Small Details, Big Miracles

Look at anything long enough, and you will see the magic that’s in it — in everything, really! Discovery will increase your enthusiasm for life. Observation will give you innovative ideas. Awareness will give perspective on your daily issues and fill your life with wonder. Take a moment, right here and now, to look and allow yourself to really explore and see. Look long, look deep. Look up, look out. There are miraculous events happening all the time. As a matter of fact, they are happening all around you, behind you, and in front you as we speak… did you see THAT?! If you didn’t look carefully, closely, you might have missed it, but there is, without a doubt, another miracle happening now that you may see… Look at THIS! Missed it again? Try looking more closely. If you are only looking for the big, firecracker miracles in the sky, you will miss the countless miracles underfoot. Mind-boggling events and occurrences can be big — like the solar eclipse or the northern lights or meteor showers — but there is no less value in the minute miracles that are heavily peppered into our daily lives, surrounding us in each moment. If you look (I mean really look) at something closely — anything at all — you’ll start to see new features and details rise into your vision because your awareness expands. Your perspective will begin to enlarge and deepen to include details you may never have noticed before. And because we are intelligent, sentient beings, your brain will naturally start to squiggle out a mind map. 3 Miraculous Explorations to Get You Started Exploration 1: Look closely at a hardbound book on your shelf. Consider how it is made, its size, and the content within the words. Consider the thickness of one of its pages and all of the personalities that went into creating its many parts. Look closely at it and you will start to see the intelligence, the craftsmanship, and the innovation of this book. How wondrous humans are! Now feel the hope within your own existence. Exploration 2: If you are courageous and wish to observe miracles that will jar you from your comfort zone and blow your mind, look closely at anything natural. Go outside and look at the grass. You will start to notice that it isn’t one thing, but rather a collection of things: there are individual blades and weeds and growths, each unique, with distinct colors, shapes, and markings. Look closer and you will start to sense movement. You may see insects crawling beneath the roots or sense greater movement underground. See the entire micro-ecology cooperatively churning, and realize that it functions with or without your knowing. Exploration 3: Ready to let go of the handlebars? Consider the volume of activity that is ongoing beyond the grass. Look up to a nearby tree and consider all that is happening there. Look at an animal (even your pet!) and consider all that is happening there. Look closely at something here in the natural world and you will start to see the intelligence, the craftsmanship, and the innovation. How wondrously big and confounding life is! Now feel the hope within your own existence. Exploring Outward, Looking Inward I have possessed this level of observation and awareness all my life. There were times when it felt like a curse because I saw things and gleaned information that set me apart from others who did not look and explore so deeply. And yet, it also shaped me as a storyteller and artist. Now, I am on a mission to return people (especially adults) to the world that is wondrous and open-ended — to their “Happy Place.” I invite you to use observations and wonder with the intention that your heart will recognize these truths and begin the process of returning you back to who you really, truly are. Regularly looking closely at small details to see the big miracles will remind you of several important (and perhaps disappointing) truths: 1) You are not the center of the universe; you are but a small part of something much bigger, filled with profoundly important happenings you will never see and never know. 2) There is no ceiling to your potential outside of your perception. 3) To make sweeping conclusions, such as, “That’s impossible,” is simple folly to the universe. To accept these truths is to accept that you are contextually minute but miraculous and potent all at the same time. So live big, and play hard!