Gratitude for Your Curiosity and Trust
I love that you kept reading even after seeing the title! You didn’t assume it’s impossible to create a miracle. You’re so brave and hopeful! Let’s jump into this DIY miracle adventure together!
AI Confirms Our Suspicions
Most people think a holiday miracle is something that a higher power has to create. Even the artificial intelligence app I asked thought so. I asked Chat.gpt, a “large language model trained by OpenAI” how it would define a Christmas miracle. It confirmed out belief, saying:
“A Christmas miracle is a special event or occurrence that is considered to be miraculous or supernatural in nature, and is often associated with the celebration of Christmas. These miracles may take many different forms, such as the birth of Jesus Christ, the appearance of an angel or other divine messenger, or the miraculous healing of a person in need. In many cases, Christmas miracles are seen as a sign of God’s love and presence in the world, and they can serve as a source of hope and inspiration for people of all faiths.”
I think we can agree that this kind of miracle is not something we can create. But what if there is a different kind of miracle that anyone can create and that can change your life as radically as the divine kind in the above description?
We Interrupt This Blog For a Miraculous Announcement!
As a bonus side note, I have a miracle happening right now! My cat is curled up NEXT to my keyboard, not walking ON it! We’ve come to an arrangement that I will give him room to be nearby and he will not wreak havoc on my projects. Let’s take a moment to celebrate that small miracle of communication and feline generosity!
We Now Return to Our Scheduled Blogging….
When I help folks with tapping and using curiosity to move through their challenges, one of the things that happens is that they start to see their challenge differently.
First, it loses its charge – the emotional energy that thinking about the situation creates in their bodies. Reducing the charge also often means that a physical pain eases up.
Once it’s less painful (emotionally and/or physically) to consider, my clients start to ask new questions about the situation. And, of course, doing something new leads to new results! More often than not, they start to see other ways to look at the same situation.
Without the pain of the situation pushing them into a corner, they can start to see the situation with more compassion, more kindness, and more grace toward themselves and toward the other folks involved.
When they find a perspective that feels like relief, peace, or even gratitude, we focus on that and bring it more deeply into their bodies. We want that to become the super highway belief/perspective so that they can move away from the painful old story and really lean into a perspective that serves them better.
Can you think of a situation that causes you pain? Does it seem impossible that you could change your story about it? Would you think it’s a miracle to feel peaceful or even hopeful about it? If you can see how hard it is to shift it, wouldn’t it feel miraculous to have a new feeling about it? To discover a loving approach you can take? Wouldn’t it be AMAZING to create that shift yourself?
More Input from the AI
I also asked Chat.gpt this question: “How could a change of perspective be seen as a miracle?” They brilliantly replied with the following:
“A change of perspective can be seen as a miracle in the sense that it can lead to a profound shift in a person’s understanding of a situation or event. For example, if someone is struggling with a difficult problem or situation and is unable to see a way forward, a change of perspective can provide them with a new understanding of the situation that allows them to find a solution. This can be seen as a kind of miracle because it allows the person to overcome a seemingly insurmountable obstacle and find a way forward.”
A simple example of this changing from asking “Why is this happening to me?” to “Why is this happening for me?” This change of one simple word can really shift your thoughts about a situation and bring significant relief.
What if A Course In Miracles Is Right?
Perhaps the AI is a student of A Course In Miracles? One of the key beliefs of students of the Course is that a change in perception is itself a miracle. Others believe that the change in perception is not the actual miracle, but it opens up a path for new loving behaviors; so the miracle is actually the new behaviors that bring more Love into a situation or relationship.
Maybe it’s not important to name which part of the process is the miracle. Perhaps once the perception has shifted and more Love is achieved, maybe all we need is to feel the relief and gratitude of the miracle? The Course calls the skill to make these shifts miracle-mindedness.
It can be shifts in perceptions about painful relationships. Or it can seem more mundane than that. For instance, I just saw a Ted Talk that was showing how changing their perspective on laundry and other care tasks saved someone’s life. What?! The speaker was sharing that shifting from believing that there is a “right” way to do things like folding your laundry or doing the dishes to believing that you can do them (or not do them) in the ways that serve you best can be life changing. Making care tasks morally neutral can lighten your load when you are already fully weighted down…and it can show you a way to move forward. Sounds like a miracle to me! Here’s the link to the talk if you want to get more of the scoop on that miracle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1O_MjMRkPg
So HOW Do We Actually Create Miracles?
As mentioned above (and also in prior blogs), there are lots of ways to lower the charge on an emotional and/or physical pain so that we can create the space in our bodies, hearts, and minds to shift our perception of a situation and bring more Love to it.
I’ve described some of them in prior blogs – using tapping, body work, deep breathing, curiosity, and other mind-body techniques that can identify and address the feeling in our bodies that are related to an issue and help release them from our cells.
I recommend trying as many different approaches as you need to so that you can feel that shift. Trust that you can find one that will work for you!
Once you have lowered your emotional and/or physical pain enough, you can start asking new questions about the situation and see what comes up (you just think about the questions or you can use each as a journal prompt). Some questions might include the following:
- What if it’s safe to find a new perspective on this solution?
- What if it’s safe for me to let go of some of this pain and allow in more Love?
- What if I can see how I can bring more Love into this situation?
- Who would I be if I allowed myself to Love in this situation?
- What would my life look like if I left this situation in the past?
- How would it feel to be able to move toward more peace and more hope?
- What if it’s safe to forgive myself and others in this situation?
When you answer some of the above questions, other questions will naturally come up. Your brain may also try to lead you back to the old path toward the pain. Gently thank it for wanting to keep you safe by keeping old patterns handy. It’s totally normal to fall back into old perceptions and behaviors – after all, they’ve kept you safe for a long time (and by “safe” I mean that you are able to read this blog so you are at least safe enough for that!).
Once you’ve honored/thanked your brain for trying to keep you safe, turn your mind back toward the feeling you really want and lean into it a little more so that your brain can strengthen that new desired neural pathway.
Focus on the answers to the above questions that feel aligned with Love. Follow the path of those thoughts to inspiration about the next actions/behaviors you might be able to take to bring more Love to the situation.
You Get to Choose
Once you identify new behaviors, you get to decide if/when/how much you might want to actually do them. Keep whatever boundaries you need to keep to stay safe in any situation. Then take any actions that you know in your gut are the next best things for you to do. Your body has the answers – so just ask it! See this prior blog for learning how to get answers from your body.
When you take the actions/implement the behaviors you’ve chosen, pay attention to the shift in the dynamic of the situation. As you find it feeling better, more engaged with Love, celebrate that new feeling! That will enhance your likelihood of jumping onto that neural pathway more easily in other situations. No need to reinvent the neural pathways over and over…just strengthen the ones you like and turn them into your Miracle-Mindedness Super Highway!
Share your stories of your miracles so that others can celebrate with you! They may also be inspired and want to create their own miracles. When it comes to miracles and Love, I’m a big believer in “more is better.” So let’s get miracle making and share about our successes!
Reach out to me for more on tapping, forgiveness, and curiosity and/or reach out to a counselor if you feel like you need more support through the hard stuff.
Thank you for all you are and all you do to bring more Love and peace to this world!
