This post is a continuation of The Miracle Log series where I highlight real-life stories of miracles and synchronicity from client readings and from my own life.
Today’s story is near and dear to my heart because it involves my favorite person in the world - my daughter Chloe. And while it isn’t a story of a reading validation or a loved one’s miraculous messages from beyond the grave, it is about how interconnected we all are even when we don’t realize it. And to me those are the best stories of all.
The first time I heard the song “Precious Human Life” I was in Austin, Texas in 2015 at a fundraiser for the Amala Foundation. The doula I had used for Chloe’s birth was intimately involved with the nonprofit and had invited Brian and I to share her table.
I had never heard the Dalai Lama’s “Precious Human Life” quote before, and I had definitely never heard it put to music in such a soul-stirring way. When it was performed live by a group of kids at the benefit, I was moved to tears. Big ol’ ugly tears.
Brian and I purchased the CD that night, and the song became a staple in our home that we not only listened to but sang often as a family. One morning when Chloe was almost four years old, she was joyfully singing it at the breakfast table over her toast and berries, and I grabbed my phone and captured a bit of her singing. I posted the video to Instagram, tagged the Amala Foundation and honestly didn’t think too much more about it. I was simply sharing my joy.
Fast forward to May 2019. I had just arrived at the chateau in France where my sister and I were going to teach the Shift Retreat, and I was stopped by one of the attendees who said she had a story to share with me.
She was from Austin and said that she used to do yoga at the Amala Foundation with her sister. Because of this she followed them on social media, and many years back she had seen a video on their Facebook page of a child singing “Precious Human Life” that had touched her deeply. She commented on the way the kiddo in the video drew out the ‘precious human life’ part and said that for years she heard that sweet little voice on repeat in her head.
In 2018 she learned about the Shift Retreat in France from her friend and started doing research about it. While learning about my sister Lacy, she found me as well and watched a few videos on my Instagram feed, including some recent footage of my now-almost-seven-year-old daughter Chloe.
She said that when she watched the videos of Chloe, she immediately recognized the voice and went down an internet rabbit hole to find the original “Precious Human Life” video she’d seen years before via the Amala Foundation. Sure enough, she found the original, put two and two together and realized that years before she ever knew me, before she ever heard of my sister, before she ever boarded a plane to France to spend a week with us, she had known my daughter’s sweet voice.
The story ruminated in my heart all week at the retreat. We shared it with the group, and I even sang the song during the retreat circle one day. And like Chloe’s voice in that woman’s head all those years, this story just won’t leave my mind.
I had no idea the Amala Foundation shared Chloe’s video. Or if I did know at the time, it didn’t stay with me. I had no idea the impact my sweet little daughter was having by simply joyfully singing one of her favorite songs over breakfast.
And I think that’s the part that really gets me about the whole thing. We never know the ripples we’re making in other people’s lives, how us being us doing what we love from a soulful place is finding its way into the hearts of those that need it most.
I have toyed off and on over the years with getting off social media. As a mom I have grappled with how much of my child I should be sharing on such an open platform, and at times I felt like hitting deleting and just saying peace out to the whole thing.
But after that story (and another that I’ll perhaps share at a different time) I’m seeing interconnectedness via the internet in a whole new way. I’m so deeply grateful that Chloe shares her magic with me, and I’m in awe of how her light permeates far and wide.
The truth is that we are all connected. Separateness is simply an illusion. And our paths are being peppered with little miracles at every turn.
What conditions had to be just right for that woman to have done yoga at Amala, to have decided to invite them into her social feed, to have seen that post of Chloe and then years later to have found me?
What timing had to work out for Chloe to sing that day, for me to have my phone within an arm’s reach and then to decide to share that intimate moment, and to have said yes when Lacy asked me to come to France?
If we stopped to marvel at the symphony that is this life, we’d all be crying tears of joy all day long.
I believe all of our lives are the Miracle Log we’ve been seeking. And if we look close enough, we see that us being ourselves is the real magic.