Most people who look at this photo will see a sunrise.
But to me, this photo is a miracle. It’s a miracle that I was in this place at this precise moment. It’s a miracle that I could still see it, in spite of the doctors’ grim predictions. It’s a miracle that I had a device that captured what I saw. It’s a miracle that you’re reading these words right now, and that there’s such a thing as “the Internet.”
Albert Einstein once said, “There are two ways to live your life; one is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a miracle.”
On this Thanksgiving Day, I’m grateful for being reminded of the small miracle that is my very existence, and the wondrous gift that is consciousness.
Today, my message to the universe is simply, “Thank you for my life.”
HeideBlog 
This post deserves a few thousand comments, so I’ll go ahead and get it started. 🙂
Sadly it’s all too easy to forget about the miracles, and son of a bitch they’re all around us. I constantly kick myself for not acknowledging them more often. I also imagine sometimes how my outlook might change if were confronted with a life-threatening situation, a thought followed by an embarrassment that it would probably take something as serious as that to truly change my outlook. I’m just too damn quick to see the negative sometimes.
One of the reasons that YOU’RE such a miracle is that you ARE confronted with such a challenge, yet we all watch you remain positive, hopeful, and curious. You’re determined to move forward, even those times where it must be so hard just to get out of bed and face it all. You travel and meet new people and make friends and study photography and all the other things that would be so easy to make a case against, yet you make a case FOR them, determined to squeeze more out of life than most of us “lucky” ones will ever bother to.
That, that’s a miracle to me…easily on par with any sunrise the world could conjure up. 🙂
Your words are among the kindest that anyone has ever spoken to me, Corey. Ever. Thank you. I am deeply moved … but I’m also feeling a little sheepish.
There *have* been days when I’ve struggled to get out of bed, and times when I’ve cried for no good reason. On occasion I’ve felt despondent about the utter pointlessness of my life. I’ve felt negative, hopeless and closed off. I’ve forgotten — over and over again — about miracles. But that’s a side most people haven’t seen because I’ve hidden it.
I’ve learned some lessons, though. And of these, the most important is that EVERYONE is fighting some kind of battle. No matter how wealthy or happy or healthy we may be, life is a struggle. So go easy on yourself if you sometimes forget about the daily miracles. So do I. And so does everyone else (including the Dalai Lama). The important thing is to pause every so often and say, “Son of a bitch, miracles are all around us,” and you’ve certainly done that with your very kind and uplifting note.
So, thank you. You’re wonderful … and pretty damned miraculous in your own right. 🙂
Thanks for yet another eye-opening post. We all do so easily forget to be thankful for what we have. I catch myself sometimes when I am outside scolding the dogs and then stop and realize that they put a smile on my face each and every day and that I should be thankful for the joy that they bring me. With the holidays quickly arriving, it’s funny how everyone, including me, start to be more nice to everyone, but why can’t we all just do this all year round? What makes the holidays so special that everyone turns on the niceness? We should all be nice throughout the year and be thankful and grateful for what we have. You always inspire me in your writings and I am always always thankful for you and I am so blessed that you are my friend. Hugs!
Hello H, I am missing your posts for a while. Hope that everything is ok? Un fuerte abrazo. Rosa
Hola, querida Rosa. Thank you very much for your sweet note. You are so kind! Everything is fine … I just haven’t had the energy to write because rebuilding our home is taking up most of our spare time. But hopefully within a few weeks you’ll again be *tired* of reading my posts. 🙂 ¡Enorme abrazo, guapa!
I am glad to know that. I have just recently understood about your braintumor. And, though I know no one is ‘just brain’, I began to worry a little. Un abrazote and take care.
Qué linda eres, querida Rosa, pero no te preocupes. Como decimos en México: ¡Todo marcha! Me siento muy bien — inclusive, tan bien que ya no voy al doctor por más de un año. Ojalá así siga. Un enorme abrazo desde Minnesota.