Into the Magic Shop

mantra to myself.
“I am worthy. I am loved. I am cared for. I care for others. I choose only good for myself. I choose only good for others. I love myself. I love others. I open my heart. My heart is open.”

Sometimes the thing you want most is just someone to tell you, tell you anything. Because that means you’re important. And sometimes it’s not that you’re not important, it’s just you’re not seen because the pain of those around you makes you invisible.

each of us is capable of doing amazing things far beyond what we think is possible.

I found that fear, anxiety, and worry were no longer useful emotions to entertain.

The brain and the heart, working together, can make the most extraordinary magic there is.

“There is no perfect life we are born into, and there is no escaping the awful reality of suffering. There is also no escaping the beautiful synchronicity of the heart.” I paused for a moment as I prepared to end my talk. I saw a young man in the audience and saw myself all those years ago.
“Today you have sealed your path with an oath. This path will take you to life’s deepest and darkest valleys where you will see how trauma and disease destroy lives, and sadly you will see what one human is capable of inflicting upon another and even more sadly what one human is capable of inflicting on himself. But it will also take you to life’s highest peaks where you will see the meek demonstrate strength you thought not possible, cures for which you can find no explanation, and the power of compassion and kindness to cure human ills. And by doing so you will see the very face of God.”

We can choose, at any moment, to see the people right in front of us for who they are and who they can be.

And everyone deserves a chance, and then a second chance.

I learned not to define people by where they are born, what they do, or how much they have.

The magic also gave me the courage to take risks and feel secure that, regardless of the outcome, I would be OK.