“Ask yourself how you can transform this very moment into something radiant and radical and spectacular.”—Elizabeth Gilbert
I often share “You are never gonna believe this” stories here on the blog. And while an eerily spectacular tale recently dropped into my inbox (it involved a completely empty cabinet that suddenly filled with necessary medical supplies), I’ve been thinking more about the gazillion little miracles I walk by every day.
For the past week, I’ve been hosting some of the folks I met in South Africa. Lucien and Theolene are currently attending I.Y.O.U. (International Youth of Unity) at Unity Village, but last week, we did a lot of things that I’ve been known to take for granted—going to a movie theater (neither had ever been), for example, or eating foods from other countries. We even stopped by the local “Make Good Trouble” protest in honor of John Lewis.
They loved EVERYTHING! They were excited by EVERYTHING! They even requested their picture taken with a big yellow school bus.
Maybe more important than making an impact, I should make sure I myself am impacted, that I myself notice and get excited by the countless treasures that exist in every moment.
Sure, things can look scary from one viewpoint, but it’s a mistake to tether myself to that position only, to disregard all the everyday lusciousness, like the hibiscus showing off in my front yard right now or the curly-haired three-year-old who danced her way up to the stage at yesterday’s quilt auction.
Like so many people, I’ve been deeply inspired by Andrea Gibson, the poet who passed last week from ovarian cancer. She said in one of her poems, “Dying is the opposite of leaving” and that, after death, she’d be “more here than ever before.” That certainly rings true-her poems are everywhere now.
She knew to fall in love with tiny things (“every falling leaf is a tiny kite with a string too small to see”) and, after her cancer diagnosis, every single experience became radiant and filled with light.
As Byron Katie once explained to Elizabeth Gilbert (I just read about this in her weekly “Letters from Love”), all she saw when she looked at her was pouring beams of light. Liz pointed out that Katie also saw those same beams of light emanating from the ketchup bottles.
But you get the idea. We see what we decide to see. We create our world with our attention.
So, yes, I will continue to celebrate big, juicy, “impossible” miracles. But I will also celebrate the small and seemingly insignificant. In other words, I intend to fall in love with everything I see.
#222 Forever!
Pam Grout is the author of 20 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest book, The Course in Miracles Experiment: A Starter Kit for Rewiring Your Mind (And Therefore Your World)
31 Responses
Love this. So cool that you are hosting them. I am a fairly newly ordained Unity minister and also an ACIM long-time student. Love hearing about their experience of the U.S. and love thinking of them at Unity Village. Thanks for sharing.
It has been such a treat!! And I’m lucky. I live but an hour away from Unity Village.
Thank you for this, I am in tears, good tears. My daughter passed from cancer 16 years ago, she said to me, Mom live in the moment. I some times, a lot forget to. Have a lovely day, Toni
Ah, Toni! I’m so sorry about your daughter. And so happy she’s still encouraging you to live in the moment.
Being mindful of everything and wondering will this be the last time I see this. Yep. That was a great letter I just read. Thanks,
You are welcome! Mindful and thankful for everything!
Beautiful! Thank you for the reminder! Life IS whatever we want to focus on. Wonderful, mystical, magic world!
Indeed!
Beautiful post! I wonder if Andrea got the covid shot; one of the side effects is ovarian cancer. So sad.
She said she intuitively knew she’d get cancer at 45 and, as she learned, it CHANGED her life–from fear to total surrender and peace.
Thank you Pam!
You are WELCOME!!
Is there a way for me to send you a picture of a little God wink that I ran across this spring? I think you’d enjoy it. 💖
My contact info is on my website: http://www.pamgrout.com. Would love to see it!
Yes Yes Yes #222 forever. Magic and Miracles follow me wherever I go because of your books. They say when you are ready to learn the teacher will appear, and you sure did!
Don’t know that I’m a teacher. I’m just a gal who likes to share her toys.
Thank you, Thank you. Always so uplifting. Love your blogs
I love writing them so it’s good to know people enjoy reading them.
Pam, I love you!
Sheila, I love you!
Beautiful, just beautiful, Pam! Your posts never disappoint and ALWAYS inspire! Hugs and infinite blessings unto you!
Infinite blessings–I like how that sounds!!
What a beautiful inspiring way to begin my day. As I’ve just opened my window in our caravan to pink hues in the sky, dancing leaves in the breeze and a knowing that everything around us is a miracle. Thank you Pam. Love you and love your posts!! ❤️
Sounds like your morning is off to a good start. As the Course says, if we make no decisions on our own, we can have a perfect-in-every-way day!
Thank you Pam for starting my day with images of dancing three year olds, empty cabinets mysteriously filling up, and hundreds of tiny leaf-kites twirling their way to the earth. 🍁 🪁🍂 And thank you for the reminder to be amazed and delighted by everything. To love it all, and to celebrate each magical, beautiful, wonderful moment. Here’s to seeing with eyes of love. 😍🙏🏼🌷🦋🍄😘
YES!!!!!! Eyes of love!!!
i love you Pam. Period
Back at ya, friend!
Thank you for your words! Your posts always touch my heart and I can never get enough of them. I keep changing my social media bio, and right now it’s: Falling in love with everything, every day 🥰
I love the Japanese words “Wabi sabi” – finding beauty and joy in every little thing.
Magnificent writing and happenings. Your notes always means so much and give us a different perspective. Taking in the kids from Africa is wonderful in itself, but then creating all the magic that we see that this world has to offer us if we just look I have a smile on my face and shining eyes from your inspiration. The miracles that are around us are so many and so varied if we just look. Keep on keeping on with joy in your heart 💖