Notice Miracles

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There’s a quote often attributed to Albert Einstein that I’ve always loved: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

Einstein was onto something. There are indeed two ways to live, and one can help pull you through when life gets tough. Little miracles are everywhere, and the practice of looking for them is one of the most effective ways to bring ourselves hope.

Here’s what I have noticed in the practice of noticing miracles: if I’m in awe of the miracles around me, then the minutiae of my worries starts to dissolve. If I stop to consider the miracle of gravity that’s keeping me on this Earth, or the beautiful flower growing out of a crack in the sidewalk, or even the computer in my pocket that I can use to hear the voices of my loved ones, then I notice more and more miracles.

When we feel hopeless or in a dark place, it seems like everything is bad. That’s when our mind goes into high gear, telling us things like: “it’s never going to work out for me” or “bad things always happen to me.”

The practice of finding miracles opens up the possibility that everything in fact isn’t horrible, that there are amazing things beyond explanation happening all around us.

We can begin to challenge our negative thoughts by saying: “hey, I’m a part of this world full of miracles, and amazing things are happening in my life too.” By signaling to your brain that you’re looking for tangible evidence of good things—the everyday miracles that are beyond our imagination—you train it to keep looking. This is how we help ourselves find hope. Then we notice that things start to feel better.

Sometimes our anxiety, stress, pain, and grief distract us from the miracles around us. The daily pressures of life can keep us moving at a pace where we forget to notice all the numerous miracles that cross our paths.

Often we just need a reminder that we can still see miracles. Which means we still have hope.

When waves of stress overwhelm you, take a deep breath and notice the miracles of nature all around us: our complicated, amazing human bodies, the gravity that never fails us, the air we breathe.

We are surrounded by miracles.

It is up to us to pay attention, and let them work their magic.

TRY THIS

Take some time to look around you today. Can you find examples of small miracles—things that have occurred without a logical explanation? Maybe you even try making a list of those miracles to come back to during times when you need a reminder that there’s always hope. Here are some examples:

  • Your heart beating

  • The sunrise and sunset

  • The talents and gifts people were born with

  • The food we eat

  • The beauty of artwork

  • The technologies that make life easier

  • Flowers and plants

  • The sound of birds

  • All the colors around us

  • The friends we’ve met

  • The children we create

  • The love we have experienced

At a time when there is so much sadness in our world, it is our duty to notice the miracles around us. When we feel a sense of awe, we influence others to sense awe, and when we begin to collectively live in awe, miracles are noticed everywhere.

To survive hard times, notice the miracles.

You are miraculous,