Are you following your own magic?
“Deb, I’m going to follow the magic.”
Her words struck me. HARD. We were catching up with each other over zoom — about where we had been and what was coming next for each of us. We were both “raised up” in business to have a plan with carefully crafted steps and launch timers. And yet here Maria was, adventurous as always, choosing to listen to her spirit and magic over any kind of industry “best practice.” To follow the magic. Let it guide her. No more forcing or trying to control what happened next. She was going to be led in 2021. She was going to let creation and purpose and passion unfold and she was going to trust it.
Damn, I heart this woman!
Magic is my business so I bet you can imagine all the feels and ideas hitting me at once:
I was totally digging what she was saying and 2) I wish I had thought of that phrase first (‘follow the magic’) so I could hashtag it all over the effin place and 3) it got me thinking about the difference between following the magic and chasing the magic. And there is a difference.
Chasing magic isn’t going to get us what we want
Chasing the magic is like chasing the mythical leprechaun over the rainbow to find the pot of gold. And no I’m not talking about the famous cereal commercials (though I have been known to eat all the marshmallows out of the box, hehe). One of the well-known origin stories of the leprechaun and pot of gold involves a couple in Ireland who were farmers. They found a leprechaun dangling from the roots of the last carrot they pulled out of their garden. Knowing he’s magical, they entrap him.
The leprechaun promises them one wish in exchange for his freedom. The problem is the greedy couple wishes for a long list of things, not just one. So, the leprechaun tells them that if they can find his pot of gold hidden at the end of the rainbow then they can have all they wish for and more. He winks at them, disappears, and the farmers spend the rest of their days chasing rainbows and looking for the pot of gold.
They chase the gold for the rest of their days because it doesn’t actually exist (at least not in the way it’s promised).
Over and over again, I see people running after the “perfect” thing, or trying to exact the “right time”, or create the “ideal circumstance”, or employ the “critical tool,” or find the “expert person” that they perceive is going to make their dreams come true. They think that something else — whatever it is — is the magic that is going to solve all their problems and propel them into insta-success. Finally, they’ll have what they’ve always wanted. Like the farmer couple chasing after the pot of gold and never finding it, they spend their days chasing fads and gurus but never actually achieving their dreams.
Because those external things we are chasing after are never going to get us what we want.
Those pots of gold (if we ever find them) are never going to be ours because they are full of bright shiny things that someone else is saying we should or must have based on what we should or must do. While guides and mentors can be extremely helpful to the journey, too often we allow their voice to overrule our own and their rules to run our worlds.
We need to create our own pots.
We need to mine our own gold.
We need to be the magic and the rainbow.
Chasing magic is a useless effort and won’t lead us to fulfillment or satiation or happiness… Following magic, however, is another story.
Because magic does exist. Gold does exist. Rainbows do exist. But they aren’t based on someone else’s design or promise or expectation. The real magic — and gold and rainbow — is way closer to home and it can guide us if we see it and if we choose to follow it.
Filling the pot with our own gold
So how do we start? Where’s the good stuff? How do we find the magic and gold and rainbow in our lives? We treasure hunt. We turn over the soil and pan the rivers of our life and inner landscape.
We begin by identifying what gold we already have.
Let’s identify what’s already right in front of us because I know along our journey we have already turned up and discovered mountains of glitter to line the inside of our treasure troves. It could be found in the tribe we’ve carefully selected to surround ourselves with. It could be our home and the way we’ve made it the safe haven for us to be our authentic selves. It could be some part of our business and the way it brings us abundance or fulfillment.
Ask yourself, “What magic have I already cultivated?”
Have you identified it and claimed it? Whatever those golden nuggets are that you’ve sifted and discovered inside the sediment that is your life, add to your treasure box. You don’t need to go chasing after anything. Be present with what you have right now. There is already a healthy heap of magic that exists for you to follow.
Fill your pot, your cup, your box, whatever it is, with the magic that already exists inside you and your life, right now, in this moment, without anyone telling you it’s not as good as the gold over there.
I promise you over there, on the other side of the rainbow (that someone else painted), is fools gold and it’s a fool’s errand to chase it. Your gold is the real deal. And it’s what your magic is made of.
Once you’ve determined what your gold is, what magic already exists in your life, commit to following it and letting that be what guides you.
Commit to following your magic (and bring a friend)
I’m no runner, but there was a time in my life that I decided to run a half-marathon. (I blame my friend who convinced me this was a good idea.) Despite my less-than-ideal attitude and non-runner body, there were two things that made this achievable: starting and finishing. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. I could never have finished a half marathon if I didn’t first begin… If I hadn’t taken the first step when the starting gun went off. And I definitely couldn’t have counted it “done” if I didn’t take those last, tear-filled steps across the finish line.
Following our magic is like running a marathon. We have to start by taking one step and another if we’re ever going to get to discover what is on the other side.
In some ways, it’s very simple. You start. You take a step. You take another. You keep going. Eventually, you come to the place where this part of the path ends. You finish (the creation, the experience, the moment, etc.).
It’s all the steps (literally and figuratively) in between that complicate the journey.
That’s why during the marathon I had someone at my side helping me pace, telling me I could do it, encouraging me to keep going, and occasionally tossing me water. I couldn’t have done it without Meagan holding me through the tears and reminding me that my body was more powerful than the current limitations of my mind. But ultimately, all those middle steps won’t matter and won’t happen if we don’t first start. So commit to following the magic.
Commit to taking the first step in the direction it guides you.
Surround yourself with the people who will choose you — to be with you, to support you, to remind you of your magic — for not just the first step, but all the steps in between and even after you cross the finish line. No matter how strong and powerful, we all need a power posse if we are going to make it through the winding road in the middle to see how our magic transforms our lives and the world.
Trust your magic unfolding
Once you begin, practice trust. One of the most important abilities during the journey is the willingness to allow the unfolding to happen. To let things be revealed to you.
Magic cannot be predicted or controlled.
It’s about trust in Self and Higher Power and taking out the shoulds and musts and have tos. It’s about being able to step into a place where you fully trust yourself and where your magic is leading you.
This has been the most enriching part of my journey — following my magic and discovering aspects of my life I never would have imagined. That’s why I call it an unfolding. Because parts of your life reveal themselves in unexpected, beautiful ways when you trust and allow and follow (instead of the chase). This is where the real magic is.
It makes me think of the scene in Harry Potter where a young Lily Potter opens her palm and an asphodel blooms and grows. When I can trust that unfolding, ridiculously amazing things happen. When I try to control the unfolding, that’s where things get unhappy and uncomfortable and I go back to chasing. Chasing some pot of gold that has been put out there by someone else.
When I choose into taking the next guided step and trust my magic, there is joy, peace, excitement, adventure. There is fulfillment and satiation and there’s everything I want and more.
I believe you’ll find more of what you want and are looking for if you follow your own magic and let it be your guide. So, have you been following the magic that you are made of and that exists in you and around you? I challenge you to ask yourself if you’ve been chasing fictitious pots of gold and if you’ve been ignoring the gold and glitter that already exists in your life, at this very moment. If the answer is yes, then take a beat and a breath and commit to following your own magic instead. There’s more gold down your own rainbow than you’ll ever find at the end of someone else’s.
