Getting in the Miracle Zone for 2014
A while back, a woman came up to me after a speech and told me that each night she writes down one miracle that happened to her 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 love 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 happened to be the final day of a speaking trip to Panama. Early in the morning, the same wonderful man who’d driven me to my speech venue during the three days I’d been in the country was taking me to the airport. Since my Spanish is limited, our conversations had also been limited. However, that morning my sister, who speaks beautifully fluent Spanish, was 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 know that I’d been escorted by such an experienced bodyguard.
Hours later, after my long flight back to San Francisco, I took a taxi home from the airport and met another delightful driver. He had just moved a year ago to the U.S. from Russia, where, he revealed, 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 month. 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 one of my happiness articles in an issue of Ladies Home Journal with a picture of Sally Field on the cover. I laughed in delight 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. Or, if you’d like to learn how to begin to live in what I call “the Miracle Zone,” where miracles are just the order of the day, join me on January 6th for my free global online seminar The 3 Secrets to Living a Life Filled with Miracles.
Here’s to a miraculous 2014 for us all!
Marci Shimoff
Marci Shimoff is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a world-renowned transformational teacher, and an expert on happiness and success. She’s authored the international bestsellers, Love for No Reason and Happy for No Reason, and co-authored six titles in the Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul series. Marci’s also a featured teacher in the movie and book The Secret. With more than 15 million books sold, she’s one of the bestselling female nonfiction authors of all time. Marci’s current passion is sharing with people how to live in the miracle zone through The 3 Secrets to Living a Life Filled with Miracles.