The Miracle of Everything

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is.”

This is one of my favorite quotes from Albert Einstein, a truly remarkable man who certainly knows a thing or two about the miraculous. It also seems he knew quite a bit about how to live life.

Look around you right now. How many miracles can you count? You could start with your health, your strong, functioning brain, the food you ate today for breakfast, your family, the computer or phone that you are reading this on. It is a fascinating shift in perspective and one that brings about an instant benefit. The more miracles you acknowledge, the more miracles arrive and the more gratitude you begin to feel.

So many people go about life the wrong way, and it usually begins here, in a lack of awareness of the many miracles that surround them. And I mean that very literally. Because when you awaken the consciousness that miracles are all around you, everything becomes a miracle.

This is life-changing for many reasons, one of which being that when you think of everything as a miracle, it becomes impossible to lack appreciation. Appreciation is a powerful force. Kabbalists teach that one of the biggest mistakes every one of us makes consistently is that we don’t have an appreciation of who we are or of the power that we inherently possess to transform our lives. It’s so easy for us to point out everything that’s wrong, we know the ins and outs of what it is we want to change, and yet we remain unaware that we have the power to shift things in an instant. That power is appreciation.

After all, appreciation and gratitude are two of the rare human experiences that bring about nothing but positivity.

Personally, I am in awe of life. Full stop. I am in appreciation and wonder of creation in every form. The creation of a child, a relationship, a book, a day, and the creation of the entire world. Practicing this kind of awareness and appreciation brings about an almost euphoric sense of joy. The very vibration of a miracle. It doesn’t have to be spiritual or magical or even markedly special!

For example, I love watching cooking shows. My favorite is Chopped. Each chef is a given a basket of mystery ingredients and 30 minutes to create a masterpiece. I watch, completely astonished, as these chefs cook up the most delicious looking plates of food and I am at a loss as to how it all comes together! I could never do it and watching them succeed (even if they don’t “win”) inspires me.

This is the next vital element of being on a constant lookout for miracles. When we see the world as miraculous, we give ourselves permission to create. To grow. To expand. When we notice all the ways that life is mysteriously beautiful and positive, we awaken those qualities within ourselves. We cultivate the miraculous within us. This is precisely what Albert Einstein did which, I imagine, is why he spoke so eloquently to it. A man who didn’t even graduate high school is responsible for the theory of relativity, the modern view of physics and quantum mechanics, and won the Nobel Prize in Physics.

He was able to see the miraculous everywhere, and the miracles rose up to meet him­­ — as they will for you once you adopt a miracle gaze. When we look to see the gifts and blessings around us and awaken our creative essence, we become like the Creator. The Creator’s gift to us is the desire and ability to grow and transform and thereby to reveal our potential in the world. By connecting to this force and nurturing this consciousness through counting miracles, we begin the process of exactly that. Becoming who we are meant to be.

Now THAT is a miracle.

With Chanukah coming up this week, pay special attention to the miracles around you. Give thanks and allow yourself to bask in the magic of your life through each of the eight nights and beyond.

 

THOUGHT INTO ACTION

Count up miracles! Make a list, see how many you can count each day, and aim to find even more the next day. Record every instance of miracles appearing in your experience.