Host Erin McMahon welcomes us to Seek the Magic, a podcast about finding joy every day by connecting to our inner guidance. Challenged by a friend who was naming fifty things that brought her joy, Erin decided to make her own list of fifty joyful things, and that experience led her to ponder why we don’t do more of what brings us joy every day. What have we lost that we should reclaim and introduce back into our daily lives?

Erin’s list of joyful things naturally included time with her children, working out, running, meditation, and making connections, but some of the things she listed weren’t also things she wanted to immediately do at any given moment. And other things crept in, things that are necessary to do but that aren’t joyful. Erin guides us on how she reflected back on what brought her joy in childhood and why she stopped doing those things. Reading, play, being on stage, writing, and all manner of things that got left in back in childhood. Her promise to herself is to reclaim some of those things and bring them back into her life. Her advice is to maintain two to-do lists: one purely for joy and one about the things that we won’t remember but are necessary to accomplish. Join Erin in learning how to reflect on daily magic and how to reclaim the magic we instinctively knew before.

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Contact Erin McMahon: 

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Transcript

Erin McMahon: [00:00:03] Hello, this is Erin from Seek the Magic. Excited to speak to you today. I am hoping this microphone is working because we've had a few issues. It's a journey. I wonder if it's a sign from the universe that I need to get a new microphone. I don't know, we'll see. I was inspired to speak today because I've heard a few messages from various things I've been reading, listening to, even conversations with friends that have reminded me to get back to things that bring me joy and things that I loved from childhood. So I thought I'd share that with you and think about my musings with that. To one conversation I had with a friend was that she went through the exercise of thinking about the 50 things that she loved doing. Of course, it was very easy for her to come up with maybe one, two and three, but as it got down the list, it really made her think about the things that bring her joy. So I decided to make a similar list. And, you know, top things that bring me joy are spending time with my kids, spending time with my family, reading good books, working out, running when I can. Now it's meditation, speaking to friends, really making connections. And I had to think about, you know, as I reflected on the list, I thought some of these things that really bring me joy also aren't things that I immediately want to do in the moment.

Erin McMahon: [00:01:50] Like, do I really want to work out today? Or do I wish I had a break from spending some time with my kids? Or do I wish I didn't have to have a scheduled Zoom session with friends? Yes, that's true. Sometimes I don't want to do those things. And my mind, some part of my mind says, oh my goodness, wouldn't it be just easier to get other things I need to done, get things off of my to do list, or surf the internet, look at what clothes I do or do not need for the upcoming season, catch up on the latest Taylor Swift costumes that have come out from her European tour, anything like that. And you know, that's part of my brain that's seeking immediate gratification, looking for small little hits of dopamine that would temporarily soothe my mind and some of the things that require more effort and take more attention aren't necessarily as motivating. Just like, you know, when I'm with my kids and we're out in the park, it's so much fun. But then there's, you know, part of the inertia or, you know, is getting them ready, going through the process, it takes effort. And, I don't know, part of my brain's like, yeah, I'd rather just hang out and just chill. And I think, yes, there's part of me that just wants to relax all the time, but obviously relaxing all the time and doing nothing really doesn't lead to ultimate fulfillment and great memories.

Erin McMahon: [00:03:37] So I think it's important to take those moments of, you know, what you want to do during the day, and you know what things may call part of your brain into question, saying, do we really have to do that, and just sort of, you know, saying, put that to the side. I know, I know, this will take effort, but in the long run, once you get into something, it'll be really exciting. It will create a memory, it'll create moments, and quite often it does. But man, sometimes that part of my brain, especially when I've had, you know, a very busy week, a very busy day, etc, my brain's just like, can we just chill? Let's just, you know, hang out and, you know, part of that is important and sometimes you have to listen to that part of the brain. But I think it's a balance. When do we listen to it? When do we not listen to it? I don't know, I'd love to know your thoughts or how you think about it. There's other - and sometimes this is the same voice, sometimes it's a different voice - that says, okay, if I'm taking this time to meet and talk to someone, I'm not doing the 20 things on my to-do list, whether it be, you know, something for work, whether it be something that I need to file administratively, whether it be, you know, just a myriad of things that are going on in that never-ending to-do list.

Erin McMahon: [00:05:06] And I think those things on that list, while they're important and while they need to get done, they're not the fulfilling things that I'm going to remember. And maybe that's an important point to note that I should make sure my to-do list is for, filled with fulfilling things that, you know, will make me happy and joyful. So maybe that's a note to self. Maybe I'll try to make two to-do lists. One is going to be the fulfilling and enjoyment to-do list, and then the other one is going to be like things that I really won't remember about in a week's time, but need to get done for XYZ reason. I write myself email note reminders all the time, mostly with those things that maybe need to get done but I won't, you know, remember about in 5 or 10 minutes or, you know, a day. Of course, if they don't get done, like for example, paying the electricity bill, although that's an automated, but, you know, for example, if they don't get done then I will notice that it hasn't gotten done when, you know, the lights go out or if the car runs out of gas or something like that. Yeah maybe it's important to have two to-do lists. One that's the important memories that we have or the things that truly will bring us joy and we'll remember. And then those other things that, you know, we'll have have some time that are important to get done, but we won't remember. Speaking of one of the things that brings me joy, butterfly, and a butterfly just floated past the window, which is an amazing and beautiful sight in the swarm of cicadas that have been flying around over the past few weeks. Okay, so that's a list of things that bring me joy in trying to focus on things that bring joy and are great to cherish in the moment and then future moments.

Erin McMahon: [00:07:02] The other part of this, or in the same realm, is things that brought me joy in childhood, and part of this is part of an exercise of, you know, a class I'm taking about spiritual development and self-development and coaching and things like that, is reflect...