Seek Out the Sparkle

Sparkle is a very important part of magic.  Think of the stories and movies you have read and watched.  The good witches and wonderful fairies were all bright and sparkly.  There is a reason for this.  Sparkle is a part of the life force.  Sit back and contemplate any mundane object in front of you.  Now let the sparkle of that object come through.  You might perceive a richness in the color or texture of the object. Or you might be reminded of rich experiences that said object has given you.  I see a small web cam in front of me.  I have captured some pictures for my Wordmaeven page with it.  I am reminded of the large and exciting world of communicating with others.  A book may remind you of all the wonderful worlds you can enter by reading about them.  As I contemplate the objects in front of me I feel energized. Looking for the extra aura of things is a way to hook into more life energy.  Another aspect of "sparkle" is to bond you to things or people.  The throw I use to keep warm when I am watching TV on cold Winter nights offers me more than warmth.  I also like the tactile pleasure it gives and the rich color of it. I am bonded to it.  So I say to all wise magicians, 'Seek out the sparkle in yourself.'  You can look in the mirror and note your expressions as you tell a funny story.  You have adopted voice inflections, hand gestures, and figures of speech through the years.  This is part of your sparkle.  Appreciate your sparkle and feel free to develop more.  Your are a lively, magical being, a valuable part of the Universe.  Enjoy your place.  May the spark be with you.

The Magic of Standing Back

So many fairy tales and movies have the magician get into a hard spot then get out of it with a swoosh of a magic wand.  Our mind set can get narrow that way.  We can believe that every discomfort can be changed by the wave of a magic wand, by getting "Mommy or Daddy" to fix it, or by throwing money at it.  But if we don't stand back from the problem we may not even know what it is that needs to be changed, or solved. Standing back also brings about a shift in the time frame. The wise magician will realize that a decent problem needs a decent amount of time to be dealt with.  I say to all wise magicians, if you need a change take the time to decide what the best change would be.  Then stand back and decide what to do.  Stand back to gain confidence and clarity about working at what you want to have happen until you get it.  I have seen people need a change but they have a pattern of showing irritation too soon, then after the blow-up, settling back into acceptance of the way things were.  I have noticed that the people around them then didn't believe they really wanted that change, so they didn't continue to help them achieve it.  Step back, look at you life, see what changes you need, see what you can do and do it.  May the spark be with you.

Magic and Minor Phobias

Minor phobias may not even be on your radar.  You may avoid certain things just because you always have, you don't even know why.  I suggest to all wise magicians out there that you have yourselves an adventure.  Explore whether or not you have a couple, or a couple of dozen, phobias.  I recognize one I have, it is the filling out of forms.  Somehow I don't fit myself into little boxes, check here, very well.  A lot of things in life are gained by filling out the applications for them.  I have missed some opportunities by seeing the form, then feeling overwhelmed by looking at it, and putting it to one side.  Just for a while turns into, "Oh, oh, I forgot about it."  Discover a teeny phobia then devise a spell to deal with it.  Let your sensory self, and your sense of humor, conquer this "thing that blocks you from a better life". Here are a few phobias people may have: filling out forms, learning about political issues, going to a barber, shopping, washing dishes, going to a doctor, admitting mistakes, saying I don't know, saying that you want something, getting things taken care of for your car, writing thank you letters, being realistic about a budget, exercising, etc., etc.
You get the point, you are procrastinating and probably are missing out by doing so.  I remember a Political Theory class I took in college.  The author of one of our readings said "Laziness is pathology". He said that people were not naturally lazy and if it seemed like they were the social scientist needed to search out what was holding them back. Listen to you little nagging "shoulds".  Maybe they have validity. (Maybe they don't, too.)  You will only know if you examine them.  Make your decisions for your self.  Don't let your phobias do it.  You deserve a rich and full life.  May the spark be with you.

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.

The Magic of Focusing on the Small

So often we are told to look at the big picture, or to go beyond the big picture and think outside of the box.  That is often good advice.  But I say to all wise magicians, "What next?"  Part of setting goals is so decide on an action plan.  Plans involve steps.  Each step is a small part of the big whole.  Learn to take the step after the big picture and hone in on the small picture.  The left brain is thought to be out of the realm of magic but I believe that left and right brain work together to bring good things into your life.  Imbue those small steps, which might be tedious, with joy because of the reward they will eventually help us bring.  Pat yourself on the back for getting started.  Look for the small key that will unlock the door you need to enter. Search out the small limb that you can pull out of the log jamb to send those logs on down the river.  The center of a target is small.  Chipping away at your anxieties and blocks can be small victory by small victory.  When you bring your sense of joy or well being to small steps, small tasks, or small accomplishments, all these small things become glorious big things.  A small insight can unlock a door to a bigger world.  Don't get stuck on the small, but focus on it as a way to bring more magic into your life.  May the spark be with you.

The Magic of Filling Your Heart

The picture I often get from movies and Fairy Tales is that magic is for desperate times.  There is trouble or danger and out comes the magic wand.  This makes for good story telling but it skews a full understanding of magic.  Remember, magic is well formed.  That means that magic has a place in life when life is not on a desperate plane.  In fact, taking time to take in the good, to notice the wonderful things around us, to see the magical world we live in, will cause there to be less times of desperation.  If you have a hole in your heart from not feeling loved you may act in ways that are not good for you. Perhaps you will become greedy and try to amass things.  Perhaps you will do silly or stupid things to try to buy friends.  Instead you can do as Dr. Rick Hanson, author of "Buddha's Brain", and "Hardwiring Happiness", suggests and take in the good.  He teaches us to find a good fact, feel it, absorb it, maybe enrich it and let it become an inner resource for us.  We can notice that people speak to us in a friendly way and take that in.  When family members or loved ones give us attention we can take that in as a resource for feeling loved.  So I say to all wise magicians, it is a good idea to fill your inner resource bank before it gets empty. You are able.  You are lovable. Just the fact that you are aware of human needs shows that you have a sense of caring so turn that towards yourself.  Fill your heart with joy, comfort, satisfaction, love, or whatever you need.  Then times of desperation will not seem so bad.  May the spark be with you.

The Magic of Allowing

So often we think of magic as that which saves us from a problem.  In the Disney film, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Mickey was tired of carrying all those heavy buckets of water.  That was why he bewitched the brooms to do it for him.  Of course that caused him even more trouble. The moral is that reactive magic can get out of control, or not be right for the job.  I think of magic as whatever we do to make our life better.  So we don't want disruption. We are looking for calmness and healing.  Good is the baseline.  Disease and tension are the anomaly. But we may not always see the good.  We do have things come into our life that cause tension, fear and worry.  If that happens often enough we tend to see the dark, to be anxious, more often than not.  Then the stress tension, cortisol, meant to give us energy to fight or flee, becomes toxic to us.  It is in our body more than we need and doesn't get burned off.  Dr. Rick Hansen has just released a new book, "Hardwiring Happiness".  It is an excellent book and easy to read.  He points out that every moment of calmness and having a feeling of well being allows the body to heal. I say to all wise magicians out there that one of the things that can bring about a feeling of well being is to allow an awareness of goodness to come over you.  Look out the window and see colors, movement, nature.  Allow the experience of goodness.  Let beauty and the fun of others surprise you.  Constantly allow all the wonder of the world to overcome you.  The world that was, is, and will be is full of joy and delight.  It is full of love and safety if you will allow awareness of that to sink in.  Allow magic and good to come to you. May the spark be with you.