The Rowdy Goddess

Eat, Pray, Love, Rest, Thank, Receive: Some of the Keys to Successful Magic and Life

The other day at work, I was listening to a webinair on workplace drama and how to turn around the situation.  The presenter made the point, one that I have heard over and over again for many things, that the only person you can really change is yourself.  In order to turn around drama, you have to change yourself and not be a part of the drama.  Curtains on your participation.

It’s true about drama, it’s true about spellwork, it’s true about relationships.  You really can’t change anyone but yourself.  Many years ago, I took a professional development course on how to deal with difficult people because I wanted to fix the problem at work and fix those other people!  The course was really good.  They presented people as “types” of dysfunction.  I could clearly see my co-workers in some of those types.  Unfortunately, I saw myself as well.  I can’t tell you how much I hated seeing that.  I realized that before I fixed other people, I would need to fix myself.  Using the strategies for dealing with that type of person, I changed my behavior, which, in turn, changed the way I related to circumstances and the people who created them.  By that time, I realized I would never be able to change my co-workers to be the change I wanted to see in the world.  I could only change myself.  I think that’s called maturity, by the way.

The presenter stated that in order to help change the workplace, you needed to exert mastery on your own energy and the way you related to the world.  She was quick to point out that this was not New Age babble but real neuroscience.  I just laughed to myself, because I could see that her points had applications to following a magical path.  She went on to state, tongue in cheek, that if you wanted live in drama and dysfunction, all you had to do was not do anything to master your energy:  never exercise; eat junk food; work incessantly; procrastinate; and never ask for help.

I began to think of how this applies to our spiritual lives.  I reframed as positive actions, and it’s very similar to much of what others write, and continues to make the point, that in order to live a life in harmony with the Universe, you must have practices in harmony with the Universe.  See, obvious and simple.  This is what I came up with:

• Rest, eat well, and exercise your body and mind
• Keep a balance between all the areas of your life including work, rest, and play
• Ask for help and accept it
• Be grateful for what you are and what you have
• Give back to the Universe and the causes you care about
• Be generous
• Know yourself and set good boundaries
• Be willing to receive
• Express love, joy, Spirit, and gratitude in the ways that fulfill you

It sounds more than a little like Scott Cunningham’s 13 goals of a Witch, doesn’t it?  Each of us are guided by our internal moral compass which has grown from our ethical knowledges and practices.  There are many such lists about witchcraft and each of us will integrate it into our being in unique ways.  Having read students’ perceptions of the 13 goals for many years and having lived a few decades beyond Cunningham, I can say that years of teaching and living la Vida Wicca season my understanding of the goals.

Over and over again, we are told and we read that success in spellwork and ritual is based on our intention and focus.  Where does that intention and focus come from?  It comes from the heart of our energy.  If we are unable to master our energy of living well and living spiritually, then its is very likely that our intention and focus is diffused.  That’s it.  Simple.  Obvious.  And dammit, I have to work on myself some more.

May joy, peace, rest, and nourishment be a part of your day everyday.