Friday, December 22, 2006

Do You Believe in Miracles?

Excerpts from the Hero Soul eZine December 2006 Issue:

1. Quote of the Month
2. Do You Believe in Miracles?
3. Gifts for the Holiday Season
4. Changes to Your Complimentary Billionaire Invite
5. Looking for a Columnist Writer?


1. Quote of the Month

Dance as if no one were watching. Sing as if no one were listening. And live every day as if it were your last.
— Irish proverb


2. Do You Believe in Miracles?

I believe in miracles because I believe we’re all miracle makers.

For those of you who’ve been long-time subscribers to my newsletter, you may recall that my younger brother Junaid (age 33) was diagnosed back in March at Sunnybrook Hospital with advanced stage four base of the tongue cancer. Prospects looked grim. His doctor told him there was less than ten percent chance of a cure and that the cancer was so advanced that it was beyond surgery. He was given seven months to live.

That was over nine months ago. My brother experienced one agonizing ordeal after another, complication upon complication, during his brave struggle as he underwent thirty-three treatments of radiation and chemo. The pain was tremendous. (Imagine having excruciating pain every time you swallow). He literally went through hell and back and experienced the hero’s journey: he transcended death through his cancer – and lived. Yes, he is alive! And that truly is miraculous!

He may not have met the medical term for “cure” which means a patient has to live longer than five years from the date of being diagnosed with cancer. But he is on the road to recovery. His strength and energy (and hair) have returned as the effects of the radiation wear off. The pain has disappeared. The trache in his throat to aid in breathing has been removed. He can now speak in coherent sentences and he no longer requires the g-tube in his belly for liquid meals. While he can’t (yet) eat hard solid foods like steak and burgers, he is happily drinking teas and eating semi-solids such as soups and pastas when at one point we were not even sure he’d ever be able to eat again.

And I have YOU to thank for this! Without your thoughts and prayers of love and healing directed to my brother, I’m convinced the results might have been different. After a long blur of distant, hazy morphine-filled days, I finally have my brother back! And I am truly grateful. If this isn’t a miracle I don’t know what is. But this is not what I mean when I say, I believe in miracles.

Faith is a curious thing. About 2000 years ago, when a blind beggar asked for sight, Christ replied, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you,” (Luke 18:42) and sight was restored. Today, we don’t have a visible Christ-like figure walking the earth. We still have faith; but we also have modern science and technology.

When a person displays strong faith and is cured from a seemingly incurable disease, many people call it a ‘miracle.’ But if this person of faith is not healed, doctors point out the facts as governed by medical science. At the same time, some people in certain religious circles or in the self-help field would say that this person simply did not have enough faith. And yet, we’ve all seen people with incredible faith, surrounded by an ocean of faith, and still not make it. And many times we are angered when our expectations are not met. We ask ourselves: “Where is God? Where is this miracle we had hoped for?”

In search of this one great Miracle, I lost sight of all the miracles that were happening right before me: the special moments I shared with my brother during this ordeal. Like crying and hugging after reading an inspirational story from Chicken Soup for the Surviving Soul when my brother was in the hospital, or going for a long silent walk with Junaid in Sunnybrook Park, or drawing a colorful picture of a smiling Wayne Dyer holding up a butterfly from the cover of his book Inspiration to cheer up my brother as he looked on in silence while I drew -- only to reveal to me later that he had drawn that very same picture earlier in his personal drawing book!

Last Sunday I was watching the 10th Anniversary Special of “Inside the Actors Studio” on Bravo! Canada. Host James Lipton was interviewing actress Melanie Griffith when she began crying spontaneously. When Lipton asked her why she was crying, she replied it was because of who he was being in that moment and the incredible sharing and knowledge he was helping to impart to his audience. That moment was a miracle.

The miracle is in the moment. The past is history and the future is a mystery, and all we have left is the here and now. We are all miracle makers because we can consciously choose to live truthfully in the moments that make up that little dash between our birth and death that we call life.

In the mad rush of the holiday season, let’s not lose sight of the miracles that are happening right before us. Let’s honor and treasure each moment and share them the best we can, because at the end of the day that’s all that matters. Let’s consciously choose to be miracle makers by creating magical moments that will help make us and people around us feel special and loved.

May your year be filled with many miracles: wonderful moments filled with awe, beauty, gratitude, love, and joy.

Love and light,

Sharif Khan
Author, The Hero Soul
www.HeroSoul.com


3. Gifts for the Holiday Season

Here are two f.r.e.e gifts that I think you’ll really enjoy as a New Year’s gift for yourself, your friends, or loved ones:

1. Industry Insider, Bob Proctor, viewed as a coach’s coach by many highly successful people is offering his F-R-E-E audio gift “How to Attract the Money You Need” on his website www.BobProctor.com (If you don’t know Bob, he’s the guy who recently appeared on Larry King and the Ellen DeGeneres show to talk about The Secret movie which you can also preview on his website).

2. Journalist Heather Vale and host of the SUCCESS UNWRAPPED RADIO show is now offering a complimentary sampling of some of her rare interviews with successful movers and shakers and industry leaders such as Jack Canfield, John Harricharan, Dr. John F. Demartini, Bijan, and many, many more. For your f*r*e*e sampling visit: Success Unwrapped. (By the way, I personally believe you’ll get some value from sampling her interviews because Vale interviewed me once on her show and I know from first-hand experience that she is a tough journalist who asks original questions).

* Dare I recommend a copy of THE HERO SOUL as a heart-warming, inspirational gift for yourself or loved ones this holiday season?

The Hero Soul (ISBN 0973192208) is an inspirational book on awakening the Hero within and developing your leadership potential. It is available to order in most major bookstores including Barnes & Noble, Borders, Chapters, Indigo, Coles, and Amazon. *


4. Changes to Your Complimentary Billionaire Invite

In my last newsletter, I personally extended a complimentary invitation to spend an evening with BILLIONAIRE BILL BARTMANN. Just wanted to let you know that there have been some changes (by the way there are still some seats available if you’re interested):

* Toronto’s date has been changed to January 18 and some new cities have been added to his seminar tour. Here are the cities and dates he will be appearing: Montreal - January 15, Ottawa - January 16, Toronto - January 18, Winnipeg - January 20, Phoenix - February 24, and Los Angeles - May 19.

If you ever wanted to meet a Billionaire this is your chance and he will share with you some key strategies to attain massive success in any endeavor.

The best part is it's F-R-E-E. All you have to do is register because seating is limited. When you register please use my name (SHARIF KHAN) for the “person who referred you”, thanks. To register, go to www.billbartmann.com/bbe.html and scroll down to fill out the short registration form. I found Mr. Bartmann’s seminar to be not only educational but also incredibly inspiring as he shared his life story and I hope you will too.


5. Looking for a Columnist Writer?

If you’ve enjoyed this newsletter over the years and happen to be a Publisher or Editor of a mid-to-large circulation (80,000 + readers) newspaper, ezine or magazine with a budget for a columnist writer, then we need to talk! As a freelance writer I’ve written on a wide variety of topics including Entrepreneurship, Business, Leadership, Success, Personal Development/Self-Help, Marketing, Publishing, and Health/Wellness/Spirituality. For some writing samples visit: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Sharif_Khan

You can reach me at 416-417-1259 or shoot me an email at: sharif@herosoul.com



To subscribe to the F.R.E.E. monthly Hero Soul eZine, visit: www.HeroSoul.com

Copyright © 2006 by Sharif Khan