A Life of Miracles

“I’ve made it a habit to write down all of the miracles that have happened in my life.”
- David Remington

Are Miracles Happening in Your Life?

My friend Rochelle was impossible for me to talk with two Saturday evenings ago. It was making me feel anxious because we had talked earlier in the day several times. I thought it a little bit odd, since she was expecting my call and I knew she wanted to meet with me.


Late in the evening I finally gave up calling. I was tired from a long day of work and I knew that another day would soon be upon us.


As it turns out I didn’t catch up with Rochelle until Monday. I was glad to be able to talk with her because my little internal voice just wouldn’t accept that everything we alright. My little voice was right.


Rochelle began our conversation apologizing to me. “I’m sorry I wasn’t available Saturday night,” she said. “But, my daughter was hit by a drunk driver so I had to be with her in the hospital.”


I held my small telephone limply by my ear. I couldn’t believe the words I was hearing! A whirlwind of thoughts swept through my mind, but one was harsh. I was ashamed to hear her say she was sorry because of the situation. I should have been the one apologizing to her.


I wished I could have somehow been able to stop the accident. I wanted to make things alright.
Yet, all I could do at this point was to ask if her daughter was o.k. I waited for the answer with hopeful anticipation. I waited for words I was afraid would never come.


“Yes. She’s o.k.” Rochelle said in a grateful tone.


“She was walking with two friends when a car hit them from behind.” Rochelle continued on to tell me that her daughter’s two friends we “grazed” by the car and were largely unaffected. The two were in shock still and couldn’t remember what had happened.


Her daughter received the brunt of the collision though. Her body was hurled straight up into the air and had landed in the windshield, only to be cast aside into the rocks and weeds below.
One would have expected the driver to stop and offer assistance. But the driver simply continued on; weaving and frightfully endangering everything in his path.


Others stopped to help. Since the accident wasn’t far from the hospital additional help arrived quickly and all three girls were scooped up to safety and examination within minutes. And this is where the first discovery of a miracle occurred.


Rochelle’s daughter, though savagely assaulted, had cuts, bruises, road rash and surprisingly no broken bones! What could have been a life ending episode was now looming large as a modern day miracle! And, the miracle didn’t end there.


As the driver continued on down the road, another person, not aware of the accident, noticed the erratic driving. So, worrying about danger this driver not only called 911, they followed this drunk driver home and parked in front of the driveway so he couldn’t go anywhere else until police arrived! Who says that people “don’t care?”


People do care and the world is full of wonderful people offering help and comfort all around us. If you doubt it just take some time to talk with your friends.


I was doing just that the day after this accident and its associate miracles, before I knew they had happened, with my friend David Remington. I was mesmerized by every word he spoke as he recounted a large portion of his life. After about an hour of an exquisite tale he said, “I’ve made it a habit to write down all of the miracles that have happened in my life. Wow! It is a huge list,” he said.


Those words seemed to hit me between the eyes to drive a wedge into my mind. “Do we really live in a time of miracles?” I asked myself.


Yes was the answer!


And my answer was just beginning to be revealed. I had no idea that Rochelle would be answering that question in a striking revelation the very next day.


So, now I’ve taken a step into the unknown. Now my eyes have been opened and I am having a wonderful time. Other friends have begun to share personal miracles with me and I am devouring every word of every amazing story.


And, I’m taking Dave’s example to heart, I’m beginning to write a list of my own life’s miracles so they somehow don’t disappear with the other fleeting seconds of my being. It feels good. It feels, real good!


Have you had miracles small and large in your life’s experience? I think you might! If you want to feel real hope; if you want to feel a sense of wonder; if you want to feel part of the miracle of life, do something great for yourself. Write down a list of all the miracles that have occurred during the story of your life.


And, if you want to share please share your experiences with me. I am your eager audience! I hope miracles never cease in your life. You deserve to be amazed, so go live a life of miracles!

Deepening Gratitude

“Isn’t it amazing that I can sit in comfort with my sons! All I have to do is walk over to the wall and push a button to set the temperature exactly how I want it! After I do that, whoosh! It happens.”
- Danny Marz

Deepening Gratitude

I know lots of people who only want to use a conversation to convince the other party that their point of view is “right.” But, the older I get the more I am appreciating other points of view as a wonderful avenue to inspiration. Now I love to have conversations as a gateway to a new view of the world. That’s exactly what happened as I sat with my friend Danny Marz early last week.
Danny and I were talking with a group of other people about gratitude when he said, “I rarely have a bad day because I spend most of the time being grateful for almost everything. I bet I have only about one or two days per month when I’m not happy and then that unhappiness can’t plague me too long because I see all of the good things all around me.”

As you can imagine, my interest was stimulated by this statement and I was delighted to have him continue on.

“I look at all the amazing things that help me every day; like I take my garbage out to the street every Thursday and someone comes along with a truck and takes it away for me!”

Danny went on to say that he was grateful for the way the garbage was taken away because he only had to take a few minutes to roll the container out to the street and not take all the time and effort to load it up in his car and take it far away to the county facility to recycle or dispose of it! That gives him time to do more things he likes to do such as spend time with his sons watching movies.

As Danny was telling me this, I watched his eyes flash as he taught me more about what I have come to call “deep gratitude.” He went on to say, “Isn’t it amazing that I can sit in comfort with my sons! All I have to do is walk over to the wall and push a button to set the temperature exactly how I want it! After I do that, whoosh! It happens.”

“Then when it’s time get my boys ready to bed, we go to the bathroom and turn a faucet handle so that water will come out at the precise temperature for taking a bath. Now that’s a wonderful thing!”

Danny looked me right in the eye and said, “How can you have a bad day when all of these wonderful things are all around us?”

How indeed!

I’ve spent the last seven days reflecting on what Danny has taught me. I have to admit I thought I had already turned myself into a grateful person. And, I have. But, for the first time I can see how far I have to grow when it comes to being truly, deeply grateful. So, I’ve created a simple formula to help myself. I offer it to you:

1. Be disciplined. This has taken a new kind of discipline for me. I am already pretty good about disciplining myself to wake up at 5:30 in the morning and spending an hour in exercise and meditation. (Don’t think I have the perfect body or anything!) This one hour in the morning, my friend Garrett Gunderson calls it the “Power Hour,” sets the stage for the rest of my day and it really makes a difference for me. Now I’m going to a deeper, smaller, level during this time period. Now I meditate on the smallest thing possible to be grateful for and then I concentrate on seeing it during the whole day. I’ve found my mind wandering away regularly but I am getting better at pulling my focus back to the small. I think you’ll have the same experience in disciplining your mind, but don’t worry; you’ll get better at it the more you practice.

2. Don’t let big things get in your way. The trick here is to know that what you have been focusing on in the past is HUGE in comparison to the smallest thing you can think of to be grateful for. It will seem counterintuitive that the small will dwarf the large in importance! But, as you get better and better with your focus, but the small will conquer the large if you’ll stay the course.

3. Practice hard. I wasn’t used to thinking of small things deeply! As I look back over my life I can see that for the most part, I’ve been socialized to think in large terms over long periods of time. You know, “life goals?” Stepping back and seeing the small right now takes a lot of practice and I’m sure it will take me a long time and lots of practice to make it a way of life.

4. Learn to pick yourself up when the large crushes on your mind. I know that Danny is to the point where he only has a “bad” day once or twice in a month. As you can see from the conversation we had, he has learned to be grateful for the small almost constantly. When larger things come into his view he is able to make a shift in his mind to instantly make the small loom large in his life! You can do the same thing. I know you can, because if I can do it you can too.

5. Take care of yourself. I’ve found that the most constant challenge in focusing on gratitude for the smallest is related to how my body is feeling. If I allow myself to become fatigued by not getting enough sleep then it gets harder and harder for me to stay small. If you need 8 hours of sleep, part of your transformation will be to take care of yourself so you can have the internal fortitude to keep your mental condition conducive to the mental and emotional effort required. It takes big effort to focus on the small!

If you’ll follow these steps for a week you’ll notice an incredible change in your life. These are the changes I’ve noticed: First, I was able to turn inside myself and remain amazingly calm during one of the most challenging transactions of my life. Rather than feel my stomach churning with anxiety, my focus on gratitude for the small really allowed me to stay calm in the midst of emotional chaos being hurled from other people. Second, what had become “normal anxiety” related to everyday living has now vanished. Third, I’ve felt a renewed excitement and confidence about the bright future coming my way.

As you implement these five steps, you’ll have the same results or better! I would be excited to hear about your results so let me know how being grateful for the smallest is changing your life!

Four Prinicples for Life

“When we lived in a grass hut in the middle of the jungle making eleven cents per house we realized we were happy and that’s what it’s all about.”
- Alan Hall

Four Principles for Life

While attending the Mountain West Capital Network Entrepreneur of the Year Award Luncheon this week I had the pleasure of listening to Alan Hall; this year’s recipient. This was the first time I’ve had the pleasure of listening to or meeting Alan. But, we’ve had a strong connection by which I’ve been able to judge his words over the years.

I‘ve been friends with Alan’s son-in-law Matt West for about fourteen years and hold him in the highest esteem. I first met Matt not long after he was married and we’ve shared a warm relationship ever since. I saw Matt again just after the Entrepreneur of the Year Award presentation and we had a chance to catch up with each other’s lives. I was pleased to see that Matt and his wife Laura are still living confirmation of the principles presented by Alan in his speech.

Alan talked about the four principles by which he has lived his life and he was kind enough to give me permission to share them with you. First, hope for a bright future. Second, we all should be smart about the endeavors in which we are engaged. Third, be grateful. Fourth, be charitable. These four important principles are a worthy consideration for every one of us.
“When I wake up in the morning and look out at the beautiful mountains surrounding us. And, this time of year, right now when they’re snow capped, they’re even more beautiful. I can’t help but think, we’re still here and the future remains bright,” Alan said. He’s right!

I remember coming back from the Middle East near the start of the Gulf War. I fled Saudi Arabia with nothing but the clothes on my back as the war came to Riyadh. My wife and children were at home in the United States and I could see no reason to risk my life by staying in a war zone.

When I arrived back in Salt Lake City I was a little discouraged by the fact that I had no job. We had two small children and were living by the grace of my wife’s parents as they kindly allowed us to stay in their home until we could get back on our feet. Then, one morning I got out of my car after driving downtown to look for work. I stepped out at the very top of a parking structure and looked to the east. There, before my eyes was one of the most beautiful mountain views I had ever witnessed and I had a very strong thought come into my head. “Look at this beauty! This abundance is all around for your enjoyment and it costs you nothing!”

You can tell that I’ve never forgotten that experience. But, perhaps I had forgotten part of it. Since that time I have been through many more trials. And, I’ve come through all of them. I’ve learned many lessons and will undoubtedly learn more. Yet, the beauty of our world continues to call to me through it all. My only cost is taking the time of seeing and appreciating it. It’s always there, as a constant, telling me that the future is indeed bright. Every day is bright if we will simply take the time to look out and see its beauty.

That alone should be enough to tell us that we should be smart about the endeavors we’re engaged with. Alan says, “You can only spend so much money. Relationships are most important. Helping people grow their families is important. When we begin to think outside of ourselves then we bolster our community.” It isn’t enough to simply do business by the numbers. We need to do business with the end in mind. That end should be creating jobs for people not just money.

By following this philosophy we’re more able to focus on the needs of the customer not on a product alone. This reminds me of a quote by Thomas Edison that says something like, “I will never again create a product that the marketplace doesn’t want.”

I like to extend this saying to a different part of life and say, “I will never again create the kind of relationship that I don’t want.” When I approach people with this in mind my relationships all become more valuable to me. I can never think of a morning when I have awakened and thought to myself, “Today I’m going to go out there and try to screw up every relationship I have.” Remember, leading to point number three, “someone recommended me to give me a start, and someone gave me an opportunity as a result.”

So, be grateful. Every one of us has been the recipient of help and kindness from others. In most cases this especially applies to our family. I remember of friend of mine asking me if I was as much fun at home as I was in the office. It caught me by surprise since it caused me to ask myself if I was treating my family as well as I was treating people outside my home.

I’ve made it a practice over the past couple of years to show gratitude for things I used to take for granted. It made a huge difference for me when I began to give thanks for things such as a having a warm coat on a cold day, food to eat, good friends, a roof over my head and heat in my house. My furnace went out this winter and it took a couple of days to get it back up and running. What a blessing it is to have it working without having to think about it! If you will adopt this small practice in your life you’ll find that the people around you will recognize it and begin to follow your pattern of simple gratitude. I’ve found this to be true with my children!

Finally, be charitable. Being a father has forced me to be more charitable than I could have been without them. But, even with that prompting I haven’t always been as charitable as I might have been. Now that I’ve established a pattern of simple grateful, I see the need to be more charitable because I see that I have so much.

After all, every one of us gets the chance to see the beauty of the Earth every day. We all have the chance to have good relationships. We all have the chance to have hope for a bright future, be grateful and charitable. I knew this was true as I was walking from friend’s car to my house the other night and took a moment to look up at the stars. I thought, “What could be more beautiful than this!” Well, living by these four principles without hesitation every day would be a good start!