People often wonder how happiness is found. How do some people stay joyful perpetually? They say it is a miracle or just unusual. To get the answers to these questions and learn a little more on this topic, let us answer some thought-provoking questions on this topic.
Qs: What is a miracle?
Ans: Pretty much everything in our lives can be defined as a miracle. If you are observant enough, astute enough, and most importantly, grateful enough; you’d agree that there are so many miracles around us. Even the fact that somewhere somehow we met the people in our lives, is in itself a miracle. The fact that we’re born in a certain place, have learned certain things, have had particular experiences is miraculous.
You may not realise the importance of these events at that particular period of time. You may feel that the people you’re surrounded by or the situations you are in, are not necessarily the positive ones. How do you know that they’re not preparing you for the rest of your life? How do you know they aren’t setting you up where you can build a better future on that? If you look at everything as a miracle, life in general becomes so much easier. What people don’t realise at times is that the things that are bad, are actually miraculous because they’re making you ready for a more brilliant future.
What can be the definition of a miracle? All of those small things that could have been different but they just happened to be the way they are so that everything else works out. Miracles are like small pieces of puzzles. We don’t see how they fit but some-how they do. The fact that I am surrounded by amazing people, to me, is a miracle. The fact that I met these people when we should have never met, yet arguably we crossed paths and connected some-how is a miracle. The fact that somewhere along the line among billions of people, I get to do something I love, is a miracle. To me, everything is a miracle. There is no particular definition.
Qs: If you took everything as a miracle then would you become complacent and stop working towards something bigger and better because now you always feel comfortable about what you have?
Ans: I am not telling you to become complacent and comfortable with what you have. Don’t you want to have bigger miracles? Don’t you want to have more, become more? We ourselves are miracles.
I was born 14 years after my brother, when every doctor had told my parents that they would never have another child. I am a living miracle. I was never supposed to be born.
When I had my car accident, the first responders had pretty much radioed each other that there would be no survivors on seeing my car from afar. So, I was never even supposed to be left alive. Here I am. I am a walking-talking miracle. Does that mean I become complacent about my life? I have a greater appreciation for my life because of all the miracles I embrace and in fact notice. The fact that you can see a sunrise when somebody else cannot because they have lost their eyesight is in itself a miracle.
The question is, What are you actually going to accomplish now that you have your eyesight? Are you going to be the guiding light for someone who if not literally than is figuratively blind?
I had a very hard time appreciating my own work. I used to feel that everything I say and do is something that everybody already knows. This changed when I started coming across people who said that my podcast changed their life or my classes changed their life. That made me pause and think. I was looking at the things I could do, say or the things I have been taught but I was not seeing. You can’t lead if you don’t see.
The point of being a miracle yourself is to leave the world in a better place for someone else or lead them to a better path. That’s what miracles do; they take you to a better road. The question remains, are you observant enough to see?
Qs: The road to miracles is not straight. How do you recognise these small things that are miraculous?
Ans: Just like I suggest practicing gratitude because happiness is a habit; you have to notice the small things in your life. You happen to cross the right path with somebody. You happen to sit in a plane with somebody and their life story makes you have a greater appreciation for your life. They tell you something and it is an epiphany where you think you can use that idea.
An example is that my classes started because one of the women at my children’s school happened to mention that I should be teaching public speaking and leadership. She just happened to say that sentence. At that time, I said I can’t teach because I am not a teacher. She actually pursued the idea and called me the next day. She proceeded to persuade me.
What if she would not have bothered? The fact that a perfect stranger took interest in me had a large impact on my future. Isn’t that miraculous? If you start noticing everything as a miracle, everything you see changes. What you appreciate and have gratitude for, colours everything in your life. I am a firm believer that the more gratitude we have, the more miracles we see.
Qs: How do you have so much gratitude all the time?
Ans: I have always been the kind of person that even the small things make me very happy. Even when I was little, my father bought me a candy bar every day. Even though I wouldn’t get to eat it because my mother would take it away, I just used to get very excited. Forget the candy bar, I loved the ritual of walking with my dad to the store, holding hands and then he would ask me to buy whatever I want. I must have been four or five but I still remember that vividly.
I wasn’t allowed to buy anything more because my mother had warned me against it. Even when we returned, my mother would be standing at the door and would take away the candy. She had a jar where she would put all the candy bars. Then, you know what she would do? Whenever we had guests, she would give away my candy bars. I didn’t concentrate on that candy bar. I loved the fact that my father would remove five minutes from his day to put a smile on my face.
Years later, when I was older; I asked him about that. I had realised that nobody else’s father was doing that. He said that the fact that he could walk with me, skip across the road and see me happily smiling, made his entire day. Think about the fact that I remember it more than forty years later and I am talking about it. You must genuinely notice the small things and be grateful enough to not look at what you don’t have. You are getting something without asking for it and there are people that genuinely care about you without you knowing. There are people who are rooting for you.
I have a facebook friend who I don’t really know but she is always posting funny memes and videos about animals.
Unfortunately, she has lost her parents and has been posting about that recently. I don’t know her, so I didn’t write on her personal post. I thought that’d be inappropriate because there should be boundaries. As I was reading one of the posts about the death of a loved one the other day, it spoke about not concentrating on their death but celebrating the fact that they lived. It said that we should not focus on the loss but the love you received. For whatever reason, I tagged her.
This is a woman I have never met. More than likely, I will never meet. Yet, she was on my mind. This is what I mean when I say you don’t know how many people think of you and are rooting for you. You just don’t know it yet. There may come a time when miraculously our paths cross.
The gratitude lies in having faith. To have faith that there are bigger and better things out there.
If you learn to look at things in a different way, the way you see things will change.
