Everyday Magic: How to Live a Mindful, Meaningful, Magical Life

by Marie D. Jones, Denise A. Agnew

Overview

Discover the magic within you. This enlightening and powerful book will help you tap into your heart, soul, intuition, body, and the limitless magic that resides within you!

“Happiness comes from within” might be an overused statement, but psychology, science, and personal stories prove how powerfully true it is. Building on what is within each and every one of us, Everyday Magic: How to Live a Mindful, Meaningful, Magical Life is your guide to tapping into your magic.

Amidst the demands of modern life, this insightful book shows that simply shifting your perspective, slowing down, and being present in the moment can have profound benefits. With practical exercises and tools based on scientific studies, as well as thought-provoking insights and personal stories, you'll learn how to cultivate a magical connection with the world around you. Transcend the mundane and embrace the extraordinary by looking at the universal magic in all aspects of life, including …

Relationships and connections

Gratitude and appreciation

Resilience and perseverance

Passion and purpose

Mindfulness and acceptance

Open and vulnerable

Exercise and movement

Nature and harmony

Spirituality and faith

Generosity and kindness

Creativity and imagination

And much more!

Part spiritual and metaphysical and part grounded and down-to-earth science, Everyday Magic shows us the paths to calm and contentment, and it reminds us of the gifts and treasures within and all around us. It shares how to manifest your best self by bringing balance, harmony, and happiness to modern life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781578597215
Publisher:	Visible Ink Press
Publication date:	05/14/2024
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Marie D. Jones is the author of over 20 nonfiction books, including Visible Ink Press’ Earth Magic, Natural Health, and The Afterlife Book. A former radio show host herself, she has been interviewed on more than 2,000 radio programs worldwide, including Coast-to-Coast AM, The Shirley MacLaine Show, and Midnight in the Desert. She has also been interviewed for and contributed to dozens of print and online publications. She makes her home in San Diego County, California, and is the mom to one very brilliant son, Max.



Denise A. Agnew is the award-winning author of over 70 multi-genre novels and has collaborated with Marie D. Jones on several projects, including screenplays. Fascinated since childhood with all things esoteric, Denise is also a paranormal investigator, reiki master, psychic medium, and certified creativity coach. She lives in Arizona with her husband.

Read an Excerpt

The Magic of Gratitude

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is all the foundation for all abundance.”
Eckhart Tolle

“Great acts are made up of small deeds.”
Lao Tzu

“Memories of our lives of our works and our deeds will continue in others.”
Rosa Parks

Gratitude is something of a buzz word today in psychological and New Age circles. It is also at the heart of all law of attraction teachings and yet it is not a new concept. Ancient texts such as the Bible are filled with proclamations of the power of gratitude and giving thanks. The holiday of Thanksgiving is built around giving thanks for shared gifts between two cultures. Our language is filled with references such as “Count your blessings” and “Be thankful for what you have, and you’ll have more to be thankful for.” Gratitude today has become something of an industry of its own, with products and books, courses and seminars all focused on the art and practice of being grateful.

Even thirty years ago most people didn’t think of gratitude in quite the same way as they might today. This doesn’t mean that gratitude wasn’t talked about in various circles in the past. In fact, parents might tell their children to be grateful for the food on their table, toys and a roof over their heads. When we are children, though, the concept isn’t as clear cut or concrete. Like many philosophies given to us when we are young, the idea of something can sound good, but it may not have quite the impact or meaning it does until we are older and more capable of grasping these complex ideas.

What exactly is gratitude? According to Dr. Robert Emmons, a researcher on the subject, there are three parts to gratitude.

1. Noting those things in our life that are good.
2. Acknowledging them.
3. Appreciating them.
   

This encapsulates the main idea behind gratitude, but these concepts can be broken down even more. In an article published by PositivePsychology.com they state that gratitude is similar to appreciation, but that it is essentially “a sense of happiness and thankfulness in response to a fortunate happenstance or tangible gift.”

Knowing that is all well and good, but how to find gratitude in our hearts, especially if we haven’t been in the habit before?

It’s Not Just Fluffy: The Science Of Gratitude

Although gratitude is something people hear about a lot, it isn’t exactly fashionable to be filled with gratitude. Let’s face it, we are a society that loves to complain. We are grouchy about our stress, our problems, our political views, the latest weather disaster, whatever the case might be. Complaining is all the rage. We’ve come to accept this peevishness so readily that we often do not realize we are doing it and enabling it in others.

It isn’t, as they say, de regur to have deeper conversations about what is going right with our lives. Complaining is so insidious and imbedded in our unconscious that people who don’t complain much are frequently looked upon with suspicion by others. Of course, envy or jealousy between people can make this more complex. Sometimes individuals who mention good things happening in their lives (especially on social media) are likely to hear negative comments from others who want to express their own grievances and may be weary of hearing what is going right in the positive poster’s life.

In fact, if you get into a discussion with someone you know really well, you might still find it disconcerting if they express gratitude in even the most superficial of ways. The conversation in your head might run something like this: Why is this person talking about stuff like this? This is really deep. In fact … it sounds sorta mamby pamby. Why are they always bragging about the good things they are experiencing?

Perhaps the person who weighs in and reports all the good stuff could be trying to make themselves look great. Or it could be they see no benefit in reporting the bad stuff. Maybe they are just grateful!

If we are honest with ourselves, our society looks at gratefulness as something relegated to people who talk about New Age topics or psychology. The average, everyday dude on the street may consider the subject too “woowoo.” But what if you understood that gratefulness could not only improve your outlook, but could possibly improve your heath more than you imagined? Wouldn’t you try it?

The Arizona Heart Foundation published an article November 2, 2002, called How Being Thankful Makes You Happier. In the article they mention several key elements in appreciation and gratitude that have a multiple of mental and physical benefits.

1. Improving the quality of your personal relationships. Hearing someone express gratitude can lead you to reflect on your own life and those things you may feel thankful for as well.
2. Thankfulness can make you less likely to report aches and pains and spend more time exercising. Exercise alone can have mood-boosting effects.
3. You may be more empathetic to other people’s challenges and become more interested in helping others overcome them.
   

In Mindful.org’s article “The Science of Gratitude,” first published February 17, 2022, they discuss the real science behind gratitude and how and why it is good for your health. Gratitude helps us to consider all the parts of our lives and how this expands our ability to thrive.

The Mindful.org article noted that students who wrote out what they were grateful for a few times a week suffered less from things like headaches, stomach distress, sore muscles, and a host of other complaints. The control group who did not write out what they were grateful for continued to have many of the problems listed above. When heart failure patients were tested in an eight-week journaling study, it was learned that patients in the gratitude group showed a more parasympathetic heart rate which is a sign of better heart health.

In the University of Minnesota online article “10 Ways to Be a More Thankful Person,” they highlighted ways to feel more thankful which included things like:

1. Express out loud three good things that happened to you that day. Come on. You know you can think of something. They point out that expressing gratitude even when we’re alone can be a powerful thing. Do not worry about talking to yourself. It’s all good.
2. Be of service and thank your boyfriend/girlfriend/partner/spouse for those things about them which you are grateful for and admire. Not only does it give them a boost, but it makes you aware of it and less likely to take their good qualities for granted.
3. If you’re feeling angry, maybe now is a good time to take a mental inventory of what you are grateful for in this moment.
4. Whatever you do, do not forget to thank yourself for the progress you’ve made in your life. Really think about it.
5. If you are having difficulty feeling grateful, think of someone who is in a situation less fortunate than you. This doesn’t mean you do not have sympathy or empathy for this person, but it brings things into perspective right here and now.
   

When we stop to smell the roses, as the old saying goes, we are more likely to find happiness in our lives and to bring forth a general sense of positivity.

“If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself.”
Native American Proverb

“Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.”
Doris Day

Table of Contents

Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
Photo Sources

Introduction: What is Everyday Magic, Anyway
1. The Magic of Self Love
2. The Magic of Relationships
3. The Magic of Connecting To Source
4. The Magic of Well-Being
5. The Magic of Nature
6. The Magic of Universal Laws
7. The Magic of Gratitude
8. The Magic of Giving and Service
9. The Magic of Passion and Purpose
10. The Magic of Creativity and Imagination
11. The Magic of Miracles
12. The Magic of Death
Conclusion: Everyday Magic is Right Where You Are

Further Reading
Website Sources
Index