Blog
Choose Magic!
by Betsy Sobiech
July 21, 2010
Yesterday on our Tiara TeleConnect we talked about whether or not we believed in magic. It’s interesting because we often engage with beliefs like they exist outside of us, and a conversation about magic can quickly become about whether or not magic exists. That is definitely a fascinating discussion that can lead to lots of quirky, funny, unbelievable, and revealing stories. But what if we choose to believe in magic simply because we want to? Because it feels good? Because it adds a feeling of intrigue, curiosity, and energy to everyday occurrences?
For example, Andrea, on of our European Tiara Program Coaches, chooses every day to “experience the magic of life”. She is choosing a context, filter, or lens to look through that tints her day-to-day events with what she considers magic. This is uplifting and energizing for her. For you, it might be something different that feels good and reminds you of how you want to be viewing life. On yesterday’s call some folks didn’t love the magic angle … but the did choose other lenses to look through like:
* I am open to the mysteries of life.
* I see God in everything.
* This life is amazing!
And some of us chose to believe in magic. At least for a day. To see what happened.
* What did you choose?
* What difference did that choice make?
What I am noticing is that when I am open to magic (or maybe it is whatever I am open to at the moment) it appears!
Yesterday, I had lost my favorite sunglasses last February. I got in my car (which my grown men children have been sharing) and voila! They were on the floor of the front passenger side!
My son’s girlfriend said that she had been going through the middle compartment looking for change and took everything out – forgot to put those back in.
Now that is magic!
I was at my son’s 7 on 7 Elmhurst College football practice and walked by a huge group of weeds (4 feet tall) and they were at the stage of soft furry “blossoms”. I stopped and touched them and just ate up the magic of how they could be so beautiful!
That’s not all that has happened but I need to get to work. This is fun!
Here’s my most magical moment as of late. Just a little background info to give the story some context. This year, my 10-year-old daughter has had 4 major brain surgeries plus 10-12 rounds of chemo. She has been hospitalized 7 times since January. Since her last surgeries at the end of May it has been a rocky recovery for her. Basically she has been homebound too weak to do much besides hang out in her bed. We felt as if she was making progress in her recovery, gaining back some of her strength when the week before last she took a downward turn. She started sleeping 16-20 hours a day again and was so weak she once again was having difficulty even sitting. She ended up back in the hospital last weekend, where a pressure study was conducted to make sure the pressure in her brain was not causing all the problems. Everything we checked turned out fine, so she ended up coming home on Saturday evening. Sunday night Ellie fell (and when she falls she falls all the way full body on the floor wailing.) I recall so clearly on that Sunday night of falling thinking, “THIS IS IT!! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!!!” And it was as if Monday the universe responded on. Ellie walked up and down the stairs by herself not once but twice. She had more energy and more activities seemed possible. She has continued to progress throughout the week to the point that right now she is walking around her room rearranging her books. Wonder if I’d threw in the towel earlier what would have happened. I am also fully aware of the appreciation, the MAGIC, for all of the seemingly simple things we do every day without a thought–sitting or walking or talking.
Mastery, magic, and underwear…
I saw this article in the times and thought it was relevant to our discussion of magic.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/phys-ed-does-lucky-underwear-improve-athletic-performance/?ref=magazine
Some of our discussion has covered things in realm of being (maybe described as being open to the unexpected/unexplained/wondrous), whereas this article is more in the realm of doing. I found the idea that believing in a lucky pair of shorts could improve your abilities to be very intriguing.
I am going to do a little variation on what was discussed on the call… I am going to choose some *thing* to be magical… that is arbitrarily decide it is magical. Then I am going to be open to the results. The hitch for me is explanation and figuring things out… thus when I say “open to the results” that means I am not going to search for a how/why.
Unlike MJ, I won’t pick my undies!
I will let you know how it goes.
cheers,
Curt
Hi Debi,
I just now saw your magical story. I can very much relate to the experience of “magic” showing up the moment I “give up” or perhaps it is “give in”. It is as if I am very true to myself in these moments, true to what really is going on within myself, that I am really at the end of a road where anything would be better than THIS. At these moments something else opens up, every time again I am amazed about it.
Another thing that resonates with me is your wondering if you could have thrown the towel earlier. I tried that, knowing by now what the benefits would be, and my experience was that it works “a little”, but the sneakiness of not having thrown wholeheartedly came back to me so I got another chance to really engage in surrendering and accept ALL the consequences. However, sometimes a little relief also doe’s the trick, just to be able to carry on a while. And in some situations, this is already a miracle by itself.
Warmly, Andrea