How to Connect With Your Creative Magic
From the time he was ten, my stepson Jeremy knew what he wanted to do with his future. He caught the itch for flexibility during a gymnastics class, then he saw the Nutcracker for the first time, and it was settled.
He was going to be a dancer.
Jeremy relentlessly pursued that dream, and since the age of eighteen, he’s been a paid company dancer.
Most of us don’t find our passion so early. Some people never do. As the saying goes, “They die with their magic locked inside of them.”
We all have a specific brand of magic and connecting with that magic is a matter of getting quiet, paying attention and listening for its soft but persistent call.
Time and time again, I’ve read that there are three elements to help you identify your magic: strengths, interests and meaning.
When they overlap, they alchemize into passion.
Often, we’re too close to ourselves to know our strengths. It helps to ask someone who adores you or notice when you feel the most capable or when you feel most natural…
Here are some additional suggestions, including a few tests you can take to discover your strengths.
When it comes to interests, notice when you feel not necessarily euphoric but immersed. As author Mark Manson says, “What are you doing when you forget to eat?”
The third element, meaning, comes from a deep need to contribute, to change the world even on the smallest of levels. It’s almost as if you’re being tugged along by an unseen force. (And guess what? You probably are.)
Warren Berger author of The Book of Beautiful Questions sums up all three elements in this question: “How might I apply my signature strengths in a pursuit that is of natural interest to me and helps others?”
A tip to discover your magic: Unearthing your magic is a process, and self-reflection helps to pull it out. Start the process by posing the question in writing: “What is my magic?” Free-write on your strengths. Pay attention to moments of immersion and note them in your journal. Also jot down frustrations in life or any time you feel a little tug that says, “Someone should do something about that.”
Maybe that someone is you.
