Turn Your Magic On

Hi Readers,

Thought I'd better try and get at least one more post out before the holidays end and it's back to work. It wasn't lost on me how my posting really dropped off over the past 10 weeks after going back to work after nearly 12 months away.

After a few weeks of pretty dismal weather, the past 2-3 days have been glorious here and it's not hard to walk with a spring in one's step. Even with a bung ankle!!

While out doing a bit of gardening over these past few days while I can, I had my obligatory music playing in the background. A particular song came on at just the right time, "Adventures of A Lifetime", by Coldplay.

This is an absolute favourite of mine, especially since it was used so expertly in a TV series that I watched last year called "Long Way Up".

This is the 3rd in a series by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman who ride their motorbikes from the southernmost tip of South America to Los Angeles. As they near the end of their epic trip, this song is played in the background and sums up so much of what they did and what they discovered about themselves by doing the trip.

As a very devoted motorbike rider myself, I found that this song resonates so much with me not just when I'm on the bike, but also when I am doing things that I feel are adding value to my life, and hopefully to others as well.

In a nutshell, the song is all about having good feelings, and being able to give them. 

While the weather was so beautiful, it was hard not to be experiencing good feelings after the dismal weather of late. I had to go out and get a few jobs done late in the afternoon, and the upbeat feelings I was having due to the weather and the song still playing in my head meant that it was going to take a lot to get on my nerves.

Things that would usually bug me and annoy me became so trivial, and I was almost laughing at myself for letting them annoy me in the first place. Did it really matter that a car cut me off when changing lanes? Did it really matter that a group of people in front of me in the shops were walking so slowly together and completely blocking the lane? Did it really matter that the one main thing I went down to the supermarket to get was the one thing that I actually forgot?

When I let these things annoy me, they put me in a frame of mind that isn't great to be honest.

And when I'm in such a negative frame of mind, how does this then affect others, or the way that I deal with them? I'm sure i'd be a pain in the bum to everyone!

Turn your magic on, to me she'd say

Everything you want's a dream away

Under this pressure, under this weight

We are diamonds

We all have the ability to be influential, and that can be in a negative or positive way. The song talks about "turning your magic on" and to me it is telling us to do whatever we can that will be best for ourselves and others. It needn't mean trying to save the world, but sometimes just being the best version of yourself is enough. I know some of you might be thinking that it all sounds like a cliche, or that maybe I've been having a puff of something hallucinogenic, but the reality is that it isn't impossible to just make some small changes to how we approach things.

Maybe a challenge for each of us tomorrow at work could be something as simple as rather than complaining about something, comment on a positive instead? Who knows what a difference that could make on someone else?

Plus, research shows that doing good things and saying good things releases chemicals in the brain that make us feel good as a result.

For all we know, we may even be the person who drags others down, so any change for the better is always going to be beneficial for everyone. Make it infectious !!

As the lyrics suggest, everything is just a dream away, and not out of our reach. It can feel like we are under pressure at times, but pressure produces diamonds, and wouldn't we all like to be able to shine like a diamond, in a manner of speaking.

Now I feel my heart beating

I feel my heart beneath my skin

I feel my heart beating

Oh, you make me feel

Like I'm alive again

Hearing this song when I did made me feel so "alive again", I just felt so refreshed and invigorated to get out and do things, and not be bothered by the stupid little things that I previously would let bother me. You're probably thinking that I have been out in this glorious sun for too long this weekend, and that perhaps I wouldn't be writing this if it was a bleak day. You're probably right, but I'll take any little win at the moment.

The day has been made even more delightful as I wandered around the yard looking for other things that needed doing. Previously, Jen would have all the garden under control and I'd just provide the hard labor where required. Now I have to try and be the gardener, something which I have never really had an interest in or expertise with.

How that has changed now !!

Just by walking around a few moments ago I began to realise little things that I would rarely have ever noticed. The garden is rapidly becoming alive again after winter, and the splashes of colour are really starting.

Pretty soon this will become a wall of roses, something that looks beautiful each year. Already a few are starting to bloom, I'll need to keep a daily check on the rest as I don't want to miss it. Can you find the first one blooming there?

The Camellia tree that was given to me by Jen's closest friends. It bloomed a few weeks ago with two amazing flowers, but nothing since. A close check shows that there are many buds ready to explode. With her birthday in a few weeks I'm hoping that it will be in full bloom for her.

It's finally warm enough to start home brewing again, so I thought I'd better get a few barrels done before I'm out of action in a few weeks and won't be able to do much then.

A bit of a prune for the Bird of Paradise plants near the pond has them starting to come out again.

I still can't see them properly after one of our boys showed me this picture below. !!!

And I was even able to put a bit of shine on the bike and get out for a short ride. A recent shoulder injury has kept me off it, but I now have enough movement to get about again !!

Well readers,

Not much to really fang on about today, because it just sounds too simple to put into words.

Turn your magic on !!

We all have lots of little quirks, skills, mannerisms etc that may seem senseless to us, but in the big picture they can be the difference between having an okay day, or a great day. How we choose to use them, or when to use them is up to us.

Now to get back outside and make the most of this glorious day...

Until my next post,

Cheers ! 😁