The 4 Biggest Mistakes That Keep You From Living A Miraculous Life

You may not realize it, but there’s an

incredible opportunity in front of you
today—the chance to live a life filled
with miracles.

I’m Marci Shimoff, author of the

NY Times bestselling Chicken Soup
for the Woman’s Soul series as well
as the NY Times bestsellers Happy for
No Reason and Love for No Reason.
I’m also a teacher in the hit film and book The Secret.
Over the last three decades, I’ve had the honor of teaching
millions of people around the world through my books and
seminars how to manifest happiness.

You see, because I’d grown up very unhappy (I was born depressed),
I’d been on a quest for years to learn the true secrets to happiness. Once
I discovered those and used them in my life, I looked around and realized
that not only was my life happy—it was, in fact, miraculous.

I was enjoying overflowing material wealth, deep spiritual fulfillment, and profound love with “the one,”
as well as an abundance of those magical synchronicities that make you feel like everything is working in
your favor. I was truly living in what I call the “Miracle Zone.”

I also realized that my miracle-filled life didn’t happen by accident, but that there is a formula for creating
a life you love—and that formula can be learned.

I knew this formula and decided I wanted to share it with others and asked myself, “Who else do I know who
lives a miraculous life?”

The answer was clear. I called one of my fellow teachers from The Secret and a fellow Chicken Soup for the
Soul co-author, world-renowned motivational expert, Lisa Nichols to teach this formula with me.

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 The 4 Biggest Mistakes That Keep You From Living A Miraculous Life

Lisa also lives an incredibly miraculous life and has been sharing her powerful methods for manifesta-
tion and abundance with millions of people for decades. She is a New York Times bestselling author of No
­Matter What: 9 Steps to Living the Life You Love and Abundance Now. From a struggling single mom on
public assistance to a millionaire entrepreneur, Lisa’s courage and determination has inspired fans world-
wide and helped countless audiences breakthrough to discover their own untapped talents and infinite
potential.

Ever since The Secret came out, Lisa and I always said that one day we would come together and teach our
most powerful tools and techniques—and that day has arrived.

In this e-book, we’re sharing with you what we know will put you in the Miracle Zone. It’s your guidebook
for creating a miracle-filled life—and avoiding the mistakes other people make that keep them in stress and
struggle.

Living in the Miracle Zone isn’t always easy—if it were, then everyone’s lives would already be miracu-
lous. But once you incorporate our five simple steps, it can be easy for YOU.

You can also attend our latest free Masterclass “The 3 Secrets to Living a Miraculous Life.”

—Marci Shimoff

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 The 4 Biggest Mistakes That Keep You From Living A Miraculous Life

Contents
Introduction
Our (Not-Always-Easy) Road to Living Miraculous Lives......................................................5

Mistake #1
Holding On When It’s Time To Let Go..................................................................................13

Mistake #2
Not Thinking You’re Worthy of Miracles...............................................................................17

Mistake #3
Using the Power of Your Mind to Visualize What You Don’t Want.......................................21

Mistake #4
Surrounding Yourself with the Wrong People........................................................................24

Conclusion
The Promise of Life in the “Miracle Zone”............................................................................27

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 The 4 Biggest Mistakes That Keep You From Living A Miraculous Life

Introduction
One glorious morning just a few short years ago, we woke up in a beautiful resort in Costa Rica.
Our day overflowed with miracles. We were there at a meeting of the Transformational Leadership
Council, a group of 125 of the top transformational leaders in the world founded by Jack Canfield—
a group that we’re honored to be a part of.

As we ate our breakfast sitting on the veranda overlooking

the crystal blue ocean, attended our meetings filled with
profound wisdom, joyous laughter, and deep connection with
our fellow Leadership Council members, and ended the day
with a glorious sunset dinner cruise, we looked
at each other and said, “It doesn’t get much better than this.”

And we go to these meetings two times every year at magical

and exotic locations around the world…

Yes, our lives are miraculous—but they weren’t always this way.
Not by a long shot.

In fact, if you had told us that we would be together in the most beautiful places in the world
surrounded by people who are loving and open-hearted and actual living legends, and having
our wildest dreams come true, we would have said you were crazy.

And to us, the most exciting part of our lives is not just strolling on a white sand beach,
it’s that we get to share our secrets with you.

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From Marci
As I mentioned earlier, to be honest with you…I was born depressed.
Even though I was blessed with a great family and wonderful
circumstances growing up, I was not a happy camper throughout
my childhood and teen years. I had low self-esteem and lived
with an underlying feeling of fear and anxiety.

In my 20s, I had the idea that maybe if I became successful,

I would like myself more. So I set my goal to be a superstar.
My plan was speak to big audiences and to write and sell tons
of books and make lots of money. I wanted to prove my own
worth and feel important.

Over time, I reached those goals. I conceived of the idea for “specialty” books in the Chicken Soup
for the Soul Series, and wrote 6 Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul books that soared to the top of
the NY Times Bestseller List. In fact, they were on that list for a total of 121 weeks (yes, more than
two years). I was featured in more national magazines and on so many TV shows that I lost count.

I had made the big time. I’d reached my goal of being an author rock star!

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At the height of the Chicken Soup for the Soul phenomenon, I was in Chicago giving a speech to
over 8,000 women. I’d just autographed 5,432 books. The event planner had even hired a massage
therapist to massage my hand every 30 minutes so I could continue to write.

I remember signing that last book and, deeply exhausted, going up to my hotel room—the penthouse
suite that the event planner had gotten for me.

I also remember walking into that room and looking out the window at the beautiful panoramic view
of Lake Michigan and the twinkling Chicago skyline—and collapsing on the bed drowning in tears.

I had gotten everything I thought I needed to be happy, and I still wasn’t.

I felt empty. My life was hard, I was totally drained, and I had little joy inside of me.

That’s when I knew that I was looking in the wrong place for real happiness and deep satisfaction.

But what was the right place? I had no idea, but I was going to find out.

And I did.

I spent the next decade immersed in the study of what makes people happy. I researched the biology
of happiness and what happens in the brains of happy people. I interviewed unconditionally happy
men and women from every corner of the world.

And when I implemented that formula in my own life, I became deeply happy. Profound inner peace
and a subtle, pervasive feeling of bliss replaced the existential angst of my childhood.

Over the years, this happiness has deepened and I now find myself waking up each morning to a life
that’s not only happy but truly miraculous. Amazing synchronicities happen each day, and I feel as
though I’m in a sacred flow.

I love sharing the formula for a happy and miraculous life and I can’t believe that since I began this
journey more than 11 years ago, nearly one million people from all walks of life and from all over
the world have soaked up these teachings. I feel truly blessed! And I love watching as others who’d
once believed that happiness or love or miracles were not for them begin to experience a deep and
profound transformation to a life they love.

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From Lisa
I grew up in “South Central,” a rough, gang-filled, low-income
neighborhood in Los Angeles.
By the time I was in my late twenties, my life had morphed into
something I hadn’t signed up for. I got pregnant unexpectedly and
ended up as a single mom on government assistance. Then, when my
son was 8 months old, I got a call from my son’s father who said to
me, “Lisa, I’m in jail.” I was devastated and ashamed – and on my own,
emotionally and financially. One day, I went to the ATM to get $20 out of
the bank to buy Pampers, but all I had was $11.42. I came home and wrapped
my son in a towel and for the next two days, I just changed his towel.
Again and again, I said to myself, I can’t keep living like this. But I didn’t know the steps to get out.
Growing up, we’d go to church every Sunday and pray, and then hope to survive Monday through
Saturday to get back to church on Sunday again. Even so, my grandmother always said to me: “Lisa,
it’s your birthright to be happy and to have love. You’ve got to figure out how to get it, but it’s your
birthright.”
In my neighborhood, no one had abundance. No one looked like they were living a great life. But I
held onto the words that “it’s your birthright.” And that was enough for me to dream.
Now, looking at my son, wrapped in his towel, all I saw was a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel.
As an African American male child with a single mom and a dad in prison, he had a 66% chance
of going to prison himself. I told myself, not on my watch. With tears streaming down my face, I
promised my baby boy, “Your life will not always be like this. I don’t know the how, but I know the
what. I want to transform your life.”
After that moment, I became willing to do the things that I’d never done before, to become the woman
I was born to be. I knew I had a talent and a purpose, but I wasn’t sure what it was. Deep inside, I
knew I wanted to be a speaker and a writer. Even though when I was at school, my speech teacher
suggested I get a desk job when I grow up and avoid speaking in public, and my English teacher said,
“You are the weakest writer I’ve ever met.”
And so with my grandmother’s encouragement to pursue my dream of being a speaker, I quit
my job and moved to San Diego. I rented an office space the size of a walk-in closet to start my
business. I took one step after another towards my dream to end up where I am today, a New York
Times bestselling author, one of the world’s most-requested motivational speakers, and the CEO of
Motivating the Masses, a multi-million-dollar business that has served more than 80 million people.
My non-profit foundation, Motivating the Teen Spirit, has touched the lives of over 270,000 teens,
prevented over 3,800 teen suicides, supported 2,500 dropouts in returning to school, and has helped
thousands reunite with families.

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Sometimes you have to disrupt your patterns–dig up your soil that has been planted for years in order
to plant a new seed and grow a new fruit. I stopped asking for permission and gave notice. I realized
that I am my own rescue. I became unrecognizable to myself. I didn’t do it to impress anyone else. I
did it for me. I’m so grateful that I’m living a miraculous life.
And now I love sharing with others how they can claim their birthright and live their most miraculous
life too!

With Lisa Garr and Dr Sue Morter. At the Transformational Leadership Council.

If we can do it, so can you.

As you can see, we didn’t create our miraculous lives by accident.

There is a formula for living in the Miracle Zone, and we’re going to share it in this e-book.

While we can’t create miracles, we can create the conditions

for miracles to flow in our lives. Living in that flow is what we
call Living in the Miracle Zone.

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So if you…

• Have been working hard, but just can’t seem to create the success or
abundance you see in the lives of others around you…

• Long for deep and fulfilling relationships with your partner or your friends
or with “the one” who hasn’t shown up yet, and you feel isolated and empty…

• Continue to experience health challenges, fatigue, or stress, despite having

made changes to your diet, lifestyle habits, and exercise routine…

• Have been searching for your true life’s purpose, but it seems to be outside your reach…

• Simply feel hopeless because the happiness you’ve longed for continues to elude you…

Or maybe you feel like your life is good but you want to take it to miraculous…

And when you make the decision to embrace miracles and stop making
those mistakes that keep your miraculous life away…
everything can change.

Your life really can shift in an instant.

It’s not an accident that you’re reading this right now. Your soul led you here.

You’re primed for a miraculous life.

And at any moment in time, you can choose your next step. You can choose to continue
down the path you’re on or you can set your life up for miracles.

What will you choose, right now, in this moment?

You’re always just one choice away from a completely different life.

We hope you choose miracles.

You’re so ready.

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How This Book Works

This book is broken down into four chapters. In each chapter we discuss another mistake that we
see people make that have kept miracles from flowing in their lives. In each chapter we also provide
a way to turn that mistake around so that you can start living more and more in the Miracle Zone!

Mistake #1: Holding On When It’s Time To Let Go

You’ll learn why letting go on the physical level creates space for your miracles to appear in every
area of life. Then we’ll share with you an ancient Chinese decluttering technique to make the process
simple and fun.

Mistake #2: Not Thinking You’re Worthy of Miracles

If you think you don’t deserve to live a miraculous life, it’s time to put that idea to rest. The fact of
the matter is, the miracles you most desire are desiring you.

Mistake #3: Using the Power of Your Mind to Visualize What You Don’t Want

If you want to manifest anything in your life, seeing it clearly in your mind’s eye helps anchor the
feeling in your body and begins the process of manifestation. But this law of visualization can work
against you if you make the mistake of visualizing what you don’t want to happen or the person that
you don’t want to be.

Mistake #4: Surrounding Yourself with the Wrong People

What if you’re doing everything “right” and your miracles are still not manifesting like you know
they could be. Is there something else holding you back?

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Let Go

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At some point in your life, you have to simply let go of the past…whether it’s letting go of a job
where you feel like you’re dying a slow death, a business that no longer brings you any kind of
fulfillment, a relationship that was really over years ago, or an expensive piece of jewelry that was
given to you by your former mother-in-law.

When you let go, you create space for something infinitely better to come into your life.

So why is it that we make the mistake of holding on?

There is only one reason: fear.

We think to ourselves things like…

“What if I let go of this job and then the management change happens that turns this company into
a wonderful place to work?”

“I know I hate this business but at least I have a roof over my head.”

“What if he leaves that husband stealer and comes back to me, and he’s upset that I got rid of the
necklace that his mother gave me?”

Really? Is that how you want to live your life?

You hold on out of fear that there won’t be something to take the place of what you have now.
We’re here to tell you that there will be something. And you know what that something is?

Miracles.

In order to allow miracles into your life, you have to make space for them by letting go of
what no longer serves you. You have to clear the clutter.

What we’ve found is that the way to start the energy moving is to get rid of the physical clutter.
Once that physical stuff starts to move, letting go of the bigger things like stale relationships
becomes infinitely easier.

When we release the old energy, it makes space for the new.

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We have a friend who met her current husband at a party literally the day after she finally gave her
deceased husband’s clothes to Goodwill. He had died six-and-a-half years earlier.

When we let go of the old, we’re basically saying to the Universe, “I know you have my back, so I’m
going to let go and trust that there’s something better on its way for me.”

Everything we own carries an energy with it. It’s amazing how letting go of something as seemingly
innocuous as old pots and pans can help start the momentum that allows us to get a whole new kitchen,
or house, or partner!

In order to “clear the decks” and open ourselves to a miraculous future, we use a simple feng shui
ritual based on letting go.

If you’re really ready to start this momentum going and you want a fresh start in any area of your life,
we invite you to try this:

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These items can be clothes that have been in your closet for years in case you get back to a size 4,
dishes that have big chips in them, spoons that have been eaten up by the garbage disposal, knickknacks
that you don’t even like that sit around accumulating dust—whatever no longer serves you and you
don’t want to carry into the future.

Here are some guidelines:

Once you start, you have to let go of at least 27 items a day.

If you skip a day you have to start over with day 1 because the energy is cumulative.

If you’re not sure about an item, hold it to your heart and ask if you want to bring the energy
of the item into your future. Ask, “Does it represent the ‘me’ as I see my ideal self in the future?”

Get rid of books, tapes, and CDs with messages that no longer speak to you.

Get rid of outdated food or vitamins, and dispose of old medicines that may remind you
of a previous illness (it’s not a great idea to hold on to these just in case the illness comes back!).

Throw away items in your kitchen that are cracked or unusable. Get rid of broken appliances
that you know you’ll never get fixed. It’s usually cheaper to get a new one anyway.

Throw away items in your office like dried-up markers, broken pens, expired passports,
and old magazines you’ll never read.

Give away anything that holds an unpleasant memory or binds you to the past
that is never coming back.

As you let go, thank the item warmly for its previous usefulness, and then
say goodbye to it with gratitude in your heart. This makes the process joyful and deeply fulfilling.

After the nine days are over, take one final look around and see if what’s left represents who you are
now and who you intend to be in the future.

It’s a law of physics that “Nature abhors a vacuum.” In other words, Nature doesn’t like it when things
are empty! So when you create space, the Universe rushes in to fill it up. This is why when you release
old relationships that no longer work, new and more wonderful ones have space to come in. When you
let go of old resentments, more loving energy can enter. When you let go of the items throughout your
home that carry old energy, more appropriate things will come in. You’ll also notice a much greater
ease when letting go of old ideas, feelings, positions, relationships, or anything that no longer serves
you…and you’ll also notice that miracles will fill those empty spaces faster than you can say,
“I love living in the Miracle Zone.”

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Miracles

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Maybe you don’t think you deserve to live a miraculous life. Well, the truth is that the miracles you most
want also want you. They’re just waiting around for you to love yourself enough to feel worthy of them.

We talk about this concept in much more detail in our Masterclass “The 3 Secrets to Living a Miraculous
Life”, but for now, the bottom line is that living a miraculous life is really a function of your willingness to
just let the miracles in.

And your willingness to let miracles in is based on your feelings of your own inherent worthiness.
And we can’t feel worthy of miracles without self-love.

We’re sure you’ve heard it said that no one can love you more than you love yourself…and people can
only give you what you’re willing to give yourself. It’s the same with the universe­­—the universe will only
give you what you feel worthy of. Until you develop deep self-love, it’s going to be hard for those miracles
to show up.

So how do you know when you have self-love? Well, one way to tell is that you feel content and at peace
regardless of outside circumstances. You don’t depend on someone else’s love in order to feel good about
yourself. When you have self-love, you’re open to letting love in and you’re open to letting miracles in.
So if you find it easy to let others love you, you probably have a good amount of self-love.

And self-love is different than self-esteem. Self-esteem is conditional. Self-esteem is, “I love myself
because…” and you can fill in the blank. For example: “I love myself because I’m smart. I love myself
because I’m attractive, because I’m a caring person.” But all of those “becauses” make the love
conditional. Self-esteem is something that you earn.

But self-love is an unconditional experience of love for yourself no matter what’s going on. It doesn’t
depend on you being smart or pretty or talented or even a loving person. It doesn’t depend on you being
anything. It’s about an unconditional acceptance of yourself, no matter what!

Self-esteem is great, but it’s really self-love you need in order to live in the Miracle Zone. When you
don’t have self-love, you block the miracles because you don’t feel worthy so you energetically
push them away.

No matter who we are, all of us were wounded in some way or another when we were children. Some of us
were abused physically and some of us were abused emotionally. Maybe you were neglected. Maybe your
parents inadvertently and unknowingly hurt you by minimizing the sadness or fear you tried to express.

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Something happened to all of us. In fact, multiple things happened to all of us. And we created false
beliefs around those incidents by interpreting them through the mind of our childhood self.

In reality, what happened may have had little or nothing to do with our interpretation of those events,
yet we’ve been living our lives as if those false beliefs were true. They may be things like “I am alone”
or “I’m bad” or “I’m never enough” or “I’m too much” or “I’m not wanted” or “I’m not safe.”

I (Marci) would like to share a very personal story from my own life that created a core belief that
I’m not wanted.

My mother, in all innocence, loved to tell this story frequently because she felt it was actually
a wonderful tale with a positive ending. But it had the opposite effect on me.

My brother and sister are 10 and 11 years older than I am, respectively. From what I understand, they
were a total handful growing up, often at each other’s throats, and my mother used to say that it was too
much for her. She would tell her friends that if she ever got pregnant again, she would just drive off into
the ocean.

Well, sure enough, she did get pregnant again—with me—and the way she told the story is that she was
so happy she didn’t drive off into the ocean. She would add just how wonderful I am and end the story
with, “Honey, you may not have been wanted, but you were always loved.”

Well, it’s a lovely message, but what I heard above all else is that I may not have been wanted—
and I could not own the part that I was always loved. Every time my mother told the story, which
was regularly (even the week before she passed away at the age of 88), all I could hear was that
I wasn’t wanted.

That’s how I developed a false core belief about myself, and it’s shown up in many ways
in my life — in my personal relationships, in my relationship with myself, in my work.
For most of my life, I felt that I had to prove myself because, inherently,
I didn’t feel wanted for who I was. That meant I had to create some
amazing value for people to want me. As I’ve become more
aware of this pattern and done healing processes (one of
which we’re about to share with you), I’ve been able to
dissolve that limiting belief. I no longer believe it’s true
and releasing it has freed up my life.

I’m willing to put myself out there much more because

I feel wanted for me, for who I am, and, most importantly,
I want me!! I don’t have to prove myself any more.

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One technique we find very powerful when we’re feeling lack of self-love, unworthiness,
or any kind of emotional pain is this:

1. Allow your attention to scan your body and locate where you’re feeling a sensation that wants your
attention. Emotional discomfort of any kind, regardless of its source, is experienced somewhere in
the body. Once you’ve located it, whether it’s tightness in the throat, pressure in the chest, or
contraction in the gut, that is where your body is holding the emotion.

2. Place your hand on the part of your body where the feeling is located and take a few deep breaths
into it. And then send it love. You can even say to it, “Thank you. I love you.” This will allow it
to begin to unwind.

3. As this process continues, the sensation will usually decrease. In some cases it might increase as
it’s leaving your physiology. To aid the healing process, you might want to do something physical
like dancing or taking a warm bath.

4. Whatever direction the sensation takes, it has a message for you. Even a sensation that you might
label as pain is really a portal to healing and wisdom.

Ask what the message is. Sometimes it’s very clear. Sometimes it might be a reminder that you have the
power to heal yourself, to dissolve old wounds, to love yourself into a state of wellness, and to
restore yourself into a state of wholeness.

Maybe that pain is a gift, and when you open it by putting your attention on it, you’ll discover that you
are not only worthy of being well and whole but you are worthy of miracles.

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Don’ t Want

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Albert Einstein once famously said, “Imagination is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”

If we want to manifest anything in our lives, seeing it clearly in our mind’s eye helps anchor the feeling in
the body. In fact, research has shown that the mind can’t distinguish between something real and something
imagined, so the mind begins creating new neural pathways based on whatever it is we’re imagining as if
it’s happening in the physical world.

Once the neural pathways are established, we can effortlessly do what we had imagined ourselves doing.

One famous study looking at brain patterns in weight lifters found a striking similarity between the patterns
activated when the weight lifter actually lifted hundreds of pounds and when he simply imagined lifting the
same amount of weight.

Guang Yue, an exercise psychologist from Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio, compared people who
went to the gym with people who carried out virtual workouts in their heads. He found a 30% muscle
increase in the group that went to the gym. But what was really surprising is that the group that just
visualized weight training also increased their muscle strength—by almost 14%! And that increased
muscle mass remained for three months following the mental training.

There are hundreds of examples of the power of visualization…

here are just a few of the most famous ones:
~ M
 ichael Jordan said that he always took that last
game-winning shot in his mind before he took it on the court.

~ B
 efore American Idol winner Jordin Sparks had even made it
into the top 10, she cut out a picture of herself and put it on the cover
of Entertainment Weekly with the headline “American Idol 2007 Jordin Sparks.”

~ J im Carrey shared that as a struggling young actor, he would visualize himself

doing the things that the greatest actors in the world did…like turning down major
roles because they were so in demand by studios that they could pick and choose
whatever roles they wanted!

But this law of visualization can work against you if you make the mistake of visualizing what you
don’t want to happen or the person that you don’t want to be. In fact, worry is the process of actively
visualizing what you don’t want. And most people spend much of their day unconsciously visualizing
what they don’t want.

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If you have the habit of thinking things like, “My partner is going to leave me—they always do,” or “I’m
destined to be overweight—I’ve been this way since I was a child,” you are creating deep neural pathways
that will take some effort to reverse.
We’ve had profound experiences using the practice of visualization to create the lives we’ve dreamed of.
We use it to creatively envision and open the space for miracles to flow into our lives. As our colleague Dr.
Wayne Dyer said: “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
So here’s what we suggest you do…
Visualize yourself in your future as if you were already in possession of what you desire. See yourself as
if it were occurring to you right now. Imagine the scene in as much detail as possible. Who are you with?
What do you see? Smell? Taste? Hear? Engage all of your senses. And, most importantly, what do you feel,
not just with your hands but with your emotions?
The most effective times to visualize are first thing in the morning, before you get out of bed, when your
mind is fresh and open; after your meditation practice, when your mind is in an expanded state; and before
you go to bed at night so the visualization works its way into your subconscious while you sleep.
After doing this for a short time, you’ll start noticing that those things you visualized are happening for you
in the most effortless and miraculous way.

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Wrong People

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Now that you know the power of your mind, you are probably excited to get going and start visualizing.

But we know that some of you are also thinking, “I’ve tried this already and it hasn’t worked for me.”

Well, we have some questions for you to ask yourself:

—Were you really committed?
—Did you visualize with enough consistency to actually create a new neural pathway?
—Did you have at least one visualization session every day?
—Did you add the element of “feeling” to your visualization so that you felt it in your
body as though your vision had already happened?
If the answer is yes to these questions, and you want to know why it still doesn’t seem
to be working for you, we have an answer.

Most likely, there are numerous reasons, but we know of only one that has scientific verification to back
it up: There might be too many people in your life who don’t want you to get what you desire, and you are
affected by their thoughts.

Really?

Lynne McTaggart, a researcher, lecturer, and author of The Intention Experiment, has devoted years of
her life to extensively investigating this phenomenon. She’s interviewed physicists and other researchers
around the world and collected the most extensive data available on how our thoughts can measurably
affect the people we’re focusing on. Her breakthrough work on the power of our minds to change
reality has been corroborated by researchers at prestigious universities such as Princeton, MIT, Stanford,
and more. The research concludes that thought generates its own palpable energy—energy that you can
use to improve your life, to affect the lives of others, and, when harnessed together with an interconnected
group, to change the world.

With that in mind, here are the million-dollar questions…

—Who in your life might be thinking thoughts that aren’t supporting your success and happiness?
—Are there people who for one reason or another might not want you to succeed?
—Do you have friends who believe that your success might take something away from
them or might decrease their own chance for success?
—Might those people be creating a field of resistance that’s holding you back?
—Is it wise to continue having those people in your life?

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Let me (Lisa) tell you about my experiences that absolutely back up what the Intention Experiment has
concluded…

When I made the decision to promise myself and my son that I’d transform our lives, I became my own
midwife to be born again with new possibility. And I was willing to let go of everything and everybody on
that journey!

What I was doing sounded radical to everyone I knew. My family didn’t understand my dreams. They said
there’s nobody from South Central LA who dreams like that. They had so many reasons for me to shrink to fit.

I felt alone a lot of that time because I took a journey that no one else was on, and I couldn’t try to take
everyone with me. I walked alone. I was the only woman who looked like me in South Central who as a
single mom was talking this talk. I couldn’t find anybody.

So I left my community when I began to learn. I moved to San Diego and immersed myself in self-­
development classes and workshops. Sometimes, I was one of only a handful of women there and the o­ nly
woman of color, but I didn’t let it stop my dream. I didn’t care that my dream builders looked very different
from me, and came from a different background than me.

It was the power of their belief in me that made all the difference! Their positive thoughts towards me
helped me keep my promises, lift myself out of poverty and create a dream life for my son.

I’d come back to my community when it was Christmas time and Thanksgiving time and family time. My
family was a place of respite for me. They were the place where I could make my peach cobbler. They were
the place where I could act silly and have sleepovers. But they weren’t the place where I could believe in
my dreams.

If someone only has an 8-ounce capacity to dream with you or love you, then you’ve got to remember, you
cannot pour your 32-ounce dream into eight ounces of capacity. They’ll always fall short of holding your
big dream for you.

Let them be who they are because they can only love you and dream with you to the degree in which they
can love themselves and dream for themselves. And then go get your 32-ounce people. Go find them, with-
out making your biological family or your home community wrong.

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Today, I only share my dreams with people who can be a container, which means they’re able to dream
even bigger than my dream and can raise it a bit. Choose who you give your dream to.

Know that you have two families. You have the biological family that you were given and the people of
your local community, and then you have the family of choice, like we have in our Your Year of Miracles
community.

Marci and I have been friends since my son was in elementary school. And now he’s in his early thirties.
When I was filming “The Secret” movie along with Marci, I didn’t know if I fit in. I was the only woman
of color. I was one of the younger people in the film. And I think I was the only one at the time who was an
unpublished author. My knees were knocking and my teeth were chattering. But there was Marci and Jack
Canfield and Dr. Sue Morter along with others in my chosen community who believed in me, who cheered
me on, and who supported me in living my dreams.

If you want to live a miraculous life, choose your family of dream builders. Choose your family of people
who are going to hold you accountable to the woman you’re becoming, and not hold you hostage to the
person you may have been. Find a community that’s holding you accountable to your future and to your
miracles.

You can super-charge your own desires and intentions by making use of the power of other people’s posi-
tive thoughts about you and your aspirations. You might even want to take this a step further and organize
a group of friends and get together regularly, either in person or by phone, to focus your attention on the
fulfillment of each other’s goals and desires. In other words, do your own intention experiment!

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Conclusion
You’ve now discovered four mistakes that are keeping you from living a life filled with miracles and how to
turn them around. This is a great start for getting you into the Miracle Zone.

We’ve also created a Free Masterclass to go into greater depth and give you more powerful tools to super-
charge your life of miracles.

And there’s something else that’s so important for living your life in the Miracle Zone that we included a
whole section on it in our free webinar...and that is: how to move beyond fear. Fear is one of the biggest
blocks that keeps us from living in the Miracle Zone.

If you’re excited by everything we’ve shared in this e-book but you also feel a little bit afraid to move for-
ward in your life, do join us for The 3 Secrets to Living a Miraculous Life Masterclass.

During the Masterclass, we’ll not only share how to move beyond fear but three other simple steps you can
take so that your life can truly be filled with miracles.

We want you to live the life of your dreams. We want you to wake up each morning in the flow and watch
everything unfold with more ease than ever before—no matter what life throws your way.

That’s the promise of life in the Miracle Zone.

So we invite you to take what you’ve learned in this book to the next level and join us on our Live Master-
class 3 Secrets to Living a Miraculous Life.

We know you’re busy and we also know that if you’ve gotten this far, you’re ready to take the next step.

Over 100,000 people from more than 50 countries have already attended our webinar—and now it’s your turn.

The webinar is 75 minutes, but we suggest you leave more time if you want us to personally coach you or
hear us personally coach others who “raise their hands” when we open up the lines.

It doesn’t matter what miracles you’re looking for—whether the miracle you
want is for more abundance, more fulfilling relationships, finding “the one,”
better health and greater vitality, success in the work you love... Our 3 Secrets
can put you in the zone where your miracles will begin to flow into your life!!

We’re here to support you to transform your life—one miracle at a time!

Reserve your spot here!

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Marci with His Holiness The Dalai Lama Marci with Jack Canfield

Lisa with Queen Latifah Lisa with Dr. Phil

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“In my experience, Marci and Lisa are unparalleled in their ability to

effectively convey deep and insightful knowledge and facilitate real growth. They
are rare and precious gems among mentors who will transform your life, and
support you in creating a level of success you probably can’t even imagine for yourself.”

Claire Zammit
Co-Founder / FemininePower.com and EvolvingWisdom.com

“I’ve known and admired Marci for many years both as a leader in the transformational
world and as a dear friend. When I was a guest speaker for Your Year of Miracles,
it was clear to me why people love her so much as a teacher. She’s co-created a fantastic
program and the miracles community is exceptionally powerful and supportive of
each other. It was exciting for me to hear the miracles these women shared!
The energy, love, and results Marci generates through this program are genuine
and abundant. I look forward to being a guest mentor again next year.”

Dr. John Gray

#1 NY Times bestselling author, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus

Soar to Success—no matter what!

“Lisa Nichols is a living example of what it takes to overcome the inevitable obstacles in your
path and soar to success—no matter what!”

Jack Canfield
Co-Author of the New York Times Bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul

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She Is A Worthy Guide.

“Marci Shimoff has her finger on the pulse of the greatest evolutionary leap in the history
of humanity—our leap out of fear into the attitudinal matrix of love. Marci is one of the most
loving people I’ve ever known, and she is a worthy guide.”

Marianne Williamson
Internationally renowned spiritual leader and #1 NY Times bestselling author
of A Return to Love

Gutsy and authentic.

Lisa Nichols is a rock star of personal growth! Gutsy and authentic, Lisa uses her charismatic
and influential style to teach resilience.

Stephen M. R. Covey
New York Times Bestselling Author, The Speed of Trust

“Of all the mentors I’ve had, my time with Marci has been the most profound
and valuable. She’s intuitive, gifted, smart, practical and generous.
She’s helped me earn more, impact more people, and bring more joy into my life.
She has my highest endorsement.”

Marcia Wieder
CEO / Dream University

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© 2024 Marci Shimoff

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form whatsoever,
without written permission by the author, except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews.
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