Miracle on Mundane Street

Quote of the day: “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.” —Albert Einstein; theoretical physicist, philosopher

Can you imagine living your life in the mindset that everything is a miracle? According to Albert Einstein, this is one of two ways we can live our lives—either believing that nothing is or that everything is.

If I break the philosophy down to my present moment of today, and reframe the context of “miracles” from something huge and heavenly, to something small and appreciated, then the hot cup of tea I am drinking right now is a miracle…and let me tell you, it surely feels like it is. It’s freezing in my office, so feeling warmth in my hands and in my belly constitutes as a miracle.

But what I think he’s getting at in terms of everyday living is that we can either give appreciation for all the little things that we have or experience, or we can disregard them as if they should be there or happen. In truth, there are no shoulds. What is, is. We have the ability to shift our mindsets from a place of lacking (non-miracles) to a place of having (miracles).

When I bring my awareness back from thoughts of the future to the present moment, it becomes much easier to see all the miracles surrounding me. From having this moment to write my thoughts, to waking up to the man I love, to having the opportunity to be kind to others, to being able to eat a banana and cottage cheese for breakfast, to wearing clothes that not only clothe me but make me feel good, to having a car that can get me to work, to earning money…and the list of miracles goes on and on.

If good ‘ole Mr. Einstein is right, and we have only two ways to live our life, then I choose to live it with miracles. However, I can honestly say that I am only able to do this when I have present-moment awareness. If I start to get lost in future thinking, then I fall victim to thoughts of lacking. My desire for a better future and a different present quickly creates distaste for the here and now because it’s not what I hope it to be.

Yet, it is in the present that we create the future. Finding joy, love and passion today eventually becomes tomorrow, which then becomes our future—our story, our lives.

What are your miracles today?