The Magic of Lemons

"Lemon Tree very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet, but the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat" so the song goes.  I am sorry but I don't know who recorded it or wrote it.  I hope I am not breaking any laws by not citing more.  I love all things lemon and sometimes I delight in being handed a lemon by life because it gives me a chance to make lemonade.  Many creative projects or businesses have come out of a situation in which a person had a problem and then solved it by seeing it as an opportunity.  Right now that is what is going on in my life.  I am trying to develop workshops and sell information products based on how we use our inner dialogue and do, or do not, access the skill of critical thinking.  I had some trouble with a service provider and found myself delighting in analyzing all the things they were doing wrong.  Their client service was faulty and yet I wasn't angry, I just wanted to help them improve. They no longer serve me but I have learned a lot about  what quality in a service business is all about.  I also under stand what a worker might go through as well.  The dignity and pride of provider and client are both important.  So I say to all wise magicians: take your magic wand to your problems and see if you can get a bit of lemonade out of them.  I find I can usually get a dinner table joke or conversation out of my suffering.  That is something, I hope.  But magical solutions are also possible.  Look for your chance to see opportunity is all things.  May the spark be with you.

Always Remember: Magic is Well-formed

That magic is well-formed is one of the basic principals of magic.  I recently became aware of the importance of this when I was working on something and it just wouldn't fall into place.  I was feeling anxious about it and considered dropping the whole attempt to work it out.  But I kept at it, tweaking here and there and then trying different things to get the result I wanted. However,  the attached anxiety made it very hard to hang in there.  Then suddenly everything fell into place.  I not only felt satisfied with what I had done but I also felt strong in my sense of purpose.  As I looked back over the hard time I had endured I realized that the nerves had been a signal to me to keep on keeping on, that I had not yet reached the well-formed point. When I did reach well-formedness I was at peace.  Wise Magicians, professionals and craftsmen all all have this in common: they know when something is right, when they can take pride in it and  they are willing to continue to work until they have the result they want.  After this experience I feel more confident that I can weather the storm in trying to work on creative projects, that I can endure the feeling of chaos and doubt, and that I will eventually prevail in creating a well-formed work of magic.  Magic is what you do when you want to bring something better to your life.  Sometimes 'good-enough' is acceptable.  But if you set out to work magic, to create something fine in which you can take pride, you must follow that inner drive until you feel that sense of peace in doing what you set out to do.  If you remember that the energy of magic that surrounds us wants to work with us, then you can hang in there during the tough time.  They say it is always darkest before the dawn.  Reach out to bring good into your life and do not fear that it may be difficult.  Good wants to come to you.  May the spark be with you.

The Magic Cloak

A magic cloak is part of the tool kit for the hero in many stories.  The cloak protects, nurtures, comforts, and gives extra powers to the hero.  Happiness does the same thing for a person.  I have recently read that being happy will make your brain work 30% better.  Here is where a Wise Magician will consider how to develop a magic cloak for them self.  But first let us explore a little more this idea of mind set as a magic cloak.  Famous people like Albert Einstein and Abraham Lincoln have said that people have the choice of their thoughts and can choose to be happy.  Now researchers in Positive Psychology are saying the same thing.  When you have a choice between judging a fact as positive or negative it is beneficial to see the blessings involved.  For example, I read an item in a newsletter this morning noting that you could groan about the size of your credit card bill or you could be thankful for all the abundance in the grocery store.  You could moan about the price of gas or be thankful that you had a car and that gas stations were easy to find.  If you have now accepted that it is possible to develop an aura of the feeling of home and happiness, let us move on to ways to do this for yourself.  You can do this through combining memories of the feeling of secure happiness and visualizing your cloak.  Wrap yourself in soft velvet, or red suede, or anything of your choice.  Then feel safe, protected, able to be creative.  Anchor this feeling in various ways.  Touch your wrist.  Stroke your sleeve.  Create an anchor to link this memory of that feeling to your body.  Now leave this feeling.  Then try the anchor to see if it helps you achieve it again.  Sometimes an anchor can be a word instead of a touch.  It is just something that helps you wrap yourself in your wonderful magic cloak.  It is good to be able to go to a haven, a shelter, a feeling of loving arms at times.  Sometimes you just want a better mood for your creativity. Perhaps you want to make sure you are starting your day off right. Other times you may be fighting anxiety.  When you are in a storm of anxiety the first thing to do is get out of the storm.  That is a good time to figuratively wrap up in your magic cloak.  Then you can deal with the changes in thoughts or actions you need to make to get free of the anxiety.  Even if you are strictly a jeans and tee shirt kind of person it will not hurt to have a wonderful magic cloak in your idea or resource closet.  Reach out and create one then throw it around your shoulders with magical flair when it is needed.  May the spark be with you.