Anne Lamott – Pam Grout

The one with all the glory

June 12, 2023 9 Comments

“Close your eyes and feel the divine spark, concentrated in you, like a little Dr. Seuss firefly.”—Anne Lamott

The above headline, I realize, sounds like the title of a “Friends” episode: The One with Ross’s Teeth, the One where Joey Speaks French, etc.

But it’s really about the stories we tell ourselves, the life episodes we replay over and over again. We repeat these stories until there’s literally no room for the Divine. They become mechanical, habitual and they run our lives. There’s the story about your nationality, the story about being female or being a parent or belonging to a particular political group.

These extremely confining affiliations become so baked into our day-to-day reality, so deeply conditioned in our minds that we completely forget they’re only stories—temporary and insubstantial. We completely forget that who we really are is timeless, eternal totality.

We were laughing at some of our crazy beliefs at yesterday’s possibility posse, about the many stories that drive our lives. For example, if you don’t wash off your makeup before you go to bed, it’ll age you seven years. Or you should never run your air-conditioner if the windows in the car are open. Thanks, Rhonda’s dad.

My mind went to the vanilla milkshake story from my book, E-Cubed. The One Where a Supersize Batch of Milkshakes (yep, still using that Friends gag) was divided into two and labeled as either a) Sensishake, a low-calorie drink with zero fat, zero sugar and a mere 140 calories or b) Indulgence with high sugar, high fat and a whopping 620 calories.

Test subjects, before and after drinking the identical shakes, were measured for a hormone called ghrelin. Doctors call it the “hunger hormone” because it’s secreted in the gut and signals your body when it’s time to eat. It also slows your metabolism.

What researcher, Alia Crum, discovered was that the ghrelin levels dropped three times more for test subjects who thought they were drinking a fatty shake than for those who believed their shake was the pinnacle of health.

In other words, our stories not only determine our life experience, but they also play out in our bodies. Our stories, our labels, our beliefs—whatever they may be—become true for us.

While the above stories are humorous and a little mind-blowing, we also have “serious stories,” solemn identities we fight like bloody hell to hang on to. No really, I was mistreated by my family. I really DO have agoraphobia. That “other” really is discriminating against me.

As for me, I choose to disidentify from as many labels, as many certainties as I can. And I’m sticking with the story that life, even though I see but a small fragment of it, is here to invoke great delight. In other words, I choose the “The One with All the Glory” episode.

My buddy, James Twyman, invited me to be part of a Mystics Summit.

And while mystic is definitely not a part of my “identity” or my “story,” he asked me to talk about A Course in Miracles which I do all the time anyway. So if you are interested in a free Mystics Summit, you can sign up—did I mention it’s free—at this little ole link right here.

#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).

More stories to rock your world

September 10, 2018 12 Comments

“I pray for the change in perception that will let me see bigger and sweeter realities.”–Ann Lamott dennis braun

My favorite thing in the whole world is miracles. I’ve been a student of ‘A Course in Miracles’ for more than 25 years. The TV series I created is set in an ecovillage called Milagro Springs. Milagro, of course, is Spanish for miracle. And I spend my days looking for miracles which, in reality, is nothing but recognizing Truth.

Let me repeat. Miracles are natural and normal and happen constantly…once we give up antiquated patterns of thinking.

To prove it, here’s yet another trio of miracle stories in honor of ACIM Lesson 253:

1. “I want to share a quick story with you that totally rocked my world! So, there is a retreat that I really want to attend, but my husband didn’t like the idea of me spending almost $2000 on a weekend away when we have a mortgage, bills etc. Fair enough I said, I’ll manifest the extra money to go then. He laughed and said ok, you do that.

“A few months passed and as the cut of date for the application and payment was due, I wondered if I would make it to the retreat? I still had Ziva Retreat postcards in highly visible locations all over my house and had faith (although admittedly, it was beginning to dwindle).

“Then, just yesterday my Chiropractor and one of the speakers/organizers of the retreat rang me to say that one of the crew members was no longer able to attend and would I like to take her place! I would be working behind the scenes, but would be sitting in on all of the sessions, plus all of my meals and accommodation would be paid for! As you can imagine, I was flabbergasted and totally amazed at the FP! (so was my husband haha).”

2. “This will be one of those e-mails telling you how right you are. How because of you today is going to be amazingly awesome. How putting positive thoughts out into the world comes back to you ten times over. Sorry about another one of those e-mails, but I hope you never get tired of hearing how your words inspire us! It’ll also be about a project – one inspired by you – that I’ve been working on for a few years.

“I’ve been a reader for a long time. When things get rough I re-read E-Squared and E-Cubed to put me back into the zone. The experiments worked when I did them the first time and still work my umpteenth time around.

“I’m writing to you today from a cruise ship in the Caribbean. This is our 60th+ cruise. Hubby and I caught the cruise bug years ago on a wedding anniversary and have gotten hooked. What’s so surprising for us is that we both grew up in poverty with free school lunch and food stamps and all. For us growing up poor, to be on a cruise, let alone get to go again and again and again? Never in our wildest dreams.

“But there is something else that has been against us. Hubby was born with cerebral palsy and is disabled. He’s not in a wheelchair, but most people assume he’s had a stroke because he doesn’t have use of his right side. He also was in renal failure and was bedridden a couple years ago. As for me, I have rheumatoid arthritis, have had two knee replacements, and have two shoulders full of screws holding everything together. I used to be scooter-bound, even. We’ve been through a lot. I often wonder about how we got through it and others didn’t.

“Sometimes I feel like I need to pinch myself to check if this life is really my life. How did I get here? Why am I one of the lucky ones who get to live a life like this one? I do know for sure we are blessed to have this life. These experiences. After some trips – and sometimes midway through some trips – I’m certain we are done. But by golly, we recover and regroup and find ourselves able to plug away one more day.

“I am certain that because of an idea you shared years ago, we have the ability to continue to live our lives to the fullest.

“For the last several years I’ve been giving away dollar bills with notes of encouragement. I used to hand write notes on packs of Post-It notes but I found the adhesive wasn’t sticking in high-humid climates we were traveling to. A couple years back I switched to making my own little money pockets and printing labels for them. I’ve left them in restrooms and airplane magazines and sugar containers. I’ve left them in windowsills and tip jars and hotel room drawers. I’ve left them on buses and taxis and trains and cruise ships. Sometimes I place one somewhere once a day and other days I drop them off multiple times. Most of the time I never find out who picks it up; other days I do.

“If you’re interested in what I’ve been doing with them, I did a blog post about it here.

“I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback about the pockets. I even had a grandma tell me she’s doing the project with her granddaughter. Yay!”

3. Last story is from Marc Medley, a school administrator who does a regular podcast called The Reading Circle. He interviewed me a couple Saturday’s ago.

If you’re interested in a listen, I’ve posted it below. Before we started the interview, however, Marc shared a miracle story about reconnection—my most favorite kind.

Family relationships, being what they are, can sometimes go off the rails. He hadn’t spoken with one of his daughters for awhile. After reading the story in E-Squared about my friend who healed a rocky relationship with her mother, he decided to follow suit.

Just like my friend, he started sending silent blessings to the estranged daughter. Every day, he’d wish good things for her. Within a few days, well, you can probably guess what I’m about to say? She called out of the blue.**

Also want to mention that this month, if anyone has yet to read Thank & Grow Rich, the digital version is going for a mere $1.99. That’s less than a small cappuccino.

**Another synonym for God.

Pam Grout is the author of 19 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest book, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.

Why the F Word and I roll deep, Part 2

March 3, 2018 40 Comments

lamott “Celebrate the madness
The joy
Of seeing God
Everywhere!”
— HAFIZ

I’ve devised a simple test for determining what’s important. If it’s widely misunderstood, it’s probably worth my attention.

Case in point: the word “God”—more baggage than a Samsonite store, completely misconceived, the coolest force on the planet. That’s why I rarely call it God.

Love is another word weighted down with misperceptions. We actually believe it’s something we have to find. In reality, it’s who we are, why we’re here, the only thing worthy of our time.

Today, I’d like to bring up another word with massive baggage problems. The F word. Forgiveness.

Most of us think it’s an act we’re forced to perform when horrific jerks do us wrong.
Forgiveness, as I see it, is realizing that no one HAS the power to do me wrong. To believe someone or something outside myself can hurt me is what started all the problems in the first place. It negates the Truth of who I am.

Being pissed off unplugs me from the F.P, this wild and crazy force that’s constantly trying to bless me. It erects a big wall between me and my highest good.

Believing outside forces can hurt me stunts my growth. Blinds me to all the miracles. Creates an illusory world that makes me want to hide, feel guilty, close down.

Each of us is here to strengthen the life force–in ourselves and in each other. If we point fingers and believe something outside ourselves can hurt us, we put the squeeze on this unbelievably cool and ever-present life force.

If anyone had the right to hold a grudge, it was Nelson Mandela. He was imprisoned for 27 years, three of his children died before he did, his second wife Winnie took a lover and his government treated him no better than a dog.

But instead of letting those injustices take away his dignity, his superpower of love, he used them to solidify a vision for a better world. He refused to BE imprisoned.

ACIM Lesson 62 reminds me of the real reason I want to forgive. Because I want to be happy.

Forgiving, it says, removes strain and fatigue. It takes away fear, guilt and pain. It makes me invulnerable. But, as far as I’m concerned, I’m down with forgiveness because it brings me joy.

Pam Grout is the author of 19 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her new book, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.

“My mind is a bad neighborhood I try not to go into alone.”–Anne Lamott

July 5, 2017 27 Comments

“Thinking the physical world is all that matters is like shutting oneself up in a small closet and imagining there is nothing beyond it.”—Eben Alexander
neon-woman-brain-720x480

One of the great joys in my life is knowing the universe is so much bigger than anything I can conceive, in knowing that miracles (or what we call miracles) reside right on the other side of the veil I’ve imposed with my very limited brain.

As cool as the brain is, a veritable network of neural pathways, it actually puts up a tremendous barrier to Truth. It limits, it takes all the available input and boils it down to what I call “Cliff Notes for Dummies.” Sadly, our Cliff Notes are restricted to what we’ve decide to let in, to what we’ve erroneously pick up from our culture, our family upbringing and the six o’clock news.

As the Course in Miracles says we would be astounded, literally blown away, if we had even the slightest idea how many limits we have placed on Reality.

I amaze myself with how much time I sometimes waste thinking about some person who “did me wrong” or about some financial dilemma. Not a good expenditure of my valuable time.

The brain is so NOT reliable that, I believe, our very highest calling is to distract it as often as possible. That’s why meditation is so important. It puts an end (or will eventually) to the crazy person blathering in the brain. Once the brain gets out of the way, Truth can’t help but rise up.

I really hate to knock my brain. It has accomplished a lot in my life, but from here on out, I’d like to officially appoint it as secretary of my neurology, digestive system and other things it’s proficient at and leave the rest to Source, to Truth, to the Reality of Pure Bliss.

Pam Grout is the author of 18 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and the about-to-be released, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.

I got news for you, Star Wars—The Force is Already Awake

December 1, 2014 11 Comments

“Love is more powerful than death, bigger than the dark, bigger than cancer, bigger even than airport security lines.”—Anne Lamott

On November 6, it was officially announced that the seventh Star Wars movie would be called “The Force Awakens.”

I yawned and said, “Well, duh!”

The Force (Or what I call the Field of Infinite Potentiality) is alive and kicking and always has been. Like someone tweeted this morning, “Once you buy into what @PamGrout is talking about, #Weird Shit starts to happen.”

The only reason we think it’s new or “weird shit” or just now awakening is because we’ve bought into the other story. The story that says, “This is all we get.” We’ve been pretending that we’re all alone and that we have no power and that there’s not a Force that is chomping at the bit to get involved in our lives, to connect with us, to provide us with guidance.

I get emails every day that start with something like, “You’re never going to believe this.”

Here’s one that came in yesterday. “I lost one of a pair of favorite earrings bought in Santa Monica, CA (I live in London so couldn’t just pop into the shop and buy another): gold hoops with black diamonds. I put out an intention to get the earring back and this morning on my dressing table were the two earrings! Isn’t that crazy and inexplicable!

It’s not crazy and inexplicable once you let go of the old story. The old story convinces us that there is “one reality.” That “this one reality” is solid, never changing. But it only sticks around as long as you continue to invest in it.

In the quantum playground, all things are possible. So instead of investing in “what is,” it’s time to put all our energy into “what might be possible.”

As 22-year-old John Boyega, one of the new stormtroopers in Stars Wars VII, said to critics who questioned the casting, “To whom is may concern….Get used to it.”’

Pam Grout is the author of 17 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and the just-released sequel, E-Cubed, 9 More Experiments that Prove Mirth, Magic and Merriment is your Full-time Gig.

Tune in to the frequency of gratitude each morning so the mothership can find you

November 24, 2014 26 Comments

“What good are all the courses, initiations and headstands if, in the end, the ego does the leading.”—Tosha Silver

You wouldn’t go on a date without brushing your teeth.

Or write a resume without adding your phone number.

So why do we persist in starting our days without tuning into the Divine Buzz?

This Divine Buzz, F.P. (take your pick) is a loving force, folks, that wants nothing but to connect with us, to guide us, to bestow upon us every blessing we could possibly think up and a bunch we haven’t even come up with yet.

But instead of tuning in to this ocean of awesomeness, we’re tuned into this other frequency that limits the transmission. Anne Lamott recently wrote about a book signing in Wichita, Kansas where she was, as she describes it, “in whiny baby mode.”

On that transmission, the mothership couldn’t locate her. Couldn’t help her transcend her bad mood.

But by tuning into the frequency of gratitude, the “oh yea! I’m an author and I get to travel around and meet my readers. How cool is that?,” the “mothership” came to the rescue.

The mothership is always circling, always waiting with answers to every single need. Our only mission, and why wouldn’t we choose to accept it, is to stay on that frequency of gratitude where it can get through.

“My mind is a bad neighborhood I try not to go into alone.”–@Anne Lamott

May 14, 2013 2 Comments

“Thinking the physical world is all that matters is like shutting oneself up in a small closet and imagining there is nothing beyond it.”—Eben Alexander

One of the great joys in my life is knowing the universe is so much bigger than anything I can conceive, in knowing that miracles (or what we call miracles) reside right on the other side of the veil I’ve imposed with my very limited brain.

As the Course in Miracles says we would be astounded, literally blown away, if we had even the slightest idea how many limits we have placed on Reality.

While we’re here, living on this physical plane, we put the brain’s two pounds of wrinkled mass on a pedestal. We believe everything it tells us, listen to its crazy promptings, its tendency to focus on the past and worry about the future. I amaze myself with how much time I sometimes waste thinking about some person who “did me wrong” or about some financial dilemma. Not a good expenditure of my valuable time.

The brain is so NOT reliable that, I believe, our very highest calling is to distract it as often as possible. That’s why meditation is so important. It puts an end (or will eventually) to the crazy person blathering in the brain. Once the brain gets out of the way, Truth can’t help but rise up.

Pam Grout is the author of 16 books including the recently released, E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality.