“Have faith in your dreams, and someday, your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true”. – Cinderella

What is the key to creating magic in your life? Well, I can promise you it’s not by abdicating personal responsibility.  It’s not by being passive like Sleeping Beauty or hoping the white knight is going to save you.  It’s by taking responsibility for aligning your intentions with the Universe…and calling on your own resourcefulness to make your dreams come true.

In the last few weeks we’ve been talking about how buying into the commonly perceived messages of fairytales like Cinderella can wreak havoc on your money mindset. I’d like to take a look at Cinderella from a different viewpoint, courtesy of Maryanne Williamson in her fabulous book, The Law of Divine Compensation. She puts a new twist on Cinderella by referring to how the Universe “took care of” whatever Cinderella wanted.  She says, “her purity of heart called forth the Fairy Godmother – that is the spirit within – and the Fairy Godmother called forth everything she needed.” She is not referring to purity in the Victorian sense, but in the sense of clear, clean connection to love and spirit.

How much more empowering is that interpretation of good ol’ Cindy? So what is Maryanne Williamson talking about? The way I see it, there’s a formula for getting what you want:

1. Decide what you want from the Universe (and think big!).
2. State what you want emphatically and from a place of love within your heart (not need, desperation or fear!).
3. Get in touch with your inner power (the spirit within).
4. Be resourceful! (Look for opportunities to act and take control of your thoughts.)
5. Trust (believe) that your “dream will come true.”

I’m not going to tackle each of these points individually (but watch for some future programs that will!). I’d like to just talk about the overall concept of the magic of inner power.  When you:

M anage your thoughts
A lign your heart with the Universe
G et in touch with your inner power (the spirit within)
I ncrease your own resourcefulness (and look for opportunities to act)
C ommit to trust (believe that your dreams will come true)

you can create the magic of transformation in your life.

Let’s talk about my favorite topic: thoughts!

What do you do when you’re worried about something? You know what you do…you obsessively think about it, generating more anxiety and fear than the day or moment before.  Instead, try this experiment:

Remember a happy time when you were a child. Remember what it felt like to just run. (If you can’t remember, watch a child – you’ll get the idea. If you don’t want to imagine this as a child, remember a very happy moment in your life.) Stay with and in that thought.  Feel the lovely freedom of running – the breeze moving your hair, feeling the air on the skin on your arms, giggling with excitement. Now take that picture and blow it up really big in your mind. Make it brighter and brighter and bigger and closer.   What are you thinking, feeling, seeing? What sounds do you hear? How colorful can you make it? (Thank you Anthony Robbins for the brilliant exercise from which this was adapted.)

How do you feel now that you’ve blown that image up so big and bright? Do your feelings of happiness or goodness increase? That is the power your mind has over what you think. You chose to bring about a response in your mind, and probably your body, with the simple power of thought. You can do this with any thoughts. You can choose to interpret what you are experiencing any way you want. No matter how terrible a situation is, you are still the one in control of what you tell yourself about the situation.

Try it when you’re feeling overwhelmed or gloomy.  Choose to move yourself out of your current, negative state by going back to a happier image like the one you chose in the above exercise. Choose  to replace your gloomy thoughts with those of the positive image. Spend a few moments staying with that image. It will change the way you feel.

How you feel is not the result of what is happening in your life – it is your interpretation of what is happening. Successful people’s lives have shown us over and over again that the quality of our lives is determined not by what happens to us, but with what we do with what happens to us.” Anthony Robbins

I don’t pretend that you won’t hit bumps in the road, have some miserable experiences and moments of sadness. But you do have control over the way you think. Recognizing and feeling your emotions is important. But you can change your perspective. When you change your thoughts – as you know, you change the way you feel, and therefore you see the opportunities, trust your instincts, and act on opportunities. Simply put, when you change your thoughts,  it’s easier to align with the Universe and trust.

Nobody said learning magic was necessarily easy, but it’s so fun. Why don’t you try it?

Affirmation of the week:

Each day, I am experiencing more of the magic in my life. I trust that when I change my interpretation of what is happening, I can change my life.

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