At all times, we have unlimited access to universal intelligence, an ever-flowing fountain that we completely ignore because we’re stuck in ego structures and unconscious habits of feeling separate and limited and inferior.

Because our thoughts are SO powerful, they create a simulation in our lives that appears to defy Divine Intelligence. The key word here is simulation. It’s not real. It’s an illusion that, thanks to our creative force, appears strikingly true. That’s how much power we have.

Once we understand the ego’s tricks (as this book attempts to do), we can step away from the old story.

Taz came to me in a dream last night, gave me the biggest hug which I took as a sign to say, “mom, I love you and I am so happy you finally got this project out of the chutes. It’s time for you to get back out there and do your thing.”

So friends, I stand before you today with my pants down, as Keith Richards describes how he often feels on stage, announcing the debut of my new book.

#222 Forever!

Who are you beneath the mind’s chatter?

November 20, 2025 21 Comments

“You are more than just matter. You are a highly complex, light-controlled consciousness system.”—David Bingham

I have shared this story many times. The one about the five-year-old boy who begs for time alone with his new baby sister.

He’s so adamant in his requests for this solo, sans-parent time that they worry. What could he possibly have to say that he wouldn’t want us to hear?

But he’s persistent. He insists they simply MUST be alone. His parents finally grant his wish as they secretly wait in the hallway outside the door.

He tiptoes quietly into the nursery, bends over the bassinette and whispers to his weeks-old sibling, “Tell me about God. I’m starting to forget.”

That forgetting, my friends, is what my new book is about. How do we humans go from pure infinite love into a state of limited, fearful consciousness? Why is it that we aren’t actively, blissfully soaking up the world’s many wonders?

In my new, about-to-be released book, I share how the voice in our head (I’ve been known to call it an asshat) uses distractions, illusions and misguided beliefs to cover up the fact that humans are divinity in disguise.

It includes more than two dozen confessions, game plans and strategies devised by the pernicious voice that now dominates most of humanity’s thinking.

The Ego’s Playbook, as I call it, comes at spiritual liberation through the back door. When you “know thy enemy,” as Sun Tzu recommended, you’re better able to recognize the bugs in the system, to more quickly identify your own destructive patterns and habits and, without fighting them, clearly see how to let them go.

The Ego’s Playbook takes readers on a graphic journey through the comically lilliputian thoughts of the mind into the vast expansiveness of the heart.

It’s short, humorous and hopefully, helpful to anyone wanting to break free from old patterns. I call it a “picture book for grownups” and I’m very excited to share it with you. I’ll be sending a link to order in the next couple days.

In the meantime, here’s a cute video my illustrious designer Violet Lemay created for page 144.

#222 Forever!

To behold perfection

November 12, 2025 17 Comments

“This day will be of my making, either perfect or imperfect, good or bad. I have the power to build the day or rend the day.”—Walter Russell

Don’t you just love it when the universe sends gifts and signs, gives guidance that is so clear you can’t miss it?

Or rather I should say, I love it when my antenna is up, my channels are clear and I’m able to notice gifts and signs and miracles, because I believe they are always there, always available.

The question is “Am I paying attention?”

I’ve been closely observing my energy field, my frequency. I’m noticing how certain thoughts can contaminate my consciousness.

Resistance of any kind, even believing that certain tasks are distasteful, clogs up the universal electrical current.

As Walter Russell says, anything you don’t do with love promotes destructive toxins within your body and your energy field.

I mention Walter Russell because a friend, who I recently met at a weekend satsang in the Ozarks, sent me a book about Russell’s life. Let’s just say he was a spiritual genius.

For starters, he was an accomplished painter, sculptor, architect, composer and author. He knew Mark Twain, both Roosevelts, European heads of state and, unbeknownst to me, I’ve seen buildings he designed and sculptures he created, especially impressive since he didn’t take up sculpting until he was in his 50’s. And he never made it past the 6th grade.

But the real reason I’m singing his praises is because he knew that his talent was available to every single person. He accomplished great feats, not because he was so special, but because he was plugged into what he called the universal supply. He also often called it God.

As I’ve said, it doesn’t matter what we call it. It only matters that we call it forth.

All it takes, he claimed, was desire and the willingness to listen to “Nature’s mighty whisperings.”

It completely takes the onus off of us trying to be perfect. Instead, our only responsibility is to trust in the always-available energy of the universal Creative Force. And to make sure we’re paying attention.

I will close this post with another gift from my friend at the Satsang Garage—this song that obliterates all resistance.

#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)

Building a different energetic imprint

November 3, 2025 32 Comments

“Everything is ecstasy, inside. We just don’t know it because of our thinking-minds.” –Jack Kerouac

Interviewers often ask me, “What changed?” Why did my book, God Doesn’t Have Bad Hair Days, clumsily nosedive into the remainders bin when E-Squared, essentially the same book, hit #1 on the New York Times bestsellers list.

I can name several reasons. I changed the title. I had a different publisher.

But mostly, I attribute it to my energetic imprint, the frequency at which I was vibrating. That sounds pretty woo-woo, but in essence I changed how I saw myself, how I saw the world.

I began saying thank you for everything. For the sky, for the garbage collector who picks up the trash each week, for friends, for the cream puffs my friend’s husband made for our book group, for the chair I’m sitting on. I might have even gone so far as to bow to the chair before gracing it with my backside.

There was no longer a giant wall of resistance.

Oh, and yeah there was this tiny fact that Jack Canfield was kind enough to write a killer endorsement. Which certainly didn’t hurt.

I listened to an interview with Jack the other day. He said something that really hit me. It explained why one book, really the same book, flopped and the other got translated into 40 languages.

People, he said, often set an intention for something, but immediately focus on its opposite. It’s like calling Domino’s Pizza and then calling 5 minutes later to cancel the order and then 30 minutes later wondering why your peperoni pie hasn’t arrived.

There’s static in the frequency. Conflicting wishes erect big orange traffic cones to all the good that wants to come our way.

Or, as I started to notice when I began giving thanks like a crazy woman, that GOOD was already here. So many things I took for granted sprang to life. Including my intention to write bestselling books.

So thank you, Jack. Thank you, readers. Thank you, chair (I know, I already said that) and thank you universe for being such a consistent ally in showing me exactly what to do, where to go and what to say.

#222 Forever!

Surrounded by a world of loveliness

October 30, 2025 15 Comments

“I think 99 times and find nothing. I stop thinking, swim in silence and the truth comes to me.”– Albert Einstein

A Course in Miracles constantly reminds us that darkness can only come from our own imagining, from our own thoughts, our own misguided beliefs.

All the while we’re grumbling about some circumstance or person, we’re surrounded– literally swimming in love and light.

The Course says we exist in a conceptual prison created by our own minds.

When we drop below the crazy antics of obsessive, egoic thinking, we discover an intelligence and a realm of beauty far beyond our normal imaginings.

With the World Series in full swing (My partner watches. I half-listen while doing Sudokus), I thought I’d share a baseball story that speaks to this truth.

On June 12, 1970, Dock Ellis, a pitcher for the Pittsburg Pirates, completely forgot he was slated to take the mound against the San Diego Padres. Before the game, before he realized the manager was going to call him in, he dropped an elephant-sized hit of acid.

While that might sound like a recipe for disaster, it actually accomplished the opposite. Being in, shall we say, a different state, Ellis’ normal self-consciousness and acute fear of failure completely disappeared.

Without those dark imaginings, those debilitating thoughts that make up the baseline operating consciousness for most of us, he played with a rare meditative calm. He pitched with a fliduity that looked more like dance than sport. He went on to pitch a no-hitter, the best game of his entire 11-year professional career.

It was an unusual outing, to be sure. The serenity on his face was visible clear up to the stands. He later reported a dissolution of any sense of time and was convinced he could bend the ball’s path with his mind, with the sheer force of his will.

I’m not suggesting LSD as a go-to spiritual gateway. Far from it. Simply pointing out that without our pre-set thoughts and concepts, something a whole lot greater is going on.

#222 Forever!