tribes for good – Pam Grout

Create relentlessly, love fiercely and do quiet, kind things for the underdog: an update on the 222 Foundation

December 27, 2018 30 Comments

“We never lose the people we love, even to death. They continue to participate in every act, thought and decision we make. Their love leaves an indelible imprint.”—Leo Buscaglia

One of my greatest blessings is my inbox. Every day, I receive fist-bumping miracle stories, love notes and signs from the universe.

“Oh, Pam,” it often chides me. “You promised to do this… You agreed to write that.”

Today’s sign was an email from a reader wanting to know if it was too late to apply for the 222 Award. Which reminded me I vowed to post an update soon. So here goes:

I’ve chosen the first recipient of the 222 Foundation. Because of the short timing and the shock of all that’s transpired, I decided to dispense with the application process for this first award.

It will be given out February 22, 2019 and announced at Taz’s Celebration of Life which would have been on 2/22 except I’ve been scheduled to fly to California to give a workshop on 2/23.

I chose a group of beautiful women who live in Agra, India near the Taj Mahal where I left some of Taz’s ashes last month when traveling with the first Social Impact Journey of Tribes for Good.

Let’s just say the women I chose exude immense inner beauty, generosity and know from first hand experience that the world will never change if we spend all our time and money on clothes and makeup and society’s messages that there’s something wrong with our bodies, our looks and our strong voices.

Eventually, the 222 Foundation will be an incubator for original ideas with the potential to overturn the dominant paradigm.

The yearly grant will be given to innovators, artists, inventors and entrepreneurs who have a vision for creating a meaningful and generous world.

It will be awarded to go-getters and problem solvers who know that squeezing themselves into a big machine is a limited ambition and will never be as interesting and satisfying as creating their own thing.

As I wrote in Art & Soul, Reloaded, nearly everything we once counted on, invested in and believed in is, for all practical purposes, grinding to a halt.

The old life plan (go to college, get a job) worked for a long time. It created jobs and wealth and lifted people out of poverty. But turns out, the American Dream, a term coined by Fannie Mae to convince two-income, post-World War II families to take out mortgages, has a Dr. Jekyll lurking in the back closet.

The only way to keep the old system chugging along is rampant consumerism. And we all know that makes NO ONE HAPPY!

But giving of our gifts does.

Any donkey can tear down a barn. But how many of us are willing to build a new barn, create a new world, envision a beautiful world that works for all of us?

Speaking of beautiful worlds, here’s a shoutout to Torie Tiffany (that’s her artist name) who created the logo for the 222 Foundation, the one pictured on this blog. Isn’t it gorgeous??!!!

Finally, here’s the mission statement:

The 222 Foundation was started to honor Tasman McKay Grout who spent her 25 short years on the planet inspiring everyone who knew her to live and love better. Everything she did was some variation of this theme: create relentlessly, love fiercely and do quiet, kind things for the underdog.

Each year on February 22, a $10,222 grant will be given to an innovative project or person with a big idea to change consciousness and therefore change the world. We look for projects that support the following ideas:

1. A change in perspective is our greatest need. We believe all people (no exceptions) long to be generous and create beautiful things.

2. Today’s hopelessness is based on false premises. We look to defy the old story of scarcity, lack and the need to fight for resources. We look to prove that the universe, once liberated from no-longer-working paradigms of scarcity, is generative and endlessly abundant.

3. The us against them model is kaput. We believe all humans are interconnected and that even tiny actions have great significance.

A call for applications for the 2/20/2020 award will be posted the summer of 2019.

And, for those who have asked, there will eventually be a link to donate. For now, anyone who is interested can send a check to the 222 Foundation, c/o DCCA, 900 Massachusetts, Suite 406, Lawrence, KS 66044.

I also need to alert you that there is another 222 Foundation (again, I found out from a message that popped into my inbox), but it has a very different mission and is not Taz’s Foundation.

Thank you all SO, SO MUCH for your kind thoughts and messages over the past few months. Please know they have kept me going.

Like all relationships, my journey with Taz evolved over the years. First, I loved her as a baby. Then as a toddler, a teenager and finally a independent, free-thinking adult. And now, I’m continuing to love her as the unfathomable, unlimited spirit she always was and will always be.

Here’s to a brilliant, inspiring 2019!

Pam Grout is the author of 19 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest book, >Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.

Lovers gonna love

August 17, 2018 11 Comments

“There are people waiting for someone just like us to come along. Someone who will live a happier life merely because we took the time to share what we had to give.”–Leo Buscaglia

You can’t make a giraffe sing an aria. You can’t teach a goat to do the cha-cha. And you can’t really be happy in this life without being true to who you are.

Take all the aptitude and career tests and Myers-Briggs you want, but your purpose here on Planet Earth is to be love, to demonstrate your true self.

Doesn’t matter if you’re a plumber, a sign painter, a candlestick maker, you will only find meaning if you live to love.

Whenever there’s any kind of question (say, you’re put out because the airline cancelled your flight or your seven-year-old forgot to put his soccer jersey in the laundry basket and it’s crusted in his bedroom corner on gsame day) you will always be happiest when you choose the loving option. Kneejerk reactions often cause us to feel justified in holding grudges or feeling put out. But kneejerk reactions do not a happy camper make.

Choosing the loving response (whether the subject of your ire “deserves” it or not) will always make you feel happier.

As ACIM Lesson 229 points out. We were made by love and we’re here to love. Any other choice makes us miserable.

Because I’m committed to give as much love as I can in every situation that I can, I have decided to join Tribes for Good on their maiden Social Impact Journey this November. These journeys to India are week-long curated expeditions to learn, well, how to change the world.

Like me, Tribes for Good is on a mission to overturn the dominant paradigm.

The current economic model suggests that ambitious, talented people should go to college and then find a slot to fill within the existing structure.

But as most of us have learned by now, squeezing ourselves into a slot is a limited ambition. It’s not the path to joy. We were designed by the big love kahuna to be go-getters, problem solvers, full-hearted givers to all.

Fitting into a big machine will never be as satisfying as discovering your own love mission, creating your own path. Working really hard at someone else’s agenda will never fully satisfy your deepest needs.

That’s what Tribes for Good is all about. Giving us the tools to use our unique talents and gifts to make sure that all of our brothers get a fair shake. The end result is an insanely meaningful, productive and prosperous life.

To find out more about these week-long curated expeditions of discovery, insights and reciprocation, click here. And if you want to read about one of my heroes who successfully used his gifts to change the world (I once wrote about him for People magazine), click here.

And this weekend, as you’re having the best weekend of your life, remember that love is who you are, why you’re here, the reason for everything.

Pam Grout is the author of 19 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest book, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.