(I’ve created a gift for you!)
There are two ways to walk on a beach, I observe from the shade of my large umbrella, my fair skin already tingling from the morning heat. Some walk the beach as if it were meant to be conquered. Arms swinging to the rhythm in their headphones. Eyes straight ahead as they power past inert bodies on towels.
Others meander along the edge where the sand and water meet. Allowing the waves to kiss their feet. Smiling at babies splashing in the sparkling froth. Bending now and then to examine a piece of shell washed ashore.
I've found that there are also two ways to live life. Some seasons require the power-walking version of me. Others allow a slower pace. More and more I'm inviting the two ways to merge into a gentle purpose. A slower dance where I can feel the intimate pulse of each day.
By the time you read this, we will have left our little rental home on Amelia Island to return to the mountains of New York. While I feel sadness each time we leave this beautiful place, the last few days’ twinges felt different. A bit of a disappointed ache ...
I wrote in my journal, "This year, Amelia didn't feel as magical. It felt more like just normal life ..."
And then I chuckled.
Amelia has been a place where I slow down and find peace with my toes in the sand and my nose in a book. Where I sip iced drinks and listen to the birds. Where I walk and wonder and dream. A respite from the busy pace and stress of "normal" life.
But I also believe in creating a life you don't need to escape.
As I've intentionally created more moments with toes in the grass, nose in a book, iced tea, birdsong, walking, wondering, and dreaming into my New York life, the lines are blurring.
Magic is becoming my normal. And my normal is becoming more magical.
I cannot tell you how happy that realization makes me.
Since I’m very fair-skinned, we usually head for the beach in the evening - coming over the dunes as the heat fades, passing sunburned families dragging armloads of sandy paraphernalia back to their cars.
Evening beachgoers are quieter. Some walk as we do. Some sit and watch the sunset reflected in the waves
Many spend their evening bent over, many with tiny scoops, digging, sifting, sorting through the debris at the water’s edge. At first, I was confused. Amelia Island is gorgeous, but it's not a great shelling beach as most of what washes up on the shore is broken or very ordinary cockle or oyster shells.
I finally grew curious enough to ask a friendly-looking woman "What is everyone looking for?" She reached into her pocket and pulled out a handful of shiny black shark teeth.
I gasped. My mother and I had spent many hours collecting shells on Florida beaches, but I'd never seen a shark's tooth!
My new beach friend invited me to search with her. For the next half hour, we raked through pooling beds filled with fragments of shell and stone. Over and over, I thought I’d found a tooth only to have her cheerily announce, “No, that’s just a piece of a black shell.”
Meanwhile, her practiced eye kept spotting them. “Look, here’s one!”
It was quite frustrating until ... I found my first tooth
!
On that golden evening, I learned that you cannot find shark teeth when you're power walking. You must slow down and look with patience until you see a sleek shining in the mosaic of dull debris. In time, it becomes easier to recognize the unique shape and tell-tale tip. I never developed as good an eye as my “shark tooth instructor,” but I find about a dozen each year.
There are two ways to walk a beach and two ways to live a life.
For most of my life, I knew nothing but powering through. Juggling a million things and keeping up a cheerful front no matter how much I struggled. I had no one to teach me how to slow down (impossible!) and find joy in the debris of my life.
In the darkest part of my depression, I read somewhere that the "joy center" of the brain could be rewired. So I began collecting beautiful moments - muddling along for months just to write a list of 100 things that brought me joy.
At first, all I could see were the shards of broken dreams, disappointments and the really painful debris life had washed up on my beach. I thought that maybe this beach I'd landed on just didn't have anything worth collecting.
But I learned that life is a lot like beach combing ...
* it takes practice to recognize the special shine of a moment hidden in the dull clutter of daily life
* once you have found a few magical moments, it gets easier to see them
* gathering beautiful moments is healing for your mind, body, and spirit
* it helps to learn from someone who has honed the skill of collecting beauty and meaning
How about you, friend? Could you use more magic in your days? Perhaps your schedule keeps you power-walking through life. Or you see beauty and wonder in the world but don't know quite how to gather it. Or you find yourself too weary to see anything but the shale of illness, heartbreak, financial stress, or loneliness.
Like the woman who patiently taught me to find shark teeth, I want to walk beside you and point out the magic that shimmers in the shadows.
"Look, here's one!"
Together, we can find and fill our hearts with moments that matter. Moments that heal. Moments that lead us closer to joy.
I've created a FREE Gather the Magic Treasure Map to help you reconnect to joy and delight. You'll follow eight clues throughout the week as you discover and log magic moments of beauty, connection, laughter, etc.
Finding these magic moments releases calming and joyful chemical cascades that support immunity, clarity, energy, and overall well-being. Gathering magic uses the power of neuroplasticity to rewire your brain away from trauma, stress, and lack and train it to focus on beauty, goodness, and joy.
Think of it as a grand shark tooth excavation!
Click the Download button and start GATHERING MAGIC today!
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I hope you'll email me and share a few of the magic moments you discover this week!
Keep searching, my friend.
And in case no one told you today, I love you!
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I’m so glad you’re here on this messy and magical journey with me. You’re currently a free subscriber to Gather the Magic. When you upgrade your subscription, you enable me to spend more time playing with the writing fairies that dance about in my brain!
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Love this. Felt like I was there on the beach looking for shark's teeth with you and your new friend.
"Magic is becoming my normal. And my normal is becoming more magical. " 😊
Beautiful. The power we have to create our lives. 💜
So lovely to have you join me on the beach! I was truly amazed when I realized how much my daily life has shifted toward beauty and wonder. So grateful!!🙏❤️