I Believe in Miracles!

My Ancient Family Curse…

Did you know that for most of my life I’ve felt like I’ve been cursed? Whenever I tell my husband this he always says its nonsense and that I ought to practice what I preach by believing in positive thinking to bring good things my way. While I believe in positive thinking, there’s a part of me that’s grown up superstitious. From a young age when things started to go wrong for me, I imagined that it was due to some ancient curse an enemy had placed upon my ancestors … what awful thing, I often wondered, had been done that we encountered so much back luck…

Like many, as a young girl I grew up with much hope but eventually as I grew older it began to diminish. Ever since I can remember, bad luck has followed me. Some of the highlights of the trajectory of negative events in my life began with my being deemed an outcast of my family for reasons I’ll never understand … as well, being mistakenly viewed a “slow learner” led to all kinds of painful decisions made for me by my parents about my future… then, my dad got cancer while I was in my teens and died some years later; I never really got to bond with him and our family suffered much after his loss… one day my brother Frank mysteriously disappeared from our lives and we haven’t heard from him since… and the list goes on. Every time something goes wrong, I’d think, man, somebody “up there” really has it out for me!

Three years ago when I began Collage Your World, I decided to put aside my litany of misery which had defined my whole life. I asked myself, how I could proceed with my achieving my dreams, if I chose to believe my entire life was a nightmare? Making a vision board helped; it was the first step in making happiness a real possibility for me. It seemed like a great antidote for ending the wretched curse. For a while, things have been relatively fabulous for me…I’ve lived out many of my dreams, and for the first time in my life, I was beginning to feel very lucky. Then 2013 struck and bad things started happening again; re-opening the door to my haunted past. I won’t burden you with my current woes but all this to say I feel things are really challenging my capacity to feel creative again…

Worrying about how to resolve my problems is at the forefront of my mind and this has virtually paralyzed my imagination these last few months. While I’ve made time to make art during small spurts of happiness, I feel I’m losing the momentum I worked so hard to build these last few years. But fortunately, I don’t feel like it’s all gone. I still feel there’s much more to come… it’s there just waiting for me to rev myself into creative gear. Unlike much of this year, however, May and June have brought some pleasant surprises that have renewed my hope in life… and so I thought I’d share them. You see, recently I was granted three miracles…

My Three Miracles…

In May on the way home from enjoying a coffee, I was horrified to discover that I’d accidentally left my purse at a local shopping centre’s busy food court! Half an hour had gone by and panic ensued. My life was in that purse! My heart raced with wild thoughts of someone spiriting it away in seconds. Reverting to my old habits, I blamed the curse and lost all hope of getting it back. I raced to the mall’s lost and found; I had called them on the way and found out a purse had been turned in. When I approached the security counter a guard carrying a large brown paper bag asked me to describe my purse. When I finished, like a magician he revealed the bag’s contents and triumphantly presented me with my purse! “You’re very lucky!” he said. I couldn’t believe it. The contents of my purse were intact. I was so relieved. This was my first miracle.

A week later after being packed like a sardine on my daily bus ride home, I freaked out when I realized the recent bus pass I’d bought was missing. I practically live on the buses and can’t survive without one because I don’t drive; getting around this city is indispensable to the running of my business. Being on a strict budget this year meant losing my expensive pass would cost me dearly. I was so upset. Once again, the thought of the ugly curse taunted me. Even still, I called the bus depot in the hopes that a good soul had turned it in – and you know what? Someone actually did! Beaming I picked up my pass – it was like a precious piece of gold to me now! A big, tattooed biker dude standing in line beside said: “Miss, do you realize how lucky you are to get that back? The odds are so low!” I nodded in agreement and thanked the Great Creator for this second miracle.

Last week, a large sum of money I’d taken out for a day (which I kept in a small bag in my knapsack) disappeared. Panicking, I felt I must have accidentally thrown it out or even worse perhaps it had fallen out of my knapsack on a walk through the local mall. I’d been saving this money for a year for a good cause; that it was gone made me sick to my stomach. Mulling over the loss of my purse, pass and now this, I became distraught. I let Kevin know that I was definitely under the influence of my family curse and it seemed to be getting more vicious with each strike! Offering comfort he said he’d send all his positive energy my way in the hopes that it would turn up. Overwhelmed with despair, I informed him there were no more miracles left for me… no one would return that amount of money! After checking the garbage and God knows everywhere else, a little voice implored me to call the mall security. A discussion with a security guard revealed a large sum of money matching my description had indeed been found. I was called in to identify the bag (which was luckily very unique) and its contents. Upon seeing it, I instantly recognized it! We counted the money and unbelievably it was all there! A good samaritan had turned it in. The Security Officer said to me: “Do you realize what a miracle this is Mrs. Casey?!” I replied that I sure did while pinching myself to ensure this was all real!

Wise Words from Deepak Chopra…

Deepak Chopra once said never be unhappy when bad things happen to you. Instead ask yourself why they’re happening as well as what these situations have to teach you about life, yourself and others. Among many things, these situations have taught me to be more vigilant; that there are many more good people out there than I imagined and, most importantly, to have hope for the future and the present even when events in my past have gone wrong. And, you know, its way nicer to believe that I’m blessed instead of cursed! I could get used to this new feeling … especially because it’s inspired me to get into the groove of working again! So goodbye evil family curse – for now, anyway 😉 Next week I’ll share a collage I’m presently working on inspired by my ancient curse! – it may as well come in handy for something! I’m hoping your week was just as awesome! Happy Canada Day long weekend to my Canadian friends!