The Art of Cultivating Magic
To experience enduring happiness, one must have nourishing time with family, with friends, be engaged in meaningful work and experience transcendence on a daily basis.
This is what Arthur Brooks, a professor of Happiness (!) at Harvard Business School, has distilled after years of studies on neuroscience of happiness.
There could be much said about any of those pillars — but one of the areas which I adore contemplating most is transcendence.
The experience of transcendence takes us beyond the limits of our mundane, day to day lives. Transcendence is about feeling connected to something deeper, larger than us — or, how I like to think of it — bringing some cosmic magic into our lives.
When was the last time you experienced transcendence?
I was talking to one of my dearest friends about this, and she said:
- Oh, it’s been ages since I last experienced that… I went to this ayahuasca retreat… it was very intense, I don’t think that is for everyone.
When you talk about transcendence, people either think you’re speaking about drugs, or religious experiences. And to be fair, none of those are for everyone.
In actuality, transcendence is not about having these incredible, exotic experiences. Transcendence can be lived when you listen to a piece of music that moves your heart. When you run a marathon or climb a mountain. When you cook that super elaborate recipe, and throw everyone out from the kitchen to focus 100% on what you are doing.
Transcendence can be lived when you dance alone, or attend a concert and move in sync with the crowd.
When you meditate.
When you swim.
When you surf.
When you hold your dear ones in your arms.
When you are the first one to wake up and enjoy your coffee while the sun rises.
It can be felt looking at a sky filled with stars on a peaceful night.
Singing. Reading. Tasting a piece of chocolate.
Praying.
Whenever you slow down and drop into your senses and your heart — whenever you can readjust your frequency to catch the smallest bits of beauty in the world.
It is in these moments that we become fully present to life — that the noises of our thoughts, our worries, doubts and rumination become silent.
It is in these moments that the little Self — the one living under the weight of “should”, “must” and “what if” suddenly disappears, and we are left heart to heart with the present moment.
We are then reminded of the enthralling depth of our being, of our ability to experience awe, delight, serenity and a vibrant expansion of our senses.
To experience “magic”, as I call it, allows us to regain a sense of scale and of what is available for us human beings when we switch gears.
The more we practice this total abandonment in savouring the moment, the more we understand that everything we ever wanted is just one deep breath away.
