How I'm Treating *Everything* As An Act of Devotion

Inviting more miracles, by treating everything like it’s a miracle. (Spoiler, it is.)

Jake and I had a week that was a little…off the rails for us.

We ate dinner out multiple times, ignored the laundry, ate cookies on the couch. It was incredible.

It also left me feeling heavy, emotionally and spiritually. The lethargy bred more of itself; I only wanted more junk. And not just in food, but in everything. It was easier to watch a movie than take a walk around downtown or pick up our books. It was the path of least resistance to indulge my self-sabotaging thoughts, rather than remember why I’m alive and what I’m here to accomplish (ironically, to share stories that help you see all the goodness and beauty in your life right now.)

So I had a ‘Sunday Reset’. And while cleaning, cooking, and resetting our life for a bright week ahead, I saw the correlation of momentum….

Of course. Like attracts like.

The more junk I consume, the more junk I crave.

The more I hang out with the wrong crowd (people, content, food, anything) - the more of the wrong outcome I get.

Conversely, the more light and goodness I give to myself and the world, the more it comes back to me.

The more I choose one right action, the more right action follows

The more I notice little miracles…the more miracles come to me.

So I decided: If I wanted more blessings in my life, why not treat everything like a blessing? If I wanted more miracles, why not treat my whole life like it’s a miracle? Because after all, it is.

This isn’t just true for me. Yes, I have the advantage of an experience that made me realize just what a miracle being alive is at a young age, but my circumstances now are no different than yours. Your life is just as miraculous as a survivors. You’ve survived your own battles. You are just as capable of creating and inviting more miracles as me, as anyone.

Here’s a few ways this new ‘treat everything like a miracle’ mindset has changed my daily life:

I’m more mindful of I consume, mentally and physically

• I am taking better care of food, before I even eat it.
  Which newly includes: washing my produce in vinegar and baking soda to remove pesticides. This use to be such a hassle to me; I’m reframing this as a gesture of gratitude to the work of the earth to provide this food for us.

• I choose podcasts over radio
  And when I do choose music, I pick something more inspiring than a song about a 21-year-old ‘uh-uh’ing with someone just because he owns a sports car!? ….Ok, fine, I do like that song. But you get the idea.

• I make more time for reading
  Jake has a 10-page minimum per day quota to meet, and I’m already an avid reader but it’s easy to stray. We’re using the last daylight hour now to commit to our books while we cuddle in bed. I really love being married.

• I’m exploring spiritual communities
  They say you are as successful as the five people closest to you. So against the grain of my family of origin, I’m exploring God, Universe, Source, and my connection to it by attending new churches, talking openly about my faith, and ridding myself of the shame and fear that my faith will hurt others in order to help it grow rather than live in the shadows.

I’m treating my daily routine as sacred

• I start first thing in the morning
  It’s a lengthy process, but I’ve added luxuries like caffeine eye patches and a coffee maker that truly changed my entire day. These rituals are an act of devotion to the kind of day I want, and the person I want to be in it: someone surrounded by little luxuries. Someone who’s mindset and mood matters. Someone who deserves a silk floral robe and a really good latte. I’m that girl.

• I make time for devotional practices and divine messages
  A tarot card reading during the late morning, journaling sessions, time spent in my little sauna in our yoga room, and of course our nightly prayer, which Jake says for the both of us that starts: “we banish all ill health from our bodies, stress from our minds, and hate from our hearts.” These little rituals are so satisfying, and bring a sense of a higher power into multiple parts of our day.

• I’m not criticizing my reflection
  When I first left my corporate job, I took a full week of not maintaining how I look. But it didn’t take long to feel slovenly, and return to the demonic voices that want to convince me I am too old, too misproportioned, too…everything bad about the world. They want to convince me there is something fundamentally. I am consciously banning them from my mind, and using the act of personal maintenance as a sign of my gratitude for the long-limbed body that managed to beat a stage IV diagnosis.

I’m also:

Slowing down to enjoy little moments, like the breeze outside our front window.
Treating every little action as an act of love for my highest self.
Drinking a glass of water? Devotion to my beautiful body.
Cleaning the house? Devotion to the wonderful life and home we share.
Running errands? Devotion to our goals, our responsibilities, and the things that we contribute.
The proverbial ‘little treats’? Devotion to joy, bliss, and simple pleasure that makes life so sweet.

When I am my best, I can give my best to everyone I love, and everyone I interact with. Which means as much as I can, every act can be seen as special, as beautiful, as an act of devotion. When I fill my mind, body, and soul with junk and junk messages, it’s what I get back and it’s all I have to give out. And I didn’t fight to survive only to give my worst, or even the bare minimum.

I’m here to find miracles, big and small. To honor them. To be one, myself.