thoughts – Pam Grout

This just in: you don’t have to believe everything you think

July 19, 2022 20 Comments

“All the things that truly matter—beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace—arise from beyond the mind.”–Eckhart Tolle

Hello loves! I just yesterday flew to Ajijic, Mexico for another glorious month in the Sierra Madres. I’m here to write, to hike and to enjoy this stunning climate.

While here, I’m playing around with my new spiritual hobby — self-inquiry. Calling it a hobby is a huge disservice, because I’m in this for keeps, to wake myself up, to become more aware of well, awareness. As Jed McKenna says, “All of life is either appearances or awareness and one of them isn’t true.”

Like most humanoids, I’ve been conditioned to rely on my mind when seeking information and/or guidance. But honestly, I’m losing interest in what my thoughts are telling me.

I find them to be laughably limited, sometimes dark and well, I’m discovering it’s quite possible to have a productive, meaningful life without taking them seriously. Thoughts, as far as I can tell, are mostly good for building walls of resistance, judgment and fear.

Thoughts, of course, don’t go away (or at least mine never have), but as I quit believing everything they yammer on about, I find myself more open to life as life is.

I’ll keep you posted as I spend this month like Madeline (the plucky heroine in the Paris house, covered with vines) saying “pooh-pooh” to any and all “thoughts” in the zoo.

Or even better, I’ll channel the big Poobah–Winnie himself who once wisely asked, “Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?”

Keep having fun, my friends! #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).

Well, duh! 3 life hacks I was reminded of (once again)

February 29, 2020 25 Comments

“When the world is in turmoil, it’s time to ‘go fugitive,’ to slow down and receive rather than impose, to feel rather than think. That way we’ll be ready when it’s time to break out of our limited belief systems – for breaking out of our limited understandings is what it will take.”–Carolyn North

You would think a person who writes books on spirituality and limitless possibility would know exactly what to do when her thoughts go squirrely.

Sadly, that’s not always the case. Like last week, my mind was in full scatter-bomb mode, firing away with non-stop insecurity, doubts and well, let’s just say, you’re lucky you weren’t in the vicinity.

Thankfully, I’m blessed to have very wise friends who reminded me of the following:

1. “Ya know, Pam, that’s just a story.” Boy, did I ever need to be reminded that no matter how something might look, it’s just one story (out of a gazillion) and it’s not permanent or fixed. When you zoom in on anything, you find energy and a bunch of atoms that move around all the time. So why would I ever invest in a story that didn’t feel good? Especially when a simple change in focus moves energy and atoms into a completely different configuration.

2. “What do you think the Dude thinks?” I was moaning about lack of clarity, complaining that the decision I was trying to make was clear as a chocolate milkshake. That’s when my friend, Cindy, very gently pointed out that I could always consult with the One who knows. Why didn’t I think of that?

3. “What my thoughts think of me is none of my business.” We’ve all heard this piece of advice, “What other people think of me is none of my business.” But this one knocked my socks off. Even my own thoughts aren’t my business. Not my real business, not my God business.

Most of my thoughts were created by a culture that tells me how I should and shouldn’t act, that tells me what’s appropriate for a woman my age. As the Course so gently reminds me in lesson after lesson, I am not my thoughts. So whatever stream of negative nonsense that marches through my noggin’ is really none of my business.

My business is to stay present, to keep reaching for stories that make me happy and to trust that the Dude has already worked everything out.

Oh, one other thing I learned this week. A collection of ladybugs is called a loveliness. Fish come in schools, dolphins in pods, but ladybugs, come in “a loveliness.”

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).

The mental dialog and what to do about it

January 4, 2018 24 Comments

“If used properly, the same mental voice that has been a source of worry, distraction and general neurosis can be the launching ground for true spiritual awakening.”—Michael Singer

negative committee

If there was a loud speaker projecting the voice in my head, I would have been committed years ago. This insistent voice rarely, if ever, stops yammering.

It seems to think it’s Simon Cowell, that it’s getting paid to judge, analyze, dissect and label everything.

What a huge relief to discover that all that mental verbalizing means nothing.

Lesson 4 of the Course in Miracles says this: My thoughts do not mean anything.

For a minute or two whenever you think about it, stop and notice your thoughts (that roommate in your head, as Michael Singer calls it) and simply repeat:

“This thought that I’m running late doesn’t mean anything.”
“This thought that I need to pick up the house doesn’t mean anything.”
“This thought that it’s really cold outside doesn’t mean anything.”

Believe me, it’s extremely liberating to realize that the running commentary that dominates your consciousness is not who you really are.

Have a great day, my 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

“A better world is sitting, literally, right in front of us.”–Tom Shadyac

July 1, 2013 2 Comments

“I strongly encourage you to let go of these beliefs. They are inaccurate and melodramatic and they do not serve you.”—Cheryl Strayed

When asked “What’s the best predictor for finding a genius?” Buckminster Fuller used to answer, “A good mother.”

What he meant by that is if your mother (or your parents in general) believed in the largesse of the universe, if they saw that proverbial glass as half full and if they recognized the tremendous potential in not just you, but in all human beings, then you’d have a pretty good chance of realizing the genius within you.

If the culture that formed your rudimentary belief system is generous, open and tends to looks on the bright side, then there’s very little that can stop you from becoming all that you’re capable of becoming.

I heard a joke once that the only reason Jesus became “The Christ” is because God alerted Mary before he was born that that is who he was.

Our beliefs, more than anything else, shape our life experience. And most of our beliefs (we have thousands) are picked up before we have much say in the matter.

So despite all the positive affirmations and intentions for success, your fundamental, underlying beliefs about how the world works at its core create the framework for your reality.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. What’s your bottom line belief about other people? Are they good? Can they be trusted?

2. What about life in general? Is it hard? Fun? Or something to be endured?

3. What about yourself? What adjectives would you use to describe yourself? How did you parents describe you?

Our beliefs, the default setting we inadvertently picked up when we were growing up, are usually served up with a lot of rules, conditions and limits.

Most of the time, we’re not even aware of the underlying beliefs that create our reality. Which wouldn’t be a problem if our beliefs are aligned with our aspirations, dreams and highest selves.

But when our belief blueprints suggest that the world is a scary place, that money is limited, that hard work is a necessary evil, well, we’re going to have thoughts, those all-powerful creators of reality, that restrict what is possible.

Sadly, your beliefs don’t just filter your thoughts. They determine how big a reality you’re able to imagine.

Imagination and being able to envision a whole new possibility is what we now need.

So I say, “Let’s throw out those old, out-dated beliefs. Let’s juice up our imaginations and create a world that nobody has thought up yet.”

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