The words we use to describe how we do magic seem grim and laborious. We say we make magic, we work magic, we practice magic.

This language reflects the needs that magic fills for us. As adults we have serious concerns. We must take care of our bodies, making sure we eat and sleep and exercise. We need to find a place to live, work to support ourselves, and some purpose to make our lives meaningful. We establish relationships. We take care of children, the sick, and the elderly. We might be sick or elderly ourselves. The first concern of magic is to help us with our life-supporting tasks.

As children we did not work to support ourselves or find ourselves a place to live. We spent our time learning about the world. It seemed more plastic then, because our lives were more open, filled with potential. Magic was not just a tool to help us get by, but a rainbow of story, making the impossible possible.

Magic does more for us than to help us with our adult labors. It returns us to that childlike state where everything is possible. Once again we learn new ways of being in the world. Everything is plastic, open, fluid, filled with choices we have not yet made.

When we recover our childlike natures we unleash our magical potential. We can release our urgent focus on the goals we seek, relax, and have fun. The best word to use to describe how we do magic is play.

Affirmation
I play with magic.

Practice: Awaken the inner child
Do something fun. Play with a kid’s toy. Color in coloring book. Take a swing in a park. Read a children’s storybook. Turn in circles in place until you become dizzy.

Playing with children is one of the best ways to unleash the inner child. Ask the kid to pick a game and play with them. This should not be a video game, but a board game, or a game of imagination. Go out into the yard or a park, away from the TV, and let the kid be in charge. You might end up infiltrating a villain’s lair, flying spacecraft, or looking for fairies in the shrubs.

Every day for a week, write a journal entry that begins, “The wonderful thing today was…” Stay alert throughout the day for the wonderful thing. It might be a sunset, a bird in a tree branch, a photograph, a child’s smile, a new piece of music you heard, a penny you found on the street, a cup of tea shared with a friend.

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