Today’s Dose of Inspiration is from Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert. She writes:
“…sometimes—rarely, but magnificently—there comes a day when you’re open and relaxed enough to actually receive something. Your defenses might slacken and your anxieties might ease, and then magic can slip through.”
Gilbert’s book is all about creativity and inspiration, but I like how she uses the word “magic” here.
In this passage, she’s specifically talking about how big and life-changing ideas sometimes suddenly strike us out of nowhere. I’ve had this happen. It’s an out-of-this-world experience. It is magical. Divine.
Magical downloads, for most of us, don’t happen every day. But getting into the mental space that Gilbert is talking about—open and relaxed, where “magic can slip through”—is worth our emphasis and light-touched pursuit.
This is the mental space where we’re mindful, where we’re most primed to notice beauty, make connections, experience joy, and sometimes, capture something magical.
Open and relaxed may not be our dominant vibes for every moment of every day, but all our moments can have at least some of their flavor.
Meditation can help. This is one of the main reasons I like meditations that incorporate physicality or tuning into bodily sensations. We can learn the felt-sense of being open and relaxed and build up our ability to dwell there for longer and longer.
But we can also tap into this feeling moment by moment, like right now.
If you’re up for it…
Take a deep breath.
Relax your face.
Release your shoulders.
Soften your belly.
Feel your body let go as you release all resistance and tension you feel.
Feel the openness that creates.
I want maximum magic in my life, and I imagine you do, too.
Let’s come back to this feeling–open and relaxed–as often as we can remember.
Magic may or may not strike, but this cracks the door open, and more beauty will definitely come through.