Look at what realists have done for us. They have led us to war and climate change, poverty on an unimaginable scale, and wholesale ecological destruction. Half of humanity goes to bed hungry because of all the realistic leaders in the world. I tell people who call me "unrealistic" to show me what their realism has done. Realism is an outdated, overplayed and wholly exaggerated concept.
I believe in magic! It is one of my core beliefs. Magic (as defined by me) means anything that is wonderful in nature and can’t readily be explained through logic. An example would be finding $20 in the purse you cleaned out two days ago and that $20 allows you to go to a play with a friend at the last minute. Going to this play with your friend allows you to meet someone who becomes a lifelong business partner and friend.
This kind of magic happens every single day and most of us fail to recognize it for what it is – a magical moment. We minimize its significance by calling it a coincidence and going about our routine without a second thought. It is my hope that each of us start to pay attention to these magical moments and celebrate them by repeating the stories to friends.
Brag about finding the $20. Let it get you excited. Feel the joy stir inside you when you think about the magical circumstances that let a $20 bill materialize in your wallet.
Do not automatically say, or think, “I must have missed that when I cleaned out my purse last week.” Whether that is true or not, a moment ago you witnessed a magical miracle of the appearance of $20! That alone is worth celebrating and saying thank you to whatever mystical force placed that money in your hands.
Then you can look back on the fateful meeting of your new business partner and friend with the proper awe and reverence it deserves: “Wow, can you believe the power of the universe? I met you because I found $20 in my purse and went to a play. Look how badly the universe wanted us to play together. I am so glad I paid attention.”
See what I did there, I went further down the chain and created magic out of the business partner meeting. When you acknowledge the magic, each step along the way, you are allowing space for more magic to show up in your life. Acknowledgment of magic = happiness and joy. Happiness and joy = more magic.
I think about people today and our reluctance to say “I am happy!” It feels safer to complain or commiserate with each other instead of claiming our joy.
Although we all say we want to be happy, we feel ashamed to express feeling happy out loud. “I don’t want to brag, it would be insensitive.” Or: “What will they think of me. My life has been hard too.”
Even when we are in a good mood because our favorite song was playing when the alarm went off, we keep it to ourselves and then too soon, that feeling wears off.
In truth, if we did share it – by smiling at strangers, complementing our friends, hugging our kids and kissing our spouse, passionately for no reason – it would not only last longer within our experience but we would be passing it along to each person we interacted with that day.
One of the goals of life is to be happy. Hey, it is written into the Declaration of Independence after all. So let’s stop trying to outsmart it, being “realistic” is pretty overrated if we have to sacrifice our ability to experience and express joy.
Do NOT, under any circumstances, try to rationalize MY magical world. While you may believe that there is a scientific or rational explanation for something I tell you about, I would like to ask, when did strict rationalism ever make you happy?
Will the belief in a magical world bring down the universe? Nope. It might at times make the universe a little bit easier to live in. And I, for one, think that is reason enough to suspend our addiction to realism.
I want to believe in magical things and experiences in life. Happy moments like finding $25.00 on the street. Chatting with a stranger at the airport and having an epiphany that changes your life and directs you to a more fulfilling career. Having several strangers help out when a tire goes flat. (I have personally experienced all of these things in the last year).
In order to allow magic into our life, we have to be willing to smile at strangers, look around us as we walk from one place to the next with eyes of curiosity and hope, laugh at yourself, and express outwardly those moments when we feel joy and happiness. It may sound silly to some people and that is ok because I know that these are the best parts of life. And no matter what other people decide I will forever believe in magic.
"Magic is believing in yourself. If you can do that, you can make anything happen."
