So, I recently started reading the “Matthew Swift Novels”, a series of books written by UK author Kate Griffin (whose real name is Catherine North, and who also publishes under the pseudonym Claire North—a veritable powerhouse in one package). My dearest friends know that my choice of reading materials is rather eclectic. The non-fiction books I read range from treatises on stoicism to discourses on the art of writing to inspirational tracts on living a better life. But when it comes to fiction, I tend to veer towards lighter fare—high fantasy, supernatural romance, and a genre called urban fantasy, which basically postulates the existence of alternate or magical worlds set amid the cities and streets we all know and love.

The Matthew Swift novels fall into the latter genre, and tell the story of an urban sorcerer in London, England who practices a unique brand of magic. In essence, his magic is fueled by the life of the city. In Griffin’s own words, the books “… revolve around the concept that the pulse, the rhythm and the heartbeat of the city, and the millions of people living within it, becomes a palpable form of magic itself.” The way the books expound on this concept is quite literal. As Matthew Swift himself explains: life is magic, and magic is simply a point of view.

I know it’s fiction, but this concept has totally captured me and wrapped me in its spell. Life is magic. The very essence of our daily rituals, routines, and unconscious habits in and of themselves weave a powerful force that can be tapped by people capable of simply adopting the right point of view. Hold this thought. I’m coming back to it.

Priority number three

I believe I’ve mentioned before that in December of every year, I engage in a pretty intensive goal-setting process. It involves not only a review of my past year—successes, missteps, hit targets, missed goals—but also a reconsideration of what’s important to me now and how I plan to achieve my current aspirations. A central part of the process involves articulating my five main priorities for the coming year. When I first started goal setting, many moons ago, I tended to just list those priorities without thinking too much about them. They typically included items like abundance, family, health, and balance.

But then, six or seven years ago, it really hit me how intimately our actions are tied up in our priorities. We genuinely only make progress towards those goals in life that we prioritize—a realization that made me rethink the careless approach I’d been taking to identifying what was most important to me. It was around then that I began truly thinking through my priorities, and then intentionally linking my goals to their achievement.

Last month, when I was articulating my priorities for 2019, I listed priority number three as “conscious  joy”. The idea behind it is simple. This year, I’m committed to looking for opportunities to be happy, even if they seem insipid. I want to celebrate not only seminal and material achievements, but innocuous and transient occurrences—like the morning sunshine and twilight, the smell of clean laundry, a good hair day.

Because of this commitment, I’ve been waking up every morning looking for things to celebrate. It’s been barely a week, but already I’m breathless at the things I’ve been missing. The rumple of well-worn sheets, the gradual warmth my duvet gifts me with every night, how smooth my teeth are after my electric toothbrush has done its work, a hint of gold in my hand-crafted soap. But wait! There’s more! Someone made these sheets, somewhere in the world, and somehow they made their way to me—on a plane or truck, through a store or factory. And when I need new heads for my electric toothbrush, I can go online—into a cyber world that doesn’t even actually exist, but that’s responsible for roughly 15% of all retail sales in the U.S. alone—and I can click a button and a day later a stranger comes to my door and hands me my package.

Two days ago, I ordered a new wireless speaker from Amazon, and because I’m on Prime, it arrived yesterday, just before 9pm, as promised. It’s an awesome raspberry colour and it came with a yellow USB cord! It’s impossible NOT to celebrate a yellow USB cord.

Magic is simply a point of view

This is the stuff of our life and, like Kate Griffin and her sorcerous character Matthew Swift, I wholeheartedly believe that each of these mundane moments is in itself a magical microcosm. Magic—like joy—is simply a point of view and, if we’re conscious enough to pay attention, we can bathe in its beauty every second of the day. Here’s to a year—and a lifetime—of conscious joy!