A Magic Trick...February 13, 2022

This week I learned a magic trick...yup, straight up magic.

Now first, we all know that our minds can take us to magical places, our very own Chocolate and Cupcake Factory sort of places. I have soared to Paris and Belize, dancing around Christmas trees of years gone by, while fantastical possibilities play out for my future.

And then...we can head straight to dark places, sometimes without warning our minds sink to worry, angst and misery..as our imaginations crank out simply awful scenarios, or at least mildly depressing ones.

When I woke after my leg amputation, I had to get to know my mind better. To watch it more closely. You know, keep tabs on it. Sort of like a gym teacher with a bunch of first graders, while it took unpredictable detours, dips and stumbles.

But here is the thing that I learned yet one more time this week. A sweet and secret magic trick, beautiful in its simplicity.

A few days ago, February had suddenly seemed long and never-ending and gray...and I was sluggish with a racing mind of troublesome or pesky scenarios. You know - the woe is me, it's all impossible, it'll never happen sort of places. When we believe our circling-down-the-drain thoughts can turn it all around, if we just keep thinking them for a little longer.

Well the next morning I woke and decided...

...to move.

Move, don't think, don't think, don't think, I stubbornly repeated...

...with a mental list of chores like watering plants, doing a load of laundry and sweeping the floor, simple and mundane stuff. My movement became a game of finding one bread crumb after another, taking me on a path that got more and more magic-tinged and better feeling, rather than my very own Stephen King novel of the day before.

So yes, by all means let's get tickets for that dreamy carpet ride to Paris or Belize and around the world in 80 days. But first maybe tell our well-meaning though mischievous minds to give it a rest for a day or two or five...with all their reasons for this, that and the next thing. Let's try our mighty best to move our sweet bodies for a few minutes or an hour, as they have their own pretty stories to tell us.

And P.S. If three chores is too much, by all means start with one.