Often when someone designs a magic wand request they don’t really ask for what they want. They ask for something that they believe is a step towards what they want. “I want a raise, I want more time, I want a partner.”

“What will that get you?” I ask. “Enough money for a vacation, time to work on a hobby I enjoy, someone to love and appreciate me.” they answer. So what they really want is a vacation, to work on their hobby, and someone to love and appreciate them. Very different things.

I’ve watched people get the first, it’s seldom enough, or something happens; they need the money for a furnace, the time is spent elsewhere, the partner doesn’t appreciate. Yet when we get clear about what we really want often we can skip that first step. We can find a way to take a vacation by house swapping or couch surfing, we make time to work on our hobby and become so engrossed we find ways to make more time, we begin to appreciate and love ourselves and notice we’re not quite so needy.

Look at what you say you want.
Is that what you really want?
What will that get you?
Is that what you really want?

Getting clear about what you really want sometimes takes some time, but vague wishing takes a lot longer if indeed you ever get what you really wanted. As my friend Bobby says, “Magic and wishing don’t work together, wishing seems to be an expression of what we want to happen. Magic still requires us to do something to make it happen.”

Decide what you really want and

Let your magic begin!