Your Year of Miracles

Category: Inspiration

  • The Miracle of a Summer Day

    The Miracle of a Summer Day

    Do you have a favorite season? We do…it’s summer!

    Just last week we were hiking up a mountain trail and feeling that special miraculous feeling we experience in the warm summer months. Perhaps the sense of freedom, fun, and relaxation are throwbacks to being a kid. Do you remember how excited you felt when school let out for summer? Going to the beach, camping under the stars, and playing outside with our friends are some of our favorite childhood memories.

    But we know that that feeling of magical happiness isn’t dependent on balmy weather. In fact, research shows people living in warm, summery spots are not necessarily happier than those living in colder climates. According to one study, the four happiest places on earth are Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, and Iceland – not exactly tropical paradises.

    So what does create that lasting feeling of happiness you experience when living in the Miracle Zone?

    The secret lies in internalizing the well-being and freedom you feel during summer (or whatever your favorite season is) and bringing it into everything you do.

    Here are three ways you can create an “endless summer” within yourself year-round:

    1) Sunshine: One building block to greater happiness and a miraculous life is getting plenty of Vitamin D, which has been found to combat seasonal affective disorder (SAD). SAD is that sense of “the blues” that is most often associated with the dark months of winter. Sunlight triggers our body to make Vitamin D – one of the reasons sunshine brightens our mood. So take a walk before or after work to soak up some rays when the sun is not as intense. Make sure as much of your body is exposed as possible (and legal!). During the winter months, ask your health professional about getting more Vitamin D in supplement form.

    2) The Great Outdoors: Mother Nature is another source of well-being readily available in summer. Our modern lives are inundated by the thoughts, fears, and demands that press in on us every day. A walk in the woods restores wholeness. A backyard picnic creates delight. An afternoon splash in a lake, river or ocean refreshes our spirits. The more time you spend immersed in the nourishing, simple joys of nature, the more miraculous your life will become. And as much as we would like to store the warmth like a squirrel stores nuts for the winter, it might not really be possible but there is nothing as enlivening as a walk in the crisp winter air and the joy of playing in the snow and sledding down a hill.

    3) Friends and Fun: People tend to be more social in the summer, gathering for outings, meals, and fun. Our sense of community is heightened when we join others enjoying long summer evenings together. There’s more of a feeling of play in our daily routine during the summer. If you want to make summer last longer, keep that sense of fun, play and social engagement alive throughout the year. It’s pretty yummy to sit around a fireplace with friends on a cold winter night!

    And here’s a bonus tip from Ayurvedic medicine that you can do in the winter: to purify, ground and energize your body – walk barefoot on the grass in the morning dew.

    Now there’s a miraculous way to start any summer day!

    We wish you the love, connection and the sunshine of a summer’s day all year long.

    Post your answer to this question below…

  • Healthy Living and Having Fun (Even at 93)

    Healthy Living and Having Fun (Even at 93)

    Last year we spent a glorious five days at Rancho La Puerta, an oasis of wellness for the mind, body and spirit in northern Mexico. We were there for a meeting of the Transformational Leadership Council, an organization founded by Jack Canfield and committed to supporting those whose careers are dedicated to the transformation of the planet.

    Although we loved spending time with our friends and colleagues, we both agreed that perhaps the highlight of our trip was meeting Deborah Szekely, the iconic founder of Rancho La Puerta as well as the famous Golden Door Spa.

    Watch the video below to get the full story or keep reading…

    At 93 years young, Deborah exercises seven days a week, just bought a FitBit to make sure she got her steps in every day, and has been a vegetarian her entire life. In fact, her mother was the vice president of the New York Vegetarian Society in 1926, and, Deborah explains, she was so committed to healthy, simple, vegetarian food that during the Great Depression when fresh food was not available, she moved the family to Tahiti!

    During Deborah’s nine decades of life, she’s run for Congress; served as a delegate for UNESCO; represented the United States as co-president of the U.S.-Mexico Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange; and founded Wellness Warrior, a non-profit organization that lobbies members of Congress to support wellness initiatives.

    And she shows no signs of slowing down.

    She said that she started Rancho La Puerta with her husband Edmond, who was also a proponent of simple, natural living, because they were “sort of refugees from World War II.”

    She explained, “We were at the University in Romania, and all the men had to be part of the military reserves. When the reserves were called up to fight on the side of Hitler, my husband was ordered to return to Germany, which made no sense as he was a Jew. We ignored it, and his passport was cancelled. We also got a letter from U.S. Immigration saying that if he was found in the United States after June 1, 1940, he would be deported. So we went to Mexico and started a small health camp that was originally called the Essene School of Life. It cost $17.50 a week to stay there but you had to bring your own tent. Now it’s 3,000 acres – but the program was almost the same as it is today except back then, all the guests were required to work in the vegetable garden two hours a day. In some ways it was more like a commune.”

    Although it’s definitely not like a commune today and is considered one of the top five health spas in the world (and we didn’t have to work in the garden), just like in 1940, there is only fresh organic food they grow on their own farm.

    When we asked Deborah what advice she would give to anyone who would like to live healthfully until 93…

    Here’s what she said:

    1) Eat from the garden: Grow your own if you can but always eat fresh, eat organic, and eat as little meat as possible. Eat slowly and mindfully.

    2) Enjoy getting physical: Deborah does pilates 3 times a week and has a Navy Seal trainer who comes to lead her in a regimen of strength training. And on three days. Sundays she hikes for several hours. Exercise, according to Deborah, has nothing to do with struggle and going for the burn – it’s about finding the joy of movement. Just do whatever makes you feel an appreciation for your body.

    3) Avoid stress: “One of the good things about growing older is gaining more self knowledge,” Deborah shared. “By the time you turn 60, you’re old enough to feel comfortable making choices.” Part of this process of choice, she says, is to make health a priority. There will always be other demands on your time, but if you want to be hiking mountains at 93, you have to start making the right choices about your health now.

    4) Have a reason to live longer: “You have to have a reason to live or you won’t have a long life. Me, I can’t stop making plans. And I’m so curious; I want to see what happens in the next five – ten years. We haven’t done very well with our world, but I’m optimistic and hopeful that these young people today will do better, and I want to be here to see it.”

    5) And finally, if you want to be happy, alive, vibrant, and, may we add, Living in the Miracle Zone, take one of Deborah’s favorite quotes to heart. Having out-lived two husbands and a son, she didn’t have a life without its challenges, but she told us that she’s always lived by this adage: “Life isn’t about hiding from the storm, but about learning to dance in the rain.”

    And then she added “It’s so fun to be 93. You should try it.” We’re planning on trying it. We hope you are too.

    So, we’ll see you dancing in the rain – in the Miracle Zone.

    Inspired by Deborah’s story? Please share a comment below…

  • The Power of Intuition

    The Power of Intuition

    Today’s miracle moment is about the power of intuition.

    A few years ago, Marci went on a trip with the amazing Lynne Twist to the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador and lived for a week with the indigenous Achuar people there. Traditionally warriors with a fierce devotion to their land, the Archuar have kept their culture and worldview remarkably intact. In the Achuar world, dreams are shared each morning before sunrise, and interpreted by either their community leader or their shaman.

    One of the things Marci most noticed when she was in Ecuador was that the Achuar depended primarily on their intuitive sense to navigate through life. They had rituals that honored their intuition and it was working really well for them. In fact, being guided by intuition is what’s allowed all indigenous people to survive. In cultures like the Achuar, intuition is acknowledged, respected, and honored as an important aspect of life. The Achuar children are taught at a very young age to allow themselves to notice and follow their sense of connection to the universal creative force. As people age in these cultures, their intuition doesn’t diminish but becomes even stronger.

    Watch the video below to get the full story or keep reading…

    We can all access our intuition…

    …This inner knowing, which is a universal, intelligent life force that everyone has. Some people describe intuition as a “gut feeling.” And even though we’re all born with it, unfortunately, in our modern world, we’re rarely encouraged to develop it. Instead, we’re taught to defer to the wisdom of our parents, teachers, clergy, bosses, friends and even the media.

    And just like a physical muscle that can atrophy if we don’t use it, the muscle of our intuition degenerates if we ignore it.

    There’s another reason why we in our modern society lose touch with our intuition and that is, we rarely get quiet enough.

    Intuition speaks to us in moments of silence, and when we’re moving too quickly or doing too much multi-tasking, we can’t experience silence. In fact, when we’re watching TV, eating, talking to someone and texting at the same time, there’s so much noise in our brains that there’s no space for our intuition to speak to us. On top of that, we’re bombarded with so much energetic “noise” emitted from the EMF’s swirling non-stop through our homes and workplaces that our intuition really doesn’t stand a chance.

    Maybe people in the rain forest are in touch with the inner voice because there is so much silence. The “noise” they most often hear are the sounds of the river running, animals calling, and insects singing – the sounds of silence.

    So what can you do?

    Slow down. If you need an insight about a situation in your life, stop what you’re doing, take a few breaths and ask your intuition. If you get a gut feeling, listen to it and act before your rational mind starts giving you all the reasons why you’re wrong. You can recognize your intuition (as opposed to some thought based on fear or past hurts) because it comes to you in a flash and gives you information neutrally and unemotionally.

    When you’re hearing that intuitive voice, although it will ultimately lead you to your greatest good, it might not be linear, and it may ask you to do things that are inconvenient. It may lead you into unfamiliar territory, or even require that you take a leap of faith…but it always takes you by the quickest and surest route to a more expanded and fulfilling state of life – a state that we call Living in the Miracle Zone.

    We’ll leave you today with a great quote from the actor Alan Alda: You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you discover there will be yourself.

    May your intuition lead you to the Miracle Zone!

    Please share a comment below about how your intuition has guided you…

  • Wealth and the Power of Gratitude

    Wealth and the Power of Gratitude

    In today’s Miracle Moment, we’re happy to share with you about the miraculous power of gratitude.

    We all know that gratitude is one of the strongest energetic forces in creation and it has the power to increase our wealth and miracles manifold, but today we’re going to share a little bit of a different twist on the subject of gratitude.

    You see, everything we’re given is a gift from the universe, a gift from that force of creation that many people call God or nature or the divine or creative intelligence. And just as you love to give gifts to others, the universe loves to give gifts to us.

    Watch the video below to get the full story or keep reading…

    Does the Universe need your thanks?

    But think about this for a minute…who would you rather give abundant gifts to, someone who receives your gift and says, “Thank you so much. This is just what I wanted. How did you know that blue is my favorite color?” or someone who forgets to even mention they received anything and you have to say to them, “Did you ever get that gift I sent? I just want to make sure it didn’t get lost in the mail.” And they’re like, “Oh yeah, did I forget to thank you? I’ve been really busy.”

    It’s not like the universe really needs your acknowledgement, it’s just that the power of gratitude energetically opens up the portals for more good and abundance to flow.

    And while most people do remember to express gratitude when good things arrive in their lives, what they don’t do is express gratitude when those not-so-good things show up.

    Personally, we say “thank you” no matter what. We get the perfect parking space, and we say, “Thank you Universe.” A new line opens up in the grocery store just as we’re approaching it…“Thank you God!” An unexpected check shows up in the mail…“Thank you Creator.”

    And we also say thank you when something not great happens.

    Because we know for a fact that we live in a benevolent and supportive universe and everything that happens is for our benefit. It’s either obviously good or we’ll see the good in it when we look back as time goes on. When we say thank you at the moment that the seemingly not-so-good thing happens, the good reveals itself much more quickly.

    I (Debra) remember back in the 1980’s, I had just started teaching success seminars around the country and I was still driving a beat up 10-year-old Chevy Bel Air that my aunt had left me when she passed away. I didn’t get in that car and think, “How embarrassing to be driving this old thing while I’m teaching people how to be successful and prosperous.” Instead, when I got in that car, I’d said, “Hello Shirley,” as that was her name, and I’d expressed gratitude that I had a car that got me to where I had to go. I also went to the Mercedes dealer and got a photo of my dream car – a beautiful navy blue sedan – and as Marci is my witness…we’ve been friends a long time… within a few short years, I was driving that exact Mercedes.

    Gratitude opens our hearts and clears the energetic field so something greater can come in, but when you’re bemoaning your circumstances or what’s happening in your life, it contracts you so there’s no opening for something greater.

    A friend of ours who has a gift of seeing energy told us how when people are ungrateful they have a murky dark energy around them, but when they talk about what they’re grateful for, there’s a radiant light that appears and that light attracts to itself more and more light.

    We like to think of it like this: gratitude is a first-class ticket into the Miracle Zone. And we’d like to end with one of our favorite quotes from author Mary Davis who said, “Through the eyes of gratitude, everything is a miracle.”

  • The Miracle of Loneliness

    The Miracle of Loneliness

    During the month of February, we turn our attention to love, at least for one day…Valentine’s Day.

    If we don’t have a sweetheart to give flowers to or receive flowers from, many of us go to a place where we’re somehow not good enough or we don’t feel worthy of love. And we beat ourselves up and we think, “I’m lonely.” And you might even be in a relationship and feel lonely, especially around Valentine’s Day. And then you might feel deficient in some way.

    But everyone experiences loneliness at some time. It’s part of life…

    Watch the video below to get the full story or keep reading…

     

    Inspired by this article? Please share a comment below…

  • Moving From Medium To Slow

    Moving From Medium To Slow

    Today’s Miracle Moment is about the miraculous power of moving at a pace of medium to slow.

    We believe that a truly spiritual life is one where you feel deeply connected to the energy of the universe – to a power and intelligence greater than yourself – it doesn’t matter whether you call that power God, the Divine, Nature, the universe. You might experience true spirituality through your own traditional religious practices perhaps while you’re in church or temple, or maybe you experience it during rituals or chants or meditation practices.

    Or perhaps through being in the present moment…or maybe you experience spirituality during those times where you remind yourself to see the good, the God, the perfection in everyone and everything around you. Spirituality is something that can be ignited and once it is, the goal or aspiration is that it’s not something you turn off and on but rather something you live every moment of every day.

    A great teacher of ours was the renowned cultural anthropologist Angeles Arrien, who sadly passed away in 2014. A cornerstone of her teaching was that in order to live a meaningful and peaceful life, one of deep and profound spirituality, we need to look at and emulate nature and nature’s rhythm, which is medium to slow. The only time nature moves fast is when it’s in danger or when it’s pursuing its prey to survive…and then it will move fast for fifteen to twenty minutes and once again return to medium to slow.

    Since we’re creatures of nature, we’re affected by this rhythm as well.

    Angeles goes on to say that when we’re always moving fast, we’re out of sync with our nature and the result is that we don’t have the time to integrate our experience, to deepen our character, to live true spirituality – as this requires silence and reflection.

    When we’re always moving fast there’s no time to be fully present, to really listen to our hearts, to really see the God in others. Angeles suggests that we need to be aware of our addiction to those energies that have begun to dominate our lives and nullify the energy of medium to slow such as obsessively checking our e-mails or our smart phones, or cramming our calendars so there is no space to breathe, or needing outside stimulation to feel alive.

    She also asks that we take a look at the high we get from over-achieving because if we continue at this fast pace we’ll most likely be forced to slow down through business disasters, illness or accidents, and there is no reason for this to happen—or at least it is much less likely if we move medium to slow.

    Last year I (Debra) was on a safari in South Africa…and I know this will sound odd but when I was watching as the rhinos were ambling across the plains at a speed of about a few hundred yards an hour…maybe, or observing the elephant families lumbering along seemingly not going anywhere in particular, or saw the giraffes doing nothing other than munching on the treetops, or when I sat near the hippos as they just stood in the water looking at us for endless hours moving only to get out of the water and then turn around and get back in…

    On the first few days I was actually in pain and wanted to say to them, “How can you be content just standing there? Get a life! Read a book! Get a job! Go do some volunteer work if you have so much time on your hands!”

    Then as I unplugged more and more from the “real” world and surrendered to the present moment, to moving medium to slow, I looked into the eyes of these creatures and I knew that they were the ones that had the knowledge of the perfection of all that is. I felt that they wanted to convey to me the message of “just chill and see what happens. Move medium to slow and be here now and all will unfold in perfection.”

    I felt like that wanted to tell us all, “Don’t try so hard people. Everything is in divine order. We are all part of the circle of life. There is no need to try and control everything.” They had no judgement, they just had a simple message to communicate.

    So we invite you to join us in moving medium to slow, to be present in the moment and see what miracles unfold in your life.

    And we’d like to end this Miracle Moment with a quote from Angeles Arrien:

    Have a miraculous week tuning into the rhythms of nature. And please share a comment below about what today’s message means to you…

  • Releasing Your Grip

    Releasing Your Grip

    Today’s Miracle Moment is about letting go of whatever might be preventing you from living your miracles.

    You’ve probably heard the concept that we all have to let go of the old to make way for the new. But what we’ve found is that some of us are really good at it and some of us struggle. I’m (Marci) in that second group. From a very early age I always had a hard time letting go of anything. Whether it was old clothes when I was growing up, or old toys. And as I got older it became hard to let go of old ideas that no longer served me, or old relationships that were no longer working.

    There are many areas in our life in which we have to be skilled at releasing the old in order to make way for the new. There’s physical clutter that holds us back, there’s emotional clutter, like anger or resentment. There are thoughts and ideas and old stories that we need to let go of. And sometimes it’s people that we need to let go of who aren’t in alignment with us and our highest good.

    And as long as we’re gripping, or clutching, or holding on, there’s no space to move forward in creating our miracles.

    Here’s how they catch monkeys in Borneo…

    When the natives want to catch monkeys, usually to sell them to the zoo, they want them to be unharmed. So they hollow out large coconuts and make holes the size of the monkey’s hand. Then they fill the coconut with the monkey’s favorite food, which is a green banana, and attach the coconut to a chain.

    When the monkey finds the coconut he puts his little monkey hand inside to get out the food, but now that his hand is in it, it’s in a fist, he’s holding that banana inside, he can’t pull it out. Now some of the monkeys will pull and pull for hours until their little wrists are bloody, but they will not let go until the natives put them in a box and cart them away. The monkey would have been able to be free to continue to live in the jungle paradise but instead, the monkey’s unwillingness to release the small little banana left him forever trapped behind the bars of a cage.

    What things are you holding on to that are keeping you feeling trapped? What are the things that are preventing you from living a miraculous life?

    We invite you to begin by picking one thing to let go of—one thing to release your grip on.

    Maybe it’s an old story of a bad experience you tell yourself over and over again. Maybe it’s a belief about yourself, or about somebody else. Maybe it’s physical clutter, that old car in the driveway that’s been an eyesore for years…or maybe it’s a resentment that you’re holding on to.

    Write down that one thing to start the process of letting go to clear the space for your miracles. (We’d love it if you would share what you’d like to let go of in the comments below.)

    Sending you much love as you enjoy letting go and the miracles that follow.