My magic castle

My magic castle

Thursday, December 27, 2012

The Magic of Basic Things

There are two neuroscientists, Drs. Tanzai and Chopra, who are writing and speaking to us a lot lately about mindfulness.  They teach the importance of meditation, among other things.  It is amazing but when you get right down to it, what they are teaching is just the basic thing of being still and breathing.  There are many times in life when it is important to make sure the little basic things are right.  Like closing the door against the cold.  Like making sure your car is in the right gear.  Like making sure your have shoes on before you go out in the snow.  It seems that a lot of magic can be drawn to us by simply looking at and focusing on what is right in front of our face.  In fact, the panic we feel when we are in need of flow and zing, or magic, often comes from having our focus split off in unproductive ways.  So I say to all wise magicians out there, look for the basic and simple.  Endow it with magic and see if joy doesn't come to you. The simple technique of taking a good fact and giving it a good feeling which you then internalize is one way of doing this.  As I write this I can look out at the sunrise that is just starting.  Just a basic everyday thing.  But so profound and wonderful.  Allow awareness of basic things to come to you and enjoy the magic that will come with this awareness.  May the spark be with you.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

The Magic of Expressing Your Opinion

The 'opinion' in the post title is not a quick parroted slogan you have swallowed from some one else.  But a well thought out and well stated opinion can have magical, far reaching effects.   Such a way of stating your opinion can build your confidence and get you quoted down through the years.  Gandhi, Mother Teresa, The Dalai Lama, Abraham Lincoln, and Albert Einstein are just a few of the people who have influenced the people of the world to work for a better life.  They did not call names.  They listened and cared.  Then they said what was important with courage. If you are on Facebook you can start out by making a small comment on posts that others put up.  You can start in your family by frowning when some one says something too far off the wall.  Keep at it until you gain your voice.  What you care about matters.  But so does what others care about.  Opinions, expressed as opinions, but well stated can lead to true dialogue.  In time, sometimes it
actually takes decades but it can happen, improvements in life come about. I just read about the amazing amount of lynchings that used to take place in America.  But people began to push back and, expressing their opinions about the evilness of that, in about thirty years times, lynchings became very rare. If you don't like this insane gun violence going on in our nation, tell someone.  I say to all wise magicians out there "You have values and a good inner sense of goodness or you wouldn't be a wise magician.  So express your opinions and let the magic begin."  May the spark be with you.

Friday, December 14, 2012

The Magic of a Sentence

Sometimes the urge to call up magic to help us is because we are being fuzzy headed.  I want to remind all you wise magicians out there that using the structure of good language may really help you.  A sentence is meant to express an idea.  We all know that.  But I have students who come to me that are so busy trying to rush into myriad ideas they are not even expressing one idea clearly.  Let alone going from a well constructed sentence to building a logical and clear paragraph.  They may be trying to impress me or someone else, but they are stuck in a morass of swamp thought.  Another thing I see is awfulization.  That is a term that refers to making oneself feel bad by using terms like 'I never...' or 'I always...'  This is not clear communication because the statement is not well supported.  Such a sentence would be more grammatical even if it went something like this: "I feel like I never catch the bus on time."  But what I see is "I always miss the bus, I never catch it on time, I am always late to work." When you are feeling fuzz headed, down, lost, really in need of magic it is good to pick up one of your magic wands and work a bit of magic.  A pen is a magic wand.  Write out what you want.  Write it out over and over, modifying as you go, until you are clear about your situation and what you might try to improve it.  Use sentences that have a subject and a predicate...a noun and action or state of being. Self discipline gives you a sense of power and then the ability to call magic to you.  Simple, clear sentences will do wonders.  Write out a call to magic and enjoy better things in your life.  May the spark be with you.

Friday, December 7, 2012

The Magic of Asking

If we let ourselves get mired down in working too hard at our goals we may develop a certain tunnel vision.  We may begin to think that the burden of our accomplishments is totally on our shoulders.  Don't fall into this trap.  Participation is the field around us is vital for magic to work.  The other day I needed some 3 x 5 index cards.  I didn't want to drive to the store just for that item.  I asked several other people if they were near such an item if they would pick it up for me.  When I asked my daughter, the one in the household who most magnifies my magic, if she could get me some cards she actually had some used ones right at hand.  Used were fine for my purpose. Asking can be done in many ways.  Don't be afraid to do so.  The Universe and other people want you to have what you want and need.  Ask yourself, ask others, ask the Universe.  It will be given.  They say that at times what you will receive is a refusal.  I say that you may be given a better idea or alternative gift.  Hear me, all you wise magicians, do not be a hermit.  Do not lock yourself away from abundance.  Be present in this magical world.  Ask for what you want.  If you don't get it immediately rethink.  If you still want it, ask again.  Work for it.  Create it.  Ask for it.  May the spark be with you.