Magic Practice Day 11

A Magic Morning

1. When you wake up to the new day, before you do a single thing, say the magic words, thank you.
2. From the moment you open your eyes until you’ve finished getting ready, say the magic words, thank you, in your mind for everything you touch and use.
3. Count Your Blessings: Make a list of ten blessings. Write why you’re grateful. Reread your list, and at the end of each blessing say thank you, thank you, thank you, and feel as grateful for that blessing as you can.
4. Just before you go to sleep tonight, hold your Magic Rock in one hand, and say the magic words, thank you, for the best thing that happened during the day.

Day 11 A Magic Morning

Day 11
A Magic Morning

“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love.”
Marcus Aurelius (121–180)
ROMAN EMPEROR


The easiest and simplest way to ensure that your day ahead will be filled with magic is to fill your morning with gratitude. When you incorporate gratitude into your morning routine, you will feel and see its magical benefits throughout the whole day.

Each morning is full of opportunities to give thanks, and it doesn’t slow you down or take any extra time, because you can do it naturally as you go about everything you do. There is an added bonus to filling your morning with gratitude because your daily routines are the times when you can harm yourself the most by thinking negative thoughts without realizing you’re doing it. There’s no room for harmful negative thoughts when your mind is focused on looking for things to be grateful for. After this practice you will go into your day feeling much happier and more confident that the day ahead will be great – and that’s when you will see the magic happen before your very eyes!

When you wake up to the new day today, before you move, before you do a single thing, say the magic words, thank you. Say thank you for the fact that you are alive, and that you’ve been given another day of life. Your life is a gift, every day is a gift, and when you really think about it, it’s inconceivable that any of us would wake up in the morning without giving thanks for another day. If you think a new day isn’t such a big deal, then just try missing one! It doesn’t matter how sleepy you are, or if your alarm has woken you up for work, or you’ve slept in during the weekend; the moment you wake, say the magic words, thank you, for another day of your life.

Say thank you for the good night’s sleep you received. Are you fortunate enough to have slept in a bed, with sheets and a pillow? Thank you! As your feet hit the ground say thank you. Do you have a bathroom? Thank you! Are you able to turn on the taps and immediately receive fresh, clean water every morning? Thank you! Imagine all the people who dug the trenches and laid the pipes across your country, throughout your city, and along all the streets to your home so you can turn a tap and receive beautiful, clean, hot water. Thank you! As you reach for your toothbrush and toothpaste, thank you! Without them, your day would not begin so pleasantly. Thank you for the towels, the soap, the mirror, and everything in the bathroom you use that makes you feel fresh, awake, and ready for the day.

As you get dressed, think about how fortunate you are to have clothes to choose from and wear. Thank you! Think about how many people must have been involved in making all the various items of clothing you put on and wear in one day. It’s likely that the clothes you put on in one day come from many countries across the planet. Thank you to everybody! Do you have shoes? Lucky you! Imagine life without them. Thank you for shoes!

“I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.”
J. B. Priestley (1894–1984)
WRITER AND PLAYWRIGHT

Make today as good as it can be by practicing concentrated gratitude and putting the magic into your morning routine. From the moment you open your eyes until you have put your shoes on or finished getting ready, say the magic words, thank you, in your mind for everything you touch and use. It doesn’t matter if you don’t shower or get dressed first thing in the morning, you can still use this Magic Morning practice as a guide and apply it to whatever your morning routine is. If you wake up and eat breakfast first, then as you touch and use each thing for your breakfast say the magic words, thank you. Give thanks for your morning coffee, tea, fruit juice, or breakfast. They make your mornings so enjoyable and give you energy for the day. Be grateful for the kitchen appliances you use for your breakfast – the refrigerator, hot plates, oven, toaster, coffee maker, or kettle.

Every day without exception, I say “thank” as I put one foot on the floor, and “you” as my other foot touches the floor, so that as both feet touch the floor for the first time each day, I’ve said thank you. As I walk toward my bathroom I say the magic words, thank you, in my mind with each step. Then I continue saying thank you in my mind as I touch and use each thing in my bathroom. By the time I am dressed and ready for the day, I feel so happy I could jump for joy. And when I feel that happy, I know my gratitude has worked, and I am guaranteed to have a magical day. As I go through my day, I really feel as though I have a magic power with me, because one good thing after another happens. And as each good thing happens, I’m even more grateful, which speeds up the magic with even more good things happening. You know those days when everything just seems to go right for you? Well, that’s what it’s like after doing Magic Morning, but multiplied!

Magic Practice Day 10

Magic Practice Number 10
Magic Dust Everyone

1. Count Your Blessings: Make a list of ten blessings. Write why you’re grateful. Reread your list, and at the end of each blessing say thank you, thank you, thank you, and feel as grateful for that blessing as you can.
2. Today, sprinkle magic dust on ten people who perform services you benefit from, by thanking them directly or otherwise by mentally acknowledging and thanking them. Feel grateful to them for the service they perform!
3. Just before you go to sleep tonight, hold your Magic Rock in one hand, and say the magic words, thank you, for the best thing that happened during the day.
4. Read through tomorrow’s practice today, because the practice for Day 11 begins when you first wake up.

Day 10 Magic Dust Everyone

Day 10
Magic Dust Everyone

“No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.”
Saint Ambrose (AD 340–397)
THEOLOGIAN AND CATHOLIC BISHOP

Ancient spiritual teachings say that what we give to another person with a full heart returns to us a hundredfold. So being grateful and saying thank you to another person for anything you receive from them is not only urgent, it’s vital to improving your life!

Gratitude is a powerful energy, and so whomever you direct gratitude’s energy toward, that’s where it goes. If you think of gratitude’s energy looking like sparkling magic dust, then when you express gratitude to another person in return for something you’ve received from them, you are literally sprinkling them with that magic dust! The powerful, positive energy in magic dust reaches and affects whomever you sprinkle it on.
Most of us make contact with many people every day, whether on the phone, through email, or face to face at work, in stores, restaurants, elevators, buses, or trains, and in many cases the people we make contact with deserve our gratitude, because we are receiving something from them.

Think about the people you encounter on a typical day who provide you with some kind of service, like those working in stores or restaurants, bus or cab drivers, customer service people, cleaners, or the staff at your work. The people who work in service are giving themselves to serve you, and you’re receiving their service. If you don’t say thank you in return for their service, then you’re not being grateful, and you’re stopping the good from coming into your life.

Think about the maintenance workers who keep our transport systems working safely, and those who maintain the service of utilities such as electricity, gas, water, and our roads. Think about the cleaners of the world who clean our streets, public bathrooms, trains, buses, airplanes, hospitals, restaurants, supermarkets, and office buildings. You can’t personally say thank you to all of them, but you can sprinkle them with magic dust by saying thank you next time you pass one of them. And you can be grateful next time you sit at your clean desk, or walk on a clean sidewalk, or across a polished floor.

When you’re at a café or restaurant, sprinkle magic dust by saying thank you to each person as they serve you. Whether cleaning the table, giving you the menu, receiving your order, filling your glass with water, serving the meal you ordered, clearing the table, giving you the bill, or giving your change, remember to say thank you every single time. If you’re in a store or supermarket checkout, sprinkle magic dust and say thank you to the person who serves you or packs your groceries.

If you are traveling by plane, sprinkle magic dust by saying thank you to the check-in people, the people in security, the person who checks your ticket as you board, and the cabin crew who greet you as you enter the plane. During the flight, say thank you to the cabin crew every time they perform a service for you. Serving drinks and food or removing your plate or trash is a service. The airline thanks you for flying with them, the captain thanks you, and the crew thank you, so do the same and thank them as you leave the plane. And every time you take off and land at your destination say thank you, because the fact that you can fly is an absolute miracle!

Be grateful to those people who assist you in your work, whether they are clerical staff, receptionists, canteen staff, cleaners, customer service people, or any of your work colleagues. Magic dust them all with thank you! All of them are doing you a service, and they deserve your continued gratitude in return.
Store assistants, waiters, and waitresses work very hard to serve people. They have chosen a job to serve other people, and serving the public means encountering all kinds of people in varying moods, including those who are ungrateful. Next time you are being served by another person, remember that the person who is serving you is a precious daughter or son to parents, an irreplaceable brother or sister to siblings, a mother or father to a family and children, and a loved and adored partner or friend, and they deserve your kindness and patience.

At times you may encounter a person in service who behaves rudely toward you or doesn’t give you the attention you think you deserve. It may be more challenging to be grateful in these situations, but your gratitude cannot be dependent on another person’s behavior. Choose to be grateful no matter what!
Choose magic in your life no matter what! It might help you to remember that you don’t know what difficulty someone might be going through at the time you connect with him or her. They may be feeling unwell, they may have just lost a loved one, their marriage might have just ended, or they may be in desperation and at a tipping point in their life. Your gratitude and kindness might be the most magical thing that happens to them that day.

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
Philo of Alexandria (circa 20 BC–AD 50)
PHILOSOPHER

If you thank someone on the phone for his or her help, don’t throw away your thank you; instead, give the reason why you’re grateful. For example, “Thank you for your help.” “Thank you for going out of your way for me.” “Thank you for giving me so much of your time.” “Thank you for resolving the situation for me, I’m very grateful to you.” You will be amazed at the response from the other person when you do this one simple thing, because they will feel your sincerity.

When you say thank you to someone in person, look at his or her face. They will not feel your gratitude or receive your magic dust unless you look directly at them. You’ve wasted an opportunity to help that person and to change your own life if you say thank you to the air, or say thank you as you’re looking down, or thank you while you’re on your cell phone, because you’re not really sincere when you do that.

A couple of years ago I was in a store buying a gift for my sister. The store assistant who served me listened to what I was looking for, and then went on a search for the perfect gift as though it was for her sister! As the store assistant handed me the bag containing the perfect, beautifully wrapped gift, I received a call on my cell phone. I was finishing the call when I reached the front entrance of the store, and suddenly an unsettled feeling swept over me. I immediately returned to the store assistant who had helped me, and I not only thanked her, but I told her all the reasons why I was grateful to her, and how much I appreciated everything she did for me. I showered her with gratitude’s magic dust! Her eyes filled with tears, and the biggest smile you’ve ever seen swept across her face.

Every action always has an equal reaction. If you really mean it when you say thank you, the other person will feel it, and you will not only have made another person feel really good, but your gratitude will fill you with an indescribable happiness. That day I walked out of the store indescribably happy.

I don’t use magic dust only for the people who serve; I use gratitude’s magic dust in all kinds of situations. When I say goodbye to my daughter before she drives to her home, I feel gratitude for her having arrived home safely, and I wave my fingers in the air and imagine sprinkling magic dust over her and her car. Sometimes I sprinkle magic dust on my computer before I begin a new project, or sprinkle magic dust ahead of me before I walk into a store to look for something in particular that I need. My daughter uses magic dust when she’s driving, and if she sees another driver who seems to be stressed and is speeding, she sprinkles magic dust over them to help make them feel better and keep them safe.

Today, take gratitude’s magic dust with you for the people who work in service, and look for every opportunity you can to sprinkle magic dust on everyone by saying thank you. Thank at least ten people who perform different services you benefit from today. It doesn’t matter if you don’t get the opportunity to do it in person; you can mentally acknowledge the people whose service you benefit from. The magic dust will still reach them. As an example, mentally say to yourself:

I’m really grateful to the cleaners who work through the early hours of the morning, making sure that the streets are cleaned of trash every day. I’ve never really thought about how grateful I am for that service, which is done like clockwork every day. Thank you. Make sure you keep count of the people in service you are grateful for, so that you know when you have thanked ten different people for their services and sprinkled magic dust on them all. If you imagine the sparkling magic dust falling over people when you thank them, you have a picture of what really happens in the invisible with the power of gratitude. With this picture in your mind, it will help you to believe and know that the magic dust of gratitude really does reach people, and that it will be available to help them to improve their lives. And every time you sprinkle magic dust over another person, it also returns to you in your own life.

If you’re at home today, then sit down with a pen and journal or on your computer, and go back in your mind recalling instances where people in service went out of their way for you. It may have been someone on the phone, or it may have been a tradesperson who was determined to resolve a problem for you. Maybe you’ve received great service from your mail person, the trash collectors or recycling companies, or local store assistants. Make a written list of ten instances where people in service helped you, and send magic dust by saying thank you to every one of them.

Magic Reminder
Read through tomorrow’s practice today, because the practice for Day 11 begins when you first wake up.