Your Year of Miracles

Category: Success

  • The Surprising Power of Doing Less

    The Surprising Power of Doing Less

    Today’s Miracle Moment Is About The Surprising Power of Doing Less…

    Sometimes, the real breakthrough doesn’t come from doing more — it comes from doing less… and listening. Forcing your way to happiness and miracles doesn’t work. It depletes you, it disconnects you, and it drowns out the quiet wisdom trying to reach you.

    Here’s an example of what I mean: You know those aha moments that seem to drop in from out of the blue? Or that great idea that comes to you when you’re taking a shower? That’s the power of the pause!

    Epiphanies don’t usually arrive when you’re pushing or striving. They arrive when you stop and take a break.

    Think about it: when do your best insights come? Not mid-scroll, mid-meeting, or mid-meltdown. They come when you’re walking quietly. Or sitting in stillness. Or just breathing. Or when you’re focusing on anything other than the problem you’re trying to solve. Here’s how this showed up in my life…

    When I was 13, I went to see Zig Ziglar, an inspirational speaker, and I had a very clear vision that that was what I was supposed to do with my life.  I had a clear vision, saw myself traveling around the world speaking to large audiences inspiring people. But when I started my career, I struggled with so much self doubt and low self-esteem.

    In 1989, I got trained by Jack Canfield – this was before he’d even thought of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books yet. He was teaching about self-esteem. I wanted to start teaching programs like that because as they say, we teach what we most want to learn. 

    So I started teaching workshops on self-esteem. I worked really, really hard to build my career. For years, I was a road warrior – going from city to city every day and giving talks to anywhere between 20 and maybe 100 people a day. It certainly wasn’t the big audiences I’d seen in my vision.

    I was struggling and exhausted. I knew I was doing the right kind of work, but I felt like I was hitting my head against the wall to make it happen. Well in January 1995, a dear friend of mine came to me and said, “Marci, you’re  burned out. You need a break. Come with me on a seven day silent meditation retreat.”

    I said, “You’re crazy. I don’t do silence. I haven’t been silent for more than two hours in my life!” But she was very, very persuasive, so off I went.

    I’ll tell you, the first couple days of silence were absolute torture. But finally I settled in and really started letting go of that pushing, driving energy that I’d lived in. I really surrendered to the pause. And on the fourth day, in the middle of a meditation, out of nowhere, a light bulb went off in my head.

    I saw the words Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul. And now, at the time, there were no other books out there other than the original Chicken Soup for the Soul book. And I knew that that was exactly what I was supposed to do, and it was what was going to lead me to bigger and bigger audiences. 

    There was one problem – I had just had this huge epiphany and I still had 3 more days of silence. When the retreat was over, I ran to the closest payphone – we didn’t have cell phones then and called up Jack and told him my idea. He said, “Oh my God, I can’t believe nobody’s thought of it!” He called up the publisher, and the publisher said, “I can’t believe nobody’s thought of it!”

    I started working on the book and year and a half later, Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul came out and went to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list that first week. And it was the thing that propelled me to that vision that I had of speaking to large audiences around the world.

    Since then I’ve written 9 books that have been on the New York Times bestseller list for 121 weeks and have sold more than 16 million copies. I could never have planned that.

    So that’s how powerful that pause was for me. The idea that brought me to greater purpose and success, came in the pause, not in the push.

    Here are 3 key shifts to lean into the power of the pause:

    #1: Rest Is Not Laziness

    Somewhere along the way, we were taught that if you’re rest, you’re lazy. Especially as women, we often feel guilty for pausing. There’s always someone or something that we need to take care of – whether it’s a partner, children, parents, community, or a business. And taking care of ourselves usually ends up last on the list. 

    But rest isn’t a luxury – it’s a necessity for living a miraculous life. All of nature has cycles of rest and action. Our bodies, minds and souls need the rejuvenation that comes from rest. 

    I used to feel so guilty taking breaks. At one point, I was overworking so much that an Ayurvedic doctor said to me: “you’re burned out and you have to stop right now.” I said – “I don’t have time to stop. I’ll rest in a couple of years once I get through all of this work” and he said – “no, it will be too late by then. You’ll lose too much of your body’s prana – your vital energy and life force. You must take care of yourself now.” Well, that really freaked me out and so I stopped and started to do what he was telling me to do in terms of rest. I made the quality AND quantity of my sleep a priority, and every night I get to sleep by 10pm – I call it catching the angel train. And I found that I not only started to feel more energized during the day, but I was happier, and I even started getting more done. 

    I finally learned that rest is not selfish – it’s sacred. And it’s where our best self can return. 

    #2: Sacred Space Creates Clarity

    Have you ever had a big decision to make, and the more you went over it in your mind, the more you got stuck in your head trying to figure out what to do?

    Often, the answer won’t come from “trying to figure it out.” But when you allow quiet space in your day, you’re opening a doorway for something higher to reach you. That’s when the idea comes. The answer arrives. The clarity lands.

    Not because you forced it, but because you made room for it.

    And there’s some science to this – When our focus softens, the brain shifts into the default mode network—and that’s where creativity, memory, and insight converge. In the quiet beyond effort, the mind connects what pushing and forcing can’t, and that’s when clarity and inspired ideas can arise.

    This was what happened for me at the silent meditation retreat. As the constant stream of thoughts and mental clutter cleared out, it created sacred space for clarity. 

    But you don’t have to go away for 7 days to create sacred space for yourself. Even 5 minutes a day spent in silence can help you access greater clarity.

    #3: When You Do Less, You Feel More

    When you pause the doing, you reconnect with the being. You feel more. You notice more. You become present again. And that presence is where peace lives.

    And when you stop racing through your life, you can finally experience it.

    My partner Sergio, who’s originally from Italy, taught me this beautiful Italian phrase, “dolce far niente.” It literally means, “sweet do nothing,” and it’s a celebration of relaxing. Being stuck in busy-ness doesn’t leave us time to connect with our innate essence or to appreciate who we are deeply inside, beyond what we do. We can miss some of the sweetest parts of life and of ourselves. 

    By doing less, you leave time to feel more of the yumminess of life – and more of what you’re truly here for. 

    So this week, give yourself permission to stop forcing and start allowing. 

    You don’t need to earn your rest. You don’t need to justify your pause. Because the happiness you’re chasing? It’s already within you. It’s just been waiting for the noise to quiet down.

    I’ll end with this great quote from Anne Lamott:

    “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”

    Let me know in the comments: What would it look like for you to rest without guilt this week?

    Your next epiphany isn’t in the push. It’s in the pause.

    Please share your answer below, “What would it look like for me to rest without guilt this week?”

  • The Intuition Secret That Led Alysa Liu to Gold

    The Intuition Secret That Led Alysa Liu to Gold

    Today’s Miracle Moment Is About The Intuition Secret That Led Alysa Liu to Gold…

    Have you ever found yourself at a crossroads—pulled between what the world expects of you and a quieter, more mysterious voice calling you toward something different?

    That quiet voice is your intuition. And listening to it can feel like a radical act. But that act of listening… it just might lead you to a miracle.

    Let me tell you the story of someone who did just that.

    The Olympian Who Walked Away

    Alysa Liu was a skating prodigy. At just 13, she became the youngest U.S. Women’s National Champion in figure skating history. By 16, she’d competed in the Olympics and World Championships. Everyone assumed she was on the fast track to becoming one of the sport’s biggest stars.

    And then… she retired. At 16.

    No injury. No dramatic fallout. Just a deep, quiet knowing that it was time to step away. While the world scratched its head in confusion, Alysa trusted the whisper that said: Not right now.

    She chose to live a little more off the ice—experience life, feel joy, explore beyond the arena that had defined her for so long. And then, something remarkable happened…

    Two years later, while skiing for the first time in her life, Alysa felt a sudden, powerful inner nudge: Maybe it’s time to skate again. So, she did. Just for fun.

    That fun turned into training. The training turned into competing. And within a year, Alysa had won the gold medal at the World Figure Skating Championships at age 19.

    Talk about full-circle!

    3 Shifts That Will Help You Trust Your Intuition Too

    Whether you’re 16 or 60, there are powerful lessons in Alysa’s story. Here are three shifts to help you start trusting your inner voice—and allowing it to lead you to your own miracles:

    1. Intuition Feels Like Expansion (Even If It’s Hard)
    Your intuition isn’t loud. It won’t shout over your to-do list or the opinions of others. But when you pause and listen, it often speaks through feeling.

    The key question is: Does this choice feel expansive or contractive?

    Even if your intuition is guiding you to make a tough decision—like stepping away from something familiar—it will usually come with a sense of inner expansion, relief, or calm clarity.

    Your soul speaks through expansion. Your ego speaks through fear. Can you tell which one is leading?

    2. Your Intuition May Go Against the Grain
    Sometimes your inner guidance leads you in a direction that doesn’t make sense to anyone else. People might question you, or worry about you, or even doubt your judgment.

    But if you know, deep in your being, that it’s right for you… trust that knowing.

    I remember a time in my own life when I said no to a major contract in Asia that looked incredible on paper. Everyone around me thought I was making a huge mistake.

    But something in me said, Not this.

    Soon after, the idea for Your Year of Miracles came through—and I knew I’d made the right choice.

    3. Following Your Intuition Leads to Miracles
    When Alysa returned to skating, it wasn’t because she wanted to prove anything. She didn’t need to make a statement. She came back because something in her felt ready.

    That readiness, that joy, that alignment—it led her to gold. And it all started with a whisper on a ski slope.

    We don’t always know where our intuition will take us. But if we follow it, one step at a time, we often find ourselves right where we were meant to be… sometimes with miracles in hand.

    A Gentle Nudge for You

    Is there something your intuition has been quietly telling you?

    Maybe it’s time to pause. To rest. To begin again. Or to say yes to something that feels wild but right.

    Whatever it is, I invite you to listen. To trust. To follow—even just a little.

    Because your joy, your timing, and your path are not meant to look like anyone else’s.

    As the poet Rumi said,
    “There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.”

    Please share below how your intuition has guided you. I can’t wait to read your stories!

  • The Happiness Benefit

    The Happiness Benefit

    Today’s Miracle Moment Is About The Happiness Benefit…

    Many of us have been taught to believe that success makes us happy. But what if I told you it’s actually the other way around? That being happy can lead you to unprecedented success and open up a world of possibilities and miracles?

    In my book Happy for No Reason, I explore this paradigm-shifting idea that you don’t need a reason to be happy — happiness is a state you can choose, regardless of your circumstances. And choosing happiness doesn’t just feel good, it actually sets you up to receive more of life’s beautiful gifts.

    Here’s an example of how this works. Imagine you’re having a really good day: you wake up feeling rested, the sun is shining, and everything seems to go your way. On days like this, don’t you find it easier to smile at strangers, lend a helping hand, or come up with creative solutions at work?

    This isn’t just a coincidence. When we’re happy, our brain releases dopamine and serotonin, chemicals that not only make us feel good but also enhance our ability to organize new information, keep that information in the brain longer, and retrieve it faster later on. This means we are literally smarter when we are happier.

    Scientific studies support this. Researchers at the University of California found that happiness leads to greater creativity, improved immune function, and more effective problem-solving skills.

    Another study from Harvard University showed that doctors in a positive mood before making a diagnosis showed almost three times more intelligence and creativity than doctors in a neutral state, which led them to make accurate diagnoses 19% faster. Pretty cool, right?

    Let me share a story from my book that perfectly illustrates the Happiness Benefit.

    This is about Karen, a woman who always seemed to struggle with negativity and skepticism. She found herself laid off from her job, going through a divorce, and feeling utterly defeated.

    I think most of us can relate to Karen’s circumstances at some point in our lives. Walking in those shoes, it’s easy to justify looking at the world in a negative way and feel sorry for yourself. I mean, what’s to feel happy about?  But when Karen decided to shift her focus from despair to gratitude and optimism, amazing things began to happen.

    Every day, despite her circumstances, Karen wrote down things she was grateful for. She began visualizing her life filled with joy and abundance. Slowly, she started to feel better, and as her happiness increased, so did the positive opportunities around her. Within a few months, Karen received a job offer in a field she had always wanted to work in, she met a supportive partner, and most importantly, she regained her zest for life.

    Karen’s story isn’t unique because of the dramatic turnaround alone; it’s powerful because it demonstrates that our internal state can attract external success. By fostering a positive emotional state, Karen opened herself up to more miracles in her life, and the same can happen for you.

    How can you experience this Happiness Benefit? Let’s walk through a simple step-by-step process to bring more joy into your life:

    Step 1: Practice Gratitude

    Start by keeping a gratitude journal. Every night before you go to bed or first thing in the morning when you wake up, write down three things that you’re grateful for. This can be anything! Small things like clean air to breathe or big things like your most important relationships and everything in between. This helps to shift your focus from what’s missing in your life to what’s abundant.

    Step 2: Cultivate Optimism

    Spend a few minutes each day visualizing your life as you wish it to be. Imagine all your dreams coming true and allow yourself to feel the joy as if they already have. This visualization not only boosts your current mood but also aligns your energy with the outcomes you desire. Even if it’s hard to do at first, keep going! This gets easier with practice. The more you do it, the more fun it becomes.

    Step 3: Random Acts of Kindness

    Once a week, commit to performing a random act of kindness. It could be as simple as paying for a stranger’s coffee, sending a thank-you note to a colleague or friend, or simply making eye contact and being fully present with someone. These acts of kindness increase not only your happiness but also that of others, creating a positive ripple effect. Of course, you don’t have to limit yourself to just one a week! I think you’ll find that these random acts of kindness become an ongoing habit because they make you feel so good. 

    By integrating even one or all of these steps into your daily life, you’ll begin to experience the Happiness Benefit. Remember, happiness is not just about feeling good, it’s a catalyst for success, creativity, and deeper connections. It’s your secret weapon for leading a fulfilling and prosperous life and stepping into the Miracle Zone.

    I want to end this Miracle Moment with a wonderful quote from Helen Keller who said “Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within.”

    Here’s to activating the Happiness Benefit in your life!

    From my happy heart to yours, I wish you an abundance of joy and miracles.

    Want More Easy & Fun Happiness Practices?

    P.S. True story: I began studying happiness because I had been unhappy nearly all my life. I felt like I was born depressed and I wanted to figure out why other people were happy and I just wasn’t. This desire took me on a deeply rewarding journey and I knew I had to share what I learned with as many people as possible. And boy does this message resonate, especially now!

    This work has been my deepest joy. And in 2025 I’m devoted to training a few select people to become Certified Happiness Trainers. Could this be you?

    Apply to become certified so that you can make a good living being an advocate for happiness!

    I’d love to hear from you! How has the presence of happiness affected your relationships or your money or your health? What would you like to welcome into your life as a result of simply being happy?

    Please share your experience with being happy for no reason below.

  • Trust in the Universe

    Trust in the Universe

    Today’s Miracle Moment Is About Trusting the Universe…

    In Your Year of Miracles program, we have Five Foundations for Living in the Miracle Zone. These are the core principles to live by to feel in the flow with the Universe and experience greater synchronicities and more miracles in your daily life. Today, I’m going to talk about the first of these foundations, which is Trust In the Universe.

    Trust in the Universe is to embrace that we live in a benevolent Universe where divine perfection is at work in every situation. With this perspective, we trust that we’re being taken care of on some level. One of our favorite quotes of all time is from Albert Einstein who said, “The most important question you can ask yourself is whether this is a benevolent Universe.” People who are happy and are living in the Miracle Zone answer, “Yes.” That doesn’t mean that life is always going their way, but it means that they believe that life has their back and is always supporting them.

    A dear friend of mine, the brilliant and amazing Jack Canfield, talks about being an “inverse paranoid.” A paranoid thinks that everything’s out to get them. An “inverse paranoid” thinks that everything is out to support them.

    If you feel challenged in trusting in the Universe and in having faith that everything is going to turn out okay, we invite you to do the following Central Channel Breath:

    • Breathe through your nose, and imagine your breath starting about two feet above your head.
    • At this point above your head, take a breath into your body right through the center of your brain, through your throat, into your heart, and into your belly.
    • Breathe in and make your belly big.
    • Exhale down through this center, right into the earth.
    • Take a deep breath up from the earth, inhaling up into your belly, From your belly, exhale straight up and out above your head through this Central Channel.

    As you continue to breathe in this way, this opens the Central Channel and it begins to animate your subtle anatomy—your energy field. This energy field has a higher vibrational frequency than your body does.

    If you want to have greater faith and trust, you need to have a higher vibration of energy running through your system. Then it’s easier to trust and have faith. The energies of faith and trust are such high frequency energies that they don’t reside inside your body, but in the subtle energy field around your body, and specifically in an energy center just about two feet above your head. As you practice breathing in this way, as you begin to include the Central Channel Breath in your repertoire of tools that you have to work with in trusting the Universe, things will change for the better.

    Over the next week, I invite you to practice the Central Channel Breath, and have trust and faith that the Universe is friendly—that benevolence is surrounding you.

    In the comments section below, please share your experiences of practicing the Central Channel Breath and of being an “inverse paranoid” who is trusting in the Universe. I love hearing from you!

    Please share your experiences of practicing the Central Channel Breath and of being an “inverse paranoid” who is trusting in the Universe. We’d love to hear from you.

  • Keep the Faith That Miracles Are Coming

    Keep the Faith That Miracles Are Coming

    Today’s Miracle Moment Is About How to Keep the Faith That Miracles Are Coming…

    Are there some miracles you’ve been wishing for for a long time? Or have you found yourself giving up some hope that miracles are coming? Well here’s a story about how you should always keep the faith that miracles are on the way. 

    Two days after Christmas last year, two fishermen in Northern Indiana were out scouting for fishing holes. They were about to pack up and head home, when they saw something shiny in the distance underneath an interstate bridge. Their curiosity got them, and they walked toward the shiny object and slowly figured out what they were seeing was a mangled truck. They got closer to the truck and one of the men went right up to the driver’s side door and pulled the airbag back and found a man right there in the seat! They assumed that he must be dead, but the fisherman put his hand on the man’s shoulder, and the man swung around and woke up! 

    The man said that he had been stuck there since the previous Wednesday, which at that point, was 6 days before that. He hadn’t been able to reach his phone because of the way he was stuck in the mangled truck, so all he could do was yell and cry out for help, but no one heard him. 

    The weather during this time had gone down 29 degrees Fahrenheit, making his chances very rare of surviving. And he survived by only drinking rainwater. He told the fishermen who found him that he had nearly given up all hope, because no one was there, and all he could hear was the sound of the water. 

    Can you imagine those 6 days, which must have felt like 6 years – not knowing if you’d survive? The local police sergeant shared that, with how low the temperatures were dropping on that 6th night, he didn’t think the man would have made it if it weren’t for the two fishermen who discovered him right on time. How’s that for a Christmas miracle?

    Here are three things to remember from that story to help you keep the faith that miracles are coming.

    First, is that the Divine works through each of us and we’re all a part of one another’s miracle stories.

    You play a part in not only your miracles, but the miracles of everyone around you. You can participate wholeheartedly by listening to your nudges and following your intuition. Maybe you get a nudge to do something kind for someone you don’t know, or to call a distant family member out of the blue. Or maybe you feel a nudge to drive a different way to work or to go to a place you don’t usually go. By following your divine curiosity, you participate in the grand miracles unfoldment that you are an important part of, whether you know it or not. 

    Next is that Delays are Not Denials.

    Just because the miracle you’re intending hasn’t shown up yet, doesn’t mean that there isn’t divine timing for it to show up. Keep holding the vision of the miracle you’re intending, and knowing that it’s possible for you. You can also lean on the intention of “This or something better.” There may be something even better than the miracle you have in mind that’s in store for you – be open to it.  

    Finally, third is that every “Now moment” has the possibility for miracles.

    If you’ve spent a lot of years doing inner work and personal growth work, and you’ve experienced some great miracles, but some still feel out of reach, you might have lost the enthusiasm and the faith that you had at the beginning of your journey. You need to reinvigorate our faith in the miraculous. Notice the miracles, big or small, that you experience every day. And when you see someone else with a miracle, you can lean on a phrase that my friend and co-founder of Your Year of Miracles Debra Poneman taught us, which is, “And that’s for me!” Start seeing everything as evidence of the miracles that are coming for you. 

    To give you even more of a boost, let’s do something we do in our Your Year of Miracles calls for our members that I call supercharging…

    1. I invite you to bring to mind a miracle or miracle that you may have given up faith on. It can be any area of life. What area needs some extra supercharging?
    2. Now that you have it in mind, we call in all of the angels, archangels, ascended masters, and all of our divine support team to surround us with their pure miracles energy.
    3. We hold up the miracles that are in the mind of each person here who’s watching or listening to this. We imagine golden rays of love encircling you and your miracles. We see you living out your miracle and experiencing greater joy, peace, gratitude, happiness, and abundance.
    4. We supercharge your miracles with deep divine love and divine energy. We hold your miracles and your intentions with love in our hearts, and we see them manifested in perfect timing, or something better. And so it is.

    Every moment has the possibility for miracles. Keep the faith and see the miracles that are all around you right now. Let me know in the comments what resonated the most from the message for you and how it felt to receive that supercharging.

    I’ll leave you with this quote from Fannie Flagg:

    “Don’t give up before the miracle happens.”

    May you have a week full of curiosity, faith, and miracles – big and small. I send you love!

    Please share with us below about your thoughts about faith and the Divine.

  • The Miracle of Giving Thanks

    The Miracle of Giving Thanks

    Today’s Miracle Moment Is About The Miracle of Giving Thanks…

    In the US, Thanksgiving is coming up, and in Canada, people celebrated Thanksgiving last month. And all sorts of holidays around the world are happening this season. This is a great time where we’re in a collective vibrational frequency of gratitude and celebration.

    I love Thanksgiving because the collective consciousness is focused on Gratitude and Gratitude is one of the highest vibrations we can tune into. Giving thanks helps us become a vibrational match for miracles.

    As we get closer to the end of the year, it’s really powerful to be in gratitude, as this helps set us up for an even more miraculous year ahead.

    Even though Thanksgiving is supposed to be focused on giving thanks, that can be hard.  It’s a time for family gatherings and not everyone is excited to go to family gatherings – there can be unhealed stuff between family members, triggers, or that family members who has that rare gift of saying things that make everyone else uncomfortable. It’s like that quote by Ram Dass that says,

    “If you think you’re enlightened, spend a week with your family.” 

    Giving thanks is powerful because what you put your attention on grows stronger. When you put your attention on what you appreciate, you get more of that.  What you appreciate, appreciates. When your attention is on what you’re grateful for, you start noticing more and more of that. And, the people in your life naturally blossom when they’re seen in that light of gratitude and appreciation.

    On the other hand, when you put your attention on what you judge, you get more of that.  if you’re focusing on what drives you crazy about someone, that’s all you start to notice about them. 

    Giving thanks and appreciation for the people in your life is a gift for you and the people in your life because it shifts the energy between you to a higher vibration.

    Here’s a great way to really apply the principle of giving thanks during your Thanksgiving or holiday gathering with family and friends. It’s called the Appreciation Feast. 

    This can shift your energy and your whole family’s energy:  

    I have been doing this with my family at Thanksgiving for 20 years. On Thanksgiving, we feast on a lot of food, but it’s this feast that has made my recent Thanksgivings awesome.

    We go around the table and appreciate one thing about each person at the table. 

    The first year we did this, we started with my Mom. I said, “Mom, something I appreciate about you is how generous you are.” Then the next person said they appreciated how funny she was. By the end of the appreciations, she was in tears. Then we moved to the next person.

    To do this, you go around the entire table one person at a time until each person is appreciated by everyone. This is such a feast!

    Maybe you think – I don’t know if my family would ever want to do that. Well, you won’t know if you don’t try. And if you start things off by expressing your appreciation for one family member, soon, everyone else will want to chime in and get involved.

    And if you’re not able to get together in person, you can even do an Appreciation Feast over Zoom or video calls.

    If you want to capture this, remember to record it via video. I promise when those people are gone, you’re going to treasure that video!

    One little tip…the first year we did our appreciation feast before the meal, while the meal was getting cold. So, we suggest you do your appreciation feast after the meal and before dessert instead.

    This is a sure way to have a most heart-opening experience of Thanksgiving.

    So, you can start the Appreciation Feast in the comments – what or who are you thankful for in your life? Let’s all be in this miraculous energy of gratitude together. And I’ll leave you with this quote from Meister Eckhart:

    “If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”

    I’m wishing you a beautiful holiday season and beyond, and sending you my love!

    Please share with us below who/what are you grateful for in your life…

  • You’re Never Too Far From Your Miracles

    You’re Never Too Far From Your Miracles

    Today’s Miracle Moment Is About You’re Never Too Far From Your Miracles…

    And this is inspired by an amazingly courageous and adventurous cat named “Rayne Beau”. Yes, his name is pronounced “rainbow.”

    Rayne Beau is a 2-and-a-half-year-old siamese cat, and his owners, Suzanne and Benny, had taken him with them on a trip to visit Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. While they were there, Rayne Beau sadly went missing. 

    Benny spent hours looking for Rayne Beau in the forest, trying to lure him back with his favorite treats and toys, but Benny had no luck finding him. Finally, the couple had to leave without their beloved cat. They were heartbroken and felt like they were abandoning him. But they never lost hope in one day reuniting with Rayne Beau. 

    And then, two months later – 61 days, to be exact – Rayne Beau was found in Roseville, California, which was actually 190 miles away from his home with Suzanne and Benny. 

    It turns out that Rayne Beau had traveled 900 miles to get there – all the way from Wyoming to Roseville.He had been found in poor health, and was taken in for a couple of nights by the woman who found him and then she took him to a local SPCA. There, they were able to identify him through his microchip and reunite him with Suzanne and Benny.

    And here’s a wonderful photo of Suzanne and Rayne Beau together.

    Suzanne and Benny were ecstatic to have Rayne Beau back. Suzanne said, “I look at him every day and am so grateful and tell him, ‘Do you know how many weeks I had been praying to see that face again?’”

    I love that story. And let’s look at a few things Rayne Beau can teach us about how to live a life full of miracles, no matter how far you feel from them.  

    First, Rayne Beau shows us the power of following our internal GPS.

    There’s no way to know how Rayne Beau found his way back to California in his 900-mile trek, but somehow, his instinct was guiding him. No matter how far away you feel now from where you want to be, you have an inner GPS that can guide you to your miracles. Following your GPS requires you to deeply listen to and trust a deeper voice within than the mind. Usually our GPS won’t show us the entire map all at once – we’re given one step at time to lead us on our way. That keeps us in the mystery and in a state of openness and trust, which is fertile soil for miracles.

    Second, Rayne Beau relied on benevolent helpers – like the woman who found him when he was in poor health, or the Animal Shelter who took him in.

    We can lean on the support of unseen benevolent helpers in each moment. You can call in your guides, ask for help from the angels, or pray for support from specific spiritual figures that you resonate with, like Mother Mary, or Ganesha, or Quan Yin. Your unseen helpers can support you by giving you guidance, sending you signs, sending helpful people to you, or many other creative ways of lining up circumstances in just the way they’re needed to support your miracles. You’ve just got to ask!

    And finally, don’t give up even when you feel you’re so far from the miracles you want.

    Poor Rayne Beau must have been very hungry, scared, and tired by the time he made it to Roseville, California all the way from Wyoming. Sometimes when we’re at our lowest, we can feel that we’re the furthest from our miracles. But actually, Rayne Beau shows us that when we’re tired and weary, our miracles can be just right around the corner. 

    Be sure to watch the video where I walk you through a short Miracles Process to support you in finding your way back home to the miracles inside of you. 

    I hope you can feel a stronger connection with your inner compass from that exercise. You can go back and repeat that video process anytime to keep strengthening that channel.

    So, I’ll leave you with a quote from an African Proverb, “To get lost is to learn the way.” Leave a comment to share how Rayne Beau the cat inspires you to never give up on your miracles. I send you love!

    Music credit: Jim Oliver “Full Moon”

    Please share with us below about your thoughts about trusting that your miracles are coming…

  • Tapping Into the Universe’s Creative Solutions

    Tapping Into the Universe’s Creative Solutions

    Today’s Miracle Moment Is About Tapping Into the Universe’s Creative Solutions…

    I recently heard a story of what an 86-year-old Japanese man named Mr Toshiyuki Kuroki did for his 79-year-old wife, Yasuko to make her happy again.

    The couple lived on a dairy farm in Japan, where they tended to a herd of 60 cows every day. When she was 52 years old, Yasuko experienced a problem with her eyes and ended up becoming blind very suddenly, within a week. 

    And as you can imagine, she was absolutely devastated. Not only did this drastically change her day to day life, but she also gave up a dream the couple had of taking a trip around Japan when they retired. Yasuko ended up shutting herself off from the world and fell into a deep depression.

    Her husband decided to get very creative about coming up with some way to bring happiness back to his blind wife.

    He came across a pink moss flower in his garden and noticed that it had a scent that was just as beautiful as it looked. He came up with the idea of planting his farm full of these beautiful pink flowers so that his wife could enjoy their wonderful fragrance. He also thought that maybe the flowers would attract people to come and visit the garden, so even if she wasn’t able to or comfortable with traveling, people could come to her. 

    Well, he spent two years building the foundation for the garden. And, his idea worked – the pink flowers bloomed all over their fields, and they lured his wife out of the house to enjoy them. People who had heard about their touching love story started coming to visit to see the couple and the beautiful pink flowers. Now, up to 7,000 visitors come to visit every year from late March to April, when the flowers are fully blooming.

    What a fabulous example of what it means to live in the Miracle Zone!

    First, is that the husband lives in what I call “the land of all possibilities.”

    That means that no matter what happens, you know that there are infinite possibilities and creative solutions available in the Universe for you. Toshiyuki wanted to bring his wife happiness. He didn’t know exactly how that would happen or what that would look like, but he started with that clear intention and with the perspective that anything is possible. That perspective keeps you open to discovering the solutions that the Universe wants to provide for you. 

    And then, he listened to his unique inspiration.

    You can imagine the lightbulb moment that went off the day he smelled the pink flowers and thought to himself – “What if I created a whole field full of these flowers? Maybe that would make her happy!” The Universe speaks to us through our intuitive hits – through those ideas that pop into our mind and bring with them a sense of excitement. Listen and pay attention to the nudges you receive. Don’t write them off – because there may be gold in them. 

    And finally, he took aligned action and put in the work day after day.

    He spent years digging, planting, weeding, watering, waiting, and taking care of the field and the flowers to support them to grow. The Miracle Zone isn’t about magical thinking – our participation is required to co-create with the Universe. And when you take aligned action, the universe will meet you more than halfway.

    Be sure to watch the video to do a process with me where you’re going to create your own Land of Possibilities in your mind – a place you can always visit to tap into the Universe’s creative solutions.

    How delicious is it to be in your Land of All Possibilities? Know that whatever came to you during that process – that is your sacred place that’s just for you. Trust that your request was received and open up to the ways the Universe speaks to you – it could be an idea that pops in your mind, or a song you hear, a sign on the highway – just pay attention and notice what resonates with you and creates a feeling of excitement.

    Miracles are a gift of the divine AND our participation is often needed! So once you get your inspired idea, take baby steps and take aligned action to bring it life. Remember the husband who spent years digging, weeding, and watering to bring his inspired idea to life. 

    So I’d love to hear how this Miracle Moment landed for you. Share in the comments what resonated the most. And I’ll leave you with this quote from Pearl S. Buck: “All things are possible until they are proved impossible and even the impossible may only be so, as of now.”

    I send you my wishes for a fabulous week!

    Music credit: Jim Oliver “Residing in Love”

    Please share with us below about your thoughts about living in the Land of All Possibilities…

  • Embracing the Storms of Life

    Embracing the Storms of Life

    Today’s Miracle Moment Is About Embracing the Storms of Life…

    If you’re going through something really challenging, it’s human nature to want to get to the other side of it as quickly as possible. Sometimes we can resist feeling the uncomfortable feelings that come up – whether they’re frustration, anger, fear, sadness… You might have heard me say before that what you resist persists. Pushing away feelings can make them even stronger, leaving you more stressed or frustrated or upset.

    We live in a culture that tends to celebrate the light and happy feelings and makes any uncomfortable feelings “bad” or wrong.

    There’s that saying, “You can’t have the rainbow without the rain.” We focus on the rainbow so much that we forget that RAIN is a miracle in itself. The rainbow is beautiful to look at AND the rain gives life to everything on our planet. 

    We don’t always know what the purpose is of the storm that we’re going through. We don’t know how it will ultimately serve us in some way. But if we approach it by trusting that we live in a benevolent universe and that life is for us rather than against us, then we can move through the storm with grace and we can open to miracles. 

    Joseph Campbell wrote: 

    “The dark night of the soul comes just before revelation. When everything is lost, and all seems darkness, then comes the new life and all that is needed.”

    Campbell said that he looked to an idea that Nietzsche shared called “the love of your fate.” The idea is that whatever happens, you trust that it’s what you ultimately need. Campbell says that if you bring love to it, you’ll find your strength to go through whatever’s happening, and you’ll be able to look back and see that these moments are actually what shaped your life for the better.

    So if you’re going through a storm, don’t try to bypass it – bring love to it. Be with the feelings that it brings up in you – even welcome them in. Because what we embrace in love dissolves.

    One way I like to practice this is through what I call the bathtub process. I imagine that I’m lying in a bathtub (or maybe I do this in the bath). I might bring in epsom salts and some essential oils and allow myself to really deeply relax. And then I welcome in whatever feeling it is that I’m struggling with. I welcome the anger, I welcome the worry. I just allow it to be – and I embrace it with love. And through accepting and loving it, it starts to naturally lighten up. And once it’s lightened, I imagine it just flowing down the drain easily with the rest of the water. 

    I invite you to do a little variation on this process with me in the video.

    This 4-minute process starts around 5:30.

    Notice if you feel a shift from that process. It could be a big shift or just a tiny one. 

    This may be a practice you’ll need to return to to keep supporting yourself. Just keep approaching the feelings that arise one by one with love. When they can loosen their grip on you, you can have more resources within you to take whatever action is needed in your life.

    So, I’ll leave you with a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh, “Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” Leave a comment to share your experience of embracing the storms of life. I send you love!

    Music Credit: Jim Oliver “Soul Heart Merge”

    Please share with us below about your experience with embracing the storms of life.

  • Turning Mistakes Into Miracles

    Turning Mistakes Into Miracles

    Today’s Miracle Moment Is About Turning Mistakes Into Miracles…

    The great Jazz Pianist Herbie Hancock tells a story about his time playing in the legendary Miles Davis’s band. Back in 1963, they were playing a show in Stuttgart, Germany. Herbie had just gotten a portable reel-to-reel tape recorder, which at the time, was the smallest portable tape recorder available in the world. Herbie wanted to use it to record their show, and to that, he had to crawl under his piano to set the microphones up. Miles didn’t realize what Herbie was doing, and he counted off the tempo to cue Herbie to start the show, but Herbie was still under the piano. 

    When Herbie doesn’t start the music, and Miles realizes that he’s under the piano, Miles puts his hand over his face and goes “UHGG.” Luckily, they were able to recover. And Herbie says that it turned into a really tight, powerful, fun innovative show that night.

    Well, that was only the first mistake Herbie made that night. Later in the show, they were playing Miles’s song, “So What.” Right in the middle, Miles was playing one of his amazing solos, and then, Herbie came in with the wrong chord. And it was really obvious that it was the wrong chord – it sounded completely out of key. So what did Miles Davis do? He took a moment to pause, and then, he played some notes that actually made Herbie’s chord sound correct. It took Herbie a minute to recollect himself before he could even touch the piano. It astounded Herbie that Miles was able to take something wrong and make it into something right with the power of the choice of notes that he played next. 

    What Herbie realized was that Miles didn’t hear the chord as a mistake – he just heard it as something that happened, and so he found something that fit the notes that were played. 

    Well, the Universe is also a great jazz musician, with the masterful ability to make something miraculous out of what you see as your wrong notes. 

    Often, viewing something as a “mistake” is where you can get stuck. You can’t see the full picture yet, so you don’t know how this “mistake” can lead to miracles. 

    The Universe wants us to learn our lessons – and that’s what we’re here on earth to do. Sometimes, mistakes are the biggest teachers. The Universe has a lot of grace for us in that process – just like Miles Davis did with Herbie Hancock. 

    If you tend to be very hard on yourself, then there’s a good chance that part of your lesson is to learn how to love and forgive yourself. Or maybe your lesson is to take responsibility for something that happened. There’s a difference between taking responsibility for your actions and going into a shame or self-doubt spiral. If you get stuck in the place of regret, shame or self-loathing, you can block the energy from flowing. Forgiveness and taking responsibility moves the energy and opens up space for miracles to occur. 

    You can also look to Harrison Owen’s Four Immutable Laws of Spirit to more deeply trust that whatever happened is exactly the way it needed to occur. They are:

    Whoever is present are the right people. Whenever it begins is the right time. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened. And when it’s over, it’s over.

    So let’s do a little process now to help you shift out of the “mistake” energy, find your lesson, and open up to the miraculous.

    First, bring to mind some situation from your life, where you feel you made some sort of a mistake that you have any regrets or shame around. It could be something recently or something from a long time ago that still has some charge on it for you. 

    Now I invite you to close your eyes and get centered with some deep breaths. I invite you, if you can, to put one hand on your heart, and the other on your belly. 

    Breathe in through your heart and exhale through your heart.  Can go deep into your belly.

    Now, you can invite your Higher Self to join you and support you in this process. This is the part of you that’s fully connected to Source, and is deeply loving, wise, and compassionate. Imagine the energy of your Higher Self being right here with you – you may feel the energy above you or surrounding you or filling you up inside, and you feel the deep love radiating from this pure energy that is the truth of who you are. 

    Ask your Higher Self to guide you in answering the following questions. 

    1. What do I need to know about this situation to have more peace?
    2. Where would it serve me to take responsibility for what happened?
    3. Where do I need to forgive myself, or let myself off the hook?
    4. What is it that I need to learn from this?
    5. How could the Universe take what I perceive as a mistake and turn it into a miracle? (And really allow yourself to imagine the beauty and grace of what that miracle feels like. Allow yourself to feel it right now.)
    6. What is my next right action to take?

    Take a few moments to allow your Higher Self to give you any more messages about this that you need. 

    And then, say Thank You to your Higher Self, and feel your Higher Self once again merging you – present and available to you all the time to give you support, love, compassion and guidance.

    You may want to write some of the insights or answers that came to you, or take some to sit with any ideas of right action that your Higher Self suggested to you. 

    And, you might get more ideas from your intuition in the days or weeks to come that will help this process to continue to unfold, so pay attention to those. 

    Remember – you don’t yet know how the universe can use your current situation and turn mistakes into miracles, so stay open to even greater miracles than you can imagine.

    I’ll leave you with this quote from… the one and only Miles Davis! He says: “Do not fear mistakes. There are none.” Leave a comment and let me know about your experience of the Universe turning mistakes into miracles. Have a beautiful week… I send you love!

    Music Credit: Jim Oliver “Your Invitation to Freedom”

    Please share with us below about your experience with turning mistakes into miracles.