Believe It!
by Pam Grout

If you’ve read The Secret or been in metaphysical, spiritual circles for any time at all, you already know your thoughts create your reality, that there’s a power in the universe that can heal, and that you and you alone design your own life. Unfortunately, there’s still this tiny little problem, this one itty-bitty catch.

You don’t really believe it. Not fully.

Most of us, in fact, are still operating out of the mental architecture of our ancestors. We think we’re running our lives with our brilliant ideas and thoughts. We think we’re affirming our intentions and creating new possibilities, but in reality we’re simply recycling old tapes, kneejerk conditioning, and automatic behaviors, most of which we picked up before we were five. We’re like Pavlov’s dogs, simply reacting to patterns we picked up before we had the intelligence to wisely choose. Most of the thoughts we assume are our own are really the invisible and largely unquestioned beliefs we downloaded from others. So we pit our positive thoughts against our old, disempowering programming. In other words, our consciousness, the force that always affects physical reality, has been hijacked.

Not long after I graduated from college, landed a job, and was running my own affairs, I noticed some negative thoughts about money dive-bombing for my attention. I found myself worrying, wondering if running out of money was imminent, questioning whether or not I could afford the new bike I wanted or the new computer I needed. One day, during an early-morning jog, I suddenly got it. Those thoughts were exact clones of comments I often heard my mother say when I was growing up. And even though there was no evidence to support any of those fears in my own life, I had downloaded them straight into my consciousness without even being aware of it.

Needless to say, that wasn’t a paradigm that served my highest good. So I decided to rewrite it and rewrite it fast. I consciously changed the paradigm that ran my financial life to: “I can afford anything I want. In fact, I am so prosperous that I never need worry again.” As an independent freelance writer, I also appointed God as the CEO of my career. I figured there was no way I could run this fickle writing business with the faulty wiring and negative thoughts I’d downloaded from my past. Clearly, I needed a new energetic imprint.

We can develop a conscious relationship with energy. And since energy is all there is (even matter, said quantum physicist David Bohm, is nothing but “frozen light”), we can transform and parlay it into anything our heart desires—whether it be peace of mind, money, or a more rewarding career.

Take me, for example. A few years ago, I decided to spend a month in Australia. A chiropractor I had a huge crush on had just taken a job there to work with Aborigines. How, I wondered, were we going to fall in love when I was in Kansas and he was 10,683 miles away. One look at my bank statement would have convinced any reasonable person that a $1,500 plane ticket to Sydney, the going price at that time, was out of the question. But I wanted to go, and I was lucky enough to know about the field of potentiality that could make that happen.

I started planning the trip, began picturing myself romping through the Sydney surf. I mean I got really worked up over this picture in my mind. Within a week, my editor at Modern Bride magazine called. “I know it’s late notice,” she began, “but is there any way you’d be willing to go to Australia to write a honeymoon story? We’ll pay extra.” “Well, okay,” I said. “If you insist.”

Seeing with your own two eyes that you can change reality simply will rewire your brain and divest you from old conditioning. Learning, through scientific experimentation, how deeply you are connected to the field of potentiality will literally set you free. It will inspire you to conduct an experiment with your own life, to use your energy to become the most fantastic, the most joyful, wondrous, beautiful, tender human being you possibly can.

Excerpted from the book E-Squared: Nine Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments That Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality by Pam Grout. It is published by Hay House and available at all bookstores or online at: www.hayhouse.com

Pam Grout is the author of 16 books, three plays, a television series, and two iPhone apps. She writes for People magazine, CNNgo. com, The Huffington Post, and her travel blog, www.georgeclooneyslepthere.com. Find out more about Pam and her out-ofthe- box take on life on her website: www.pamgrout.com. Believe It!