The Magic of Tiny Things

There's snow on the ground and I'm wondering how to bring a feeling of well being into my life.  I definitely need the magic of that zing and feeling content.  This is a season of big things.  Big storms, big problems in politics, big problems with health, big financial problems, big needs for improvement in ways we treat the earth and each other, big needs for maintenance and repair of our infra structure and things we have created.  The size of all these problems is almost too big to deal with.  But a wise magician does not turn away from the need for change, although it can be hard knowing where to start. But start we must or we will suffer from the guilt of holding back  There is help from the Nike slogan, 'Just do it'. Start tiny.  Very very tiny.  Meditate on a tiny thing.  Perhaps there is just one bit of visual beauty.  Make sure you focus on it.  Today I only saw two birds at the bird feeder.  But that was enough of a small good thing that my heart was peaceful and warm watching them.  Meditate by centering and focusing on tiny things.  Then go on to take one tiny step towards a better world.  I personally would be happy to see freight trains loaded with guns on the way to "be beaten into plowshares". That's too big for me but I might be able to help someone think a little more clearly about the lies they are hearing about the issues.  There might be a lot of little things I can do.  I will continue to recycle.  I will do the little things.  I will continue to energize myself by the little bits of magic I can create.  I will smile, I will enjoy the sunrise. I will plant seeds where I can.  I will bring magic to my life and to others. I hope each wise magician that reads my words finds a way to do the same.  May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Looking For Loose Ends

There is a difference between tying up loose ends and looking for loose ends. Looking for loose ends will often lead to tying up loose ends, of course. But when you are just looking you may be in a more meditative frame of mind and open to all kinds of discoveries. A businessperson who looks for loose ends will look for the loose ends in the business; goals not reached, clients not services, ideas not developed, orders not placed. Then priorities can be set and the necessary loose ends can be taken care of. But in looking for loose ends the businessperson may end up doing an informal market gap analysis or finding out areas the business can move into, in which new pathways of growth may be the result. The same thing can take place on a personal level. If you wish to engage in this as a magic ritual follow these steps. First choose an area to monitor or study. Perhaps it is your desk or work area. Perhaps it is your wardrobe or garden. Then take an overview, looking for the broad purpose of the area you are studying. What is the function of this area? My work space is meant to help me produce creative projects and products. There are different categories of projects and I have to be able to access them when I need to.So my loose ends would be in putting similar papers together, deciding on categories, getting rid of unwanted paper, finding a good place for things. A wardrobe is meant to serve your needs to clothe yourself for different occasions. A garden is meant to grow plants.
After you have noted the function of the area you are dealing with you must make decisions about the different parts of the material (clothes, plants, types of paper material) as to where each part belongs and what you need to do with it. This is where the meditation comes in. It can be a very Zen like experience to go through your area of focus item by item deciding if there is a needed action connected to it. Here is where the discoveries happen. Be ready to take advantage of these. Have a way to get produce back to the kitchen. Have hangers for your clothes, or needle and thread for needed repair. Have organizers for your work area. Have a mind set of openness for your discoveries and a way to use these discoveries if it is good to do so. This may all seem very mundane. Tidying up can be a very boring subject. But if done with the proper mind set you will be drawing good things into your life and thus you are working magic. May the spark be with you.