How to See the Miraculous in Everyday Life

The following post is a rewritten brief adaptation from a chapter in David Youngren’s new book, Life Ascending: Unlocking Mental Wellbeing through Timeless Wisdom and New Science.

“It was about 4:20 a.m. when a beep from a fridge’s ajar door unexpectedly woke me. I rubbed my eyes, stood up, and groggily navigated my way to the kitchen in the dark.

As I passed through the living room, I noticed a supermoon shining through the large windows, illuminating the winter night sky. Its light was mirrored by the surface of the backyard pool, creating a captivating image—it was as if there were two moons, one suspended in the sky and the other floating in the water. 

Mesmerized by the wonder of the moment, I stepped outside and stood in awe, utterly present. There was no sound, no distractions, only outer silence and pure inner stillness as I beheld this extraordinary sight.

This wasn’t the first time I had experienced such a profound sense of awe. Since my youth, I’ve had moments when I felt the presence of something vast, a force that transcended my understanding, something shrouded in mystery and imbued with a sense of the sacred.

I recall countless times of standing under the vast canopy of the night sky, gazing at stars that dotted the cosmic expanse, their light piercing the enveloping darkness—each star a reminder of the universe’s incomprehensible vastness.”

Undoubtedly, you have felt this too. Perhaps you’ve stood at the ocean’s edge as the sun melted into the horizon, the sky ablaze with hues of orange, pink, and violet, and in that stillness, something stirred deep within you.

Or maybe you’ve held a newborn for the first time, feeling the tiny weight of a miracle in your arms, and in that moment, nothing else existed but love and wonder.

Or you might recall walking through a forest, the sunlight filtering through the trees, the earthy scent of the ground filling your senses, and realizing, if only for a fleeting moment, the beauty of simply being alive.

Awe is universal. It finds us in grand landscapes and quiet moments, reminding us of our smallness and yet, paradoxically, our connection to something infinitely greater.

But what if awe didn’t have to be confined to rare experiences? What if awe could become a way of life?

A Life of Awe

In my new book, Life Ascending: Unlocking Mental Wellbeing through Timeless Wisdom and New Science (available here), I explore how awe is not just an emotional response—it is a gateway to inner transformation. When we cultivate awe in our daily lives, we shift from merely existing to truly living.

Imagine waking up and savoring the first sip of coffee, not just drinking it but fully immersing yourself in the warmth, the aroma, the sheer miracle of taste.

Picture yourself watching a loved one—your child, your partner, even your dog—eating breakfast, and instead of rushing through the moment, you pause, allowing love to fill you.

Envision walking down the street and, instead of being lost in thought, noticing the sunlight filtering through the leaves, the effortless rhythm of life unfolding around you.

Awe doesn’t require standing on a mountaintop or witnessing a celestial event. It is available in the seemingly mundane—the rhythm of your breath, the kindness of a stranger, the way music stirs something deep inside you.

It is about shifting from mindless routine to conscious presence, from distraction to deep awareness.

The Key to a Transcendent Life

That morning, as I stood outside watching the moon’s reflection ripple in the pool, I realized how easily I could have missed it. Had I woken up a few minutes later, had I instinctively reached for my phone, the moment would have passed unnoticed, as if it had never existed.

And yet, there it was—waiting for my awareness, an invitation into the extraordinary hidden within the ordinary.

How many of these invitations do we miss every day?

Awe is not about what we see; it is about how we see.

It is about being present enough to recognize the beauty, the mystery, and the sacredness woven into every moment of existence.

When we cultivate this awareness, life transforms—not because external circumstances change, but because our perception does.

Each breath, each interaction, each seemingly insignificant moment becomes a doorway into something infinite.

So I invite you to pause. To see. To let yourself be astonished by the world around you.

Because when you do, you will discover what I wrote about in Life Ascending—that awe is not just a feeling; it is a way of being.

And in that way of being, life itself becomes a miracle unfolding before your very eyes.

To explore this deeper, get your copy of Life Ascending: Unlocking Mental Wellbeing through Timeless Wisdom and New Science here, and begin the journey toward a life filled with wonder, presence, and profound joy.