miracles | Self-Help Books

This is the image of two Doves flying in a beautiful blue sky

We live in a world in which we have become addicted to stimulation. It seems that no matter where we go, our five senses are bombarded in environments that are too loud, too bright, too fast, and too aggressive. Not surprisingly, this overexposure to external stimulation is causing us to become desensitized to the miracles of nature that are all around us.

I am sometimes overwhelmed by the abundance of gifts the earth graciously and unconditionally provides for us with no effort on our part. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the plants we eat, and the earth beneath our feet are but a few of the phenomenal gifts we tend to take for granted.

When we slow down, take a deep breath, and stop reacting to the external commotion, we stop “looking for miracles” and begin to notice that there are miracles all around us. Whether we are paying attention or not, Nature lovingly and generously reveals her innate wisdom to us regarding every aspect of life.

Three spring seasons ago, I put a statue of a dove, with the words “peace” inscribed in it, out on my bedroom terrace. I had just moved from a large house and was concerned that, now living on the 14th floor of a high rise, I would no longer be able to enjoy listening to the bird songs that I dearly love. Since I believe we can communicate with animals, I placed a potted plant on the terrace and sent out a telepathic invitation to the doves to visit us.

Within two weeks, two doves showed up and built a nest within the plant I had placed for them on the terrace. They have continued to return several times a year, every year since. Because I’ve earned their trust, they allow me to get within 1″ of their nest, talk with them, and water the plant. They have blessed me with a front row seat to witness their amazing procreation process, beginning with their mating (they mate for life).

What follows their mating process is an extraordinary dance of nature where the male and female work in total concert. They work together in building the nest, laying of the two eggs (she lays the eggs while he protects her), and sharing the responsibilities of alternately scouting for food while the other one sits on the nest. It does not matter how cold and windy it may be, they remain unswervingly committed to protecting the eggs until they are hatched. For weeks after that, they take turns protecting the nest and bringing food back and forth. When the chicks are old enough, the male and female patiently demonstrate to the babies how to fly from the nest, down three feet to the terrace floor, and back to the nest. After a few weeks, they both leave the babies alone for hours at a time and come back several times a day to feed them and check on them. Within a few weeks, the babies are on their own! They don’t get kicked out of the nest, nor are they abandoned – they are given all that they need to begin discovering the world on their own and then set free to experience life. What is really amazing is that after the babies leave the nest, the parents return one more time, sit on the terrace rail, and coo together for hours. I know they are thanking us.

So why am I going on and on with my dove story?

I am reminded of so many lessons in life as I observe these beautiful creatures: The extraordinary things that can be accomplished when working together; the integration of male and female energy; the power of the number “2,” (representing love); their relentless dedication to their life purpose; the demonstration to the babies of how to survive; their uncanny wisdom in knowing when to free the babies to explore life on their own; the innate ability of animals to communicate with each other, and, even more amazing, the ability of the animal species to communicate with us humans.

I recently looked up the meaning of the dove totem. Although they are best known for their symbology of peace, they are also representative of gracefully moving through the veil between the material world and the metaphysical world of Spirit. How perfect!

So here we are again – back to Oneness! Like the doves, we have the ability to work together in peace and harmony, to lovingly support each other, to bravely fly from the comfort of our “nests” into the unknown, and to move through the veil of our present physical world into the spiritual reality of unconditional love and Oneness.

All of these miraculous lessons are so beautifully and simply taught by the mere presence of two doves!

Love and Light

Sandra

Sandra Brossman is the author of The Power of Oneness, Live the Life You Choose. To learn more about how you can align your life with spiritual truth, order the book at http://www.thepowerofoneness.com/products/

This is an image of a woman opening her arms to the horizon along the oceanfront

One of the most wonderful ways we can create peace and abundance in our lives is to focus our attention on gratitude. Gratitude is a word that we most typically associate with thankfulness. When we think of thankfulness, many of us focus on the relationships, conditions, and things in our life that we like and enjoy. Being thankful is a very healthy emotion that helps us to reinforce a positive attitude and maintain balance in life.

But what about all of the things that go on in our lives that we do not enjoy, like: getting sick, losing our jobs, the death of a loved one, the break-up of a close relationship, being injured in a car accident, making a bad investment, or experiencing violence? Are we supposed to be thankful for all of these experiences too, or just the “good stuff?”

This is where the infinitely greater meaning of gratitude comes in. When we are only thankful for things we like, gratitude is an emotion that is contingent on our situation, therefore it is a conditional emotion. When things are going well, we are thankful; when life gets tough, we wait until a time when things feel more optimistic before we express thanks again. The problem with this is that no human being is going to spend life here on earth with only positive experiences. So, if we perceive gratitude in a conditional way, we are quite likely going to have long and frequent periods of time during which we do not feel thankful.

In the spiritual sense, gratitude is an ongoing attitude in which we choose to be unconditionally appreciative for all that is. When we think about this, we realize this is a huge concept. This would mean that we choose to see the blessings in every experience we have, every moment of every day. There is so much pain and suffering in our third dimensional world, as well as a plethora of amazingly challenging, downright unpleasant experiences, so how is it humanly possible to maintain an “attitude of gratitude?”

Developing an attitude of gratitude begins by choosing to remember that absolutely everything we experience and everyone whom we meet is happening for a reason. Even though many times we do not understand things that occur in our lives, every experience we have is offering us the opportunity to become more whole. No matter what is going on, we focus on the perfection within what appears to be a lot of imperfection. Through our thoughts, we call into our life the people and situations that teach us what we most need to know when we most need to learn it. This occurs in both positive and negative ways, depending on how we learn best. For example, if one of our large life lessons is that need to stop giving our power away to others, we will most likely attract controlling personalities into our reality until we figure out how to love ourselves enough to take control of our own life.

When we function in a state of gratitude, we begin to appreciate everything. We are not born feeling grateful – it is a frame of mind that needs to be cultivated through practice. We become thankful for the penny we just found on the sidewalk, the parking spot that just opened up at the perfect moment, the smile of a passing stranger, the roof over our heads, and the food we eat. We begin to see the magnificent wonder of life within everyone and everything. We are thankful for something as seemingly small as the petal on a flower to the magnitude of the miracle of witnessing a child being born. We are thankful for a sunny day and equally appreciative for a rainy day. We express thanks for the unhappy experiences from which we grow, just as much as the happy ones.

When we practice being thankful for all things great and small, we are aligning our thoughts with the frequency of unconditional love; thus, we open ourselves to welcoming abundance at every level – mentally, emotionally, and physically. While some days may be a lot more enjoyable than others, practicing an attitude of gratitude is a perfect way to savor every moment of life.

Love and Light,

Sandra

Tag Archives: miracles

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