How to have more miracles… or why we keep ourselves from having what we want.
We all know the story about the man on top of his house in a flood praying to God to save him. Three different times someone shows up in three different ways to rescue him – but this man is fixed on God showing up in a certain way. Maybe he is waiting for a literal angel with wings… or a hand to scoop him up and drop him in a safe place. What he does not do is accept the way the miracle does show up.
So instead – he dies.
In order to have a miracle, a miraculous life – we absolutely must be ready for one. We must gently and kindly open and relax our clenched hands, our hearts and our minds so there is a place for one to land.
We must die to who we are in this moment in order to be in a state of grace and openness for the miracle we are praying for to arrive in the next.
We must be ready and willing to let whatever ideas about the way things are, should be, could be or are not – simply fall away. Let go. Dissolve.
In order to HAVE a miracle we must be willing to RECEIVE a miracle… and that means being radically open to one.
And honey, I am here to tell you – miracles NEVER show up the way we think they will. Never.
Because anything we could possibly imagine is based on our own past experience or on what someone else has shown us is possible.
Miracles take us out of our known trajectory and place us somewhere else – sometimes literally – always consciously. As Einstein so brilliantly summed it up, “No problem can be solved in the same consciousness in which it was created.”
Miracles change us. They shake up the status quo. Rearrange the fabric of life. Miracles rock the boat.
Miracles are like an “E” ticket ride. Doing diligence to clear the clutter between you and your miracle can sometimes be like standing in line for the Matterhorn – not always fun. Sometimes agony – even boring. It most often takes way longer than you’d like. But when you are all buckled into the seat of the sled and the ride begins? Exxxxxhiiiilaaaaaration.
I remember being smack in the middle of truly the darkest time period of my life. A time when I was in a spiritual darkness thick as pea soup. This had been going on for months. I had to take it on faith that the Divine was there – because for the first time in my life I couldn’t perceive It – anywhere.
I prayed. I asked for deliverance. I asked for support. I begged.
One day as I was making my commute into the city, I pondered again about what my spiritual teacher had said – “You can demand a miracle.”
So, I screamed with all that I had: “I demand a miracle and I demand it RIGHT NOW!”
Suddenly – everything was as clear as sunrise after a hard night’s rain. I was in such a space of love, clarity and appreciation for the tight spot I was in. – It blew me away. This state lasted for a while. And then the aperture closed.
No one saved me. The ugly and terrifying circumstances of my life did not suddenly change. However, the shocking and sudden miracle, that was the shift in my perspective around everything going on in my life, was like a seismic event that continued to roll into the future. This miracle, this opening, was the guiding light that I kept coming back to as I did the hard personal work to reclaim my life.
Because that was my end of the partnership in the miracle. That was what I needed to do to have that radical shift in perspective as my ordinary everyday experience.
In order to have a miracle we absolutely must be ready for one.
We must be willing to let go of who we are in order to be someone else. Someone we don’t know yet and haven’t met.
Miracles like roses, need the right kind of soil to grow in.
I have decided to consciously cultivate them.
~ By my own willingness and desire to see the places where I am sticky, stubborn and have dug in my heels.
~ To notice, or even have it called out to me the times when I think I am “right.”
~ To listen to the voice inside – so I can become aware of when I am NOT willing. Inflexible. Closed. Unreceptive to something new and unknown.
~ By my willingness to open wide my heart and mind to whatever the circumstances are right here – right now.
~ To wonder – often out loud to my own bemused self – how this thing, this event, this situation is working out well for me – even when it’s not looking so great right at the moment.
~ By committing to see and embrace the everyday miracles:
- Life itself.
- Nature and all her miraculous glories.
- The extraordinary and powerful kindness of the human heart.
- The power of a smile at the right moment.
- My breath. My bones. My beating heart.
~ By loving myself even more unconditionally – especially when I don’t.
~ By opening the door wide to the as yet unknown solutions to all challenges and dilemmas.
~ By praying for greater capacity – to give, To receive. To feel. To Live. To Love.
~ By learning to savor the things that do show up for me. The beautiful sunrise. The warm cup of tea on a cold morning. The gift of a friend”s attention and kindness. The love of my child. The money that comes my way – even – especially if it is not all that I want or need for something particular.
It is the continued openness to what we ask for that creates the steady stream of bountiful blessings.
It is the commitment to becoming more consciously aware of where and when we are blocking our own way.
It is the continual coming back to our own center – our connection to the Source of All. THIS is what makes us miracle ready.
WE need to change in order to have a miracle. NOT the circumstances we find ourselves in. Pray to be made ready – to receive a miracle.
We need to expect a miracle. Like the expectation that day follows night. This doesn’t mean a particular outcome. Or that something will show up in a certain way. It means to expect that what you are calling in will come – then get ready for it. And if you don’t then look at why you don’t believe it will and let that shit go!
Seriously. Stop arguing about why you cannot have what your heart and Soul want.
Stop looking at every setback as evidence of why its never going to happen for you. Just gently and firmly stop it!
Courageously ask yourself what the payoff is for NOT having what you think and say you want. Because there is one – and take it from me – it’s often not so pretty.
Then kindly do the work to untangle from that need. Or not. But make peace with it. With yourself. With Life.
Do your own inner work. Partner with a friend. Join a group. Hire someone to be your guide in helping you make that inner ground fertile. You can do this – if you want to. Everything you need is already inside of you.
Miracles need the right kind of soil to grow.
I have decided to deliberately cultivate them.
How about you, dear one? How about you?
Imagine the world when we ALL expect miracles and are w–holy open vessels to receive them.
Will you join me?
