Creating Miracles: A Practical Guide to Divine Intervention

This book has something for everyone. Even if you don't buy into the new age stuff, the anecdotes alone are worth it. To say the very least, it left me thinking, and answered in a very unique and straightforward manner those eternal questions like "why do good people suffer?" "Is God cruel?"...Dr. Miller walks the line between clinical talk and everyday language very well, unlike many other clinical psychologists. She presents her arguments in a very readable and rational manner.All in all, a very readable book, and if you're into this sort of thing like I am, then it's a MUST HAVE! :-)UPDATE:It's been at least 2 years since I've written the review, and I haven't touched another self help book since. Everything I said above still applies, though I'm a little less psyched about the miracle stuff.Shortly after reading this book I came up on a medical emergency; I certainly wasn't looking to try the stuff on such a scale yet; instead try something small like maybe focusing on finding a $10 bill on the sidewalk :-)Anyway, I followed the examples in the book, focusing on my desired outcome. No go. At the end, I had to have surgery. I even contacted some of the "miracle workers" in the book, even the author, who I'd emailed when I first got the book, congratulating her.Not much. Can't blame them I suppose, a total stranger contacts you out of the blue, what do you expect.Needless to say, the entire experience left me jaded and feeling a bit foolish for spending time on alternate healing.That's the problem with these self help books, they make it sound sooo easy, but.... People who are cited in these books, I've come to believe are the exceptions than the rule. Heck, if such principles as focusing on the desired outcome were so easy, then we'd have a LOT of successes. Look at the millions who've read Norman Vincent Peale, Wayne Dyer, but still...all you have to do is look around.At the risk of sounding bitter, maybe I am, if 99.9999999% of the world has difficulty practicing the positivity message, then the message itself is deceiving, because in the end the person is left questioning his/her faith/efficacy, which is even worse, and only adds to the problem.I'm not saying it can't be done, but for my life, I've found everything topsy turvy. Sometimes, when I'm expecting the "worst", voila, things miraculously turn out better than I expected. However, when I expect the "best", like in my medical condition above, I get the worst...so, I'm at a loss as to cause/effect as far as attitude is concerned.I'm sure I'll pick up another self help book sometime in the future.I remember 11 years ago I first read Wayne Dyer's books, and also read Tony Robbins, Napoleon Hill. I tried in earnest to practice the principles, but as the weeks wore into months, and the months to years, nothing.I eventually became very bitter, felt I was mislead into believing there was a better way when there wasn't, and in the process started to think there was something wrong with me.I didn't touch another self help book for a few years, and then started back up again.All this has nothing to do with the book in question, but then again, it has everything to do with it, because in reading this stuff you get the feeling that what you're reading about may, just MAY be possible for you too(that elusive thing called hope).But hope unfulfilled, or worse, dashed, is worse than not having that seed planted in your head, because then you have a long way to go down when it fails to materialize.Oh well, Dr. Miller's book is an entertaining read nevertheless.The principles espoused in these kinds of books aren't the easiest things to put into practice. Ah well, but at least the authors make a nice living at it.Oddly enough, I still think the principles ARE workable, but for those of us (actually a GREAT MANY of us) who can't make them work properly, there may be a case where we may be sabotaging ourselves subconsciously.But after the years of negativity our subconscious is fed from early childhood (again, for a lot of us), it's a bit like trying to untangle wet noodles. The psyche is a very complex thing to deal with. Look at the millions spending years in therapy in one form or another (be it clinical or religious).I know a little something of that, having spent time as a volunteer counselor back in college, "trying" to help people with serious problems.For those who can get instantaneous results, I envy them, because they have a clear channel, at least where their particular objective is concerned, but for people like me, the waters I guess are a bit more muddy.I've been trying to clear my subconscious, but I sadly just haven't made any discernible progress in all these years. I feel like I've been running on a treadmill.Anyway, sorry for the long discourse, but I'd been mulling writing something like this about books like Carolyn Miller's.You read a lot of reviews from professional reviewers about how "great" these books are, but you don't read much from people who've actually tried to put into practice the principles.Like Wayne Dyer in the PBS specials lecturing the audience. I always thought he should include a Q&A. Actually, I like Wayne Dyer, he's one of those "gurus" who tries to expand the concept of "self help" to outside himself by making his books reasonably priced.

Carolyn Godschild Miller is a clinical psychologist; in Creating Miracles she gathers together a number of real-life situations related by the individuals involved as appearing to be miracles. Dr. Miller explains that about 70% of the people who had shared their stories with her were psychotherapists. She also noted that most were "spiritually oriented individuals" though generally not conventionally religious. From this she concludes that "centering the mind in peace appears to be essential for obtaining a miracle." Most of the cases recounted by Dr. Miller in the book involved life and death situations, where the victim, rather than being beset with fear, found an altered consciousness state: an inner peace that seemed essential to achieving a favorable outcome.One category of miracles that Dr. Miller describes is spontaneous remission from disease. She notes that: "Patients with terminal diagnoses sometimes set out to heal themselves by altering the beliefs and attitudes that produce negative emotions, such as fear, anger, depression, and guilt. There are even physicians who make the restoration of inner peace an integral part of their treatment ... self-healers seem to give themselves permission to finally do what they want rather than what they are "supposed" to do ... they take a renewed interest in life and begin to feel they have something to live for ... They seem to place their main emphasis upon living in a way that is congruent with their inner values for as long as they have left."I found myself reflecting on how similar the changes in consciousness reported to Dr. Miller were to accounts of near-death experiences (NDE) such as are discussed by authors such as Drs. Kenneth Ring and Raymond Moody MD. While I found myself ambivalent about the meaning of the claimed miracles, the credentials of all of these authors are good reason for reading with an open mind. What they show is that at least some of what are typically grouped together as paranormal phenomena seem to be more than illusions or dreams and that whatever their cause, they can bring about real change in those who experience them. Very absorbing.

All books, all techniques, all masters and gurus begin by admitting that there is a problem, whatever it is. There is always a problem and the technique is the solution of this problem. We forget that any technique to solve a problem creates the problem in the first place. The serpent of Eden was the first guru. Adam and Eve had no problem until the snake proposed a technique: eating the forbidden fruit would make Adam and Eve as smart as God.I am increasingly convinced that there is no problem and that the miracle is the revelation of this truth. But the problem disappears only when we - the creators of the problems - disappeared from the scene. This is the pattern common to all the miracle stories of the book of Carolyn Miller. The person in danger let God act. The idea these stories bring to my mind is too wonderful for the mind to believe it. The idea is: everything is perfect. And children dying of cancer, and earthquakes that kill thousands, and millions dying of hunger ..? Is all a lie? How do we interpret these extraordinary words of Jesus: "you will know the truth and the truth will set you free?" The truth frees us from what? Deliver us from evil we believe. The teaching of Jesus is exactly that and the miracles He performed even prove it.Hope you understand my poor English.

Currently I am a student of the Course in Miracles book. As most people know, it is no easy book to understand. Thanks to Carolyn's beautifully logical and objective presentation on the subject of miraculous events in our lives I found her book very helpful for me.

Carolyn combines science, practicality, divinity, grace, and surrender. How do we tap into our higher selves, divine guidance, miracles? There are mental and spiritual conditions for such lightning to strike. Carolyn is a gift of a guide.