A Course in Miracles – Page 2

Uplifting the Planet, One Dance at a Time

April 2, 2020 75 Comments

“Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance–Martha Graham

Two days ago, I woke up discouraged and lethargic. The crazy uncle in my head was concocting a major soap opera. Act I: Woe is Me, starring Pam Grout. Act II: We’re all going to die.

And then, during the commercial break, I remembered: “Oh yea, you’re a Course in Miracles student. This is the time to ask for a miracle. This is when you ask J.C. and the Holy S to replace the grievance in your head with true perception. I uttered a hesitant, mousy “Help!”

I turned to my phone (not normally recommended for escaping soap operas) and there, awaiting me on Twitter, was Jack Black dancing in his skivvies, cowboy boots and cowboy hat. He called his masterpiece a “Stay-at-Home” dance. It was the exact miracle I needed.

I immediately shared on Facebook, proclaiming his gift to the world a more potent morning pick-me-up than my A.A. 2.0 program.

So thank you, Holy S! Thank you, true perception! And especially thank you, Jack Black, for reminding me that one of the best ways to serve the planet is to get on a higher energetic frequency. Especially right now. Those of us who know about the power of consciousness, who know it’s our energetic vibration that creates the framework for our lives owe it to the world to radiate glee, joy and well, goofiness.

In recognition of this truth, the directors of the 222 Foundation (Taz and me) convened and decided to offer a new challenge for changing the current consciousness of the planet. To reiterate our mission, we believe all people long to be generous and create beautiful things, we believe all humans are interconnected (even when they’re home alone) and we believe tiny actions have great significance.

Right now, for example, I’m enjoying the notes and pictures from the Random Acts of Money project we funded in Snohomish, Washington. The inimitable Kimmy Rhoads, who pitched the project, is turning money into art, adding encouraging notes and changing people’s lives.

Speaking of changing lives, the Taz Grout 222 Foundation is offering $222 to the charity of choice to the first 22 daring dancers who are willing to post a video of their own Stay-at-Home Dance. Maybe you want us to reward your local food bank? Your free health center? Your community art center?

Post your dance here or on FB, Twitter or Instagram. Tag the @TazGrout222Foundation. Just make sure to send a link in the comments below. Weird costumes are encouraged.

For those who are thinking, you want me to do what?$%!!!!, I offer this video interpretation of my own interpretation of Jack Black’s now viral dance. I look forward to seeing your creations!!!

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).

Just another day to love and serve

March 27, 2020 43 Comments

“It’s the best possible time to be alive, when almost everything you thought you knew is wrong.”—Tom Stoppard

Medical peeps are doing their thing. Delivery services, grocery stores and governments are doing theirs.

My “thing” has always been overturning consensus reality. Offering a story that’s different than what we’ve long believed. Some people call these miracles.

At very least, these stories beg the question: Is it really true things are scary now? Is it really true we’re in danger?

Things aren’t always as they appear. A Course in Miracles, in fact, proposes a revolutionary overhaul of ALL our beliefs. It wages an outright challenge to the fundamental nature of reality.

For those who are reading along in my new ACIM book, you probably noticed today’s lesson tells the story of SARK who, after affirming “Miracle find me now,” was walking in San Francisco, where she lives, and six $100 bills floated down to her out of nowhere.

But that’s impossible, consensus reality insists.

But is it really?

In my world, “impossible things” happen all the time. Here are three recent examples:

1. A new friend of mine, also a Course student, knows that nothing real can ever be lost, that nothing that’s truly ours can ever be gone. A few years ago, she seemed to have lost a treasured ring. It had been her grandmother’s ring and, well, she really, really loved it. A few weeks ago, she walked into her apartment and there, lying on the rug by the front door, was her grandmother’s ring. Two years, guys!

2. Just this morning, I was talking to my long-time friend from Florida. She worked part-time for awhile at Whole Foods and couldn’t help but notice the tattoos and many hues of her younger co-workers’ hair. She decided it might be fun to have purple hair. She has always been a manifesting maestro, but even I was surprised when she told me that, out of the blue**, her hair started turning purple. Her powerful thoughts alone turned her hair purple. And, no, she didn’t dye it.

3. Lisa Natoli, my Omega co-leader for the “All Heaven Will Break Loose” workshop, says unexpected money is coming to her like crazy. For example, she just received a several hundred-dollar check from Kohl’s. Out of the blue.** As she said, “I haven’t stepped foot in Kohl’s for five or six years.” If you haven’t read her FB post about “Coronavirus being no different than anything else,” you should definitely check it out here.

I know there’s a lot of messaging out there that makes the world seem less than miraculous. But just remember, my friends, that most of what we hear about the economy, our health, about life in general is a story. It’s a malleable, ever-changing story. And we have the power to change it.

As I often say on Fridays, “Have the very best weekend of your life.” It is, after all, up to you.

**Another synonym for God

I could see peace instead of this

March 13, 2020 43 Comments

“In a time of crisis, we all have the potential to morph up to a new level and do things we never thought possible.”– Stuart Wilde

Hey, team, thought it might be a good time to review ACIM lesson 34. As I write in my book, “Today’s mantra is an all-purpose elixir. I use it at all times, in all situations.”

No matter what happens, no matter how bad things look, I remind myself that, “I could see peace instead of this.”

I’m in no way beholden to see peace. There’s no pressure to give up my perception. But I AM asked to raise peace as a possibility. No matter how remote it may seem, it helps to admit that “I COULD see peace instead of what I’m currently seeing.”

It’s a reminder that perception starts in our minds.

So while you’ve probably been lectured a million times in the past couple weeks on how to properly wash your hands, I’d like to offer the following 20 seconds on how to properly disinfect your mind.

1. Distance yourself from fear.We can stop or slow down the highly contagious disease of fear by reducing contact with our biggest enemy–internal thoughts of OMG! We’re doomed.

We can use this time to go within, to imagine a better world, to send love and peace to each of our brothers and sisters throughout the world. We can use this time to create, to envision a world and a government that, instead of focusing on economic stimulus, focuses on love and humanity and equality for all.

2. Stock up on some perspective. The media loves to talk about the “deadly” new virus, but I’d like to point out that, even at its most virulently projected mortality rate (and we still don’t have precise figures), 97.5 percent of those who get it make a full recovery. Just like we do from many other illnesses. That’s not to say we shouldn’t take precautions. As Jack Kornfield likes to say, “Remember your Buddha nature AND your social security number.”

3. Empower your internal pharmacy. Cell biologist Dr. Bruce Lipton says stress is a contributing factor in 95 percent of all illness and disease. So we can best inoculate ourselves by watering seeds of possibility, not worse case scenarios. A calm nervous system fosters a strong immune system. I recently heard the expression, “Proceed as if there is not a problem” and remember your body is resilient and has self-healing superpowers.

I’ll end with this wonderful video by my friend, Karen Drucker that proves we can send out love vibes even when washing our hands.

https://www.facebook.com/KarenDruckerMusic/videos/139448827373146/

Hitch a ride on the magic carpet

February 18, 2020 7 Comments

“Enchantment is never in short supply.”—Bayo Akomolafe magic-carpet-ride-30x22ins-rosa-sepple-ri-swa

I live in a college town. Right across the river is a funky little downtown with a wide assortment of late-night entertainment—bands, comics, pubs, deejays. Let’s just say adult beverages are frequently consumed.

If you show up the next morning, there’s always money laying around. Sometimes even $100 bills. A few locals I know fund their entire existence from the loose change.

But you gotta know to look for it.

Just like life’s magic. If you don’t slow down, if you’re not open, if you refuse to dive below the surface madness, you could miss it. Lots of people do.

That’s why I love the miracle stories that so frequently land in my inbox. Why I love sharing them with you–to remind you that, “you gotta know to look.” Ergo:

1. “I am reading your latest book The CIM Experiment and can’t tell you how much it has changed me. This morning I was mailing a box to my grandson in Georgia. As I took my box to the car in the garage, I noticed a small piece of pink paper drift to the floor. It was the return address from an envelope my grandson had sent. I figured it must have somehow gotten on my clothes and just happened to fall to the floor in the garage.

“When I got to the PO, the clerk told me I had the zip code wrong. I whipped out the torn piece of paper and sure enough.

“Miracles happen everyday. Who says the Big Kahuna isn’t there always guiding you, helping you, loving you? When I realized what had just happened, my heart filled with joy and I drove down the snow-covered roads of Michigan with a smile on my face and joy in my heart. I am loved! Before you, I doubt I would have even thought about this small incident.”

2. “The last 12 months have been some of the happiest, most peaceful, and most abundant of my life. I owe so much of that to your books.

“Earlier this year a friend invited me to go to Italy with him. I didn’t have a ton of money or interest in Italy but I thought “sure, could be fun!” So I went. My flight home was two days after his so I had some extra time in Italy by myself at the end of the trip. I was flying out of Rome so I thought I’d just book a hostel in Rome and hang out for two nights. But there was a part of me that wanted to go back to Naples to meet up with a girl I matched with on Tinder.

“It was going to be more expensive, a couple hundred dollars, to take trains in and out of Naples, but I decided to take a chance on the most exciting option and head to Naples. Finances be damned!

“I had THE BEST time in Naples. I saw wonderful things, made new friends, and my heart was full. Then, on my way back to the USA, I had a layover in Dublin. My flight out of Rome was delayed so I missed my connection. The next flight to LA wasn’t until the next day so they put me up in a hotel in Dublin for the night and gave me two delicious free meals. On top of that, the airline sent me a check for $670 for the inconvenience! So the cost of my impromptu Naples excursion was covered with about $400 to spare! Wooh! I couldn’t believe that the money truly did come in to make that “foolish” adventure possible.”

I can’t thank you enough, guys, for continuing to bless me with your miracle stories.

I will be announcing the recipients of this year’s 222 grant on……2/22. Stay tuned, my friends.

Get in on the dance

February 6, 2020 69 Comments

“A life of peace, contentment and happiness divests itself of everything it does not want.”—Napoleon Hill

Right now, right where you are, magical things are happening. Angels, guides, your ancestors, a whole chorus of invisible beings are with you as you’re reading this.

The only question is, “Are you going to drop your story?” The story that says you’re all alone. The story that says there’s never enough, that life is hard, that nobody really loves you.

From a marketing standpoint I probably shouldn’t say this, but the words in my books aren’t really all that important. The only thing that really matters is letting go of all your crazy notions about scarcity and lack. Surrendering to the magic that surrounds you.

At any time—this moment, next year, three lifetimes from now–you can dive into the Divine Flow.

It’s all happening, as we speak.

So I ask again. Don’t you want in on the dance?

Until further notice, celebrate everything

December 31, 2019 20 Comments

“Most of our assumptions have outlived their usefulness.” ― Marshall McLuhan

The Course in Miracles is all about challenging assumptions. We don’t see life as it really is because the stories we tell ourselves block the world’s unlimited largesse.

Instead of keeping track of all the beautiful gifts we’ve been given, we keep track of how many times we’ve been rejected or how many times this or that didn’t work.

But what if the opposite is true? What if the life force is actively working on our behalf at all times to deliver exactly what we need?

Most of us believe, that if we want something, we have to save up the money, go to a store and buy said thing. But what if that’s an erroneous assumption? What if all we have to do is make the request?

I just got a lovely email from a long-distance hiker who told me it’s common knowledge, among hikers out on the Appalachian, the Pacific Crest and other long-haul trails, that whatever is needed often shows up magically, beside the trail.

For example, on a 200-mile hike, he noted that he’d failed to pack a soap dish. That very day, a soap dish showed up along the side of the trail. It’s known in the hiking community as “trail magic.”

It also works in the city.

Once, in Mexico City where I was giving a workshop, I noticed I’d lost one of my Einstein wands (from Experiment #3 in E-Squared). I had no time to replace the wire hanger, but guess what? Not three minutes later, I literally tripped over a metal wire on the sidewalk that I quickly used to fashion into the missing wand.

It’s like manna from heaven that was miraculously supplied to the Israelites in their journey across the wilderness. It literally fell from the sky.

So here’s the assumption I suggest questioning this year. Is it true that, if you need something, you have to go to the store to buy it? Or will the universe deliver it to you, as long as you simply ask and don’t let your assumptions get in the way?

Judgments deter miracles

December 13, 2019 26 Comments

“The mind continuously creates hypotheses.”—Marilynne Robinson

A couple days ago, at a wonderful vegan pizza restaurant in Ajijic, Mexico, I saw a sign that said, “Listen to your heart, not your habits.”

That could just as well be ACIM Lesson 342. Our brains are on autopilot. They’re wired to look for threats. To automatically mobilize around anything we judge to be scary.

The Course says it’s all a bunch of bunk.

James Twyman made a great point at Satsang yesterday. He brought up medieval knights. With all their breastplates and helmets and other assorted armor, you have to wonder—how did they even move, let alone guard their castles?

And that’s us. Walking around with way too much armor. Our judgments, our hypothesis, our masks make it kinda hard to move. They keep love away. They deter miracles.

So today, instead of galvanizing myself against something horrible coming at me, I’m gonna focus on the other story. I’m gonna commit to beholding beauty, to pointing out all the things I love.

And anytime my brain makes yet another hypothesis, I’ll laugh. And I’ll say, “But did you see the egrets stretching their necks to the sun? Did you see the sweet father walking hand in hand with his daughter to school? Did you see the look in that lover’s eye?

Exalting the beautiful

December 11, 2019 55 Comments

“It is joy by which the labor that will make the life that I want, possible.”–Ross Gay

Unlike my gorgeous daughter who was fluent in Spanish, my language skills are malo, a word that basically means “they suck.”

But I have managed to master one phrase: “No gracias!” I use it many, many times a day as I am offered everything from aprons to sombreros to big buckets of raspberries and green beans.

I also use this phrase anytime my ego acts up. Today’s Course lesson (“I offer only miracles today. For I would have them returned to me”) tells me that if I only offer miracles (meaning I offer love and peace and other truths of who I am) that’s what boomerangs back. It’s classic law of attraction.

The Course offers daily tips for saying “No gracias” to all ridiculous ideas thrown out by the ego. The ego wants us to believe there’s never enough, that we’re never enough. It harps at us constantly. “You need to follow these seven steps. You need to be wary of this person. You need to work harder.”

The Course reminds us none of that is true. The workbook, which gives us 365 reminders, is all about overwhelming the ego with sheer persistence. That’s why I practice it year after year. That’s why I say “No gracias” to anything that doesn’t represent infinity, joy, peace of mind.

Instead I says, “Si Si” to the beautiful.

I just heard a wonderful interview with Ross Gay. He’s a poet, professor and author of The Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude. He writes beautifully about how joy is an important calling.

“Joy,” he says, “is the moment when my alienation—not just from other people, but from the whole thing — goes away. If it was a visual thing, like, everything becomes luminous.”

Starting on his 42^nd birthday, he promised himself to write a mini-essay each day about something that delighted him, simple things like vegan donuts and arugula and loitering. The thing that surprised him about his year of looking for and writing about delight was how quickly the study of delight made delight more evident.

At first, he thought it was gonna be hard, to find something delightful every day. But he writes that, very quickly, he developed a “delight radar” or a “delight muscle.

“I began to realize how frequently I’m in the presence of sweet little interactions that don’t have to happen, but do—like seeing two people sharing the burden of carrying a shopping bag or a sack of laundry.”

Perhaps my favorite part of the interview was Gay articulating that, in the longing for justice, we must exalt the beautiful and tend to what we love, as much as what we fight.

As he says, “I often think the gap in our speaking about and working for justice is that we forget to advocate for what we love, for what we find beautiful and necessary. We are good at fighting, but imagining, and holding in one’s imagination what is wonderful and to be adored and preserved and exalted is harder for us, it seems.”

So in honor of Ross Gay, I would like to exalt the gardener at the Namaste community here in Ajijic. His name is Augustino. He has been tending to the hundreds of plants, trees and flowers here since they were first planted, way before James Twyman bought the place. He treats each one with love and respect. He talks to them. He notices when one of them needs an extra drink of water or to be moved to a different spot. He is in a deep and caring relationship with his little piece of Mother Earth.

So tell me in the comments section below, “What beautiful thing are you willing to exalt today?”

Running with the stars

December 6, 2019 26 Comments

“I’m writing a book. I have the page numbers done. Now, I just need to fill in the rest.” –Stephen Wright

Happy Friday, my friends. Before this day gets away, I want to send a quick update. I’m in Ajijic, Mexico, hanging out with James Twyman and his wonderful Namaste community. You might remember I was here in early 2018.

Every morning, the lesson from A Course in Miracles is written on a big blackboard and we gather for an hour of singing and hugging and talking Truth.

Today’s ACIM Lesson (“I can be free of suffering today”) is a perfect reminder that we get to choose. At any time, we can step into joy and freedom, be released from the illusion that something is wrong, that something is other than it should be. Our perception (which is really another word for deception) doesn’t begin to show us everything. It only shows us what we’ve decided is true.

As James pointed out this morning, the only thing that keeps us stuck in our current illusion is our fear of letting go and expanding into everything. That’s what the Course promises.

If you’ve been hanging out on this blog for awhile, you likely know my take on A Course in Miracles–the book you guys practically forced me to write–is about to drop.

Hay House is putting together a landing page where anybody who preorders can get a couple extra free books that I also wrote to go along with it.

For those who are ahead of the curve and have already ordered, here’s a big shout out. And know that you can claim your free books ASAP by simply sending an email to Cathy Veloskey at cveloskey@hayhouse.com.

Hay House also wants me to tell you that Art & Soul, Reloaded, the eBook version, is on sale for $1.99 during the month of December. That’s less than a cup of coffee. And worth a whole lot more—especially if you’re feeling the pull to create. It’s available on Amazon, Nook and iBooks.

In other news, I’m actively fielding pitches for the upcoming 222 Foundation award. If you’ve got a great idea to move the needle, an idea for changing perceptions and therefore changing the world, by all means, send your proposal here. The deadline is December 31.

In closing, I’d like to end with this wonderful thought from the poet David Whyte. He says the ultimate touchstone of friendship is the privilege of having been seen by someone. You guys have definitely seen me, been here for me, walked with me, believed in me and accompanied me on a journey impossible to accomplish alone.

Thank you SO MUCH, my friends.

All of us. Together. Forever.

An invitation to a whole new story

October 19, 2019 51 Comments

“It’s time for something that was beautiful to turn into something else that is beautiful.”—Elizabeth Gilbert

When Taz died last October, I wondered if, like spouses often do, I’d be gone within the year. But here it is, an entire 12 months later, and I’m still here on Planet Earth, breathing and creating yet another blog post, another book.

Since we last talked, I’ve even performed comedy karaoke, driven on a NASCAR race track and visited the bridge where George Bailey first met Clarence.

I also threw a party for what would have been Tasman’s 26th birthday.

Her friends came over, we ate cake and wrote messages on bright paper lanterns that we flew up into the heavens over the Kansas River. Four of her friends got tattoos that day in her honor. I’m gathering my nerve for my own tattoo of the 222 Foundation logo. For those new to this party, I started the 222 Foundation in Taz’s honor.

So far, I’ve received dozens of pitches for the 2020 award that will be given out February 22, 2020. The call for pitches is open until December 31. If you or anyone you know has a big idea to move the world away from its old school money, money, money orientation, please send it my way.

The mission of the 222 Foundation is to change the rules of the game. We believe our culture’s near-sighted focus on financial wealth breeds a sense of scarcity and fails to amplify the full range of human experience. It causes us to commoditize things we used to generously give for free. It causes us to forget that our deepest longing is to be generous, to connect, to love each other.

Taz certainly knew that truth. azul

Among her many legacies, is this relationship with my “Little” (from Big Brothers/Big Sisters) and her sister. The three of us made Halloween cookies on Wednesday. Taz, of course, set the two of us up nearly 18 months ago.

Taz, as I’ve written before, was pure love. Her heart was wide open to everyone. I never once heard her judge another person or gossip or utter a negative word. If you were in Taz’s vicinity, you were accepted, you were loved and you felt this joy that emanated from her very being. Every time I saw her, I literally had to catch my breath. She was that beautiful–inside and out.

I’ve been practicing the Course in Miracles for 30 years and still, I aspire to be as open-hearted and kind and full of grace as my daughter.

The Course is about changing perceptions. Instead of identifying with the ego, which is an illusory construct for dealing with the temporary world, it teaches us to embrace our immortal self, which sounds all airy-fairy, but is actually the true nature of reality.

My focus these days is on this bigger cosmic reality. It’s what I think about. It’s what I’ll be writing about going forward. It helps me understand that Taz could no more be gone than I could be wounded by Darth Vader’s light saber.

Stayed tuned for a really cool guest post by a friend who has developed a magical relationship with his father who, if you believe the old school reality, died many years ago.

Life, I’m happily learning, is SO. MUCH. BIGGER than I ever imagined.