Simply Blessed » Miracles

Today

heartsdeesire — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:11:17 +0000

The ordinary miracles begin. Somewhere
a signal arrives: “Now,” and the rays
come down. A tomorrow has come. Open
your hands, lift them: morning rings
all the doorbells; porches are cells for prayer.
Religion has touched your throat. Not the same now,
you could close your eyes and go on full of light.

And it is already begun, the chord
that will shiver glass, the song full of time
bending above us. Outside, a sign:
a bird intervenes; the wings tell the air,
“Be warm.” No one is out there, but a giant
has passed through town, widening streets, touching
the ground, shouldering away the stars.

~William Stafford~
William Tell: Poems by William Stafford

Living Miracles

heartsdeesire — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 20:07:36 +0000

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth.” Thich Nhat Hanh

Sometimes I forget I live miracles every day but I’m never all that far from remembering. Fingers typing, wind a’blowing outside my window, leaves a’falling. Then stillness, followed by the sounds of a backyard swollen stream. Eyes to see it with, ears to hear it, fingers to touch.

In one conscious breath I can propel myself to any place I want. Today I am the spirit of a babe, without judgment or perspective even. It’s all new and shiny. It’s all a miracle. I am a miracle living inside of miracles.

Now — I’ll return to the daily tasks of cleaning up cat throw up (it’s all over the house!), doing laundry, paying bills, washing dishes. I get to do that. I get to live inside a miracle where there are cats and warm water to clean our dishes, our clothes. I get to enter and be a part of this beautiful dance, the exchange of resources.

I won’t expect miracles today. No … today I will live them.

G.K. Chesterton Wisdom

heartsdeesire — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 10:03:44 +0000

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Praise should be the permanent pulsation of the soul.

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.

The way to love anything is to realize it may be lost.

Thanks are the highest form of thought. Gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.

…we are made to be astonished.

A man in peril can only save his life by risking it.

The worshipper never feels taller than when he bows.

Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.

The most astonishing thing about miracles is that they happen.

There is a road from the eye to heart that does not go through the intellect.

It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun, and every evening “Do it again” to the moon.

Do Nothing

heartsdeesire — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 05:23:37 +0000

Image by Beth!

It was April Fool’s Day and the Universe was having its way with me. I was seated at my desk, when I was startled by a noise to my left. It was my cat, the littlest of my cats, maybe a 5 pounder. She was on the window screen, spread eagle, holding on by all four paws. The only problem, she was on the outside of the screen and it was a nice drop below her since she was two stories above the ground.

My heart pounding, I asked to no one in particular, since I was alone: what do I do?! And the answer that came clearly was “do nothing”. I did nothing. I watched her let go one paw at a time. At the point that she was dangling by one last paw, I knew then I had to turn away. Turn away both literally and figuratively. I had to look elsewhere so that I wouldn’t give myself to the unwanted conclusion, the worst case scenario.

I heard a thump. I walked up to the screen and peered through it. I don’t know how it happened. There really should have been only one place for her to land and that was straight down. A few feet to her side is a jutting out of the house, I have no idea how she swung over there but she did. The physics, logistics of it make no sense. There she stood looking up at me. Next, I did do something – I removed the screen and pulled her in!

This was one of those love notes from the Field. It presents itself as an unusual occurrence but hidden within it, is instruction. Information, guidance or direction that is relevant to something going in our lives right now. Sometimes these unusual occurrences take the form of a problem that we get lost in and then lose access to that guidance and information. The Field is in constant conversation with us, met with non-resistance, so much can be revealed.

In the case of what happened here, I was waiting to hear whether I would be approved for something I was really, really wanting. I wondered – should I do more, should I say more? I also remembered in the past when I had been denied the very thing I was now waiting to hear, might this time I be approved.

The love note from the Field was, this thing you are wanting … do nothing. But there’s more, the rest of that phrase is do nothing and everything will be done. I think that is a Buddhist quote. Yes, everything will be done with a certain provision, that I wasn’t giving myself to unwanted conclusions or worst case scenarios. I took the guidance and rested in: do nothing *and* do not give myself to unwanted conclusions. Then … everything will be done. In good time, the approval did come.

The Field/Universe/God/Source/Spirit will bend over backwards to surprise and delight us in ways that beat all odds, even ways that seem to bend the laws of logistics. It loves to show off for us. And what it says to me most of all, is that we are never alone, even when we are “physically” alone, we are heard, we are answered. All that remains is that we open the door and give right of way to an efficiency and a resourcefulness that is far greater than our own.

World Full of Miracles

heartsdeesire — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:10:34 +0000

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This world is full of miracles.

They stand in shining silence next to every dream of pain and suffering.

They are the dream’s alternative, the choice to be the dreamer, rather than deny the active role in making up the dream.

The body is released because the mind acknowledges ‘this is not done to me, but I am doing this.’

And thus the mind is free to make another choice instead.

~ A Course in Miracles ~

Letting It Happen

heartsdeesire — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:10:36 +0000

{“Surrendering” by Freydoon Rassouli}

“You cannot wake yourself.
You can let yourself be awakened.”

~A Course in Miracles

I like the emphasis here on letting. Not forcing but allowing.
And then an interesting synonym for “let” is: sit still for. This
is to suggest that to let something come about requires no
action on our part except perhaps a releasing of individual will
and a resting in stillness. No forcing, no action. Just resting.
Stand still and allow, let the Universe support you.

This theme is also found in the The Field Center studies.
Here we find the Four Noble Truths:

1) Anything can happen.
2) You can’t make it happen.
3) You can let it happen.
4) If you let it happen to make it happen, it won’t happen.*

Interesting paradox isn’t it: if you let it happen to make it happen,
it won’t happen. That is because the letting entailed in making
something happen is just another method of forcing the individual
will, albeit tying it up in a sophisticated bow.

This helps explain how sometimes when we find ourselves “at
the end of our rope”, an answering soon follows. Why? because
finally personal will has been surrendered. We have ceased to
bang anything into place, we have even come to the conclusion
that we don’t have all or even any of the answers. In this state
of surrender and uncertainty, we have lost our grip on forcing
our will and have entered the portal of willingness. A willing-
ness to finally concede that we don’t have the answers; we can’t
make anything happen and a corresponding receptivity to the
creative force of the Universe. And miraculously it seems, at the
moment we are literally brought to our knees in surrender, answers
soon follow and manifestations appear just at the 11th hour.

So then it would behoove me to let go of my headstrong reasonings
that I have any of the answers, to let go of any forcing or trying to
make something happen. To rest in that sweet spot where I don’t
stop caring about what I want. On the contrary, I care deeply but
I now have the wisdom to know that an entire Universe can work it’s
magic far better than anything little me could possibly bang into place.
May that wisdom deepen in me so that I no longer have to be at the
end of my rope for answers to be let in.

*©www.fieldcenter.org

Easter Miracle

heartsdeesire — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:29:06 +0000

As your resident purveyor of feel good news on the planet :) – I found this today:

By Chris Umpierre, The (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Press

FORT MYERS, Fla. — A tragedy thankfully didn’t turn into a disaster Sunday when a passenger successfully landed a small airplane at Southwest Florida International Airport after the pilot had a seizure 20 minutes after takeoff.

The pilot died before the plane landed.

The Beechcraft King Air two-engine turboprop plane, with five people on board, was flying from Marco Island to Jackson, Miss., when the pilot was stricken for unknown reasons.

Neither the pilot’s nor the passenger’s names were released by authorities.

Although the passenger who eventually landed the plane was a licensed pilot, he wasn’t certified to fly a high-performance turboprop aircraft and had never flown a King Air plane, according to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

A Fort Myers air traffic controller, whose name also wasn’t released, talked the man through the landing by calling a friend in Connecticut who was familiar with King Airs.

“We’ve had situations where passengers land airplanes before, but this is the first time I actually heard a controller actually tell the passenger to push this button and turn this knob,” said Steve Wallace, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers in Miami. “It’s a heck of an Easter story.”

Wallace was working in the Miami air traffic control center when his air controllers couldn’t reach the plane’s pilot at 2 p.m. Sunday. The Miami center deals with planes at high altitude — 10,000 or more feet — in South Florida.

“We tried a couple times and didn’t hear anything,” Wallace said. “Then all of a sudden, we hear a passenger say, ‘This is November 55 Niner Delta Whisky and my pilot is passed out. We need help now.’”

Despite dealing with 15 other planes in the air at the time, the Miami air traffic control center helped the man disengage autopilot, turn the plane around and descend to Fort Myers.

Fort Myers air traffic controllers then helped him land the plane thanks to an assist from a Connecticut pilot. The man in Connecticut pulled out a King Air manual and read off a checklist for landing, which the Fort Myers air traffic controller then relayed to the passenger-turned-pilot.

“The passenger was a certified pilot, but not in this plane, so he needed this help,” said Alex Caldwell, spokeswoman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. “It’s not the like driving a Ford Focus and an F-150. There’s a big difference with planes.”

Wallace said the passenger deserves all the credit for the safe landing.

“I was watching him on the radar and he was able to hold the airplane level, make the turn and land on his first shot,” Wallace said.

“When he landed, our heroes over here got a nice applause and a pat on the back. It’s not often controllers fly plane by proxy.”

The plane, which was built in 1982, is owned by White Equipment Leasing in Archibald, La. according to Federal Aviation Administration records. The owner couldn’t be reached for comment.

“This could have had a truly horrible outcome,” Caldwell said. “It’s a real Easter miracle.”

Miracle

heartsdeesire — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:31:01 +0000

Listen!

Do you hear it?
I do.
I can feel it.
I expect a miracle is coming.
It has set loose this restlessness
inside of me.

Expect it.
Dream about it.
Give birth to it in your being.
Know! Something good
is coming down the line.
Finding its way to you
like all things find their way
to god’s children.

Listen!

~Jewel~
A Night Without Armor

The Wise Heart

heartsdeesire — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:34:42 +0000

1. See the inner nobility and beauty of all human beings.

2. Compassion is our deepest nature. It arises from our interconnection with all things.

3. When we shift attention from experience to the spacious consciousness that knows, wisdom arises.

4. Recognize the mental states that fill consciousness. Shift from unhealthy states to healthy ones.

5. Our ideas of self are created by identification. The less we cling to ideas of self, the freer and happier we will be.

6. Our life has universal and personal nature. Both dimensions must be respected if we are to be happy and free.

7. Mindful attention to any experience is liberating. Mindfulness brings perspective, balance and freedom.

8. Mindfulness of body allows us to live fully. It brings the healing wisdom and freedom.

9. Wisdom knows what feelings are present without being lost in them.

10. Thoughts are often one-sided and untrue. Learn to be mindful of thought instead of being lost in it.

11. There is a personal and a universal unconscious. Turning awareness to the unconscious brings understanding and freedom.

12. The unhealthy patterns of our personality can be recognized and transformed into a healthy expression of our natural temperament.

13. There are both healthy desires and unhealthy desires. Know the difference. Then find freedom in their midst.

14. If we cling to anger or hatred, we will suffer. It is possible to respond strongly, wisely and compassionately without hatred.

15. Delusion misunderstands the world and forgets who we are. Delusion gives rise to all unhealthy states. Free yourself from delusion and see the wisdom.

16. Pain is inevitable. Suffering is not. Suffering arises from grasping. Release grasping and be free of suffering.

17. Be mindful of intention. Intention is the need that creates our future.

18. What we repeatedly visualize changes our body and our consciousness. Visualize freedom and compassion.

19. What we repeatedly think shapes our world. Out of compassion, substitute healthy thoughts for unhealthy ones.

20. The power of concentration can be developed through inner training. Concentration opens consciousness to profound dimensions of healing and understanding.

21. Virtue and integrity are necessary for genuine happiness. Guard your integrity with care.

22. Forgiveness is both necessary and possible. It is never too late to find forgiveness and begin again.

23. There is no separation between inner and outer. Self and other. Tending ourselves, we tend the world. Tending the world, we tend ourselves.

24. The middle way is found between all opposition. Rest in middle and find well-being wherever you are.

25. Release opinions, free yourself from views. Be open to mystery.

26. A peaceful heart gives birth to love. When love meets suffering, it turns to compassion. When love meets happiness, it turns to joy.

Ordinary Miracles

heartsdeesire — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 21:29:44 +0000

I have often heard it said: take time to smell the roses. Take time is an
interesting phrase, isn’t it? As if we could take it, steal it, lose it or the many
other things we associate with “time”.

And actually I digress because what I really want to talk about is not the roses
and not time but ordinary miracles. I would like to fill my day with more moments
of recognizing ordinary miracles. Yes they can be smelled yet also touched, seen,
heard, witnessed, enjoyed and reveled in.

I want to celebrate ordinary miracles. The breath that is breathing me right now, door
knobs and door ways to thresholds to new possibilities to warmed skin, a warmed
home. Wagging tails, purring bodies of fur and my daughter calling me “Momma”.
Tips of fingers flying across a keyboard, the miracle of touch. And this avenue through
which I communicate and explore new ways to be in relationship with the world, with
*you*, the reader. The spoken word, language and its many artful avenues.

Yes, today I want to indulge and frolic in moving consciously through moment upon
moment of countless, eternally expanding ordinary miracles! This world is literally
overflowing and brimming with them. Oh, what a joy to really know this to be true!

Love to all, Bethie