Why I’m the luckiest person on the planet, Episode 124
“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual”—Henry David Thoreau
Facebook reminded me this morning of a memory from a year ago. It was a photo of my daughter and me riding horses at the Great Pyramids of Egypt.
While that was an epic moment and I’m over-the-moon grateful that I’m invited on so many over-the-top experiences, I’m actually feeling blessed because of all of you and the inspiring stories you send my way.
It’s as if I have my own custom self-help channel right in my inbox.
Yesterday, for example, a wonderful author named David Bugay told me that he and his wife decided to change their story about their neighbors. There’s an experiment in my book, E-Cubed where I encourage people to flip a long-held belief, to look for evidence supporting the opposite reality of whatever story they’ve been telling themselves.
I call it the Simon Cowell Corollary after the world’s most famous “judge,” because when we divide and label and judge everything, when we believe our stories are absolute fact, we lose half our options, half our personal freedom, half our energy.
So David and his wife, who moved to California from Michigan, had invested lots of energy into their story that people weren’t as friendly in their new town as they had been in the Midwest. They actually told themselves for a whopping three years that their neighborhood just wasn’t warm and welcoming. But what if that was just a story, what if that reality wasn’t absolute fact?
To test it, they decided to throw what they called a driveway party. They invited all their neighbors to come hang out in their driveway. Well guess what? Their neighbors turned out to be really cool and just as friendly and just as welcoming as their friends in Michigan.
“The driveway parties have completely changed everything,” David told me. “We have them every few months and we’re now all fast friends. Your books have completely changed our perspective and touched so many lives.”
Here’s another fun story:
“A few months ago, I was fortunate enough to come across your book, “E-Squared”. I loved it so much I started reading your “Thank and Grow Rich” book. I wanted to reach out to you to let you know just how much your books have impacted my life.
I have an upcoming trip to NYC, so I was hoping to get tickets to see one of my favorite talk shows, “The Chew.”
Well, after a few days of checking for tickets, a producer from “The Chew” emailed me asking if they could showcase one of my own recipes on their show. (I’m a food blogger.) I said “OF COURSE!!” A couple of weeks ago it aired on their show with my photo and everything! I emailed the producer to thank him for this amazing opportunity and also to tell him that I’d be visiting NYC this month. He replied back immediately and told me to let him know when I’m there so that they could get me into a taping. How miraculous is this?? I just wanted a ticket to the show, and I got even more!
Last story today is from Japan. How cool is it that my books are also bestsellers in Japan. A reader asked for a sign (one of the experiments in E-Squared) and saw this while sitting in the park. Doesn’t get much clearer than that?
I know we tend to believe the secret to happiness is doing fun and enjoyable things. But the real secret to happiness is having fun and enjoyable thoughts.
Have a great hump day, my oh-so-inspiring friends!
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.
