A Magical Moment
Photo by Gabriel Gurrola on Unsplash
Want to hear about something magical that happened to me the other day?
I hope the answer is yes. I hope everyone always wants to hear when something magical happens. To you, to me, to anyone. Aren’t magical moments so much more appealing than nervous-system-hijacking “the world is falling apart” news?
Anyway.
There I was, elliptical-ing away, enjoying a nice gentle Sunday afternoon. Sam was doing his workout, I was doing mine, and I was content. I liked that we were together doing something healthy and generally felt good. I was relaxed, at ease, and present. In other words, I was poised to notice when something magical happened.
That’s important. In my experience, magical things happen all the time. However, we’re not always poised to notice them. Like when we’re too busy worrying about how our thighs look or all the things we have on our to-do list. That’s when the magic flies right over our heads.
Fortunately, I was primed. There I was, relaxed, happy with my life, moving my body in a way that felt good, listening to a podcast.
Out of nowhere, the host asked the guest if she’d like to sing something. And the guest said yes! (Is that a thing singers like? To be randomly asked to sing?!)
Then it happened. The magical moment. The guest sang a verse from a Jeff Buckley cover of “A Satisfied Mind,” a song I had never heard before.
The verse?
How many times have you heard someone say
If I had his money I could do things my way
But little do they know that it’s so hard to find
One rich man in ten with a satisfied mind
Money can't buy back your youth when you're old
Or a friend when you're lonely or a love that's grown cold
The wealthiest person is a pauper at times
Compared to the man with a satisfied mind
I almost fell off the elliptical.
“It’s so hard to find one rich man in ten with a satisfied mind…the wealthiest person is a pauper at times compared to the man with a satisfied mind.”
What made it so magical? Because my entire brain, body, nervous system, spirit, soul–all the systems–shouted, “I CAN HELP WITH THAT!”
I know a thing or two about having a satisfied mind because:
I used to be someone with a deeply unsatisfied mind (Hello, alcoholic Keely. Hiya, depressed me. How ya doin’, burned-out self?).
Now I’m somebody with a deeply satisfied mind (Thank you, Universe. Thank you, thank you, thank you).
In between, I learned an almost ungodly amount about how to make the shift. How to transform from dissatisfied to satisfied.
For a long time, I’ve wanted to share the lessons I’ve learned in hopes of helping other people make the shift. And, in small circles, I have. When I was feeling like a bum the other day, a friend who did a series of shamanic sessions with me said, “I know you feel like you’re not accomplishing much right now, but you’ve transformed my life over the last twelve months.”
But I haven’t gone all-in on it. Frankly, I haven’t even figured out how to articulate what I want to do with my time on Earth.
I know, because on Friday, I hit a wall on a blog post. I was writing about how I feel like I’m frittering away my days, weeks and months because I’m not prioritizing the way I want to and got to a sentence where I wrote, “There are important things I want to do in this lifetime.”
Then I walked around my bedroom while I tried to figure out the next sentence. What is it, Keely? In words, using the English language, what is it that you want to do while you’re here?
Then Sunday, less than 48 hours later, I randomly hear a song talking about:
How few people have a satisfied mind and
How important it is to have a satisfied mind
Magic. My wordy, wordy self was at a loss for words and, in less than 48 hours, the Universe supplied the ones I needed.
And, it didn’t just supply the words. It reminded me of an important lesson while doing so. Because the magic happened with a balance of doing and being, of playing and resting.
I took action by writing the blog post (aka playing with words), but I didn’t force. When I hit a wall and the words stopped flowing, I chose to wrap up for the day, throwing up a little request for assistance when I did so.
And, voila. My efforts were acknowledged and my request for help was granted.
Practical mysticism. My favorite kind.
Has anyone else had magical moments lately?
P.S. The “Satisfied Mind” offering I’ve been playing with is live on my website. Visit this page to learn more.
