Yesterday's blog post found me in awe of the fact that I've now completed six whole months of daily blogging, or as I like to call it, daily meditations on the magic of everyday life.  Writing every day like this has been one of my many (and perhaps most important) routines-as-rituals. It has made me hyper-sensitive to the magic of daily life and seems to have conjured more magic!  So in honor of this epic month that marks the halfway point of my year of daily blogging, I've decided to share with you five things I've learned about everyday magic from my blogging in the hopes that it inspires you to pause, look around, and see the magic in your life.

1.  The more you stop to appreciate the little things, the more inspiration you find for a happy life.  It's true--the more time I take to slow down and appreciate life's simple pleasures, the more they seem to find me.  Or perhaps they were there all along and I have only just begun to pay attention to them, like those synchronous moments that chase away negativity or simple enjoyments like preparing a dinner party.  In either case, blogging regularly on everyday magic allows me to look high and low for things that make my life awesome.

2.  Self-care is a necessity, not a luxury.   This is a huge lesson.  In this world of moving too fast and putting the needs of work or others before yourself, it is easy to think of self-care as the last and least important thing on your to-do list.  Yet as I began my writing journey, I found myself writing more and more about healing as art.  It made me realize that one of the things I've been cultivating through blogging is a greater sensitivity to myself and the needs of my body, mind, and soul.  The more I focus on this, the better I feel.  Best of all, I realize that when I resisted over-committing myself to demands of work and others, I am more productive and useful--and cut out unnecessary busyness.

3.  It takes time and energy to cultivate an appreciation for everyday magic--but it's so worth it!  This next lesson might sound counter-intuitive, but I realize that it takes work to see the magic in things.  A lot of people want that joie de vivre just to happen, but it won't if you spend your time dwelling on past lives or negative things.  Living well means cultivating a mindset and lifestyle that breeds happiness and enjoyment; there's no room for regret, looking back, or fussing over things you can't control.  It's everyday conjuring it its simplest form.

4.  Writing about everyday pleasures is like being a big flirt with life.  No joke.  When you wake up with the intention of enjoying every little bit of your day, it's hard not to feel like a flirt--always playful, always inviting unexpected fun, always ready for anything.  In many ways, it helps you shed your inhibitions about who you are and aren't, what you should and shouldn't like, what you can and can't do.  There's simply nothing left to do but be the fullest expression of yourself--totally liberating! And yes, sometimes it means you get carried away enjoying things like polka dots or your garden's first tomatoes--but that's just part of the magic!

5.  Life lessons are about the journey, not the destination.  I know it sounds a little cheesy, like something that belongs on an inspiration-gram, but what's wrong with that?  Sometimes we need to get lost in the desert or revisit old lives in new cities.  Part of finding the magic in everyday life is enjoying the learning process--what you learn about yourself, your relationship to others, your growth as a living, breathing being.  It's not about perfection or reaching that one ah-ha moment; it's about being willing to embrace--and enjoy--the messiness that is life.

...and I know I said I was only going to talk about five things I've learned, but I'm going throw in a bonus, and maybe the most important, sixth lesson:

the more you look for magic, the more it finds you.

What magic have you found lately?