Pam Grout cautions you, at the beginning of this chapter, to prepare yourself because, when she first did the experiment, she found herself getting fired from her job. Pam wanted to know if she had what it took to be a professional writer. She took getting fired from a job she disliked as a hint that she did. I had a similar question. Do I sincerely have what it takes to be a professional actor?

E Squared by Pam Grout — Experiment #5 

Theory: Your connection to the field provides accurate and unlimited guidance.

Pam starts the chapter, from her book E Squared by talking about some of the unusual guidance that we get. Napoleon Hill  admitted to holding a board meeting with some of the artists he most admired. He was quoted as saying:

“While the members of my Cabinet may be purely fictional… they have led me into glorious paths of adventure, rekindled an appreciation of true greatness, encouraged creative endeavor, and emboldened the expression of honest truth.”

But isn’t it also true that well-meant but ill-placed guidance has the ability to hinder us. In Virginia Woolf’s famous essay “The Angel in the House,” she speaks about feeling hindered by the angel that sat on her shoulder and censored her work.

“She was always creeping back when I thought I had dispatched her. Though I flatter myself that I killed her in the end, the struggle was severe (Woolf 46).”

And then there’s the guidance that we get from our well-meaning friends, telling us to “be realistic” as we speak about our dreams. The advice that makes us doubt and second-guess our abilities. Can I actually do this. “Be realistic”  –  who’s to say what’s realistic? People all over the world are proving their friends, colleagues and teachers wrong every day, and so can you. So can I.

In a way, this chapter teaches you how to find the guidance that is going to help instead of hinder you. Going inside yourself and listening to the universe (through meditation or prayer) seems like a pretty good option. But Gretchen Rubin, of the Happiness Project, also recommends that you read autobiographies of people you admire and base your behaviour and thought processes of theirs. I like that idea quite a bit.

The Experiment

The idea behind this principle is that if you ask the universe for guidance, you will receive it. So what happened with the experiment? Well, I didn’t get fired.

But several things did happen that, a year ago, I never would have thought could possibly happen to me. A teacher that, for the first year of living in Vancouver, I felt intimidated to study with, a few days ago e-mailed me to say that he would write a reference letter for me (I’ve been studying with him for the last couple months). With a reference letter from him, getting an excellent agent should be much easier. In that same 48 hour period, my partner also offered me a role in his next short film as the lead!

I recently received a comment from one the readers of this blog, cautioning me against doubt (he had also completed many of the experiments from this book). As I pass the halfway point of these experiments, he advised me to:

“Live in the moment, have faith in your higher power and allow things to happen in your life.” – Tim of Confronting Giants

I think that’s pretty good advice.

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