you are not your thoughts

The one who will catch me

May 14, 2018 42 Comments

“Let me fall if I must fall. The one I am becoming will catch me.”–Baal Shem Tov 1 d

Many years before Garry Shandling made his transition, he had a NEAR transition, commonly called an NDE. In 1977, he was in a car accident, in critical condition and in a hospital for two weeks with a ruptured spleen. He remembers a voice and a very clear choice: “Do you want to stay and continue being Garry Shandling?”

Lately, I’ve been asking myself a similar question. Thankfully, mine doesn’t involve wrecks or death or crushed spleens, but I’ve been wondering what I want to do with this collection of molecules named Pam Grout.

The current arrangement seems rather static, wooden, even a bit boring. Maybe it’s my dad’s death. Maybe it’s because I’m not currently writing a book. My thoughts are restless, ready for a change.

At the same time, as I observe my thoughts and notice there is disappointment, sadness, lack of clarity, I also know there is a bigger part of me woven into the despair. This other part is much wiser, much more loving. It’s working behind the scenes with this message: “Relax. I got this. Just fall into my arms.”

That’s what ACIM Lesson 134 is trying to tell me.

I am not my thoughts.

To forgive is recognizing my thoughts are not the rock solid truths I believe them to be. To forgive is to recognize their flimsiness, to simply watch them as they disappear into the native nothingness from which they came.

This lesson also emphasizes that I don’t have to fight to save myself or kill dragons or erect heavy walls to make myself safe.

All I have to do is rest in the loving arms of “the one I am becoming” who is already here, probably with a big net, ready to catch me.

Pam Grout is the author of 19 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her new book, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon

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