Unpublished Work © 2012 Cristina Carlino 

Tiny Action for a Big Transformation:

KEEP LOOKING FOR THE MAGIC…

We never know in what moment life may next become magical. Ask the caterpillar who turns into a butterfly.  Her metamorphosis may be the best magic show on earth.   What if true magic isn’t really a trick at all, but all that is ever here.  If we can just keep our eyes and hearts open for the moment when the invisible becomes the visible. Or a problem disappears, if we will suspend belief and prepare to be amazed.  Especially in those moments when we’re ready to give up.

So my tiny action for big change this week is to keep looking for the magic.

Magic may never show up the way our minds have figured it will.  It rarely does.  If it did, it wouldn’t be a magic moment.

Here’s a moment I had this week.   It was a moment long in the making that began with the character (and buttocks) building experience you share as a parent with other parents when you sit on the steps or unbearably cheap bleacher seats in an old smelly gym watching your child play her heart out.  Week after week you are on their side no matter what.  And no matter what, I have been there for a team that rarely wins a game.  Year after year after year so you’re not expecting any surprises. And the challenge is to not tune out.   But then, presto-change-o. . My little gal went flying through the air with a twist and a one handed lay- up.  And in one tiny instant, I was dazzled by what I can only describe as that moment I can’t stop replaying in my mind.  Pure magic!  The team won and my daughter had the best game of her young career.  The win for me is I didn’t miss that moment and that I would have sat on that bench 10 more years just for the moving picture she left in my head.

So I’m wondering, what magic are you looking for today?  What will you stay open to this week?

It may not be as showy as pulling a rabbit out of your hat

It may not require slight of hand or the slip of the wrist, sawing a body in half

or even owning a deck of cards.

More likely it’s the magic of believing in yourself again.

Of dropping an old illusion so you can pick up a fresh perspective.

The enthusiasm of a child who has found and won’t let go of his “magic penny”.

The magic of a kiss or a song played on the radio at just the right moment.

And the magic of being stunned by a moment in which you know your feet have been there for you every step of your journey.

The magic of shedding a tear of gratitude.

The magic of finding a perfect dress or the impossible parking space -

Of your team winning and humanity cheering.

And those most extraordinary moments in which we forget ourselves doing what comes naturally to us and of service to others.

The magic of knowing the universe has our back,

And has us here to enjoy our days

And the magic wand that is here for each of us to pick up and use according to our own belief.

I believe in you.

With grace and gratitude,

Cristina