**Most of us grew up watching movies that have these fairytale love stories and miraculous cures for diseases.**

But how come I don’t know anyone in real life that has had a prince charming bring her back from the dead with a miraculous kiss? How come I lived most of my life thinking that miracles will never happen to me because I’m not lucky enough?

What does luck have to do with it anyway?

Well, it all started when you were born. That likelihood was one in 400 trillion. Is that luck? Or is that a miracle? But that’s just the beginning…

In March of 1915, when my paternal great grandmother was sold as a child as an attempt to save her life from the Armenian genocide, there was no indication that she would survive and that my paternal grandfather would be born. In January of 1916, when my maternal great grandmother almost missed the army train with which she was forced to flee out of her home to escape prosecution during the Armenian Genocide, there was no indication that my maternal grandfather would be born. When my maternal grandfather decided to join the Communist Party in 1925, there was no indication that this decision would cause him to be excommunicated from Bulgaria, forcing him into Armenia, the only country that was would take him in. When my maternal grandmother decided to make a left turn, instead of her usual right, on her way home from work on April 26, 1930, there was no indication that she would meet, fall in love, and later marry that gentleman who decided to join that Communist party, was forced to move to Armenia, and built a house at the end of that left hand turn. In May of 1978, when my mom got accepted into the University of Armenia, by missing the cut off score by one point for getting into her first university choice, there was no indication that she would meet my dad in her biology class. When my dad asked my mom to marry her on that windy September day in 1983 after knowing her for only a few days and never really speaking to her otherwise, there was no indication that my mom would have agreed to meet him up, much less say “yes.” On July 26, 1985, when my mom had a blood infection on the day of her due date, forcing the doctors to deliver me 2 months early at 3 pounds, there was no indication that I would make it. Is that luck? Or is that a miracle?

And just a few days ago while doing research online, I discovered that July 26 was All or Nothing Day during the Roman Empire, a concept I’ve lived with for most of my life giving everything that I do all that I got. And today, it’s One Voice Day, where people all over the world unite to read the Universal Peace Covenant in one voice channeling peace and human rights for all, a cause I’ve fought for since I was 12.

There are no coincidences, it isn’t by chance; there is a reason why you are how you are, a reason why you’re reading this today.

You can ignore it, call it bullshit and move on. Or, you can take it as a miracle, as an invitation to ask yourself, what is the message? What is the significance of me reading this blog right now? Yes, you can just read this, say cool story bro, and go on with your life, unchanged. Or you can stop long enough to recognize the miracles happening all around you and acknowledge all the small miracles that got you to this page today. Totally up to you.

How come no one ever told me that there are miracles all around me?

That every single thing that happened in order to get me here today was a miracle? That all I have to do is open my eyes (and brain) wide enough to see it all. You see, when miracles happen, they’re not these grand, out of the ordinary events. Angles don’t ascend from the heavens and tell you that you’re miraculously cured. Cupid doesn’t fly by and shoot you with this arrow. There’s no fairy going around sprinkling fairy dust. Miracles are regular everyday events that are happening every single second, you’re just choosing not to notice them.

It’s hard to notice miracles when we’re so sucked in our day to day activities and troubles. Our mundane routines don’t allow it. But all around us, life is bursting with mysteries and miracles – a glass of water, a ray of sunshine, a leaf, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter, raindrops. If you live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles everywhere. As Lauren Oliver puts it, “I think of all the thousands of billions of steps and missteps and chances and coincidences that have brought me here. Brought you here, and it feels like the biggest miracle in the world.”

Now go out there and act like the miracle that you are!

PS. Check out this VERY cool article that explains this mathematically https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-ali-binazir/probability-being-born_b_877853.html

Putting it into action:

How can you put this into action and start appreciating the miracle that you are? Here are some questions to explore and tasks to complete…

Ask your parents about how they met.
Find out about your birth story.
Imagine what life would have been like if you hadn’t taken that one scary step that you didn’t want to take.
What’s one negative thing that has recently happened to you? How can you see it in a whole new light? In a way that would reveal its miraculous nature?
Set time aside for white space, for when you’re doing something for a reason either than the fact that it brings you pure joy. It allows you to break away from a routine and to be more aware.

xo,
Zee