The world is full of miracles, but most people, except believers in magic such as poets and children, are too busy to notice. Walt Whitman and my granddaughter, Eden, provided the necessary inspiration. One afternoon, Eden and I watched a monarch butterfly emerge from its chrysalis, exercise its wings, and fly away. My granddaughter was entranced.

"That's a miracle!" she exclaimed.

I was impressed that at the age of four she knew what a miracle was. Her words reminded me of Walt Whitman's poem, "Miracles," which contains the wonderful line: "I know of nothing else but miracles." In his poem, Walt Whitman considered everything, even a "cubic inch of space" to be a miracle.

Saint Augustine also considered that "all natural things are filled with the miraculous." I agree with this. However, a more usual definition considers a miracle to be something that goes against the normal laws of nature and is usually credited to some supernatural power. Not surprisingly, the Christian church considered all miracles to be works of God, as they could be used to provide evidence of God's existence. However, even in the Bible, a number of people, including Peter, performed miracles. Admittedly, they performed them in God's name.

Today, some people would remove any mention of the divine from a definition of a miracle, and would probably define it as an extraordinary coincidence or a violation of the laws of nature.

When the subject of miracles is raised, people tend to think of religious and medical miracles. However, I believe that personal miracles are just as important. The fact that you are alive at this very instant could be considered a miracle. Even more remarkable is that you have the ability to transform your life and become the person you most desire to be. It is interesting to note that Christian Scientists believe that we all have the potential to become miracle workers. All you need do is believe that this is possible.

How do you start creating personal miracles for yourself? There are six areas you need to look at: contentment, serendipity, intuition, universal love, faith and a willingness to adjust your attitude toward life.

Contentment is a state of mind in which you enjoy the present moment. Many years ago, an elderly Chinese friend told me: "If you want to be happy, be happy." As today is all we have, we should make the most of every single day.

Serendipity means making fortunate discoveries by accident. To encourage miracles we should extend that definition slightly and expect fortunate discoveries to occur. When you expect good things to happen, an amazing thing occurs. Good things will come into your life on a regular basis.

Trusting your intuition means that you start listening to the small, quiet inner voice inside you. You will make fewer mistakes once you start listening, and acting upon, the advice your intuition provides.

Universal love is a love for all humanity. It allows you to see the good inside everyone. This ensures that you treat everyone you meet with love and respect. They will sense this love and send it back to you. The more love you send out, the more you will receive in return.

Faith is your belief in anything. It does not necessarily relate to religion. If you believe that good always prevails, you will see this occur in your own life, as your faith will have attracted it to you. Likewise, if you believe in miracles, you will start to experience the miraculous in your own life. Prayer will help, of course, but is not essential for achieving miracles. You do not need to be religious to achieve miracles in your life.

The final aspect is a willingness to change. This takes honesty, discipline, hard work and time to achieve. It is best to work on one aspect of yourself at a time. Celebrate your successes, and be patient and understanding with your failures.

Once you have started on these different areas, you will notice small changes in your outlook and approach to life. You will become aware of opportunities that were elusive before. You will become "luckier," and will start creating miracles in your life. Miracles enable you to achieve virtually anything you wish.

There is one last important step. You must be prepared to welcome and accept the miraculous into your life. It may sound strange, but the hardest part of all for many people is to accept a miracle. There is a good example of this in the Bible. Because of their disbelief, Jesus was unable to perform healing miracles for the sick people in Nazareth.

The human mind can produce miracles. You can create miracles, but only if you believe you can. Believe in miracles, and invite the miraculous into every area of your life.