Tag Archives: Pharrell

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The E-Squared Way

I don’t know how many of you have ever heard of Pam Grout.  She’s the author of a pair of runaway bestsellers on all of the major publishing lists all writers desire to see their names grace — even once.  Pam’s done it twice with E-Squared and now E-Cubed.

E3 book cover

In both books, she presents 9 scientific experiments all aimed at helping us see how we can create the lives we want by focusing with positive intent.  There’s no religious dogma.  There are not candles to light.  And most of all, the experiments are fun and can easily be shared with skeptical children and husbands.  (Speaking from experience here!)

Long story short, I read E-Squared in the late Fall of 2014, shortly after her new book E-Cubed was released.  While I had very little success in one of the experiments, I did have very good success with the others.  I chalked up the positive things that happened as very lucky coincidences.  Or, as the general goodness of the time since it was shortly before the end of year holiday season when all things seem brighter, happier and generally more better.

Fast forward to late winter.  It’s now January 2015.  The holidays are over.  The Holiday bills are still being paid and snow is on the ground for a lady that loves 85-degree weather.  Read: all optimism based on season is so no longer in place.

I decide to read E-Cubed because this will be the real test of these ‘scientific’ experiments.  I have done only the first experiment in E-Cubed and it is the Boogie-Woogey experiment.  The idea is that we come into the world with great optimism and enthusiasm and throughout childhood and young adulthood we are programmed to limit our expectations to fit in with the general ‘rules’ of the society we live in.  Expecting good things is something only the Pollyannas of the world should do, right?

Wrong.

Pam Grout advises us in the Boogie-Woogey experiment #1 in E-Cubed to ‘reprogram’ ourselves every morning.  Within the first few minutes of getting up play Pharrell’s “Happy”, or LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” and do the Harlem Shuffle on your way to the bathroom then fist-pump your way through brushing your teeth.  Yes!  Have yourself a mini party EVERY MORNING.

Yep.  I thought she was mega-crazy too.  But, I said what could I possibly have to lose?  I tried it.  The second morning, my children and I watched the Party Rock Anthem as we got on our coats and we all left the house smiling despite the freezing temperatures outside.

At this point, a little over a week into this one experiment which was to last only 3 days, I have had SO many little things, a few not so little things, that have happened positively to me and for my book that I cannot call any of it a coincidence.  The shift in my mind frame of seeking the positive while turning my attention and focus to the optimism channel (instead of the ‘glass-is-half-empty’ station that we here in New York project even during sleep!) has made all the difference!

A short list of happy ‘coincidences’ if you want to call it that.  I prefer to say these happenings are the result of reprogramming myself with a burst of happiness each morning for the last 10 days.

  • Two book reviewers have reached out to me and indicated firm interest in reviewing my book Fury From Hell
  • On Jan 27, 2015 at 3:47 am Fury From Hell was #82 in its category and it is not a new book!

    Product Details

    • File Size: 2189 KB
    • Print Length: 287 pages
    • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
    • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
    • Language: English
    • ASIN: B00NE24S2W
    • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
    • X-Ray:

    Not Enabled

    Tuesday, January 27, 2015 – 3:47 am (EST) – Fury From Hell

  • An uptick in my Twitter followers of a little over 150 more followers in the last week
  • Better relations and atmosphere at work!!! (It’s amazing how doing a quick hula dance can turn around one’s mood in the face of stressful situations!)
  • A huge uptick in my page views on my Examiner page since last Friday, 1/23.  I experienced a 412.5% increase since I set the intention of having 200 page views by COB Friday, 1/30 on my Brooklyn Asian Restaurants column (which I have not really updated in 2 1/2 years!).  See?  Pretty amazing, huh?
  • I met a fellow Esquare-er on Twitter and we have been tweeting pretty regularly sharing our experiences with the experiments.  Thanks @nrichford! [Nannette has a great blog Garden Thyme where she shares advice about all things green, flowering and those with green thumbs (even us aspiring green thumbs!) on her Maine Garden Ideas website.]

There are other smaller happy things that happened — good travel on trains and buses every morning even throughout a tough snowy week here in New York City (well, except for this morning — but hey — it is New York City!).  And a big one that just needs mentioning, I had already requested vacation time several weeks ago but one of my vacation days was Monday, 1/26 when NY was battening down the hatches in preparation for #NewYorkBlizzard.  How “lucky” was that?!  Then, the next day was a snow day when the trains were shut down in anticipation of the bad weather.  While I did log in and worked remotely from home I was at home for an additional day.  I so needed that rest!

And this was experiment #1.

I am quite excited to see how the other 8 experiments will go.

I’ll leave you with my dance-inducing tweet from Thursday the 29th…