As the New Year Begins, I thought it would be the perfect time to share this inspirational article by Susan Apollon with you. Happy New Year!
Invite Miracles to Bless You in the New Year
Susan Apollon says that miracles do not happen by coincidence—we are designed for them. Here’s what you can do to invite those moments of divine magnitude into your life.
Albert Einstein once said of miracles: “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.” Intuitive psychologist and author Susan Apollon agrees, and has spent more than two decades backing up this hypothesis by studying the nature of miracles and the conditions under which they occur. Her conclusion? That everyone can receive these natural gifts because we are all spiritually connected to God, Source, Allah, or whatever a person chooses to call this wellspring of goodness.
“People seem to have a natural connection to miracles,” says Apollon, author of Touched by the Extraordinary, Book Two: Healing Stories of Love, Loss & Hope (Matters of the Soul. “No matter what religion we follow, we seem to intuitively know that miracles occur. Many of us have experienced them firsthand, and from what I’ve observed, most of us would welcome them into our own lives.”
Apollon points to the results of a Pew Forum on Religion survey released a few years back showing that nearly 80 percent of Americans believe in miracles. This group of believers included many people who described themselves as being unaffiliated with any particular religious tradition.
“Miracles just seem to be part of the human experience,” says Apollon.
Indeed, this theme runs deeply in Apollon’s latest book. Touched by the Extraordinary, Book Two is a collection of real-life occurrences—including messages sent from loved ones who’ve passed on, angel visitations, and signs—that can be defined only as the stuff of miracles.
In one story, as a family was gathered after their nine-year-old daughter’s funeral, one stuffed dog activated itself and began barking and another followed a certain family member around the room. In another, written by breast surgeon and author Beth DuPree, MD, a ladybug was present at a friend’s deathbed, and for weeks afterward, numerous ladybugs appeared in random places—including under a stack of résumés and even in a pitcher of pomegranate martinis!
Apollon describes her clients’ experiences as “blessings that made them feel safe, holy, divine, not alone, protected, and taken care of––and frequently, just made them smile.” She says that studies in quantum physics suggest that anyone with the right mindset can live a life rich in miracles from the small to the momentous. You simply have to foster your ability to invite them in.
Here are a few suggestions and insights that will prepare you to receive your own miracles:
• Give yourself permission to be open to extraordinary experiences. “As a psychologist who has sat with patients who have shared countless wondrous stories of small and large miraculous events in their lives, I have come to recognize that the ability to experience miracles is often dependent on whether or not you choose to allow for the possibility of miracles in your life,” writes Apollon. Accept that you will allow the Universe to do its good, and it will respond accordingly.
• Immerse yourself in stories of the miraculous. Many, many people have had miraculous experiences. When you read about or listen to the amazing things they’ve experienced, you mentally, emotionally, and spiritually “set the stage” to notice the small miracles you might be overlooking in your own life and to open yourself up to receive new ones. This is one reason Apollon wrote her book and also recorded herself reading its content in audio book format.
• Rediscover your spirituality. Take time to connect with your own soul and with the Source by returning to—or visiting for the first time—prayer, ritual, and faith. Learn to meditate while breathing deeply or do yoga. Most of all, try to reach a point at which you feel your connection to the Universe and everything in it.
• Commit to making significant changes in negative thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. This is especially important for a person suffering an illness because “anxiety and desperation have a strong tendency to block your ability to heal.” Apollon says that to change this stone-set pattern we must always be aware of what we are feeling and then consciously change our thoughts, replacing negative or disturbing images with positive and empowering ones.
• Keep a synchronicity journal. Synchronicity is the flow of “meaningful coincidences” that indicate that life, all life, is connected in a complex web of psychic moments, signs, and symbols, and shivers of spiritual connectedness. The sheer volume of these subtle miracles that happen in so many different lives adds up to powerful evidence of “something greater.” “The numbers,” Apollon says, “will be far greater than you may have imagined.”
• Write down your intentions. In detail, record on paper with joyful enthusiasm exactly what you desire from the Universe––daily. Expect good things to be placed in your path and they will come––be it a spiritual visit from a passed loved one, a new chance in a waning relationship, or a miraculous recovery.
Above all, keeping your heart brimming full of love and compassion is the most important factor needed in the creation of miracles. If we all are somehow connected together, this simple intention is the healing balm needed to rescue Earth and all souls upon it. What better way to begin fresh in the new year than with a new faith-based attitude that risks little sorrow and at most promises unprecedented hope and joy?
Apollon asserts, “I think we’re all hungry for that, even diehard skeptics. Especially diehard skeptics. My overarching message is that life itself is extraordinary––miraculous! And all it takes to realize that is to open your eyes and see the amazing things that surround us all, every day.”
As a psychologist and an author, Susan Apollon empowers and heals the body, mind, and soul; as an educator, she informs; as a speaker, she inspires and touches the heart.
She is an avid researcher of Mind, Consciousness, Intuition, Energy, Prayer, and Healing and brings this expertise to her three published books—Touched by the Extraordinary, Book Two: Healing Stories of Love, Loss & Hope; Touched by the Extraordinary: An Intuitive Psychologist Shares Insights, Lessons, and True Stories of Spirit and Love to Transform and Heal the Soul; and Intuition Is Easy and Fun: The Art and Practice of Developing Your Natural-Born Gift of Intuition (co-authored with Yanni Maniates)—as well as to her audio books, online course, CDs, and MP3s.
Note: this article first appeared on December 30, 2011 and is one of our most popular reads. Enjoy and Happy New Year!
