Do You Believe in Magic?

You get caught in the rain with no umbrella on your way home. At first you cover your head, stick a hand up to shield your face from the droplets. You walk a block like this, uncomfortable, the bag on your arm throwing you off balance and pulling your hand away from your face every so often. Eventually, your face is wet, so is your hair, and so is your jacket.

You could let yourself get frustrated. You could grumble about the rain. You could worry about how you look. You could walk faster to get home sooner. Or, you could let your hand fall back to your side, slow down your pace and look up at the sky. You could take a deep breath of the fresh, clean air. You could smile, or even laugh. You could let that pure water fall from the sky and caress your forehead, your cheeks, and your lips. You could take a moment out of your bustling life and just feel the magic that is the rain.

Take a moment to feel the magic. The magic in the rain, the magic in music, the magic in people. Power-walking through the magic wastes it. When we're young we read books and watch movies and spend our time hoping the magic we see in the pages and on the screen is real. We hope we will get a Hogwarts letter, or that the back of our closet will lead to Narnia. Yet as we grow, we start ignoring the magic in favour of the mundane.

I spent years searching. Searching for people and possessions. One day I got tired and started slowing down. Strangely, slowing down made everything sparkle. My friends became more engaging and full of love, and my possessions began to hold more meaning. At this slower pace, everything became more satisfying. The elusive horizon stopped pulling at me. By slowing down everything that had been a blur came into focus. I realized I was surrounded by magic.

Though I can point to specific people, things, and experiences that fell into place as soon as I let them, the real magic is not only in these parts of my life. By seeing all of the mystical, whimsical, wonderful parts of my world, the magic has gone inside me. A door in me opened when I wasn't looking, after I stopped forcing it shut with the sheer speed at which I was traveling through life. I have reached the point where I have become so enveloped with the magic in the world that I have felt my heart swell and my mind still. I am now part of the world that is filled with magic, which means I am ready to impart some magic back into the world for others to see, feel, and absorb. By letting the magic fill me and flow through me I am letting it multiply.

As you read this, I hope you consider the speed at which you go through life, and the moments that could be magical, if you just slow down. Are you sprinting towards a horizon and missing the soft, rain quietly falling on your eyelashes? Most importantly, are you willing to breathe in the fresh, damp air and consider whether you believe in magic?