What are you willing to let into your life?
“Every morning the world is created.”—Mary Oliver
The first year E-Squared came out, I was interviewed on hundreds of podcasts. And I often described this weird lab manual of a book as a way for readers to experience miracles and magic with their own two eyes.
“Forget what others say,” I’d tell my interviewers. “To really get this truth that we are all loved beyond anything we can imagine, we need proof…with our own ever-loving eyeballs.”
These days I might answer differently. While I’m infinitely grateful for the pictures presented by my own human eyeballs, I find the best things in my life erupt from the invisible, from that which cannot be named. Or planned.
Using my own two eyes, I tend to see things I’ve trained my neuropathways to look for — usually some version of what has happened before.
But the more I let go and enter this different reality field where unexplained, unplanned things happen on the regular, the less interested I am in my eyeball’s limited purview.
That’s why I often share stories that stretch the narrative, that burst right through the preconceived limitations for which we often settle.
So when a reader named Karen suggested those of us in this party-called-a-blog submit stories of their own miracles and unexpected gifts, I thought “Perfect. Let’s start with yours.”
So, thank you, Karen, and thank you everyone who might feel called to share a story with the potential to liberate us from our boxes.
Take it away, Karen:
“Dressed in Miracles”
“Clothes shopping is not my favorite thing. It’s ranks right up there with dental procedures. I prefer shopping for things I need, like items on the grocery list.
“While talking to my buddy Lori, I mentioned I had a wedding to attend and the dress code was fall formal. Far from being a fashionista, I informed her that I didn’t know exactly what that meant and bemoaned the fact that the few casual items sitting in my closet (e.g., jeans and long sweaters) weren’t going to make the cut.
“This serendipitous conversation, unknown to me at the time, is how the Universe set the stage.
“I did the things I always do: visualize the details, google to get a sense of what’s out there. I began picturing a long and flowy maroon dress with sleeves or straps. Something easy and breezy that would let me wear my cute dress boots (no heels, please) and wouldn’t make me feel like a sausage inside its casing.
“Just a few simple requests of a perimenopausal woman putting her manifestation into motion.
“Two weeks later, Lori reached out with a simple text asking if I had found my dress. I had to confess I hadn’t started looking and then began my list of excuses: it’s hard to find petite sizes, it’ll cost me a small fortune, yada yada.
“I soon realized Lori didn’t text to hear a litany of excuses. This solutions-oriented gal wanted to tell me about a long, maroon-colored dress she noticed at the Salvation Army priced at $14.99.
“Could it be? Could my dream dress be less than 5 miles from my house? Open mind, open mind!”
“I casually mentioned to my husband on the way out the door, “I’m going to pick up my dress for the wedding.” He looked dumbfounded but stopped questioning my signs from the Universe a long time ago.
“I made a beeline for the formal stuff and began karate-ing my way through the tight racks of gowns.
“I didn’t find the maroon dress right away. What I did find were a few other dresses that might work – aiding and abetting my plan B because a teeny, tiny (but still loud) part of me wondered if the Universe could send me the perfect dress.
“When I finally spotted the maroon dress, I questioned whether it would fit, whether it looked like “me,” and whether I could really pull it off. I took it to the changing room with four other dresses.
“The others fit OK. They were a little big, but I decided I could make two of them work.
Even though I had sprinted to the shop with fairy dust in my shoes, I was already accepting less than what might possibly be perfect.
“Then it was time to welcome the Miracle.
“The maroon dress zipped without struggle, the length was perfect. It had straps and sleeves and a beautiful heart-shaped neckline which looked beautiful on my frame.
“My pleasant smile turned into a big one which turned into laughter which then turned into tears.
“The perfect dress, noticed by a thoughtful friend browsing a thrift store, in the color I visualized, which fit me like no other dress, and was the right price for my freelance writer budget, came to me the way most miracles arrive – unanticipated, not fully believed in the moment, and with more love than we feel we deserve.
“And I think once we overcome that last part, they then become an everyday part of our ordinary yet precious lives.”
Thank you again, Karen, and please post a photo of you in your dress at the wedding.
Anyone else care to share?
#222 Forever!
Pam Grout is the author of 22 books including E-Squared, Thank & Grow Rich , The Course in Miracles Experiment: A Starter Kit for Rewiring Your Mind (And Therefore Your World)and her latest, The Ego’s Playbook.