Checklist for a Magically Mindful Life

·         Pick up a book you love; not to re-read the entire thing, but just to sit and intentionally live in the world again for a little while.

·         Use the good stuff now. Don’t save the beautiful dress for a night out, the good china for family visits. 

·         Do ridiculous things. Go out in the rain and dance. Make snow angels.

·         Pay attention. Don’t just sit on your phone while you eat your lunch. Savor every bite.

·         Look for repeating imagery in your life to see what message you are meant to learn. Do you often hear a crow call shortly before you have a wonderful and magical experience? He may be guiding you. 

·         Go for a walk. If you live in the city, try to find a sign of nature, even if it’s just a weed in a crack of the sidewalk, or the sliver of sky above you. If you live in the country, visit a place in nature you’ve been to many times before and try to find something new.

·         Make something, even if you think all you’re making is a mess. There’s something about creating anything that didn’t exist before (an artwork, a craft, a story, a song) that automatically makes a person feel a little bit magical. How objectively “good” or “bad” the result is has nothing to do with this feeling. 

·         Create wonderful experiences. Make a blanket fort. Go for a picnic no matter what the weather is outside (in the rain, in the snow, after dark). Make everyday life a little bit of an adventure.

·         Write a love letter to the magic of your world. Be specific. (I love the way you show up when I least expect it, and put a smile on my face…)

·         Write a love letter to yourself. This one is much harder to do. But you are a part of the magic of your world. So it’s only fair.

·         Compliment one person you see today. And do it with sincerity. 

·         Pause. Just…pause for a moment to look around and get out of your head. Find a few beautiful things around you that your senses experience: the sound of a loved one in the room next door, the smell of the summer rain.

·         Remember that fairy tale characters are almost always kind to those who ask for their aid. Show empathy to those around you. Help where you can.

·         Stop only dreaming about faraway lands, and start looking at the wonderful opportunities and adventures available right where you live.

·         Go out into the woods, or wherever your favorite place is in nature, and give nature the gift of a performance. Sing a song, do a little dance. Or if you hate those ideas, just read aloud from your favorite book. 

·         Dress like your life is a story, and you’re the main character. If other people stare at your flower crown, your velvet greatcoat, just remind yourself how much more you and truthful it feels to wear these things than the costumes of daily life.

·         The harder the day, the larger the flower crown, and the more glitter on your face. 

·         While you’re romanticizing your life, ask yourself if you would root for the main character of your story. (You) If you were reading their story, would you tell them that they need to be gentler with themselves? Yeah. Do that.

·         Complete all of those spectacular seasonal experiences you always meant to. Go apple picking in fall. Go sledding in winter. Find a seasonal checklist and try to do everything on it.

·         Make friends with a tree who seems special to you. Have conversations. Give them a hug before each time you leave. Robin Wall Kimmerer has said that her people, the Potawatami, do not use the word “it” for plants, trees. Use animist language and begin to further see what life is all around you.

·         Make daily rituals to look forward to. Maybe you and your spouse can answer a fun and romantic question from a list every night when you get home. Maybe in the morning you can have your first cup of tea in a different mug each day from your extensive collection that mostly just sits hidden in the cupboard.

·         Go antiquing. Try to listen to the stories that the objects you’re drawn to are telling you. If you can’t hear their stories, try to imagine your own version of what they might be. 

·         Make a list of the little wonderful moments you’ve experienced at the end of each day. This will help you pay attention, and better appreciate each day’s magic as it happens.

·         Give yourself a bit of grace.  No one feels like a living fairy tale every day, and that’s okay. Try again tomorrow.