Remember the Sears WishBook?
I could have hugged the mailman when he delivered it to our front door each year. That day was a bonafide red-letter day in our house. A day that signified the true start of the holiday season for those of us who weren’t tall enough to decorate the top third of the Christmas tree.
My brother, sisters and I would fight over it, circling all of the things we desperately longed to find under the tree on Christmas morning.
To me, the arrival of that catalog was nothing less than the arrival of the magic and wonder that kept me on the edge of my seat in high hopes and anticipation for weeks until Christmas day finally arrived.
Remember how powerful that magic was? How completely satiated with wonder you were at this time of year?
Do you remember the last time you felt that way?
It seems many people don’t.
In the first 20 years or so of my adult life, I pretty much stopped believing in magic and wonder. I thought it was kid stuff. I thought those days were over. I thought magic didn’t really exist and wonder was a thing of the past.
Then I woke up and got real.
Magic exists. It happens everywhere every day. It’s always there waiting to be claimed, but that whole external reality thing sucks you in and keeps the door to magic and wonder shut and locked.
Magic doesn’t happen outside of you though. Magic happens on the inside.
Magic is self created.
It happens when you recognize and give yourself permission to claim what you really, really, really want.
Just so we’re clear, I’m not talking about “stuff” here. I’m talking about having the life you want. I’m talking about passion. I’m talking about dreams.
You’d be surprised (or maybe you wouldn’t) at how many people recognize what they really, really, really want, but won’t give themselves permission to even think about it. Before magic and wonder can step inside, they slam the door shut like armageddon’s on the other side.
Maybe they think that there’s no time for dreaming because they have a family or too much debt.
Maybe they think it isn’t possible to have what they want.
Maybe they think other people won’t approve.
Maybe they think they can’t succeed.
Maybe they think it would be too hard.
Maybe they think they are too old.
Maybe they think they don’t have the right stuff whether it’s money, talent or good looks.
Maybe they think dreams are for other people.
Maybe they think they aren’t good enough.
Maybe they think all of those things and a whole host of other crappy thoughts that make them feel fearful, frustrated, sad, and small.
But all of these are just thoughts.
They are permission-sucking lies.
Lies that keep you stuck and make you feel like crap.
Lies that hold magic and wonder at bay.
Lies that keep you from living the life you want.
What if you had a WishBook right now? One filled with everything under the sun both tangible and intangible? What would you circle?
Do you know what you really, really, really want?
Will you give yourself permission to have it?
I hope so ‘cuz chances are you aren’t just going to stumble across it one of these days. Why that would suck all the magic and wonder right out of having it!
It’s so worth it. And so are you.
Wishing you magic and wonder,
Theresa