Miracles don't always look like Miracles

Greetings:

One of the ezines I receive is from Marci Shimoff "Happy for No Reason." The most recent issue talked about tracking your Miracles and recognizing a miracle when they happen. I don't think that miracles don't happen in current times, I think we don't notice them.

I recently had an experience where I had miracle after miracle happen although I didn't realize it until later. I was driving down the road when I had a pain shoot through my left eye. There was no way to pull over so I just had to deal with it. I was able to remove my contact which immediately felt like someone put crushed glass in my eye. After a few moments my eye settled down and I was able to continue on my way and go to my meeting.

Several times in the past I have had an eye infection that felt very similar to what was going on so when I got home from my meeting I looked for the medication that I had used in the past. All I could find was the empty box it came in. I noticed it said "No Refills" on the box. I called my eye doctor to see if he would just call in a new prescription. My eye doctor was no longer working in the practice and since no doctor there had seen me before they wouldn't call in a prescription. So I had to physically go in and see one of the docs.

I was able to get in right away and when the dr. walked in he immediately said you don't have an eye infection. Of course I wanted to roll my eyes because I knew what was going on. Well, low and behold I didn't. What was actually happening was the veins in my cornea's (the left and right eye) were filling up with blood due to a lack of oxygen. This is a potentially dangerous situation. Luckily I caught it in time and the dr. was able to give me a prescription and set me up for further check-ups.

I want to point out several miracles that occurred. First I was able to keep the car on the road safely, was able to take my contact out which was a good thing because my eye immediately started getting much needed oxygen. Although it hurt at first it actually helped my eye. The next miracle was I didn't have the medication. If I had had the medication I would have used it and would have treated the wrong problem and could have made the situation much worse. The next miracle was my regular Dr. wasn't there which meant that I was forced to go in and actually see someone. By doing that I actually found out what the real problem was, with both of my eyes, and avoided a potentially serious situation.

While I was in the moment I actually never thought of any of what was going on as a miracle. I was rather put out that my eye was bothering me and I distinctly remember thinking what a bother and inconvenience this was. Now I realize I was being protected and guided through the process and because of the miracles that were happening I didn't end up with a serious problem.

A few days later I received Marci's ezine and it confirmed what I had realized. Miracles are happening all around us if we just take the time to notice. I love the idea to include writing down your miracles at the end of each day. When you begin to do this you will notice more and more miracles. Not that more and more miracles will begin to occur, you will just notice more and more of them as they are occurring.



Marci Shimoff - Happy For No Reason


"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." - Albert Einstein



A woman recently came up to me after a speech and told me that each night she writes down one miracle that happened that day. She's been doing this for the last three years and has an amazing collection of miracles.

While I often recommend that people keep a daily gratitude journal, I like this variation. It puts you in the mindset of looking for miracles.

This practice engages the reticular activating system, the part of the brain designed to bring things to your attention. Once you start consciously looking for miracles, they become easier and easier to find.

I decided to experiment with this practice myself.

Day one was last Wednesday, the final day of my trip to Panama. Early in the morning, the same wonderful man who'd driven me to my speeches during the three days I'd been in the country was taking me to the airport. Since my Spanish is limited, our conversations were as well. However, that morning my sister, who speaks beautifully fluent Spanish, was also in the car, and she translated for us.

I discovered that Guillermo was not only a driver but also a retired police officer who had been the bodyguard for two Panamanian presidents. It was reassuring to be escorted by such an experienced bodyguard.

After my long flight back to San Francisco, I took a taxi home from the airport and met yet another delightful driver. He had just moved a year ago to the U.S. from Russia, where he'd spent much of his life as a bodyguard for numerous Russian presidents.

Two airport rides in the same day—both with presidential bodyguards. Now what's the likelihood of that happening?

My "look for miracles" practice had begun with a bang.

Try it out for yourself over the next few weeks. Look for a miracle each day and record it.

What counts as a miracle?

According to one definition, "any amazing or wonderful occurrence." For me, a miracle is a synchronicity that feels as though there were a Higher Power at work.

Look for these three main types of miracles:

1. A Twilight Zone Event - This is the kind of unlikely occurrence that makes you sing the famous theme song "DOO-doo-DOO-doo, DOO-doo-DOO-doo." It knocks your socks off.

2 Serendipitous Support - This happens when you're searching for a specific piece of information, for instance, and an unrelated email shows up in your inbox with exactly the answer you need.

3. Cool Coincidence - Finding two presidential bodyguard/drivers the same day is certainly one. Another cool coincidence occurred when I saw my new happiness article in the current issue of Ladies Home Journal (May 2008 - on the stands now). I laughed in delight seeing the cover picture of Sally Field, because she had been one of my favorite stars when I was a child (I loved Gidget).

Look for daily miracles to create a sense of wonder and optimism in your life. Plus, it's fun!

Happy miracles,

Marci Shimoff



Marci Shimoff is a celebrated transformational leader and #1 New York Times best-selling author. To learn more of her powerful techniques for establishing deep and authentic happiness and well-being, visit www.HappyForNoReason.com.


There is a great video of Marci from the Today show on the MSNBC website. Check it out.

Go out and raise your happiness set point by noticing a few more miracles!

Here's to taking action,

Rachelle