Miracles are a fascinating area to write about and are a spiritually natural part of our world. Miracles can be large or small, but what they have in common is that they constitute an extraordinary and astonishing event that cannot be explained by natural or scientific laws and are therefore attributed to the action of a divine or supernatural force.
That is the definition of a miracle and the word has its origin in the Latin Miraculum "object to wonder at". If we go even further back the word originates from Smeyros from Indo-European, which means "to smile." When we marvel at something or experience a miracle – we smile.
The origin of the word evokes curiosity and fascination in me because I see a connection to the "inner smile," which I described in the previous blog post: The healing power of the inner smile. In that text, I discuss what the inner smile is and how you can reach into it within yourself. I also share a personal experience of how it can support in the process of dying.
Two stories about the inner smile and miracles
Sanne, thank you for your openness and I read your experience about the dying man in a coma with fascination. It took me back to a personal experience when I myself was in a coma several years ago, a woman write to me.
I have been given permission to share the woman's story that deeply moved me. After that antoher story follows about a three-month-old baby who was in a coma and where I, along with some teacher colleagues in Wuji-gong, had the opportunity to sit in the inner smile — directed towards the baby.
The smile kept me strong when I fought for my life / story 1
While I was in a coma, a family member asked those present around the coma to visualize me with a smiling face. Her idea was to restore my will to live. When I woke up from the coma, I immediately had a blissful smile on my lips despite the beeping machines with intravenous infusion tubes, bound limbs to the hospital bed, short-term memory loss and an inability to speak. A brain hemorrhage also left the future hanging in the balance.
At the hospital, they were surprised to see someone on the edge of death, yet still radiating. It was stronger than myself. Within me, I now carried the memory of an infinity in which I had been scattered into countless atoms. The smile kept me strong during the following months as I fought for my life.
Over time that smile and the feeling of unity began to fade. It took me a long time to recover. When I later heard about the inner smile as a practice, it was like a magical moment where everything became clear and I could immediately connect my experiences. To be able to maintain this level of bliss, I realized that I need to nurture myself through practices like qi-gong and inner alchemy. It has made my inner smile start to return!
The recovery is a miracle according to the doctors /story 2
The three-month-old baby was fighting for its life and had already spent over a whole month in a coma due to, among other things, a brain hemorrhage, and its future was uncertain. We received a photograph of the child so that we could direct our inner smile to the child, visualizing it smiling from its source. We know that there were many around the baby who supported in their own way. After a week, we received the news that the baby had come out of the coma and was already home. The doctors had expressed:
The baby's rapid recovery is a miracle. It goes against all statistics and it responds well to all tests, is very lively and happy.
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The two stories above contain extraordinary and astonishing events that sparks wonder both among those involved and, not least, the woman's own experience in the first story. In the last story the doctors themselves use the word miracle. According to Michael Winn, the potential of the inner smile is so elevated that it is beyond anything that can be calculated or measured. I want to add the importance of remembering that there are always multiple factors that together create the conditions for a certain outcome.
The inner smile is a practice of inner alchemy
The inner smile is our absolute source of self-acceptance – to live without judgment. The smile is a foundational practice within Daoist inner alchemy and is part of the qi-gong form "Wuji- gong" that I practice. The more we practice/are in the smile, the deeper it takes us and helps us more permanently live from this state, something that the woman in the first story also highlights. When we practice the inner smile, we open the innermost part of our hearts, a source deeply hidden in our bodies that according to Winn, consists of a neutrally radiating light (neutral because it transcends the yin and yang poles).
When we smile, we allow this light to penetrate our body, we embody it and we permit total acceptance in the body of fate as it arises in every moment. This light is something that, among other things, the woman herself strongly experiences when she woke up from the coma. I saw a golden light around the man in my dream experience of the smile (read previous post) (and that before I even read about it).
Miracles are initiated by creating an alchemy through acceptance and a surrender into the void of the unknown, inviting the divine to intervene and ignite a 'spark,' a new set of circumstances that alters one's fate, sometimes immediately. Miracles can be set in motion, for example, through the prayer of a soul. (Robert Ohotto)
The inner smile and miracles! Yes, the fact that the word miracle originates from the meaning "to smile" is interesting and continues to fascinate me on multiple levels. Next time you smile from your inner smile to someone or yourself, remember that a wave of unconditional love filled with light is being sent out, simultaneously reminding others to open to that source within themselves.
We are all co-creators of our reality according to Caroline Myss, and I agree with that. Her words below will be the conclusion of the post!
We influence reality - we are the engines of creation, co-creators!
*M. Winn. 2003. Way of the Inner Smile, Self Acceptance: Tao Path to Inner Peace.
*R. Ohotto, 2018. Igniting miracles in the dark - lesson two.