Feel Good Project day 127

Upon checking out at Trader Joe’s, I came across a greeting card (by the way I am IN love with their line of cards-and all costing just 99 cents-best deal ever!) which had an adorable, colorful little bird on the front and words below it that read:

[spp-tweet “THE EARTH HAS MUSIC FOR THOSE WHO LISTEN. -George Santayana”]

Well ain’t that this the truth!

This proves more and more true the more I open myself up to receiving gifts from God and nature, that have probably been trying to communicate with me for quite some time now!

Sadly, it seems like it has taken a long while for me to become open enough to see the wonder happening all around me, this ‘music of the earth’ that has been seeking me out for so long.

I’d say it’s only been the past few years that I have started to see miracles and gifts unfolding all around me, especially in the past year and a half. Which is interesting timing, as that seems to have been when I reached the pinnacle of my chronic sickness.

Albert Einstein put it well when he said,

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though NOTHING is a miracle. The other is as though EVERYTHING is a miracle.

Last November when Robin and I stayed at our hermitage for our spiritual retreat in the hills of Santa Barbara, miracles and symbols seemed to abound in such a way that we could NOT outrun them, nor MISS what they were there to teach us, and it became very dang apparent as the two days passed, that we were placed in very specific places at very specific points in time separately as well as together so we would be sure to get the messages.

I remember Robin and I talking in depth at one point about that very thing Albert Einstein mentioned above. Was everything a sign and miracle? It sure seemed as if this was the case. Or could we just be reading into things?

Making them hyper-spiritualized by being up in nature, surrounded with beauty? Did we just merely DESIRE things to speak to us, so we made up messages from events that were supposed to just be viewed as hum drum events with little to zero significance? No different than most that fill up our ‘regular’ days back down the hill from the monastery grounds where everything just felt sacred and holy?

Being completely honest here, I found it hard to tell.

I WANTED to believe in everything having deeper meaning, and the signs and wonders that fell into my lap seem like more than just a series of random events that could happen to anyone…

• The giant oak tree branch that CRACKED and fell (literally a few feet away) while standing looking at it with its giant roots and beauty while being the only around to witness it’s decent.
  

• The eagle that stood in the middle of a cement road upon leaving the center, after stories and symbols of eagles had been a major theme of our time away.
  

• Messages and words gifted to each other through prayer and meditation for each other while journaling and spending time with God, messages so deep and holy that we were merely a conduit of.

So, I had to decide.

I had personally reached a crossroads, where I now had to consider everything magical and meaningful or none of it.

I chose the magic.

The life affirming symbols and information I decided was for me and the betterment of my soul and walk with the divine.

If I would just let the earth and the creator of it continuously throw more and more miracles my way.

Because all of my pilgrimages to the retreat center thus far have been BEYOND miraculous in my opinion up until this point, Robin and I often wonder if this way of living as if everything is miraculous communication to our hearts will continue when we return home or if we have built this heightened emotional state and experience up so high within ourselves that we will be let down when we go back to ‘normal’ life.

I can assure you, that this is definitely NOT the case with me.

Miracle after miracle keep flowing my way so heavily that I cannot keep up with them!

Deciding to view seemingly ‘bad things’ as challenges, and taking the abundance of miracles as much MORE than pure ‘coincidence’, due to the nature and timeliness of the ways they continually keep showing up.

It does not guarantee an easier road by choosing this view, but the BEAUTIFUL things become WAY more meaningful.

Guess Einstein knew a thing or two didn’t he? 🙂

FEEL GOOD MOMENT OF THE DAY: Experiencing the Spring bounty of our local Farmer’s Market…I was inspired yet again by one of our last EHR guests last week Wolfram Alderson who was actually responsible fro legalizing the first Farmer’s market in California, since they were not legal prior to 1979! WHO knew? Thanks Wolfram! Your powerful work has changed everything! I am making it my Sunday ritual once again as I got out of the habit of visiting ours regularly.

Image: Ira Ratry