by Allison Carr | Apr 16, 2014 | most popular
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)!
by Allison Carr | Apr 30, 2013 | most popular, Uncategorized
our own heart is our most important magical tool
I used to play this game with things that I wanted, and maybe you can relate to this. When I wanted something, I would pretend like crazy that I didn’t want it. I’d create a whole list in my head about why it wasn’t that great, or how I’d be better off with something else. I would even go as far as denying it to other people, even when they offered it, or asked directly. Why did I do this? Because somewhere deep down, I believed that if you admitted you wanted something, you would never get it. That to desire something was wrong, so the best way to get it was to pretend you didn’t, and then wait until it was close enough to grab, and snatch it up. Sounds crazy when I write it down, but I know I’m not alone.
When I played this game I often missed out on getting what I wanted, and when I did get it, I felt kinda guilty. Talk about a recipe for misery. I’m going to share with you today the one thing that helped me unlearn this pattern of guilt and denial, and what I discovered was the best tool I had for creating magic in my life.
The most important magical tool we posses
I wasn’t even aware that I had this pattern until I learned that the most important magical tool I had was my own heart. By magic I mean the ability to create and affect change in the world around me. Why the heart? Because our heart is the one organ in our body that feels that magical thing we call desire. Desire is absolutely necessary if we are going to create happiness. Here’s the key: the first step to getting what we want, is knowing that we want it! When we get real with what it is that we truly want, we become more powerful at making that truth a reality.
It sounds so simple, and it is, but it’s not always that easy. We are shouldered with so much baggage about desire that it’s hard to see past it sometimes. It’s wrong to want things, desire paves the road to hell, if you just do what you want everything will fall apart. Sound familiar? Think about it: What unspoken beliefs do you have about desire?
Whatever they are, and where ever they came from I’m here to tell you that most of them are just plain wrong, and they are keeping you locked in misery. Here are some thoughts about Heart’s Desire to counter all that cultural baggage that we carry around with us.
Our heart connects us to the Divine.
In Chinese Medicine, which I practice, the heart is understood as the seat of consciousness. It is often referred to as the emperor of the body. I like to think of it as the queen. The implication behind this is that the heart is the part of us that is closest to the divine: The part of us that has direct access to our own higher calling. The part of us that is most capable of knowing why we are here, and what we are here to do. Why would you mistrust that part of yourself?
Our heart keeps us grounded in the present:
I like to think of the heart as being the only part of us that is truly capable of being in the present moment. Our brain likes to dwell in the past or the future. Thinking ‘if only’ or ‘what if’, but the heart knows the truth of every single present moment. Have you ever made a wrong decision and just known in your heart that it was wrong? Your brain couldn’t explain why, but your heart just knew. Why? Because your heart perceived the present moment in its full truth.
The Heart is undeniable.
I think this is why it scares people so much. We can learn to change our thoughts, we can learn to change our habits, but when we try and change our desires we make ourselves sick. The longing of the heart always finds a way.
The heart always seeks the highest good.
When I hear people argue that following desire creates pain and misery I think of this: Whenever I’ve done something directly hurtful to someone else my heart did not feel good about it. The heart does not take joy in misery. But it also doesn’t sit well when I sacrifice my own desire’s for someone else’s’. Our heart challenges us to be true to ourselves, but also to serve a greater good. Sounds a lot like a queen right?
How do you know when it’s not heart’s desire?
Heart’s desire is hardly ever a physical object, a material good, a specific person or even a particular situation. Those things can all be good indicators of what lies in our hearts, but they are rarely the thing itself. There is a certain line of spiritual thinking that states that material objects are somehow lesser than spiritual riches. I disagree, but I do think we need to recognize the limited nature of material things to really satisfy our hearts. Usually the object of our desire is just a clue, a doorway into what we really truly want. So as long as it doesn’t hurt someone else, it is never wrong to want that new piece of jewelry, that fancy computer, or that vacation to Hawaii, but we must ask ourselves what lies underneath that desire or we will be missing the point. Do we want to feel beautiful? Do we need re-charge? Do we need to feel the power of being capable and having more access to the world around us? Those qualities all strike closer to our heart’s desire than the objects themselves. And by all means, go for the jewelry, take that vacation, get the computer, but also take the time to recognize the deeper desire the fuels that want, and give it some attention too.
Here is the divine paradox of the heart:
If we cannot find that which we seek inside ourselves, we will never find it without. The path of the heart is a circular one, always leading us back to ourselves. So while we see manifestations of our heart’s desire all around us, eventually we realize that what we seek is inside us all along. The desire to feel beautiful? It is ours to give ourselves, and while jewelry, a lover, great clothes, or a new haircut can help us awaken to our own beauty, if we never realize that we are already are beautiful, those external things will never be enough. In this way, our heart leads us in a dance of divine union with ourselves.
Discovering these truths about the heart, and getting real with my own desires was the single most important step I took towards creating a fulfilling life for myself. When you open to desire, always means you open yourself to disappointment too, that’s just part of life. But getting and enjoying the things you truly want, and creating a more satisfying and fulfilling life is so worth it.
Want to get real with your own desires? Leave a comment below about how cultural baggage has affected your heart’s desire.
