Success Coaching: Do You Believe In Miracles?

Do You Believe in Miracles?

 

Welcome to this special holiday episode that gives you a revealing glimpse into my life and allows you to share in the wondrous joy of miracles! As always, I try to give you a very personal gift each week.  In fact, it's the only gift that any of us can ever truly give another and that’s the gift of ourselves.  When you invite another into the intimate inner workings of your life, as I often do in this podcast, you give the gift of your presence by allowing your fellow human beings to experience a genuine connection that fills the deep loneliness felt by so many during the holiday season and throughout the year.

 

I hope you'll receive my gift to you by allowing me to open my heart as never before and, in the spirit of giving, to open your heart to me in return.  My question to you this week while simple is also sublime. So... do you believe in miracles?  Well, I sincerely hope you do but if you don't, perhaps you will by the end of my story.

 

I'll begin that story at the start of this year which has turned out to be probably the single most challenging year of my life.  I can say, without a doubt, that this year has had more stress and strife then any I can remember.  As a coach, there's one thing I know for sure about challenge and that is that challenge has a twin.  Whenever life brings difficulty, it also brings opportunity for growth.

 

This year began with totaling my car in a freak ice storm and injuring my leg to the extent that I can still see the bruise 10 months later.  I followed that accident with getting involved in a business endeavor with what turned out to be an unscrupulous character that led me to an unresolved legal dispute.  A few months later, I found myself unexpectedly pregnant and unprepared for how another child would impact my closest relationships, my career, my stamina, my living situation and the rest of my life. Finally, two weeks ago my house was flooded by the second rainiest day in Seattle history that dumped about 12 inches of rain in less than 48 hours.  My old electric furnace and water heater were under a foot of water which forced me to pack up and leave my house for an entire week.

 

Of course there were dozens of other incidents and difficulties to endure all along the way.  The chaos of my life this past year has felt utterly beyond my control.  And yet what's within my control is how I respond to the seemingly incessant demands placed upon me financially, mentally, emotionally and physically.

 

Needless to say this has been a time of unprecedented tears.  I’ve cried a river in my ongoing attempt to regain some semblance of equilibrium. Collectively, this unimaginably trying period in my life has created more financial pressure on me than I've ever felt before. To say that I've been humbled by this experience would be a real understatement.  And yet this year of incessant challenge has forced me to fully integrate and demonstrate the wisdom I share with you each week.  There's an expression which says that teachers teach what they need to learn and I'm certainly no exception to that truth.

 

Each week as I prepare this podcast for you, I'm aware that I'm not coaching you but me.  At no time has this ever been more apparent.  At no time have I ever been called more loudly to live by and express what I know to be so; that my ultimate prosperity is not a measure of mere money and that my true worth does not correlate to any account balance. 

 

You see, success is not defined by or limited to the evidence we so often gather to support or deny one's value. Why not, because evidence is external and subject to constant change.  The stuff outside of me and you can be altered in an instant. Just turn on the television and you'll see people's entire lives being burned to the ground or obliterated by some unforeseen and catastrophic event. As you know, shit happens.

 

But, what does not undergo consistent fluctuation is that which is internal.  It’s the stuff of you, your human and spiritual substance.  And through it all, through overcoming my fears, through standing up for myself and defending my boundaries, through the decision to embrace the new life wanting expression through me, I’ve come to have the most intimate relationship with the beautiful nature that IS my true self! I won't pretend for an instant that this has been an easy process.  But... I also won't deny that my experiences have had a brilliant silver lining with such effulgence as to disappear both doubt and darkness.

 

Two weeks ago as I prepared the episode about the power of "Yes!", I experienced what I would call lucid writing.  If any of you are writers yourself, then you know just what I mean.  As I wrote the episode on saying yes unconditionally, I was clearly aware of my own thoughts and words as if I were another person watching myself write.  As I put the words down, I had such deep awareness of the fact that, despite the incredible stresses I've undergone and the mounting evidence of apparent failure, saying yes to my life was absolutely necessary.

 

To operate out of the trust in my heart and not out of the fear in my head has consistently called me to embrace of a faith in my own divine nature as never before.  This is it.  This is my big, hairy, wart-covered opportunity to embody my own, private gospel. So saying yes under the current circumstances of my life means that I agree to the profound obligation to allow miracles without knowing how or when or why they’ll take place.  Allowing miracles means surrendering doubt, letting go of IF they’ll happen and embracing THAT they’ll happen.

 

A miracle is an object of wonder.  And by definition, wonder is a marvelous thing.  Occupying the realm of wonder demands unyielding fidelity to the yet unknown or unexpressed capacity you contain.  To live in a mindset of miracles means to live among the most powerful forces known to man: Hope, love, trust and faith.  None of those forces are tangible and yet they collectively empower all that is or ever will be good.

 

And it was from that Almighty place we call wonder that I wrote my essay about the absolute power of YES.  More than a thousand words spilled out of me quickly and effortlessly that day.  I concluded my writing for the week while totally occupying both my higher self and the awareness that miracles can and do take place in the most unexpected and life-changing ways.

 

No more then five minutes after finishing my work, I picked up the phone to retrieve messages from my cold, abandoned house.  I received a call from a woman, a former student in a class I had given months ago.  Her message said that some people she knew were looking to personally help someone affected by the recent rainstorm rather than giving money to some unknown charity.

 

And I admit to you freely that this call and financial support came from the most unpredictable and unlikely source my mind could have ever imagined.  And that's the take away from this episode.  I was not in my head and therefore not constrained by the limits of who might come to my aid.  I was instead in complete possession of my heart from which miracles are made manifest.

 

I had, through such trying circumstances, been brought to that unfamiliar place where ego was stripped away and replaced with great humility.  I had asked repeatedly for help in any form, in any quantity and from any possible source. I even released the notion that I had to work for or earn what resources would come my way.  I was probably as detached from the how of how miracles happen than I ever have been. It's a difficult place to describe but still, I know you know what it's like.  I know you know because faith, like love, comes from some unseen place to encourage your becoming in the most beautiful way.

 

The powerfully affirming and miraculous phone call I received that day powerfully fortified my relationship with the invisible.  And the more I remained in gratitude and possibility, the more miracles unfolded before me.  Two days later I received another call from another person who I'd met just once who also offered his generous and selfless support to me without hesitation or expectation. It was enough to repair my furnace so my son and I could return home.

 

When I heard the words come out of his mouth, all I could do was cry.  And in an amazing, ironic twist, I heard my own words of wisdom reflected back upon me by this man.  You see, he too listens to this podcast and he had heard the episode about the power of Yes.  And he reminded me that I was in fact in the place of saying yes to my life without condition.  When I heard him say those words, they delivered me to a point of unspeakable gratitude.  I managed to eke out “Thank you" through my tears.

 

And it is to you, yes you, that I offer my heartfelt gratitude.  It is my gift to share both my trials and my triumphs with all who are really ready to receive my offering.  Thank you for allowing me the privilege of sharing myself with you.  Thank you for giving me a reason to rise above difficulty and allow my light to shine; to connect each week with the best expression of me in a way that encourages the best expression of you.

 

May you celebrate the miracle of your life this very day.  May you savor the peace of prosperity that I offer you for ever and ever and always.

 

Until next time, I leave you with abundant peace.