The Importance of Keeping Your Magic

Magic beans grow within every one of us. Though they can become as big as storybook beanstalks they often begin as a handful of contempt, just waiting for the proper moment to greaten and twine their way into the clouds. They’re the vertical, verdant pathways we climb when we imagine worlds we wish to never leave.

Children easily recognize these pathways in themselves and each other. They beckon other children up their beanstalks and into their own worlds, playing the afternoon away as princesses, pirates, or monsters. Creativity comes naturally to the young. If you gave paper and crayons to a group of small children and asked them to draw a pony, every one of them could and eagerly would.

Obviously we don’t stay as children. We ripen. We change. And so do our beanstalks. They continue to take us to wonderful places as we begin to realize our unique abilities. Now these cloud kingdoms become the untamed lands we venture into to fully explore our gifts: the artist paints, the writer writes, and the builder builds. The beanstalk climbs higher, the magic delves deeper.

And it is a sort of magic, this thriving, threaded stalk of creativity and passion and drive that’s distinctive to each person. It’s not an issue of talent. It goes deeper than that. Your magic is essential to who you are—the gift you can’t help but share with others to keep the world smart and beautiful and interesting. It’s important. It’s significant. It’s an integral part of the Story. And without it—without you and your inimitable pinch of pixie dust, a little more of the world’s color peels and flakes away.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of flaking paint in the world. After all, we can’t play in the clouds forever. When we enter adulthood (if not earlier) we often set aside our magic to be properly Responsible. We neglect it in favor of essentials like security, education, career, spouse, and children (your particular set of essentials may vary). Often in this phase of life the painter sets aside the brush and the writer shuts down the computer. We decided (or were told) a long time ago that we couldn’t draw ponies. Some of us don’t even attempt it any more. Besides, who has time to draw ponies? Isn’t it a bit silly?

We rationalize that our magic is childish—less important than our present pursuits. Creativity is something to pursue as a hobby . . . provided it never interferes with real responsibility. And the beanstalk withers. Sometimes it dies. And the tremors of its fall thunder through our souls.

Years pass and eventually we come to another phase of life where we slow down enough to acknowledge the chasms inside ourselves. We’ve been responsible. We have a career and/or family, but we can still hear the wind whistling over the hollows of our lives. Are we truly happy? Are we fulfilled? Why wouldn’t we be? What’s going on? In the rare quiet, we reflect and ache for an answer. Like a fog-enshrouded dream, we remember the magic.

And remembering, we may find ourselves drawn back to the childhood beanstalk that now lays brown and crumpled upon the ground.

The paint is dry, the words are sluggish, and our hands are clumsy, seemingly unable to remember how to build. Some of us will force it, pouring water and shoveling fertilizer over the dead thing at our feet. We will search ourselves for a last remaining bean that might still be planted. Those who do might eventually be rewarded with glorious new growth, but the potential of what we could have had if we had only devoted more of ourselves to tending the beanstalk in the first place is painfully obvious. We remember when it was so much easier …

For some, this revelation is too much. They’ll abandon their magic altogether and take solace in other good things—salves and ointments that soothe the wound but never heal it. But for those who persist, who press forward beyond disappointment … there is soul-sailing relief from the itch you’ve been trying to scratch all your responsible life.

But magic’s more than an itch—it’s a key to your existence in the fabric of the story called life. It’s as vital as a heartbeat and as subtle as a soul. No matter your stage of life, you have to use it to keep it. Well-meaning people will discourage you and take it upon themselves to cast your magic beans out the window. The press of everyday life will threaten to chop your beanstalk down. Don’t let them! Use it. Keep it. Walk the balance. Never focus on your magic to the exclusion of responsibility (Peter Pan has no place in this overworked metaphor). Your magic is part of the song this world sings. It’s the spark of a collective fire that warms those around you. The world needs what only you can bring to it.

So write the great American novel, or write marvelous fan fiction about the great American novel. Sew ridiculously adorable Dr. Who plushies. Dance with the confidence of Prince and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Mentor your cat in its bid for world domination. Be passionate about the things it’s important to be passionate about. Create. Discover. Share. Grow. Stay you. Be you.

Keep Your Magic.

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What is that the passion that drives you? What is your gift to the story this world needs? What is your magic? Send a challenge to your friends by sharing your magic and compel them to to share their own. Together we can all make the world brighter. ( link to FB# )