A Smile Can Be a Magic Wand

A smile is, like music as mentioned in my last post, something that can be magical but we tend to take it for granted. I would suggest to all wise magicians that you take a moment and think of times when a smile has made your life better. Perhaps you smiled at a stranger who ended up being a dear friend. Perhaps you smiled through tears and managed to more fully experience how much you cherished that which you had lost. Going to that place of love helped ease the pain. Perhaps your smile was a recognition that what you saw as funny was also relief that you had not suffered the pratfall you were watching. As you remember the times a smile has brought goodness to your life I hope you will resolve to engage in this act of creating magic often and long. I also want to suggest that a smile can bring magic to your life when no one else in around. Often it is when we are alone that we feel that bit of angst that makes us want to call up magic. Try this simple exercise to see what I mean. Let your mind take on a slightly blah mood. Now do a slight shake of your head, smile and open your eyes a bit as you look up to the right. I find it hard to continue feeling blah when I do that. Studies in pupillometry have shown that the pupil widens to let in more light when we are paying more attention to something. By widening our eyes in the gesture I just suggested you are letting "light" into your life. Do this a few times and you may find yourself making up all kinds of puns and jokes about what you are doing. I just gave a big "smile" to the neighbor's irritating yappy dogs and thought of ways to laugh instead of snarl when they just won't shut up. A smile can be a tool of courage when you contemplate taking on a big task. A smile has many magical uses. Wield your smile wand well and wisely (meaning any way you so choose). May the spark be with you.

How Big Is Your Field Of Magic?

I was thinking about the way I often reach into the field of magic that surrounds me to get energy to meet my daily goals. I was thinking about the way I feel that field to be a small intimate and friendly cloak. But I have a problem with that. I am trying to live in a bigger world. My happy world of painting a partridge and fastening it in our pear tree, of working one on one to help people read better, of writing fantasy novels for teens is a comfortable and joyous world. But I
have been feeling a need to have a bigger influence, to spread the word about the inner genius in everyone, to teach people how to hook into their commonsense and their magical self as well. I am wondering, tonight, if the metaphor that I have found to be so useful can be utilized to help me move out into a bigger world. It will still be a world of awakening one genius at a time. I will still care about 'Mother Nature'. I will still believe in the magic of questioning hyperbole. Perhaps my cloak will stretch. Lately I have been getting a good response to every reach-out action I have taken. Any response at all I would consider a benefit. I used to be so shy I couldn't even admit that I liked to write. Perhaps that is the magical learning tonight...the field that surrounds us is as big or as little as it needs to be. Therefore I suggest to every wise magician that if you need to stretch your wings to fly, your field of magic will help you rather than constrain you. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Carrot

Supposedly an old technique for getting a donkey to go forward was to have a stick with a carrot on it, dangling in front of his nose. He would keep walking towards it in anticipation of achieving his goal of eating that carrot. At times we need something to pull us into the future we are trying to create. We are in danger of standing still and we need a carrot. Revisiting the dreams about which we are passionate and making plans to achieve those dreams can be such a carrot. I was thinking about the need to get myself in gear for the day and my inner self gave me a picture of tossing a carrot down a pathway. That made me realize I needed a carrot to draw me on. Something as boring as making a plan, even a do-list, can actually lead to exciting things--what an idea. I equate do-lists and plans with dreaded responsibility. At least I did. Now I am thinking about the exciting possibilities that have been opening up in my life and I realize there are a few things I can do to help this process develop. I need to (or CAN now that I am more excited about things) make some do-lists and some plans and get some things done. I have some fun things about to happen but I also have to deal with some problems associated with those things. If I don't plan for the adjustments I have to make Life will be harder. So I am going to list the things I am excitedly anticipating first. Those are my carrot. Then I am going to face the steps I need to take. Unlike the poor donkey, I will get my carrot. I hope it was a wise magician luring the donkey onward, as a magician would be sure to give the needed reward in due time. Find your dream, devise a magic carrot and make your life better. May the spark be with you.

The Band Wagon Effect

"Jumping on the band wagon" is a term for getting caught up in the excitement of the circus parade of life and joining in with others in what they are doing. You can use this as one of your magic wands for making positive changes in your life. Since we do learn from others and are social beings you can look for a 'band wagon' to jump on to help you with your needed or desired changes. A recent example in my own life is the use of a pedometer. I know I need to walk more. I have been hunting for ways to get myself in gear about this. Today my sister told me that the teachers in her Utah school district are "walking to Maine". The district has issued them pedometers and they record their steps with the school office. She told me a couple of funny stories about the way she feels compelled to make sure she gets every step recorded, such as not wanting to walk around her bedroom after she had changed her clothes until she got the pedometer back on her waistband so she didn't 'waste any steps'. Suddenly the pedometer my doctor had issued me didn't seem like such a lonely boring instrument. I found myself jumping on my sister's bandwagon of using a pedometer to motivate myself to walk. Of course the magic that surrounds me helped me find the old one I had very easily. It had been years and a different living location ago. Jo had also told me that if the battery was low it would not record accurately. That was also part of the magic giving me help. The battery was probably low when I got it, as it hardly seemed to record at all. I had just assumed that I wasn't one it would work on and put it away. But today I wore it all day, even with the low battery, just to acknowledge that I was trying to add steps. Tomorrow I will get a new battery and start recording in earnest. Each day, I am confident, I will try to make sure I at least do not walk less than the day before. I will also find ways to add steps. I suggest that you, as a wise magician, add the band wagon effect to your arsenal of magic wands. What changes do you need to make? Can you find others who are excited about making the same or similar changes? Jump on their bandwagon and go forward toward these changes. May the spark be with you.

The Magic Of Guilt

The American Indian Tribe, The Navajo, say that the authentic life is 'walking in the beauty way'. There are times when you will not walk in the beauty way. But once you have known what the right path is, what discipline you need to have in order to be on that right path you may be lucky enough to feel guilt when you are not there. Guilt will nag at you until you get off the couch and move around a little, until you do put in some writing time, until you take your medications, or whatever else you really need to do to be on the right path. As I said, if you are lucky. Guilt should not be allowed to make you go to a toxic meeting, to engage in compulsive behavior, or to buy something you don't want or need. The wise magician knows that the inner self is to be listened to. The inner self is like a magic wand. It will direct you to go in ways that are good for you. Sometimes you will have lucky accidents, feel guilt, have hunches, have dreams, have impulses. If you are truly in tune with your inner self you will follow the promptings it gives you. So I suggest that you stop for a moment and let any guilt feeling you have surface. Then ask yourself if they are valid. There can be misplaced guilt. What is the message of the valid guilt feeling? If they suggest a beneficial action don't hesitate. Take that action. Make your life better. 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.