Byron Katie – Pam Grout

This one word changes everything

January 29, 2021 25 Comments

“You don’t have to like it. But it’s easier if you do.”—Byron Katie

Over the years, I’ve offered up a simple two-step gratitude game (A.A. 2.0) and dispensed life’s two magic words.

But today, I’m taking it a step further, paring it down to one simple word that continues to be a game-changer in my life.

The word is Akwaaba! It means welcome in Twi, the language of Ghana. I say it to every single feeling, every single thought, especially those I think I don’t want.

What I’ve noticed is that when I refuse to welcome a feeling or a thought, it tends to grow arms and legs.

But whenever I say “C’mon in, take your shoes off,” the negative thought realizes it no longer has power over me. It loses interest and literally slithers away.

Most of life’s problems can be boiled down to some version of “I don’t like this. I don’t want this.” And who wants to welcome something unpleasant like that?

Instead, we try to change it, suppress it, fix it or figure it out. But that gives it power it really doesn’t have. It takes a flimsy, insubstantial thought and turns it into a sh*t show.

It’s like the Seinfeld episode where Jerry freaks out when he hears the pilot of the airplane he’d flown to Ithaca is in the audience, eventually causing Elaine to get fired, George to humiliate himself and the pilot to rescind his boarding pass on the flight home. It was no big deal–except in Jerry’s mind.

Once I open my arms to a negative feeling or thought, when I say, “Yes, you are welcome here,” it dissolves on its own. Without me having to change it, fix it or figure it out. Trying to rid yourself of a “negative problem” is to give it power. In fact, when you really get it that every so-called negative thought has only arisen because you’re ready to let it go, you’re tempted to throw a party.

The real miracle is not just the undoing of the anguish (the “negativity ” that I either suppressed or fought to eliminate). It’s the riches that flood in when I free up the space.

Try it this weekend, my friends, as you go out and have the VERY BEST WEEKEND OF YOUR 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) that has just been turned into an app. Badass ACIM (badass-acim.com)

It takes a crazy person to even try this

January 25, 2021 36 Comments

“Except for the unquestioned thoughts you’re believing, life is always good.”—Byron Katie

So we’re three weeks and a day or two into the Course lessons for this year. And while I certainly hope you’re every bit as pumped up as you were on Day #1, I happen to know from personal experience that enthusiasm sometimes starts to flag about now.

Which is why I want to post this reminder of why we’re doing this, why Morpheus said “There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.” It can be summed up with one word: unbelievable.

According to Webster’s, the word unbelievable is an adjective describing something (an event) as extraordinary and difficult to believe.

Like the email I got the other day from a mother whose daughter sent her a cloud formation of E2 reminding her (from the other side) to read my book. Or the 13 crazy squirrels who all stopped and silently meditated with a friend of mine.

These things seem inconceivable, far-fetched. It’s like Gayle King said to me when I was on her show many years ago. “C’mon, Pam!”

But miracles like these are only un-believable because our beliefs are wrapped up in rationality, materiality, limitation. Our egos, the poster child for these beliefs, base everything on what it takes to gain approval, to “stay safe.” Our culture gives us an unwritten rule book that does not allow the unbelievable to happen, not with all that fitting in we’re required to do.

Our cultural belief system holds us in a pattern that precludes us from hearing the still small voice that is always trying to support us, to help us. The cultural pattern, championed by our loud mouth ego, revolves around fear—What will they think? What if they don’t like me? What if I get sick? What if……..

Remember Amanda Eller, the hiker who got lost for 17 days in the Makawao Forest Reserve without her phone, her wallet or her water bottle? Once she let go of the fear (something our culture trains us NEVER to do) she was very clearly guided—eat this, walk this way.

Today’s lesson tells us in no uncertain terms that our ego goals have nothing whatsoever to do with our own best interests. The ego goals are good for maintaining culture, for maintaining the status quo, but they are not useful tools for accessing the benevolent voice that will rise up when you move past fear. Once you begin to recognize that everything you believe, do and think is a product of cultural conditioning, you begin to access more and more of the unbelievable. As the Course reminds us, if miracles are not happening on the daily, something has gone wrong. #222 Forever

I have been waiting to meet you all of my life

February 26, 2018 13 Comments

“Love is how you become a person and why.”—John Green

Recent lessons in A Course in Miracles (today, I’m on Lesson 57) have been reviews, where I solidify my commitment to free my mind, to give up my old stories, to choose peace.

Basically, I’m learning to “be new,” to see others as new, to see new possibilities.

Byron Katie, who has been married to Stephen Mitchell for 30-plus years, says she gasps every morning when she first sees him, as if she’s seeing this “incredibly precious” person for the very first time. There’s no baggage. There’s no story. She sees him as “new.”

Today, I choose to spend more time seeing the new and less time imagining the past.

I choose to see myself as a powerful radio tower for joy, for love, for connection.

I choose to emit goodness, to spew beauty, to broadcast molecules of happiness.

I choose to approach every person I meet with the attitude of Byron Katie, “I have been waiting to meet you all of my life.”

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.

You say tomato. I say toe-mah-toe!

January 7, 2018 39 Comments

“Why get rich quick when you can be rich now?”—Alan Cohen
miracle
I got a question yesterday from a newbie to the Course in Miracles and thought I’d address it today since it relates to today’s lesson (6): I see only the past.

She said she was stymied by the idea that Sandy Hook and the Holocaust were illusions or holograms. It didn’t seem quite right to ignore the fact that people died.

And while I am no expert on the Course in Miracles (or really anything for that matter), I would like to share my take on it.

When we focus on the past, we ignore the astounding love and grace of right now. To really experience this moment (which is unique in all the world and has never happened before) can make tears roll down your cheeks. It’s that beautiful. We don’t notice because we see only the past.

So it’s not about ignoring tragedy. It’s about NOT ignoring what’s possible right in this moment. I myself don’t want to miss it.

I heard this story the other day. Two celibate monks were crossing a river at the same time as a beautiful, sexy woman. She slipped in the water so one of the monks put her on his back and carried her over. The other monk was aghast. He silently stewed about his friend’s indiscretion: “That’s against our vows. We’re not supposed to touch female flesh.” Finally, able to bear it no longer, he questioned the other monk who replied, “I set her down four hours ago. It seems you’re the only one still carrying her.”

Also want to answer a couple other questions that have popped up:

1. Who am I to pontificate about the Course in Miracles? This question, by the way, came from my own head. I don’t profess to be an expert about really much of anything. I’m a seeker and, over the years, have explored everything from rebirthing, h’oponopono and tapping to Abraham-Hicks and Byron Katie’s The Work. I love them all. I just keep coming back to The Course because well, that seems like my path. It’s not everybody’s tomato nor does it profess to be. All roads, as they say, lead to Rome. I like it because I’m a sucker for miracles and being happy.

2. Will I continue to do this the whole year? That’s a really good question that’s yet to be answered. That’s my intention and as long as it’s fun for me (again, always my bottom line), I’ll be doing it.

3. Which Course in Miracles book is the right one? There’s really only one and it comes from the Foundation for Inner Peace. It’s blue and has the workbook (which is what I go through every year), the text and a manual for teachers. It’s dense and often hard to read and understand. That I’ve stuck with it all these years surprises me as much as anyone. If you don’t feel inclined to buy the book that some have called a useful doorstop, I’ve started (as of yesterday) including a link to the lesson in each post.

That’s it for now, my beautiful, wonderful friends. There are probably other questions, but I’m off to my possibility posse. Oh wait there’s one other thing I should probably mention.

Lots of people who read my book E-Squared are focused on manifestation. And today’s lesson—I see only the past—explains those times when the new car or the new job or the new iPhone X seem stubborn about not showing up. The manifestor is stuck in the frequency of the past where, indeed there was no new car or new job or iPhone X. As Elsa sings, “Let it go. Let it go.”

In this moment, anything is possible and everything is here.

Pam Grout is the author of 19 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and the just-released, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.

Confessions of a bleeding heart liberal

January 9, 2017 56 Comments

“Shall we let the election be the big bang of our national universe, the time we let our differences send us flying apart? Shall we let terror simplify the world to good and evil? Or shall we lean toward one another, recognize our need, and cherish all magnetic nudges toward inclusion?”—Kim Stafford

I cheered for Meryl’s speech last night. I was deeply disappointed in the recent election. But I’m also a Course in Miracles student and know my job is to forgive, to recognize oneness with everyone and to see the possibility of the now. This now. This moment.

Byron Katie calls it ‘first generation’ truth. Seeing something as it is without filters, without all the baggage we lay on top of it.

It’s hard for us to look at anyone or anything without seeing our personal interpretation. But as the Course reminds us “perception is learned, selective, unstable and inaccurate.”

Robbin, from my possibility posse, told a wonderful story that speaks to this truth.

She and her daughter were on the turnpike and noticed a bumper sticker on a big truck ahead of them. You’ve seen the bumper stickers with mom, dad, the two kids and the pet, right? Well, this bumper sticker said, “Meet my family” and portrayed a series of guns, from pistol on up to gigantic artillery cannons. Robbin and Kitty looked at each other, rolled their eyes and, like I would have done, made a judgment.

Robbin pulled up to the toll booth behind the truck, reached for her wallet to pay her fare. But the tool booth operator stopped her. “Put your money away. The truck in front of you paid your toll.”

So today I ask each of us to look at our perceptions and judgments and, as Kim Stafford urges, “lean toward one another, recognize our need, and cherish all magnetic nudges toward inclusion?”

I love you all with every ounce of my beating liberal heart.

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 recently released, Thank and Grow Rich: a 30-day Experiment in Shameless Gratitude and Unabashed Joy.

One more deep, happy mystery just proved by physicists at Delft University

October 22, 2015 10 Comments

“‘I should’, ‘I shouldn’t’, ‘you should’, ‘you shouldn’t’, ‘I want’, ‘I need’–these unquestioned thoughts distort the appearance of the good that is as common as grass. Reality won’t wait for your consent. It will remain just as it is, pure goodness, whether or not you understand.” –Byron Katie

Don’t know if you saw yesterday’s New York Times. But I’m wahooing and fist-bumping because the prestigious scientific journal Nature just published a huge study proving one of the principals I talk about in my books.

As you can imagine, not just everybody buys into the fact that things over here (say our thoughts) influence things over there.

But scientists at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands just proved one of quantum theory’s fundamental claims. Namely, that objects separated by great distance instantaneously affect each other’s behavior. Kinda a big blow to Isaac Newton and old-school physics.

Although these kind of non-local experiments have been going on since the 70’s (I wrote about Bell’s Theorem in E-Squared), there were still some nay-sayers pointing to loopholes. This new experiment, conducted by physicists at the Dutch university’s Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, ruled out all hidden variables and pretty much substantiates the weird quantum world formed from subatomic particles, a world where matter takes form ONLY after being observed and measured.

The Delft researchers entangled two electrons, separated them by nearly a mile and then measured the spin. They used diamonds with a tiny trap for the electrons and then placed them on opposite sides of the campus, ensuring that the information could not be exchanged by any other means. Well, guess what?

The electrons changed spins simultaneously. As Princeton physics professor John Wheeler famously said, “It’s one of the deep, happy mysteries that, at all times, we interact with and influence the world we observe.”

Why would we observe it any way except with big love and joyous gratitude?

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 its equally-scintillating sequel, E-Cubed, 9 More Experiments that Prove Mirth, Magic and Merriment is your Full-time Gig.

Why cosmic curveballs only lead to home runs

March 20, 2015 23 Comments

“Love joins with everything. It doesn’t exclude the monster. It doesn’t avoid the nightmare–it looks forward to it.” –Byron Katie

When you think of everything as a miracle, even getting hit by a double decker bus, you’ll be led to a life most extraordinary. Melissa Joy Jonsson, president of Matrix Energetics, was a highly-successful pharmaceutical exec until she literally got smacked in London by a bus.

Most would judge this as unfortunate, but in reality (where only love is real) it led her to her life’s mission–teaching others how to access their authentic self. Getting hit by a bus was actually an act of grace.

Our job, of course, is to withdraw judgment from anything that happens, to remember that only good can come our way. This frees up the universe to begin pouring out blessings.

One of my great blessings is all the miracle stories that pop into my inbox each morning. Here’s one that came in yesterday:

“My name is Corey and I currently live in the Texas panhandle. I’m gonna try and make a long story short…

“A few years ago I was a commissioner in the wind industry. In 2009, jobs became scarce for my position. I fell deeply in debt and lost pretty much everything.

“Even before my trials and tribulations I was embarking on a spiritual journey. I was raised in church, but baffled by the wide variety of theologies. They all believed different things. So I began a search for truth.

“The crazy thing that really started my search was a television interview of Nick Cannon and he was talking about how he spoke into existence him marrying Mariah Carey. He talked about the power of words. This reached out and grabbed me by the arm and sucked me in!

“Over the last 3 years I’ve read every metaphysical book I could get my hands on. “Think and Grow Rich,” “Outwitting the Devil,” “Your Word is your Wand,” everything from Rhonda Byrne to Florence Scovel. Shinn. I’ve read them all.

“Last Monday I came across your book, “E Squared.” I finished the book Tuesday evening and meditated on the message in the book.

“Monday night, March 16th at 9:45 pm I made the demand that I needed a blessing. I needed a financial blessing, but like you said, let the FP decide the blessing first.

“I currently work the security gate at a local methanol plant that is in it’s commissioning stages of construction. I work part time and fill in any extra hours when I can. My hourly pay is way above average for this town, but two days a week doesn’t add up to much. I have been in this position for about two and half months.

“Tuesday morning the head boss over the entire plant passed through the gate and told me to meet him Wednesday in his office and that he needed to talk to me. My first thought was “Uh oh! I’m getting laid off!” However, I immediately corrected that thought and affirmed to myself that I’m blessed and no matter what only good can come my way.

“Wednesday afternoon I arrived for the meeting and my boss asked if I would be interested in working full time with the company. He then began to praise me over my positive attitude, my encouragement of others, and how well I did my job at the front gate. So, he offers me a position directly under him and I will be in charge of multiple aspects of the company. I literally went from last to first. On paper I am in no way qualified for the job but I have learned to shift my focus and people around me are taking notice! My blessing came with 4 hours left of the demanded time.

“After reading your book and applying your techniques with the other methods in the past books I’ve read, I now understand. I finally see the great potential we posses.

Thank you so much for writing this great tool! May it heal, bless, and inspire the people of our world!”

Thanks, Corey, for sharing.

And, as I like to say on Fridays, “Make this the best weekend of your life.”

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 recently-released sequel, E-Cubed, 9 More Experiments that Prove Mirth, Magic and Merriment is your Full-time Gig.