Communication...that ever illusive goal we all strive for and yet so often find difficult to achieve effectively. As George Bernard Shaw says, "The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." This month Joan shares her experience of learning a new way to communicate. Like miracles, it requires taking time, not only to be in the present but to truly listen with our hearts & our ears.

          Here's to chasing - and finding - miracles with all of you. 

Joan, Katie and Meb       

         Several weeks ago I lost my voice, which is really a misnomer because I know exactly where it went…somewhere off the coast of Columbia in very high seas. Was I afraid while screaming at the top of my lungs at the surging sea? Incredibly, not really. I trusted the captain and was surrounded by dear friends (and besides, nothing bad ever happens when the sun is shining, right?) It was a lesson in ceding control to those who know better than I how to handle certain situations. Needless to say we returned to port in high spirits having bonded over waves and wetness.

          When I awoke the next morning, I realized my voice had abandoned me somewhere on the high seas. I was instantly grateful that my most recent Miracle Chase presentation had been made a few days previously and my talking would be limited to small groups…what I forgot was that one of those “small groups” was my 94-year old mother who had left the cold of Boston to visit me upon my return to the U.S. later that same day.

          Between mom’s “older” ears and my lack of voice, we had to learn to communicate in a new way. At first it was frustrating, me “screaming” at the top of my lungs, which was not only painful; it was painfully ineffective. What followed was a lesson in patience and understanding. We learned to communicate less in words and more in touch, in feelings and in anticipating the other’s needs. We spent a week together soaking up the warmth of the Florida sunshine creating a new relationship: one where my words were sparse and she spoke more openly. Not in a hurry to answer, since I was thinking of how to use the fewest words possible, it gave her time to frame her next thought and share a new experience.

          I knew there was a lesson in our time together, not only because sometimes we think we have all the answers and hurry to fill in the blank of what we think others are asking, but because it was an opportunity to truly be present in the moment. It was a poignant reminder of Willa Cather’s words about having, “…our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes see and our ears can hear what there is about us always.” Because, as she tells us, “Where there is great love, there are always miracles.” In the silence it is easier to hear them! (Joan)

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