The Magic Of The Reality Check

Ego and self-esteem are really important to our lives. They give us energy to keep on keeping on. Our work, our life, is thus imbued with meaning. But reality will also come up alongside us and thump us on the head. We will, or should, see ways in which we have made smug assumptions and have not delivered the most truthful work. This reality check may come because we have grown, or because of something someone trusted has said to us, or because we are looking at our views or our work in a new way. An especially vulnerable time is when we have created something that is supposed to be an improvement on work by someone else. We may be thinking that we have done so much better. We may have made some improvements but we may have also left things undone. This happened to me. I was smug about writing a novel and sequels based on Andersen's Thumbelina. I came up with some fun ideas. But I didn't work to polish my writing enough. I'm having to do it now. It is good to step back from our creative darlings and say, "Well done!" then wait for awhile and say to ourselves, "You are great but look at your work to see if you can be greater". We can also be proud of ourselves when we have to throw out something we have done when we realize it is not our best work, or even worthy of being called our work at all. The reality check helps us do that.
I have been putting forth that magic is well formed. So the wise magician tries to put magic in his or her work. We deserve to do no less. So let reality give you a needed jolt so you can do magical work. May the spark be with you.