Ardath Rodale - Everyday Miracles: Meditations on Living an Extraordinary Life

Ardie Rodale is herself a gem, and this book is a treasure.

Edward Hallowell, MD

Ardie continues to inspiregiving readers stories of everyday ways in which we can shape our future, of hope in the power of humanity, and of faith in our ability to heal ourselves and heal our earth.

Cathrine Sneed

Founder and Director of The Garden Project

A diminutive giant, Ardie is herself an everyday miracle. She transforms the remote into the immediate, comforts us while challenging mindless comforts, celebrates the eternity of the present moment and makes life-affirming truths feel inevitable. A savvy natural-born ecofeminist, Ardie opens women and men alike to lives full of Possibility and joy.

Paula Gordon

The Paula Gordon Show: Conversations with People at the Leading Edge

This wonderful book is a great gift, a precious string of pearlspearls of wisdom, insight, celebration, and love. Read it and enrich your life.

Jeremy Geffen, MD

Author, The Journey Through Cancer: Healing and Transforming the Whole Person

Mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities in this book does not imply endorsement by the publisher, nor does mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities imply that they endorse this book.

Internet addresses and telephone numbers given in this book were accurate at the time it went to press.

2007 by Ardath Rodale

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

Book design by Tara Long

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Rodale, Ardath H.

Everyday miracles : meditations on living an extraordinary life / Ardath Rodale.

p. cm.

ISBN-13 978-1-59486-601-2 hardcover

ISBN-10 1-59486-601-5 hardcover

1. Miracles. 2. Spirituality. I. Title.

BL487.R63 2007

646.7dc22

2007011495

We inspire and enable people to improve their lives and the world around them.

rodalebooks.com

I DEDICATE THIS MESSAGE STRAIGHT FROM MY HEART TO ALL WHO ARE STRIVING TO BRING HEALTH, HEALING , LOVE, AND UNDERSTANDING TO OUR TROUBLED WORLD .

C ONTENTS

A CKNOWLEDGMENTS

A BOUT THE A UTHOR

I NTRODUCTION

G IVING T HANKS

C ARING F OR Y OURSELF A ND O THERS

T AKING A CTION

A CKNOWLEDGMENTS

To my family and all my eleven grandchildren, who are the delight of my life.

To Lois Hazel and Chris Potash, my editors; Liz Perl, my publisher; Mark Kintzel, who is my right hand and great friend. Mike Krajsa, who is my sounding board for many new ideas.

Ms. Hiroko Koyama and the Shumei organization, who gave me a whole new horizon, and Chisako, Tokiko, and Yasushi, who always lift my spirits.

The beloved camp children who visit my farm every summer and who keep me young at heart; my Mennonite neighbors, who remind me to keep life simple; and special Prevention readers like Jocelyn Cook from New Zealand and Marji Marazi from New Jersey.

The ten smiling Japanese children who visited with me, and The Rodale Institutes wonderful South Korean interns.

Seattle Smith, a new friend, and John Toya from Jemez Pueblo, who named me White Feather.

There are so many more people who help make a difference in my life, the employees of Rodale Inc. and The Rodale Institutethey are all valued and loved!

A BOUT THE A UTHOR

Ardath Harter Rodale, Chief Inspiration Officer of Rodale Inc., beautifully articulates the company philosophy: Our mission is to show people how they can use the power of their bodies and minds to improve their lives. You can do it, we say on every page of our magazines and books. She also serves as cochairman of the Board of the Rodale Institutea global leader in organic agriculture, food, and health whose mission is to promote their program for Healthy Soil, Healthy Food, Healthy People worldwide.

In 1985, Mrs. Rodales son, David, died from AIDS, prompting her to become an AIDS activist. Currently, she is a member of the Harvard AIDS Institutes International Advisory Committee.

Mrs. Rodale holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Art Education from Kutztown University. Her numerous honorary degrees include two Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees, one from DeSales University in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and the other from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania; and an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities degree from the New College of California in San Francisco.

She has been honored by local, state, and national organizations, including the Outstanding Alumni Award, Kutztown University; Valley Forge Freedoms Foundation Award for Humanitarianism; Extraordinary Voices Award, Mothers Voices (National), New York; Women of Distinction Award, Great Valley Girl Scout Council; Friend of Lehigh Award, Lehigh University; Lifetime Community Achievement Award, Boys & Girls Club of Allentown; Shining Star Award, St. Lukes Hospital, Allentown, Pennsylvania; Life and Breath Award, American Lung Association; Exceptional Woman Award, Women in Periodical Publishing, New York; LifePaths Community Service Award, Pennsylvania; The Circle of ExcellenceEnlightened Media award from the International Furnishings and Design Association; Lehigh Valleys Coalition for Alternative Transportation (CAT) award for promoting alternative transportation, especially bicycling, to youth and adults.

Mrs. Rodale was named as one of the 50 Best Women in Business in Pennsylvania by the Central Penn Business Journal in 1996 and as a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania by Governor Tom Ridge in 1997. She was chosen as one of the top 50 Women Business Owners in the United States in the October 1997 issue of Working Woman magazine and as one of the 50 Leading Women Entrepreneurs in the World by The Star Group in 1999.

Ardath, usually known as Ardie, is author of three books, Climbing Toward the Light, Gifts of the Spirit, and Reflections: Finding Love, Hope, and Joy in Everyday Life, published in 1989, 1997, and 2002, respectively; she also writes Reflections, a monthly column for Prevention magazine. Ardie was one of twenty-nine prominent women whose thoughts on the role of spirituality in modern life were featured in the book Embracing Our Essence: Spiritual Conversations with Prominent Women, published in 1995 by Health Communications, Inc.

She is the mother of five children and grandmother of eleven.

I NTRODUCTION

I have a Celtic harp in my living room. Two of my grandchildren were fascinated and wanted to play, but it was badly out of tune. They were eager to find out how it could be tuned so they could play. In a joint effort one child pressed the designated piano key, and the other child pressed the foot pedal as I tightened each string on the harp. Each time I asked them to tell me when they heard the two tones sounding as one. Yes, yes, we hear it! Its a miracle. This was not only a lesson in tuning an instrument but also a lesson in life. In order to play beautiful music in our lives, we need to think of ourselves as finely tuned instruments.