The season of the light is here. At the darkest time of the year, I think of the quote, “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” It’s been a tumultuous year in the world. Maybe you are experiencing personal challenges too, or perhaps things are going well for you right now. Whatever is happening, we have a choice to turn our minds to the dark view or find and follow what lights us up.
When we light our own candle, we can see better. We feel better too. I have a new affirmation that is fast becoming a belief. “Everything always works out well for me.” Recently, my car broke down in San Francisco. My check engine light was on and an ominous “engine power reduced!” message appeared on my dashboard. I switched off the engine, turned it on again. The car wouldn’t start.
I stared ahead frozen with disbelief and dread. What did this mean? Thousands of dollars in repairs?
I breathed deeply, calmed myself and reached for my phone to call AAA emergency services. “The tow truck will be 60 minutes,” I was told. “Everything always works out well for me,” I murmured weakly after I ended the call. I visualized feeling relief and hearing good news. A huge tow truck suddenly appeared before me in less than five minutes. I was so amazed I thought it must be for someone else but it was for me.
Magic is always present, all around you and in you, yet your attention needs to be alert to the magic so you can perceive it. When your mind is focused on your life challenges and worries, mundane concerns or emotions that you’re feeling, then the magic is, for the moment, lost. Of course, it’s just part of being human. We have lots to think about! But you also don’t want to get stuck in the swamp of whatever you’re grappling with so much that the magic is lost and each day is like a startlingly similar replay.
Do you sometimes feel lost inside your own life? Almost like being swept away by a river’s current, beyond your control? Maybe you’re feeling the challenges of change and transition, where life doesn’t seem the same anymore. You wonder what happened to the magic in life.
In my last post, What Happened to Life’s Magic?, I wrote about how I suddenly lost my sense of magic in life. Everything became very flat, and to my alarm, simple things that used to give me pleasure didn’t seem to do so anymore. Fortunately, I turned to my inner wisdom for help. The first thing that I was directed to focus on was my attention. Where was it?!
It can be quite scary when you feel like the magic has disappeared. Life feels flat, like a corkless bottle of champagne the morning after the night before. Even the little things that used to give you pleasure don’t seem to strike the same chord anymore.