The Magic (15 page)
After being out one night, my daughter discovered the next morning that she did not have her wallet, and she had no idea where she might have lost it, or even if it had been stolen. She called the restaurant where she went to dinner, the taxi company she used to come home, the local police station, and she searched the streets and knocked on surrounding doors. But no one had found her wallet.
Other than the fact that my daughter’s wallet contained the usual precious things in it, including all her bank and credit cards, driver’s license, and cash, her biggest concern was that her wallet contained no current contact information, because she had been overseas for some time. She didn’t have a publicly listed phone number, and with a common surname, there seemed to be no hope.
But despite the seemingly impossible obstacles, my daughter sat down, closed her eyes, and got a picture of her wallet in her mind. She visualized that she was holding her wallet in her hands; she opened her wallet, she went through all its contents, and she felt enormous gratitude that she had her wallet and everything in it back and in her hands.
For the rest of the day, whenever she thought of it, again my daughter imagined she had her wallet in her hands, and she felt enormous elation and gratitude that her wallet had been returned to her.
Later that night she received a call from a farmer who lived one hundred miles away, saying that he had found her wallet. The extraordinary part of this story is that the farmer had found the wallet in the street outside my daughter’s home in the early hours of the morning, and he immediately searched the wallet looking for contact details. He made several calls in trying to find its owner, but to no avail, and so he gave up, and drove back to his farm with the wallet.
But while he was walking out in the fields at his farm, the wallet kept nagging and nagging at him, and he decided to search through it one last time. He found a small piece of paper with a man’s Christian name written on it, and so he put the Christian name together with my daughter’s surname, and called directory assistance. There was just one listing for that Christian name and surname. The farmer called the phone number, and it was the home of my daughter’s father. To this day we do not know how the farmer got that phone number, because it was an unlisted number! We called directory assistance ourselves several times after this happened, and the response every time was: “Sorry, there is no listing for that name.”
From one hundred miles away, through the most extraordinary sequence of seemingly impossible events, my daughter’s wallet was returned to her intact. She fulfilled her part in being grateful that she had her wallet back, and as must happen, gratitude performed its magic and moved every person, circumstance, and event to return her wallet to her.
The magical power of gratitude is available for you to use as well, and it always has been – you just had to discover it for yourself, and learn how to use it!
Magic Practice Number 18
The Magical To-Do List
- 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. - Create a written list of the most important things or problems you need done or solved. Title your list
The Magical To-Do List. - Choose
three
of the most important things from your list, and one at a time, imagine that each thing has been done
for
you. - Spend at least
one
minute on each thing, believing it is done, and feeling enormous gratitude in return. - 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 19
Magic Footsteps
“A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955)
NOBEL PRIZE–WINNING PHYSICIST
With those words, Einstein gave us a gift equal to his scientific discoveries. He gave us one of the magical secrets to his success. Gratitude – every day!
Einstein is the inspiration behind today’s magical practice, and you are going to follow in his footsteps to bring success to
your
life. Today, like Einstein, you will say
thank you
one hundred times, and you’re going to do it by taking one hundred Magic Footsteps. While it might seem unbelievable to you that taking footsteps can make a difference to your life, you will discover that it is one of the most powerful things you can do.
“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘thank you’?”
William A. Ward (1921–1994)
WRITER
To take Magic Footsteps, you take one step and in your mind say the magic words,
thank you,
as your foot touches the ground, and then again say
thank you
as your other foot touches the ground. One foot,
thank you,
next foot,
thank you,
and continue saying the magic words with every footstep.
The best thing about Magic Footsteps is that you can take any number of Magic Footsteps anywhere and at any time; through your house from one room to another, walking to get your lunch or coffee, taking the trash out, walking to a business meeting, on your way to catch a cab, train, or bus. You can take Magic Footsteps on your way to anything that is important to you, like exams, a date, a job interview, an audition, to meet a client, to the bank, ATM, dentist, doctor, hairdresser, to see your team play in a sports game, down corridors, through airport terminals, in parks, or from one block to another.
I take Magic Footsteps around my home, from my bed to my bathroom, kitchen to my bedroom, and outside to my car and the mailbox. Whenever I walk down a street, or walk anywhere, I choose a point as my destination, and I put gratitude in my footsteps all the way.
If you take notice of how you’re feeling before you begin, then you will notice a big difference in how you feel after you’ve taken Magic Footsteps. It doesn’t matter if you can’t get much of a feeling of gratitude while you’re taking them; I promise you will still feel happier afterward. If you’re feeling down, Magic Footsteps will make you feel better, and even if you’re feeling great, Magic Footsteps will lift your spirits even higher!
To take the most effective Magic Footsteps, take Magic Footsteps for about ninety seconds; this is how long it will take the average person to take one hundred steps at a leisurely pace. This practice is not about taking one hundred steps exactly, but taking at least that number of steps, because it will probably take that number of footsteps to make a difference to the way you feel. Once you’re clear on the approximate distance you can take your one hundred steps of gratitude any time during the day. Don’t count the footsteps when you’re doing the practice, because you’ll be counting instead of saying
thank you,
the magic words, with each step.
When you have completed today’s magical practice you will have said the magic words,
thank you,
one hundred times! How many days of your life have you said
thank you
one hundred times?
And Einstein did it every day!
Magic Practice Number 19
Magic Footsteps
- 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. - Take
one hundred
Magic Footsteps (for about ninety seconds) in gratitude any time during the day. - With each footstep, say and feel the magic words,
thank you. - 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 20
Heart Magic
“Gratitude is the memory of the heart.”
Jean-Baptiste Massieu (1743–1818)
FRENCH REVOLUTION ACTIVIST
You might have figured out by now that with any magical practice of gratitude the aim is always to feel it as much as you can. This is because when you increase the feeling of gratitude on the inside, the things you have to be grateful for in the outside world increase too.
Eventually, after practicing gratitude for a long period of time, you will automatically feel it deeply in your heart. However, today’s magical practice will collapse the time it would normally take for you to reach that level.
The Heart Magic practice is designed to powerfully increase the depths that you feel gratitude, by focusing your mind on the area of your heart as you say and feel the magic words,
thank you.
Scientific research has shown that by focusing on your heart as you feel gratitude, the rhythm of your heart immediately becomes much more even and harmonious, resulting in major improvements to your immune system and health. That gives you an idea of the power of Heart Magic. It takes a little practice the first time you try it, but it is worth the effort. After a few times you will get it, and each time you practice it your feeling of gratitude will increase exponentially.
To practice Heart Magic, focus your mind and your attention on the area around your heart. It doesn’t matter if you focus on the inside or the outside of your body. Close your eyes, because it will make it easier, and while keeping your mind focused on your heart, mentally say the magic words,
thank you.
Once you’ve practiced it a few times, you won’t need to close your eyes anymore, but as a general rule, you will feel more gratitude when you close your eyes.
There are several things you can do to help you get Heart Magic down really quickly. You can put your right hand on the area around your heart to keep your mind focused there while you say the magic words,
thank you.
Or you can imagine that the magic words,
thank you,
are coming out of your heart rather than your mind as you say them.
As part of today’s magical practice, take your Top Ten Desire List and practice Heart Magic on each desire. Read each desire in your mind or out loud, and when you get to the end of reading each one, close your eyes, focus your mind on the area around your heart, keep your mind on your heart area, and say the magic words again,
thank you,
slowly. Again, you can use the tips I’ve given above if it helps you. After you have finished Heart Magic on each of your desires, you will have not only increased the depth of gratitude you are able to reach, you will also have dramatically increased your gratitude for your top desires.
You can continue to practice Heart Magic on your desires regularly if you want to speed up the receiving of them, or you can use Heart Magic any time you say the magic words,
thank you.
Even just using Heart Magic a couple of times a day will have a big effect on your happiness and on the magic in your life.
Once you have practiced Heart Magic a few times you will feel a huge increase in the depth of your feeling, and with gratitude it’s all about the depth of the feeling, because the deeper the feeling the greater the abundance you will receive. The initial physical signs that you’ve increased the depth of your feeling could be that you get a tingling feeling around your heart, or feel a wave of joy rush through your body. Your eyes may fill with tears, or you may get goose bumps. But without exception, you will begin to feel a depth of peace and happiness you’ve never felt before!