The Magic Of Assessment

It has been said 'You can't get where you are going until you know where you are.' This is true. It is important to take stock from time to time. Simple assessment is a tool to see what problems we have, what we want to get rid of and where we want to go. This is necessary in the magic working process. We do need to have a goal for working our spells. However, when we stop to do our assessment the wise magician will do more than focus on the problem or problems at hand. She or he will also focus on the joy, the glory and what they want to preserve or nurture in their life.
The way in which you approach your assessment is also important. Notice how you ask yourself the questions about what needs to change. The wise magician will look beyond the immediate irritation or fear to the most desired outcome. Assess what is currently the state of your life. Then admit to yourself what the glorious or magical life would be like. How would you express your loves? How would you express your gifts? What resources would you call on to grow into this magical life? If something is nagging at you or irritating you it may be a blessing in disguise. This is a chance to look at what you really want. You can admit to greater possibilities in you life. I am not advocating 'pie in the sky'. In reality we are all capable of doing a bit more than we do. We are also capable of accepting a bit more than we do. We receive blessings every day that we don't even realize have come to us. That is why it is a good thing to adopt the 'gratitude attitude'..to list daily the things for which we are grateful. So in a well formed magical assessment we can also assess the daily blessings and miracles we have coming our way. So look at your life. Assess it. Be thankful that you can clearly see the changes you want to make. Then reach out to the energy of the magic that surrounds you, for whatever help you need, and begin to work towards your goals. May the spark be with you.

Why Flying Is Part Of Magic

To work magic we need to be able to imagine flight. Fairies and angels have wings. Think of all the times the idea of flight is mentioned when we talk about achieving our goals. We want our projects to take off. We want to transcend our problems. We want to fly by the seat of our pants when we talk about letting our intuition guide us. Flight can also be frightening as can success. In our past we may have been punished or discouraged from being experimental, successful, or showing our great gifts. They say that fear of falling is a basic fear. Sometimes we succeed at something in our dreams but old blockages come up and we dream of falling. I suggest that you use the imagery of flying to open up your mind to freedom from blockages and to new ideas. Let me guide you in this imagery. Get comfortable. Think of a small area in your life you would like to change. If this brings discomfort let your beautiful wings grow and fly above this area. Now soar a bit just for the joy of soaring. When you are ready you can fly near the place you placed your problem. Look at it, listen to it, wave a wing at it. Check it out from many different angles. If any ideas occur to you accept them. Is that truly a problem or does it fit in a bigger or different context? Do you need to simply pick it up and fly with it to a canyon and throw it away? By being able to look at this "problem" in different ways, including from a great distance, you may have lessened the feeling of pressure you had about it before. While you were soaring near the heavens you may have also seen other resources you could use to help you. Let your imagination take flight until you have discovered or invented several good solutions. Then choose the best and try it. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Sparkle

The people of Disneyland know about the importance of sparkle in motivation and marketing. Calling their theme parks 'The Magical Kingdom' adds to the lure. You can add the same sort of lure to your endeavors if you plug in 'add some sparkle' to your own mind set. I was having some trouble motivating myself to do some 'tie up loose ends' work in my writing. Then I asked myself which principles of magic I could use to help myself get in gear. I realized that throwing a bit of pixie dust on my work would help a lot. It wasn't that hard, I just had to shift my focus a bit. My stories are imaginative and fun for me to create. But editing, tweaking and such was not. I shifted back towards enjoying the stories and that gave me the sparkle to do the more mundane work they needed. Polishing my work will end up giving it more sparkle. I just had to remember that. Now I can take my pixie dust and sprinkle it on other things. When I exercise I will make sure I have the best music I can set up to help me. I will arrange my plate for my nutritious meals with all the color and flair I can manage. I will make sure I am comfortable when I pay my bills. I will add all the magic and sparkle I can to my life. The other night I was able to spend a couple of hours in the company of my favorite one year old boy. He flirts, laughs, chatters and plays with a great magical quality. Every wise magician could learn from this boy. He draws goodness to himself by his sparkle. I suggest that you look around you and identify the places in your life that can use some sparkle and add it. Music, humor, color, taste, companionship, hope, are all part of the sparkle you can add to help you have a better life. You can even make up games to help you cut out the negative things that will hover around. The energy of magic is there for you to use. Don't hesitate to take advantage of that. May the spark be with you.

How To Let Magic Happen

Remember that I am using the term 'magic' to refer to that which is good and wonderful and 'anti-magic' as that which dampens the spirit or is dangerous for a good life. Stress comes about from being in an anti-magic atmosphere. Ruined relationships and mis-directed behaviors such as addictions are often the result of being in this anti-magic atmosphere. When the situation or atmosphere is bad for you it is important to use your skills as a wise magician and surround yourself with evidence of the field of magic that surrounds you. Remind yourself of goodness to keep that shield around you when it is needed. To me magic resides in the fact I can see color, that I feel good when I think of successes I have had, that I have friends who will tell me when I am off base and when I am doing good as well, that there are a couple of children in my life, that food can taste good as well as be good for you, that people get ideas, that cute videos of animals are often posted online, that jokes and humor is readily available, that people are free to point out the stupidities in the political behavior of our nation, that birds can fly, the usefulness of math, and on and on. I also think it is magical that people can be clear headed when they need to be in times of stress. I suggest you spend some time for yourself acknowledging your favorite things,( as Julie Andrews did in Sound of Music) then visit them when needed. Learn to embellish and add. Perfume, color, smiles can all be added to a situation at times. Perhaps just a touch will be enough to get you in touch with your magic. Being able to touch your magic at will can be powerful. You can shift into a hopeful, creative mode more often and thus make life better for yourself. Try ways to find your magic and see what happens. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Jig-Saw

As we get involved in a drive to reach our goals we are in danger of becoming too linear in our thinking. In fact we can be so involved in the process that we get off track without realizing it. It is very important to pull back and look at the big picture once in a while. If we use the concept of 'putting together a jig-saw puzzle' as one of our thinking tools or magic wands we may find that success comes to us more easily than if we just go full steam ahead. Each piece of the jig-saw that we put in place fits in relationship to its neighbor as well as being an important piece of the overall whole. This is especially true for creative endeavors. I am trying to start a young adult novel with the working title of 'The Protector'. I was having a lot of trouble with the plot points. I knew the changes I wanted my protagonist to go through, I thought, but some of the actions just wouldn't gel. Finally I backed up to look at the big picture and realized I have made some mistakes in crafting this young man's character. Without crafting a well-formed whole this story was not going to fall into place. No matter how well I thought up actions and troubles I couldn't make things hold together. But I used the concept of the 'Magic Jig-Saw' and now I feel like I understand the protagonist much better. I can create actions that will make sense for who he is. I can now go back to my linear plotting. But I won't try to reach the goal or the end of the story without fitting the pieces in place where they are meant to go. Life is meant to be well formed. We are multi-dimensional beings. If you are ignoring part of your big picture you may be in danger of not being able to put your puzzle together. Reach out to the magic that surrounds your for help in finding your fit and balance. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Reminders

People have been making up games and developing other strategies to point themselves towards success for centuries. The Old Testament in the Bible has some passages that tell people to wear tassels to remind themselves to do good. I use a modification of the children's game, slug bug, to encourage myself to be more optimistic. Instead of slugging my companion, if I am with someone, when I see a Volkswagen beetle I count it as a blessing bug. By noticing blessing bugs I am training my mind to notice blessings. After all there is much to perceive and we have to be selective in what we pay attention to. I have a place for chocolate candy that discourages me from eating too much of it. Candy in that place is candy I ration out to myself very sparingly. I actually hesitate to eat more than a bite of candy when it is in my rationing place. I don't always control myself enough but that placement does put the brakes on for me. Many people give themselves rewards for taking certain steps, or reaching certain goals. Often just the act of noticing that something good is being done is a sort of reward. We seem to like to notice when we are doing good things. So I suggest that you, as a wise magician use this tool or magic wand of reminders to help you craft a better life. Log a good activity, give yourself gold stars, brag to a friend, mark things on a calendar, make up a song or a game to keep yourself going. Even if it might seem silly to a dour old aunt go ahead and play success games. There is nothing silly about success. Reminders act as an anchor to behaviors you have already developed and want to keep up. They also act as triggers for your developing good behaviors. So reach out for energy to the magic that surrounds you and design your personal set of goals and reminders. May the spark be with you.

The Magic and Power of Purposeful Persistence

Perseverance refers to mindless repetition of an action. An action that is not beneficial, usually. Like hitting your head against the wall over and over. Purposeful persistence is changing your approach and strategies because of what you learn from your actions while continuing to work towards the goal. Sometimes it takes purposeful persistence to find healing. It certainly takes purposeful persistence to write a book, make a marriage, raise children, or develop our own potential. The wise magician learns how to step back and take a rest when needed. The wise magician learns how to take the time to rethink the project or goal. It is also important to find ways to keep the goal in mind. People who are saving for a dream vacation and pin up their travel brochures are keeping their goal alive. Another way to keep your eye on the prize is to break the project down into doable bits and pat your self on the back when you have finished each bit. I have several steps before I start on a book, such as developing the characters and outlining the book. Then each chapter requires some steps before I actually start writing that, such as finding the hook or interesting action that will start the chapter and the cliff hanger to end it with. Perseverance and procrastination are forms of denial. But once we are clear about our dreams we can hook into the magic that is around us and with purposeful persistence reach our goals. One sign that we have hooked into that magic is that our persistence has an energy and fun about it that is absent in perseverance or procrastination. May the spark be with you.