We are stardust
99% of the atoms in your body are made of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus.
Six things.
The Big Bang gave you hydrogen.
Low-Mass stars (like the sun) gave you your oxygen and carbon.
High-mass stars gave you nitrogen, and some more oxygen and carbon.
And finally, when these high-mass stars became a supernova, they provided you with calcium and phosphorous.
Next time you are feeling overwhelmed with life, consider for a moment that we are born of the ashes of bright and beaming stars, sprung to life through a series of very specific cosmic conditions.
This is the definition of a miracle.
Life is not perfect — many of us will experience rough patches throughout it.
But when you manage to stop to smell the roses through this lens, you arrive at three beautiful and humbling realizations:
- Just how good the roses smell when you pay attention to them.
- The fact that there are roses.
- The fact that you get to be here to smell them at all.
