A miracle is merely a shift in perception.

(This quote has been attributed to numerous people. I heard it first from Marianne Williamson on Oprah a couple years ago)

Had you asked me two years if I believed in miracles I would have said no. I’m a Christian so I’m not really supposed to say that. But if I’m being honest, which I almost always am, my true answer was no way. Miracles don’t happen. I’m glad Moses and his posse back in the day got to experience a bunch of miracles, but they never happened to anyone I’ve personally known.

On April 21, 2008 my dear friend Katherine Wolf (actress, model, brand new mom) collapsed in her kitchen for seemingly no reason at all. Her husband was home studying for his law school finals and immediately called 911. Katherine suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke caused by the rupture of an AVM (arterial veinous malformation) in her right cerebellum. This monster had been growing in her head since birth and no one ever knew. She was rushed to UCLA where her husband was told that her prognosis was likely life as a complete vegetable or death.

This past month Katherine planned and hosted my baby shower. Do you get the gravity of that or are you just skimming this post? You can’t skim this one. It’s too important. They said it could never happen for Katherine…no eating or drinking, reading or writing, sitting or standing…likely not ever again breathing. That’s what the experts said. Even her neurosurgeon (tops in his field) said there is no scientific or medical explanation for Katherine’s recovery.

Now don’t get me wrong. Katherine is not completely healed. She still has numerous deficits to overcome, but she’s defied every odd. She’s here with fully functioning mental capabilities despite 1/3 of her cerebellum being gone. She’s beautiful and funny and smart and more organized than most people I know who aren’t missing a huge chunk of their brain. She’s a miracle!

Wait…do you think I’m saying Katherine having that brain hemorrhage is a miracle? No. It’s awful. You will never ever hear me say what a blessing it is for this to have happened. In fact, God and I are still in a bit of a tiff over him allowing this to happen to my friend. He knows he’s in the dog house with me over this, but we’ll work it out in our own time. Don’t rush us.

My point is that Katherine, who goes through worse pain in one day than I ever have in my whole life, finds a reason every day to keep on going and to find life’s miracles all around her. No, the injury will never be a miracle, but as Katherine says “I can either complain about it 24/7 or I can find ways to make my life better every day”. She doesn’t choose to dwell on the pain and the misery of her ordeal (she experiences it, but does not dwell). She chooses to see the miracle in every milestone she passes and in every odd she defies. It’s totally her choice. And she actively chooses to shift her perception.

You know the storm itself is never the miracle. It’s what I see as a result of the storm that’s noteworthy. Do I see that the storm has ruined my outdoor party or my hairdo or my freshly washed car or do I see that because of that storm life can continue to grow in every tree, plant and flower? That it has, even if only for moments, washed away the smog of LA and left me with the rare opportunity in this city to see blue skies and breathe clean air?

Let me put it as eloquently as I can. Life if gonna bring you heaps of crappy poo and tons of suck, yuck and ick. But now you know a miracle is merely a shift in perception. When you shift your perception what do you see?

TODAY’S THINK TANK: Name just one thing that you previously saw as a storm cloud, but now you can find the silver lining as a result of it.