The Secret – Pam Grout

“I am here to be electric. I am here to be alive.”—Tama Kieves

July 15, 2013 21 Comments

“I’ve known for some time that staring at objects while holding pictures in my head makes reality oddly responsive.”—Martha Beck

Martha Beck, who I met one year at an author’s conference in Kansas City (we both had new books out), wrote an article for O Magazine about vision boards. As she said, “Some results are so successful that the hair on the nape of my neck prickled for months.”

Anyone who has read The Secret (a group that includes pretty much everyone on the planet) knows about vision boards where you cut out pictures of things you’d like to invite into your life for dinner.

However, today, I’d like to talk about an even more important practice. Instead of making lists (and vision boards) of things you’d like to receive, how about composing a list of things you’d like to give? Of things you’d like to create?

And before that, make a list of all the things you already have. Things you’re grateful for NOW.

Gratitude (or amazing awesomeness, as I like to call my practice) is the oil that lubes the channels of the world’s beneficence. If you’re not playing with and appreciating “the toys” you have now, why expect new ones? Why even want new ones?

The other day I was walking my dog (lots of things happen when I walk my odd-looking bassador—that’s part Bassett Hound, part Lab) by a railroad track. It’s junky, not exactly a spectacle for the eyes. I’ve walked this route countless times. But earlier that morning I’d been reading Blue Iris, a book of poems and essays by Mary Oliver. Most were about flowers.

In about three blocks, next to what many would describe as an eyesore, I found at least seven species of teensy little flowers. Teensy little flowers that I’d undoubtedly marched by many times and never noticed. I plucked one of each and pressed them between waxed paper and into a big, heavy book. I figure they’ll be a good reminder next time my ego decides to launch a new campaign around lack and fear.

They aren’t the big showy blossoms florists stock, but each one is ridiculously beautiful and I am embarrassed that I walked by so many times without noticing.

So, yea, vision boards are great. But right now, I’m too busy making lists of all the ridiculously beautiful things I already have.

Tell me in the comments below: What ridiculously beautiful things do you already have?

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

Let the universe do the heavy lifting, 2.0

June 24, 2013 46 Comments

“I don’t have to be perfect. I just have to show up and enjoy the messy, imperfect and beautiful journey of my life.”– Kerry Washington

It happened again—three emails in a few short days from folks who are wondering what to do if they don’t immediately get their blessing from Experiment One. So I want to share this story.

I wrote E-Squared 9 years ago. It was originally called God Doesn’t Have Bad Hair Days and I loved it with all my heart. I affirmed that it would be a bestseller. I made the intention that Oprah would snatch it up and invite me on her show.

Instead, it did a monster-sized belly flop into the great sea of literary has-beens. It quickly went out of print, one of only two of my 16 books to ever do so.

In fact, my editor (of that book) said, “I just don’t understand it. This book is just like The Secret.”

Yes, my book debuted at the exact same time as the movie, The Secret, a whole year before the book, The Secret, came out.

So here’s what I did? I let it go. I waved the white flag and began focusing on other stuff. I wrote three travel books for National Geographic. I wrote this really cool TV series about an ecovillage. I did everything I could think of to keep open the channels of joy and abundance.

Now I’m not suggesting that I never crashed or walked through a few valleys, or ever bought into the recession and the continual bad news about my chosen career. I even wrote a piece about it for Huffington Post that you can read here.

But instead of pitching a tent in the land of “poor me,” I kept believing. I kept recognizing that it was only me that could block the world’s largesse. It was only me who could build walls to keep my good away.

My only job, the way I see it, is to enjoy every moment of my imperfect, messy, beautiful life.

And guess what? The book was polished up a bit and came out this year as E-Squared. And all those things I affirmed earlier. They’re coming to fruition, just like I envisioned them.

So I will repeat here, what I wrote last time I got the question: “What if I make an intention and it doesn’t happen?”

First and foremost, DO NOT BEAT YOURSELF UP! Do not ask yourself, “What am I doing wrong?” Do not make the erroneous conclusion that the universe does not have your back.

In fact, the very best tact when you’re unable to find your intention is to say, “THANK YOU!!!” “Thank you for showing me that I still have..…oh, maybe just a tad bit of resistance.”

And then go out and do something really fun, something that makes you sing with joy. If you can’t think of even one thing that makes you smile, that’s a sure sign your channels of love and joy are not as open as they could be. Again, no biggie. Feel free to borrow one of the many things I do when I notice my channels are blocked with twigs of negativity and self-doubt:

** Dance around the house. Put on some lively music and go for it.

** Get a stack of dollar bills and go out and give them away. I know a guy who uses hundys, but I’m still more comfortable using ones.

** Sing a happy song as loud as you possibly can.

Your only job (and that word probably demonstrates part of the problem) is to go out and get happy.

When you’re happy, life works. In fact, number one on my hit parade of intentions is something I borrowed from Yogi Bhajan: “To make myself so happy that others get happy just looking at me.”

When manifesting, you’ve undoubtedly heard that “How is not up to you.” These days, I’m not even so sure “What” is the best strategy. I prefer to focus on “Why?”

Why do I want money? So I can have an amazingly awesome time.

Why do I want to write books and blog posts? So I can use my God-given gifts.

Why do I want a meaningful, expanding relationship? So I can be a more loving person.

That’s what all of us really want—to have an amazingly awesome time, to use our gifts, to be loving human beans. And I’ve discovered that when I start “being” those things, the “whats” flow like a hawk in a tail wind.

The universe wants to give us every good thing. It is only our resistance that stops it from stampeding towards us like a herd of wild mustangs.

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

Lessons on love, joy and the power of dreaming from the world’s oldest CEO

April 18, 2013 3 Comments

“Behold infinity every day and all that you see shall be given you.”—Glenda Green

I’m writing a story this week about Denver’s Rockmount Ranch Wear. It’s a six-decade business that was started by “Papa” Jack Weil who joyously ran the company until he was 107. He showed up every day, sat at his little wooden desk in the front of the store and was widely regarded as the world’s oldest CEO.

He wasn’t, as far as I know, a student of metaphysics, but the reason his business was so successful and that his snap-button Western shirts are the go-to shirt for everyone from Eric Clapton and Tom Hanks to Robert Redford and Paul McCartney (he wore not one, but two different Rockmount shirts the night he hosted Saturday Night Live) is because Papa Jack believed the following things:

“It’s not who you are that matters. It’s what your dreams are.” Papa Jack’s grandson, Steve, runs the business today. He wrote a book called Ask Papa Jack: Wisdom of the World’s Oldest CEO that gives powerful insight into that magical component of always believing in possibilities, in dreams, in what could be. Forget what looks like reality. Dream! That’s where everything comes from anyway.

“The government predicts possible 7 percent unemployment. If it goes to 10 percent, there will still be 90 percent working, consuming, buying.” Wow! By focusing on what’s working (Nine-tenths of the population is still out there consuming), you get more of what’s working. Most of us zero right in on that 10 percent figure, on the thing that isn’t working. Well, guess what? You get more of what isn’t working. It’s like the speck and infinity I talked about yesterday. Why focus on anything but what you want?

“I was always thinking of something new. And I never stopped enjoying myself, not for a minute.” He nailed it on the head with that one. Love what you do. It’s the door to everything. Enjoy yourself and never STOP enjoying yourself, not for even one split moment. The reason Ang Lee used Rockmount Shirts in his Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain (the shirts worn by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal are forever entwined and displayed at L.A’s Autry National Center) is because he could feel the love Papa Jack put into all of his products, into creating, into dreaming.

“Every morning I read the obits, and if my name is not there, I get dressed and go to work.” Papa Jack had a great sense of humor. He believed in making things fun. If it isn’t fun, why bother? That’s the key. Always focus on the fun. Infuse joy and delight into everything you do.

“Relationships are everything.” Papa Jack was forever baffled at the popularity of his shirts with such headline-makers as Ronald Reagan, Elvis Presley and even Miley Cyrus. But he was every bit as personable and valued his relationships with every customer, which when it comes to business (and pretty much everything else) is all that really matters.

So yeah, Papa Jack probably never read “The Secret” or studied the law of attraction, but because of his gut instincts and knowing on a deep, visceral level that relationships, love, joy and creativity are the bottom line, he created a life (and a business) that lives on long after he’s gone.

Pam Grout is the author of E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality.

What distinguishes the people who are living their dreams and those who are not? Thoughts, nothing but thoughts.

February 15, 2013 4 Comments

Here it is, 4:30 my time, and the day has gotten away from me. Like every day, miracles have lined up to greet me and blessings have called out my name. As I get ready for next week’s South Pacific adventure to the Cook Islands, I’d like to share this quote from Rhonda Byrne who was interviewed earlier this month by bookish.com, a new outing by USA Today and six U.S. publishers.

Daniel Lefferts, the interviewer, posed a question that many people ask.

What advice would you give to people who have a hard time believing in the law of attraction but want to?

Here’s what she said: “Our thoughts seem so insignificant but, in truth, they have created and continue to create our world and our individual lives. Try and find a single thing that has not been created by thought. The way we feel about other people and interact with other people comes from our own thoughts. We can’t speak without thought. Any action we take, even to lift our arm or to stand up, comes from thought. Cars, planes, railways, buildings, cities, ships, technology, music, art and all things created by human beings not only began with thought but were created and materialized through thought. We accomplish our work through thought, and live every moment of our day through our thoughts. If you really examine everything in the world, you will realize that it was thought that caused it and created it. And so then ask yourself, if human beings have built everything there is from thought, how can I say that thought is not powerful? What distinguishes the people who are living the life of their dreams and those who are not? The ones who are living the life of their dreams thought they could do it, and those who are not, didn’t think they could do it.

And here’s what I say in E-Squared: Okay, just say it: “How can something as simple as a thought influence the world?” Let me just point out that a hundred years ago nobody would have believed songs sung by a bunch of American Idol contestants could pass through brick, glass, wood, and steel to get from a transmitter tower to your television set, either. Nobody would have believed a cell phone no bigger than a deck of cards would allow you to talk to your sister 2,000 miles away.

Your thoughts, like the 289 TV channels and like your voice on the cell phone, are vibrational waves. When you hear Eminem rapping about his daughter Hailie, your eardrum is catching a vibrational sound wave. When you see Brad Pitt’s cane or Madonna’s single leather glove (accessories they wore to the 2012 Golden Globes), you’re seeing patterns of vibrational light waves.

And that’s what your thoughts are—vibrational energy waves that interact and influence the Field of Potentiality (FP). Every thought you have, have ever had, or ever will have creates a vibration that goes out into the FP, extending forever. These vibrations meet other vibrations, crisscrossing in an incredible maze of energy. Get enough energy together and it clumps into matter. Remember what Einstein said—matter is formed out of energy.

The field of potentiality simply follows the energy you send out. And your thought vibrations draw similar vibrations. Here’s one small example: A few years ago, I remember thinking I wanted a potato masher. I didn’t mention it to anyone. I just made a mental note: Next time you’re at Walmart, buy a potato masher. That very night, my friend Wendy, who was cleaning out her drawers, stopped by with a couple of no-longer-needed cooking utensils, including a potato masher.

Another time, I decided I needed more laughter in my life. Within a couple weeks, I began dating Todd, a funny co-worker who eventually became a comedian.

The coincidences we see in our lives are just energy and the FP at work. Most of the time, we employ energy inadvertently, totally oblivious to the fact that what we think, say, and do makes a difference. Consequently, we constantly activate this power to follow the patterns we already believe in.

People think Jesus is the be-all and end-all, because he was so good at manipulating energy and matter. But, as he so poignantly pointed out (although these aren’t his exact words), “You, too, are da’ man.”