real magic is not about escaping the mundane, it’s about finding joy in it

When I first took a vow to live my life as a magical act I felt so excited and giddy about the ways my life was going to change.  I was walking on cloud nine for weeks.  If you read my last post you’ll know that it did change in many amazing ways, some more amazing than I ever could have dreamed.  But I also realized some very profound and real things that taking this vow didn’t mean.  There are some very real misconceptions about the Law of Attraction, and walking a spiritual path.  I found that once I debunked these five myths for myself, I was much less prone to resistance about following my path, and I enjoyed my spiritual practice a lot more.  Read on to see if any of these myths might be preventing you from having a satisfying spiritual practice.

1. When Bad Things Happen It’s My Fault

Recognizing your own power to shape your life, and refusing to be a victim, does not mean that you are at fault when life goes awry.  Let me explain. I believe the universe is a vast complex ball of chaos that doesn’t fit neatly into our human brain sized boxes of cause and effect.  When we start to realize our own power, we often mistake that power for being omnipotent.  I believe that everything that happens in our lives is an opportunity to learn a grow, but its happening may have nothing to do with us.  Sometimes yes, the message is loud and clear.  You keep getting in the same fights with all your friend, you keep choosing the same crappy partner, you keep finding mates that are just like your mom or dad.  But life isn’t laid out and planned out from the beginning to end, there are the lessons we have to learn, and then there is Random Shit That Happens.

But doesn’t everything happen for a reason?  Yes, but the reason isn’t always ours to know.  What if that shitty thing that just happened is WAY better than what could have happened?  What if missing opportunity you really wanted just saved your life?  Not to mention that we live in a big world full of people all living their own lives, and learning their own lessons.  Sometimes we just get caught in someone elses life lesson.

2. A Setback Means I’m Going the Wrong Direction

I see this one all the time.  I tripped and fell on my way to class, maybe I should re-think the class.  I didn’t get that job, maybe I should re-think my direction in life.  Yes, when something is continuously hard to manifest, and we alway seem to be running into road-blocks, maybe its time to re-evaluate.  But if we quit every time we encountered one set back, we would get no where.  Chances are if one setback has you running for the hills, its has more to do with fear and resistance than divine intervention.

3.  If everyone got what they wanted, wouldn’t the world turn into Chaos?

Yes and no.  The flip side of learning that you are powerful and can draw what you want into your life is that you have to really decide what you want and why you want it.  This is learning about Heart’s Desire.  True soul-desire differs from greed because it serves a purpose.  It helps you do your work here on earth, and that helps everyone.  Greed is when we just want more, because we don’t know what truly nourishes us, so we keep needing more and more to fill the void that never get satisfied. And yes, there are those that use the powers of manifestation to get whatever they ask for, not realizing that they don’t really want any of it.  But that’s not what I’m talking about when I talk about waking up to magic.  I’m talking getting what really fulfills you, what makes your heart sing, so that you can give back.  And a world where everyone knew what that was, and had it?  That would be a beautiful world!

4. If I have the power to shape my world, what if I think a bad thought, won’t something bad happen?

We can’t control our thoughts. We can’t control our emotions.  Yes learning to lean more towards positive thought and healthy emotional expression is a good thing.  But magic doesn’t happen by accident.  Its not like the movie Carrie, where we wreak havoc with our anger.  Magic takes a specific conscious intention, it takes a ritual act to focus that intention.  Intentionally hurting someone with our words or actions has bad consequences, but not in the form of knives spontaneously flying across the room.  Yes if you are always thinking negatively, chances are you are surrounded by negativity, but only because you can’t see anything else.  You aren’t going hurt someone just by thinking badly of them, unless you are really trying hard to curse them.  And if you are, then we need to sit down and have a little talk about magical ethics.

5. But I’m totally on board with this magical life thing already, why do I still have dirty dishes to wash and debt to pay?

You know how in the books little faeries come and clean your house and do your dishes, or a handsome stranger saves the day?  Yeah, that’s never gonna happen!  The mundane tasks we may love or hate still exist whether you live magically or not.  The difference is how we look at them.  I still have to mop my floors, clean my room, feed my family and pay the bills.  But if I choose, mopping my floor can become a blessing or space clearing on my whole house.  Feeding my family: a spell of abundance.  Paying bills, well this is still a hard one for me to wrap my brain around, but what if every time you gave someone money, it came with a silent blessing: “may you have everything you need.”  It seems silly and small, but imagine how different things would be if every time money changed hands, it came with a blessing?  Its not in the avoiding of these mundane tasks that we find the sublime, but in the embracing of them as potentials for acts of magic.

And now I would like to hear from you.  What other myths about spirituality can you think of that have proved to be untrue?  Leave a comment below.  And if you like what you read, pass it along by sharing on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest (easy social share buttons below)!