Yesterday I was on a hunt for magic. I wanted to feel elevated, enchanted… and really, I just needed some otherworldly inspiration.
Should I take a well-marketed magic bath…which is really just sea salt and aromatherapy?
Should I find a magic piece of art and sit near it for a while?
I was halfway out the door to hit the galleries and maybe a museum even though I didn’t really have the time… because when you need inspiration, you sometimes have to go on a quest for it… right?
And then it hit me: what makes my life magical is so simple that I was missing it. And… maybe this simple thing will make your own life feel more magical, too…
This little guy sat down beside me and started to cry for me to pick him up. He’s very loud and insistent when he wants attention, and, as I grabbed him and hugged him in my arms he sighed and snuggled his head into my neck.
Love is magic.
Instead of going to run around the city looking for something to inspire me, I grabbed all Bob’s toys and spent time chasing him around the house, watching him jump and run and squeak his teddy bear and make astonished faces.
I was back.
I looked around my house to see all the blooming orchids, the dogs, the succulents I replanted in tomato cans, the clever bits of art, the incredible views…
All love.
I decided to cook, so as garlic sauteed and I washed some broccoli stalks, a wild memory came back to me.
When I was 8 I was obsessed with PBS. This obsession lasted well into my teens, as un-cool and unpopular as it may have been. I would bust out my mom’s Good Housekeeping cookbook that was made like a binder and find myself a recipe that I would cook, alone, upstairs in the very orange 70’s kitchen by myself (everyone hung out downstairs with my grandma). As I cooked, I would pretend that I had my own PBS show and I would come up with tips, flourishes of flour and shakes of salt that were animated to the camera. I would tell stories just like, I imagined, Julia Child would, but I had no wine to drink at the time as she cleverly did… so I winged it. Each and every time I did this little (perhaps crazy-seeming) make believe cooking show in my childhood kitchen, I felt like the world was watching and I had something really delicious and artful and….magical… to share.
I would do the same while staging photo shoots with my Cabbage Patch Kid dolls all over my gold-filled 1970’s home, armed with a Polaroid camera, back when you could get film easily.
I’d even create talent shows with all the kids that came to holidays at my house.
Was I a lonely kid that was starved for attention?
Nope. I liked being alone and I loved to revel in my own imagination a whole lot, though.
I think, looking back, maybe I was a bit psychic.
I knew what I loved, I saw visions of how I thought I could share it, I watched people sharing their passions for gardening, painting, crafting and cooking on TV endlessly… and I felt very much it was the purpose of my life clear in those moments.
The reason I’m so passionate about sharing all this life-designing, space-clearing, feng shui’d empowerment with you every day is that it is this stuff that enabled me, somewhat mystically, to re-connect to my true self and turn it into my whole world. While I still have moments where I feel I have to work or hunt for inspiration, I’m reminded that I can make myself coconut milk triple vanilla ice cream for breakfast with some tea and share a world of ideas I’ve collected from every medium and discipline that I’ve ever found remotely interesting with a wold of people like you who- like me- believe that life can be more magical.
Life is all an act of love.
If you are looking for ways to have more magic, look to your daydreams and childhood fantasies.
Surround yourself with love in living things that make you smile.
Make your primary job on the planet to take excellent care of yourself and all that you love, no matter how busy you are.
Let it move you.
Magic begets magic. Even in the most challenging times, it’s this love generated by you- rather than given to you- that will inspire solutions, create new ways to think and prompt you to take the risks that matter.
I’m about to start a Camp online for Spring Cleaning that is very much what my 8-year-old self had envisioned in Secaucus, New Jersey. It took a while (nearly a decade) to collect the tools and the experience to build an online Catalyst Camp… but it’s here! If you are dreaming of doing things that you just can’t figure out quite how to accomplish, if you feel stuck or lacking inspiration, clearing lots of space will do wonders for your whole life. Sign up HERE to watch the FREE video series & start clearing space today! The 8 year old child still inside me is jumping up and down in excitement! I can’t wait to share this with you!
xoxo Dana
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And, if you want to dive in to your own personalized feng shui in a modern, practical way, Say hello to Feng Shui 101. Its the guide I made for you to create your own personalized feng shui at home, in the office, wherever you may be… in 8 weeks. It’s not filled with strict rules or what you “must” do. Its filled with information, questions, exercises and even videos and classes to help you confidently create amazing spaces with killer feng shui and live with more flow. Learn more about the 8-week feng shui adventure & grab your copy to get started right HERE… And, as always, please let me know what happens!
Dana, your positive attitude has been so contagious! Spreading the luvvvvv.XO