Fall is here and I am happy to return to this newsletter after a summer hiatus. Today is a new moon, and along with the changing of the seasons, it’s a perfect time to reset our compasses and find ways to positively move our lives forward.
I am excited to share with you a process of miracle-making that is new to me. It comes from the book, Make Miracles in Forty Days by Melody Beattie. It’s a simple daily practice, referred to as Project Miracle, with profound results.
In a nutshell, each morning I write a list that starts with, “Today I’m grateful that:” and then I go on to list all the things that are bothering me, things that are not working in my life and things I feel bad about. That includes anything I don’t like about myself, other people, situations or things that have happened in the past or are happening now, and any feelings I’m having, especially feelings I judge as “wrong.” As the author says, you don’t have to actually be grateful about these things. Mostly we are not! But there is some magic in this process.
Here is an example of a list.
Today I am grateful that:
- My car didn’t start yesterday and it’s in the shop.
- I can’t fit into my favorite jeans, and I feel fat.
- I’m embarrassed about what happened the other night and I can’t stop thinking about it.
- I woke up at 2 a.m. and never got back to sleep.
- My friend hasn’t returned my call and I’m worried she is upset at me for some reason.
- I am still so angry at (fill in the blank). I don’t know if I can ever forgive that person and it eats me up inside.
My list is usually more than 10 items, and now that I’ve been doing it for 30 days, I find more and more things land on my list for which I’m truly grateful. It’s amazing to look back at my earlier lists and see how it has evolved. Some emotional or concerning feelings and situations are no longer so charged or have even been resolved.
I look forward to writing my list each morning. It feels like a clearing out—an excavation of my fears and concerns. It is liberating. I also have a miracle partner who I email the list to every morning, and she emails me her list. We are witnesses to each other’s lives, but we don’t try to solve anything, which is also liberating.
As the author says in her book, “When we stop spending our lives resisting who we are, what happened, what’s happening now, and how we feel about what’s taking place, miracles become a natural way of life. We won’t want to skim over the surface of feelings or issues. We won’t want to live life with blinders on, stuck in denial. We won’t need to grovel around unnecessarily in emotional muck or problems, either. We’ll get out of the downward spiral.”
All I can say is that I feel lighter, clearer and more hopeful after starting this practice. When we take the time to actually see what is bothering us, and accept what we judge as negative, good things begin to happen!
In addition to the daily “gratitude” list, the book also suggests writing out what miracles you are wanting in your life and what your goals are. If you need a process for developing your goals, you can download the free Living ROI Weekly Guide for Soulful Living that includes an annual planning section in the front.
Here are some guidelines for Project Miracle and the daily list:
- The goal is to write this list within 30 minutes of waking up. It should only take about 10 minutes. Don’t try to be perfect. Just let it flow.
- Ideally, you find someone who you trust to be your miracle partner. Probably not your spouse, life partner or anyone you’re with day in and day out. I do it with a dear friend who lives in another state.
- Do not comment on or try to fix your Project Miracle partner’s issues, and vice versa. You are a witness to each other’s truth, and an accountability buddy.
- You can also just do the list on your own, without a partner. Don’t let trying to find a partner stop you. The author did it without a partner for years. She also expresses the power of doing it with a partner, but that could come later.
- Commit to doing Project Miracle for 40 days. However, you will likely want to continue after that. I know I will. Not all of our miracles are on a 40-day timeframe.
- Create a list of miracles and goals and review them regularly.
Melody sums up the power of this process when she says in the book, “By expressing our taboo emotions, by writing about issues we’ve either been denying or resisting and surrendering to them instead, we align ourselves with power. We put ourselves in a position to receive the best Life has for us.”
There is so much more to say. In short, life is good. I hope many of you delve into this process of making miracles and find it rewarding. Let me know!
P.S. As someone who usually looks on the bright side of life, this process has been unexpectedly refreshing for me. It’s a relief to look at what doesn’t feel right, and by facing those feelings and situations, the power they have on me reduces and eventually dissolves. Sometimes the same items make my list again and again, but little by little they are released.
