LOA – Pam Grout

Just the facts, ma’am

June 29, 2022 28 Comments

“Finally, I saw that worrying had come to nothing. And I took my old body out into the morning to sing.”—Mary Oliver

Tech companies around the globe are vying for our attention. They know our collective attention is worth big bucks and they’re doing everything they can to capture it and hold it–the more minutes (hours, for some of us?) the better.

Not only is your attention a highly-prized resource, but you can use it to be of service to the world.

If you refuse to place your attention on all the “what if’s”, the “OMG’s”, the “everything is falling apart,” and simply focus on facts, you’re actually performing a public service.

Most people I know are focused on the emotions, the triggers, the ‘ain’t it awfuls,” By placing their valuable attention there, they create more fear and more negativity. Our attention is THAT powerful.

Here’s a tiny example of how we squander our precious attention:

Let’s say you lost your job. All you really know for sure (the one true fact) is there’s no longer a job in your immediate future. Why start adding a bunch of stories? Things like: What if I can’t find another one? The economy is crazy right now. What if I starve?

Our tendency is to embellish the only fact we know for sure (I lost my job) with all our “oh no’s,” our speculations, our suppositions.

Here’s where the public service comes in:

I lost my job.

Add nothing to this fact. Sit back. Relax. Wait to see what you’re guided to do next. It’s hard and counterintuitive, I know, but if you choose to put your attention on this clear non-emotional, not fraught frequency, you will be guided what to do next.

Life is always here to help us evolve spiritually. Our ONLY job is to refuse to interfere. I heard somebody describe it like this, “My job is to be the allower-in-chief.”

With all the potential emotional pitfalls happening now, I was guided to share this short factual message.

Yours in love and unlimited potential,

The Allower-in-Chief

#222 Forever

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

Bombarded with miracles

May 4, 2022 50 Comments

“Your smarts, your talents, your good looks – take off these impediments and let us dance!” — Chelan Harkin

Tomorrow, in my playshop with Mike Dooley, I’m going to share “techniques” for widening one’s miracle bandwidth.

The term “technique” sounds rather didactic and I’ve never really felt like a “teacher” in any real definition of the word. If anything I’m just a regular Jane willing to experiment with my own life in public.

And I’ve learned from lots of personal experience that always, always, always the best technique for accomplishing anything is to manage my fear. To do whatever it takes to calm the nutty voice in my own head that constantly tells me that stepping into the unknown is unsafe. Whether that’s writing a book or hugging someone I’ve never met.

Our entire culture is predicated on avoiding the unknown, keeping us safe, convincing us to protect ourselves, to fit in, to march in line with the consumer system that tells us we need this product and that “technique.”

But like it or not, the unknown is where the magic happens. The unknown is where old, crusty beliefs are overridden by this more beautiful reality. And the unknown is scary.

My current “technique,” if you want to call it that, is getting up every morning and going outside, listening to the birds, making eye contact with my neighborhood fox. I go out there and feel this intense aliveness that, when you take the time to look, you notice permeates everything. I ask that life force to use me, to guide me, to show me what I need to do right now in this moment. Then, when the next moment comes, I ask again.

Maybe it’s a technique. But it feels more like surrender. Because I honestly don’t know.

Except that out there—in the real world, the alive world of nature–I feel connected with my daughter, with what some call angels, with this bigger thing that just keeps bombarding me with miracles.

To give you one small example, this Magical Mystery Adventure that I was invited to participate in with Mike Dooley has raised $22,200 for The Taz Grout 222 Foundation. And the logo that Mike’s amazing team created for the adventure happened to have a giant 222–which they didn’t even realize (they were going for 21 days, starting on the 21st, etc) until I pointed it out. Check it out below.

So I will continue to count my blessings, let go of what I was taught to believe and step out into the wildly mystical unknown. #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)

Appearances, be damned!

April 8, 2022 11 Comments

“Walk so lightly, my darling. On tiptoes with no luggage, completely unencumbered.”– Aldous Huxley

If you’ve been here for awhile, at this celebration known colloquially as a blog, you know I live to share miracle stories.

To me, they’re the equivalent of the 4-minute mile. They demonstrate that “hey, maybe there IS another possibility.” Maybe all those rigid ideas and expectations that consume most of our waking energy aren’t rock solid truth.

Today’s miracle comes from one of my possibility posse mates. And I love it SO MUCH because she’s the one who instigated it. She’s the one who made it happen. I like that in a miracle.

You might have heard about the NCAA National Championships. The KU Jayhawks, 15 points down at the half, came back and captured the title. Retiring to the locker room at half time, Christian Braun asked David McCormack, “What are you smiling about? They’re killing us.” And McCormack says, “I don’t understand why you’re upset. We got this. We know how to do this. It’s our destiny.”

I don’t know for sure he used the word destiny, but you get the point. He refused to despair over “appearances.”

As did my miracle-inducing posse mate who joined 70,000 fans in gleeful celebration on Mass Street in Lawrence, Kansas. Considering our official population is 94K, this was what you might call a decent turnout. Everybody’s slapping hands and everybody loves everybody and well, it seemed more like life should always be.

But back to the miracle. Soon after arriving, Robbin noticed while swimming in that sea of humanity, she’d lost her friends and her phone. Most humans would have panicked at that point. But not Robbin. She just continued reveling in the exuberant party. She continued having a rip-roaring good time.

The Huxley quote above started by saying, “There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet, trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair. That’s why you must WALK LIGHTLY.”

Yes, I know life sometimes appears scary and worthy of despair, but it’s only because that’s what we’ve been mentally rehearsing. Quite actively rehearsing, I might add, for the past couple years.

But when you recognize, like Robbin did, like David McCormack did, that appearances are TEMPORARY and that a BUNCH of other possibilities are just as valid, just as likely, you can WALK LIGHTLY.

And, of course, you can guess what I’m about to say. Robbin found the friends, was reunited with her phone and everything turned out groovy keen.

Mike Dooley and I are going to be walking lightly in our 21-day Magical Mystery Manifestation Adventure that you’re invited to join here.

Have the most sensational weekend of your life, my beautiful, amazing compatriots of joy. #222 Forever!

Law of Attraction Strikes Again

April 4, 2022 30 Comments

“Grace is always right there holding your hand.”—Jim Carrey

This is the bingo card for the Magical Mystery Manifestation Adventure. And, yes, we plan to manifest all these things!!!

When I first wrote E-Squared, when it was still called God Doesn’t Have Bad Hair Days, I had never heard the term Law of Attraction. This was in the early 2000’s before The Secret had become a household word.

I was certainly practicing the Law of Attraction, because well, you can’t NOT practice it. It’d be like trying to defy gravity. I was just coming at it from a different metaphysical angle, using practices I’d learned from Unity. Potato-potatoh!

At all times, we emit an energetic vibration that affects what we pull in from the big cosmic energy field. It may appear that things “just happen,” but, in reality, we constantly attract — to use that terminology — experiences that match our energetic frequency.

That’s why it’s so important to practice gratitude, to focus on possibilities, to let go of old patterns and beliefs.

When you live on a frequency of trust, when you know that generosity, kindness and goodness is the state of the world, amazing things happen.

Essential to this state of grace is becoming willing to entertain the unknown. That’s not always comfortable–most of us prefer to repeat the past.

But once you really, really get it, when you figure out how much the universe desires to bless you, you begin attracting beautiful things, amazing people, oh-wow experiences.

And you really don’t have to do anything. This is the part that trips people up. Not do anything? But what about all those affirmations? What about my vision board?

Those things are all really fun. But the important component is always your invisible energetic frequency, your state of attraction, so to speak.

I’m at a point in my life and career where I just trust that cool things will come my way. Like I was just invited on a cruise to Portugal on some brand new ship that just debuted.

I don’t really plan these things, per se. I just trust that if my vibrational frequency is focused on gratitude, goodness and blessings, that’s what will show up. It’s classic Law of Attraction. Keep your vibration clear, loving and pure and voila! Awesome sh*t happens!

Recently, a fantastic opportunity landed on my doorstep with none other than The Universe itself. Or rather the guy — Mike Dooley — who writes the oh-so-inspiring Notes From the Universe.

He called, we brainstormed a bit and decided that it was time to offer something really exciting, really simple and really fundamental. Call it Law of Attraction 101. Call it Manifesting. Call it fun, fun, fun.

Together, we are offering a 21-day Magical, Mystical Manifestation Adventure. It’s a three-week experiment, I guess you could say, in recognizing how your vibration pulls various experiences into your sphere.

Loads of opportunities come my way, but this one was a hell yes! because A) we’re going to raise some money for the Taz Grout 222 Foundation and B) because, well, we could all use a little fun right now.

This Adventure, as Mike calls his programs, is light-hearted, joyful and designed to demonstrate that we all have reality-creating superpowers. I do hope you’ll join us. Find out more here. #222 Forever!!!

A pop quiz: How proficient are you at the Law of Attraction?

March 25, 2022 28 Comments

“The more in harmony you are with the flow of your own existence, the more magical life becomes.”–Adyashanti

So I ran into this quiz I wrote many years ago for The Good Vibe website.

Because I’m currently thinking about manifesting (stay tuned), I thought it’d be fun to repost the world’s very first LOA quiz, run for the very second time. Enjoy:

When I was a teenager, I loved the quizzes in Seventeen magazine. I couldn’t wait to find out:

“Which fashion style best suits your taste?”

“What is your party personality?”

“Is he THE ONE?”

Even now, a day rarely goes by without a Facebook friend or two reporting the results of “Which member of the Beatles they are” or “Which Oprah quote should be their mantra.”

These quizzes are all in good fun and since good, delightful fun is one of my mantras (I didn’t even need Oprah to help figure that out), I’ve come up with the world’s first Law of Attraction Quiz.

To find out how adept you are at using this all-powerful law of the universe, answer these four questions:

1. Do you believe your thoughts create your reality?

a. Some of the time

b. All of the time

c. Only when you repeat an affirmation 568 times, visualize at least an hour a day and pray non-stop to a higher diety

d. Are you kidding me? I never get what I want.

2. Which of the following statements best matches your opening thought most mornings:

a. Oh shit, not again!

b. Yee-haw! A new opportunity for another Oscar-worthy production

c. Dang! Where is that hot brunette I was just dreaming about.

d. I’ve got to pee.

3. Which of the following most accurately describes your take on life:

a. It sucks and then you die.

b. It’s a test for what’s going to happen after you die.

c. It’s like an amusement park ride, sometimes exciting and sometimes it makes you want to die.

d. It’s a beautiful romp and death? It’s just a temporary illusory bump.

4. The universe is:

a. Limitless

b. Abundant

c. Strangely accommodating

d. All of the above.

Check your score here:

1. If most of your answers were “A”: You are a powerful creator, constantly using the law of attraction.

2. If most of your answers were “B”: You are a powerful creator, constantly using the law of attraction.

3. If most of your answers were “C”: You are a powerful creator, constantly using the law of attraction.

4. If most of your answers were “D”: You are a powerful creator, constantly using the law of attraction.

5. If you didn’t even take the quiz: You are a powerful creator, constantly using the law of attraction.

Okay, so it was a trick quiz. And I could have just told you going in: You can’t NOT use the law of attraction. To question whether or not you do is like questioning whether or not you use gravity.

So here are three questions I actually like better:

1. Given the fact that your thoughts, beliefs and expectations play the starring role in your life experience, did you get up this morning and consciously create your day?

2. Did you get up this morning and purposely decide what kind of day you were going to have?

3. If not, what’s stopping you?

Okay, my friends, as I like to say on Friday, get out there and have the VERY BEST weekend of your life. #222 Forever!

Infinite abundance and why it has nothing to do with money

December 21, 2021 42 Comments

“Our inner worlds are the greatest lever for systems change.”—Mina Lee

I like to pay attention to shifts in consciousness, even when they’re small, especially when they’re overlooked.

Actor Michael Sheen (Good Omens, the Queen, the Prodigal Son) recently declared himself a “not-for-profit.” In an act of spontaneous generosity, he decided to donate all future earnings to social causes. He even sold two of his houses to fund the Homeless World Cup in Cardiff.

The reason I love this SO MUCH is because of the liberation Sheen now enjoys. He’s no longer beholden to the story of fear, the story of separation. He knows that by giving everything away, he’s actually giving everything to himself.

That’s true financial freedom. Traveling light, being free in mind. Knowing full well there’s more where that came from.

Money is nothing but a bunch of green paper and plastic cards and random numbers in a virtual cloud somewhere. Real security lies in feeling complete latitude to love, to give, to surrender to those natural urges to run up to everyone and say, “Hello! I’ve missed you. I adore you.”

Another great consciousness shifter (at least for me) is an interview I heard with Mina Lee. She talked about being taught to listen to tulips. Can you imagine the planet coming alive with the songs and stories of all living beings, seen and unseen? Talk about abundance.

These little points of light are erupting all over the place. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but that’s only because we give our attention to such a tiny sliver of reality. There are a lot of forces that want to keep it that way, that want to continue to distract us with the idea that something is wrong, that something needs to be fixed. But what if that’s not true? What if the only problem is the idea that there’s a problem?

So my Christmas wish for all of us is that we open ourselves to the bigger reality that is SO obvious once we let go. I love you. I believe in the light. And I proclaim once again, 222 Forever!

Make it nice in there

August 30, 2021 49 Comments

“Self and world, inner and outer, are not entirely separate, and the question of what the future will be intimately involves ourselves.”—Charles Eisenstein

I have a friend who is obsessed with home makeover shows. Switching up décor, lighting, even floor plans can make a big difference in a living space. There’s even a profession now where stagers come in and wave their magic wands to transform the inside (and probably even the outside) of a home to make it more appealing to buyers.

I, on the other hand, haven’t updated my house in years. For one thing, I travel, but mostly it’s because I believe all important redecorating happens “inside my head.” I’m the only one who lives there so my priority is to make it nice in there.

Sometimes, my mind isn’t a fun place to be. It gets dark and fearful and I forget to open the windows.

But when I’m on top of my game (and regular practice sure helps), my decorating scheme involves the following pillars:

Generosity. And while, yes, this means being charitable to others, mostly it means being generous to myself, letting myself off the hook, giving myself a break and realizing I’m doing the best I can.

Gratitude. Yesterday, like we always do at my possibility posse, we talked about the wonders of the world. We laughed (maybe even less than charitably) at an unknown person who, my friend noticed, was bitching about the fact the cruise line only had six sugar-free deserts. Our chuckling mostly had to do with recognizing ourselves, those times when we ourselves forget to see the incredible gifts always available to us. Stars, my gosh. Full moons, tiny seeds that grow into kale leaves. I mean, the beauty out there is almost too much to take in. We live on a spinning rock in the middle of a ginormous cosmos, for heaven’s sakes.

Open windows. This is my number one redecorating tip. When things get stuffy and stale inside my head, when I start believing any number of OMG’s, I simply remind myself that there’s a heck of a lot of reality that I don’t know or see or understand. How can I possibly judge or be less then generous and grateful towards anything when I only see a teensy part of its truth.

I find whenever I follow these design techniques, my head is a more pleasant place to be and life outside my head tends to follow suit.

Have a stupendous week, my friends. #222 Forever!

Loving this incarnation more every day.

August 13, 2021 37 Comments

“Sadly, there are more wild horses in holding pens than in the wild.” — Willie Nelson

One of the many perks of my job is getting beautiful thoughts from beautiful people. As ya’ll know, I get lots of emails with lots of great stories.

The other day (maybe yesterday, I forget), this post came in from my friend, Dunn Neugebauer. I like it so much that I decided to share it here. I know you’ll enjoy!!!

For whoever is listening:

I’m spinning around in this incarnation on a crazy planet – it’s divided and two-sided and everything I read and hear wants me – is begging me – to be scared and mad and apprehensive. Often times, people pull me into their conversations wanting me to be that way because that’s the way they are.

Anyway, the reason for this letter is that I’m not that great at praying – my words get interrupted by a scattered mind that keeps throwing out its agendas and ideas and fears. Enough about fears. And anger. And division.

For whoever is listening, help me love this incarnation MORE, not less! Help me realize I’m in the midst of wonderful people, I’m sitting in a beautiful building, and though I’ve been in such a state that I once couldn’t afford the stamp to mail this letter, I’m surrounded by opulence and edged weeds and insured policies and secured doors.

For whoever is listening, I pray for nothing selfish but instead ask for gratitude and then more gratitude. Because I have sports to watch at the touch of a button, a friend to text across the country with the command of my very voice, transportation that can get me from Dunkin Donuts to the river and, think about it, is there any place else I need to go?

For whoever is listening, let me know that we attract what we focus on, we attract what and who we are, so with that said please mute the voices of the press and the TV and steer me into the day in silent wonder, profound awe, constant amazement at all that’s been created.

After all, we can fly. We can communicate. We can enjoy.

For whoever is listening, remind me of just yesterday, when I met eight new colleagues, listened to a meeting that turned into one of the best comedy shows I’ve ever been to, sat at a table with a meal that many in the world don’t get.

For whoever is listening, I just want you to know that I’m ticked off at being ticked off, and constantly being reminded that I’m supposed to be ticked of even more. We were created out of love – and when we go there, magic happens – and if you don’t believe in magic then you’ve lost your wand.

The wand, for the record, is in your head; it’s carried in your very soul. So quit looking everywhere for it – it really is as plain as the nose on your face.

For whoever is listening, I turned off media outlets this morning and simply appreciated the silent hum of an air conditioner – nothing more, nothing less. And it was exactly that emptying of the mind – of the hate and the stress and the division – that brings me to rhymes and verse and prose and hopefully inspiration.

Who knew? If the humming of an air conditioner can do that, what if I practiced this more? What then I ask?

And so, for whoever is listening, thanks for creativity, the legs to run, the place to write. Thanks for my six pillars – read, write run, beer, book, burrito – and please help me keep the ‘beer’ part in check.

But thanks for this – all this. Fourth of July parades, Easter Egg hunts, Game 7’s, watching 22 midgets chasing one soccer ball, seeing the wheels spin in the heads of our youth and the ‘aha’ moment when they ‘get it.’ Weekends with the tops down, the moods up, and the destination who cares?

And thanks for letting me know that there is no reason, none at all, to focus on hate and anger and division. For I came from you, and like you, I came from love and peace – I wasn’t created out of hate.

And finally, thanks for listening. And thanks for the circle of light you’re drawing around me as I go through this day. And thanks for the gratitude to appreciate – not complain about – all of this.

Thanks, Dunn, and thanks to all of you who I hereby command to go out and have the very best weekend of your life. #222 Forever!

Receiving the frequency loud and clear

May 17, 2021 58 Comments

“Remind yourself that you are not the mind and that its problems are not yours.”—Sri Nisargadatta Mahara

You gotta love the Dude’s persistence. Even with our chatty minds constantly looking for problems and judging everything they see, The Dude still manages to make contact.

I’ve spent a couple weeks purposefully aware of The Dude as I’m out in a forest, far from most distractions. It never ceases to amaze how creative The Dude is in making Itself known. Like that picture on this post. I don’t know if you can see, but out in the middle of nowhere, in a place where few people go, I found a bounty of wild pink roses and two other colors of wildflowers, all in one place. It felt like a gift just for me.

I also want to share, since I’m eager to get back to listening to nature, a couple stories from the old inbox where the Dude (I’m so grateful He never gives up) was able to make contact. Enjoy!

A week ago, I did one of your E-Cubed experiments while I was visiting my dad in his tiny town. I had so much fun, distributing notes with $5 attched. I felt more happy and relaxed about money than I had done in a long time. The result was simply outstanding. I was expecting an inheritance from my aunt and didn’t know how much it would be. This morning $114,000 landed in my bank account. Wow!! Wow! Wow! I wasn’t expecting that but I’m so happy and excited to receive it. Now I really know the Universe has my back.

2. “A couple of weeks before your girl left this planet my son also left very unexpectedly, only in his early 20’s I was in shock at first, then hysterical and then unable to even think.

“I found myself sitting at the kitchen table late one night when I said out loud, Jake please just let me know you are ok, that you’re still here. In that instant all the lights in my house went out. I was even stupid enough to go out and check the fuse box which was just fine. He kindly left the power points working so I could turn on a lamp and boil the kettle. I almost phoned an electrician but I couldn’t bear anyone in my home at the time. I waited three whole days before I finally sat back at the table and said, ok ok Jake I know it’s you. And the lights came back on. All the hairs on my arms stood up. It’s also the day I stopped crying. I was still so sad because I missed him so much but it gave me a peace I had never had before. For the first time I truly knew we never die.

“I felt guilty telling most people because they wanted to see a hysterical grieving parent but although I was still sad I was at peace. Not long after I saw you had a daughter who had also passed and it was very comforting to read your thoughts especially at times when I’d forget the truth.”

3. The last story comes from yesterday’s possibility posse. Yes, I was able to Zoom in from the forest. One of the members was riding their bike on the Lawrence trail (that “just happens” to be 22.2 miles long) when they noticed their patootie was sore. At that moment, they looked down and saw a padded, comfort bicycle seat, discarded and ready to use.

I’m telling you folks. Despite what your asshat mind tries to tell you, the universe is bountiful and waiting for you, like E.T., to phone home. #222 Forever

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