The Magic of 'Processing'

I put apostrophes around processing because I am discussing a specific type of processing in this post.  When you take information into your brain through your senses it isn't truly in there in any meaningful way at first.  Until it makes sense you won't remember it, you haven't learned it.  That happens when the information is processed.  Teachers are told that they shouldn't just lecture on and on if they want their students to actually learn the subject matter.  There should be pauses where processing can take place. For example: the students can ask questions, discuss what they are learning, or be asked to put the information into their own words.  In other words, things need to be sorted out and put in their right place in your brain, just like putting groceries away in your kitchen.  This usefulness of  processing, or of taking in information and getting it to make sense, can be very helpful to a wise magician.  For yourself, you can make make sure that you remember more about the new people you meet, you can take away more from training meeting you have to attend, or you can get more out of vacation trips, ( as some examples), if you learn to make it a point to give yourself a chance to process all that sensory input you are dealing with.  When you are reading, stop several times on each page and think about what you have read.  When you are writing something, pause to process the way you are expressing you ideas.  There are numerous times when taking the time to process information will actually speed up the acquisition of information.
Allowing or encouraging others to process what you are communicating to them will make your interaction with others a lot better.  When I am teaching in a one on one situation I watch the eyes of my student.  If the eyes haven't lit up with understanding, I rephrase my explanation rather than going on to another point. I know my student needs to process certain points before I can build on that information to develop the concept more fully.
Years ago I was frustrated by the parent of one of my students.  The boy didn't have an understanding of certain math concepts.  But his mom pushed me to 'just make sure he got his homework done'. I had to be creative in working in the concept for the child that multiplication was counting by twos or threes, for instance.   I knew that he had to have an orderly understanding of basic math concepts before he could master his math homework.
I say to all wise magicians: If you are feeling overwhelmed or fuzz-headed by information, don't despair. It is simply the first stage you are in, you have not yet processed this information.  Find ways to chip away at it, attack it from different directions, come at it again and again.  In time you will find a way to make the important parts of it make sense, and you will have thrown away the parts of it that don't want to fit, at this time, into your mental cupboard. So reach out for information that will help your life, process it so you can use it well, and live a more magical life.  May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Modeling

Magic is often brought in to our life to dress up the small things. But sometimes we need to make a really big change. We need to think and act on a grand scale. That is not easy for everybody. I, myself, fight shyness at times. But I do know that the field of Neurolingistic Programing has a lot to offer about learning new things. They talk about modeling as a good way to learn. Modeling is one way to pick up new behaviors and knowledge. You find another person who knows what you need to know and you copy what they do, basically. Some of the people in my writer's group are much better at reaching out to publishers than I am. But being around them has broken down some of my barriers. Parents know the importance of modeling, they see the way their children copy them. But adults can also learn from modeling. Don't be afraid to use this technique to work magic in your life. Find a way to be around people that have the success you want to have and before you know it, you will be learning from them without even much of a struggle. That might be why television and movies are so popular. People like to see new ways of doing things, perhaps things they would like to do. So, go ahead and dream or think on a grand scale. Then if the new ideas call to you reach out for them you will find many ways of working towards these new goals. Modeling could very well be one of your strategies. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Patience

To have patience you must be able to believe in a positive outcome. Since the wise magician has a mindset that they will bring about a positive outcome it would seem that patience is natural to the wise magician. But just in case you are as human as everybody else I will help you examine a few things you might consider about patience. The first thing, of course, is the ability to put aside the needless fears that want to intrude. Fear, in many forms, likes to sneak in where ever it can. If you run from it it gets stronger. Challenge it. If you are getting tired that might be one of the forms fear has taken. Procrastination, getting fog headed, having an urge to be distracted, getting with people who will discourage you from working towards your goals are all manifestations of fear. Sometimes all you fear is change. Even so the smallest fear can hold you back. A second thing about patience is to fill the time purposefully. If you are waiting for Christmas it might be well to buy presents, wrap them and send out cards. Prepare for the achievement of the desire. A third thing you can do to help yourself with the development of patience is to make the goal seem more real. Do affirmations, visualizations and plans for how you will enjoy what you are manifesting for yourself. A fourth thing that will help you have patience is to break up the time into chunks. It is easier to get through a day than a week. After you have patiently passed one day you can then take on another. Fifth, be creative about your waiting. Find ways to make games of it, or find humor to help you pass the time. Creativity is a special realm of magic. So reach out to the magic that surrounds you and accpt that good things will come to you. May the spark be with you.

The Importance of Gratitude To The Wise Magician

Learning takes a while to process. If we have created something wonderful it will take a while to understand that it is truly in our life and to know how we drew it there. If emotion is connected with a learning that learning is more powerful, complete and long lasting. Gratitude is a strong and positive emotion. Therefore, it would be good to practice gratitude constantly. Connect that feeling with your awareness of what has just manifested. As you practice gratitude for life's goodness you will see more and more of it manifest. You inner self has drawn all that to you. Even if you don't consciously know how these things came to be, your inner self does and the emotion of gratitude will help it remember how to do so again. Sometimes we only play lip service to gratitude. But it is better to actually let a warm strong feeling bathe you. Even, if you want to, give a good strong exclamation as you accept the gift you have been given. Be grateful for the gift and for the ability to draw it to you. Magic is experiential. What you think about is what you will experience. If you focus on your blessings you will have less time to create fears.
Reach out to the realm of magic that surrounds you and bring goodness into your life then lock that goodness by feeling gratitude. May the spark be with you.

Strengthen The Strengths

A previous post talked about going back to the comfort zone or mastery of a skill before you again tried to move forward if the mastery was incomplete or uncomfortable. There is another part of that in regards to change. Since change is hard it is good to do all you can to make it easier. When I was a teacher we did a lot with learning disabled children at my school. We were taught to "strengthen the strengths then break the chain at the weakest link". By strengthening the strengths you are aware of what they are and can use them as resources. An example of this was several boys who were taking auto shop and found that they had improved in their reading abilities. They were not pressured about their reading but enjoyed trying to figure out the meaning of print in a repair manual. This came after they were feeling good about the chance to work on cars. If you are a writer and have a big novel to rework that can be daunting. But it will be easier if you identify the strengths you have as a writer. Then look for the (hopefully) few places where you have not shown that strength. If you are fighting bad habits look for the time of day when these habits do not plague you then try to extend this time a little. Or look for your most creative and productive behaviors. You feel good at those times. Strengthen that feeling and then think about engaging in the bad habit. The bad habit will be less appealing because it doesn't go with the creative high. Being in a good mood takes away part of the power of the bad habit and thus makes it a weaker link. That is the power of having a mind set that we are surrounded by magic. That gives us energy to act in powerful and positive ways. Use this energy to find your strengths then break the chain of oppression of bad habits at the weakest link. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Readiness

Teachers talk to parents about reading readiness, meaning that children need to experience and develop things that will make them ready to read. This could be concepts like the direction in which pages are turned, that stories go from top of page to bottom, what letters are, that letters make up words and so on. Yet readiness is necessary in most learning throughout life. We recognize this when we start a race off with "Ready, Set, Go." To develop readiness there is first awareness, then a sense of relevance. Next comes willingness to attempt the learning and being able to have trouble with the doing at first. Then comes the connection between the learner and what they are learning. After that can come mastery. Mastery is acknowledged when there is a flow or well formedness to the doing of the skill. A writer may put out words, facts, ideas that show a plot and sequence of events that lead to a conclusion. But unless there is flow, unless the listener or reader is drawn into the story that writer is not truly a storyteller. Look to the way you live out your own story. Do you enjoy flow? If not perhaps you are still in the learning stages of what you are attempting. Allow mistakes and be willing to work on the tiny details of your craft. When mastery comes flow is there. The magic wand in this case is twofold, the connection between learner and subject and the willingness to go over and over the tiny details that make up the whole before everything is put together. Reach out for readiness and mastery of the skills for your good life. May the spark be with you.

Constant Learning

Learning is lifelong. We are constantly receiving stimuli for our senses and constantly deciding which stimuli to accept and which to filter out. This takes place on several levels, so we aren't always conscious of what we have learned. There is a built-in inner wisdom that we have which helps us know which to accept and which to filter. Sometimes this sense is manifested in muscle strength or weakness. One exercise that is used to demonstrate the connection between mind and muscle is to have someone stand with their arms outstretched. They are then told to resist downward pressure put on the hands. Next they are instructed to think about certain things just as the pressure is applied. If the thought is negative the arms will have more trouble resisting. Sometimes this muscle strength indicator is used to tell if a substance is good or bad for a person. Because we are always learning, whether we mean to our not, it is good to monitor the stimuli around us, the settings in which we place ourselves. Repetition of stimuli is a form of practice. If you see a frown frequently it makes it probable that you will learn to wear a frown. Let this reminder of how constant and easy learning is be a spark for you to reach out for wonder, success, love and all good and magical things in your life.

Fairy Taps or Angel Kisses

The post for January 10, 2010 mentioned tapping. I want to go into that in a little more detail now. I am modeling the gyre now. Spiral around something, coming ever closer to detail. There are spots on your body that are more sensitive than others. Some of those will help you relax or go into an alert state in which learning is easier, when they are touched. The face and hands are the spots I will discuss this morning. But first an anecdote as to why I used the term 'angel kisses'. One day, in the afternoon school program a small girl rushed in, highly distraught. Adults can no longer freely hug children, as was once the custom, at school. But she was in a lot of emotional pain and disrupting the group. I gently asked her if I could give her some 'angel kisses'. She nodded and I began to lightly tap certain places on her face with the tips of certain of my fingers. In no time at all she had forgotten about the little boy who had irritated her and was smilling, ready to sit down and begin an activity.
The fingers it is easiest to use are the middle two, held together. All the first three can also work. The pressure is light and delicate and rhythmic. Experiment on your own face. Around the eye sockets, particularly right under the center of the eye, might feel particularly good to you. The area known as the third eye is between the eyes but a couple of finger widths above. That can be relaxing as well. On the hand, tap along the outside of the hand on the little finger side, and on top of the hand from the center of the wrist towards the middle finger. If you combine this with even breathing or visualization of goals, or beautiful images, it can become a very effective tool to use for yourself or to help others.