What it Really Takes to Find Your Treasure by William Whitecloud.

I am a fan of books that incorporate spiritual lessons into story-format; books like Jonathon Livingston Seagull, Illusions, and the Celestine Prophecy. "The Magician's Way," which was sent to me by the publisher, is every bit as good as the classic stories that I love.

It is the story of Mark Vale, an average guy who is in an okay marriage, and in an okay job. He's looking for something more, but in truth he doesn't really feel like he'll ever get much farther than where he is.

Then he meets a golf instructor, and during this simple golf lesson, Mark suddenly develops a new way to look at the world. By pointing out that Mark tends to stay in his "swing circle" (a golf term for comfort zone) he will never grow beyond what he can already do.

From this point forward, Mark is propelled into a world of new friends who call themselves "magicians," though they are not magicians in the normal sense. They practice what they call the Seven Secrets of Magic, which are basically rules for attracting the life you want.

"Everyone knows what they want; they just dismiss it because they don't believe they can have it." Page 74.

I believe that many of us suffer from the same malaise that Mark Vale did. We get in our rut, but we are doing okay, and we don't really believe that doing any better is possible. So we settle for our life the way it is. We let our dreams fall by the side of the road.

"You don't trust that what you desire is good for you and everyone else. You believe that we are all separate, that what you want is in conflict with what others want." Page 79.

When I read this I had to shake my head. How many times had I given up something because I felt it would make someone in my life unhappy? How many times have you given up something because you thought it would make someone else unhappy?

"Your heart is the path of least resistance. If you know your heart, life will always be rich and life will always be easy. That's why you must always ask yourself, is this a path with heart? Is this mood my heart? Is this course of action my heart? Is this outcome my heart?" Page 89-90.

What I loved about this book was that it opened me up and reminded me of some things that had always been very important to me, but had been put on the back burner. I was reminded that I need to move out of my own swing circle and that when I follow my heart, things seem to work out just fine. And even those people who don't want the best for me (or want to hold me back) seem to just fade into the background and I stop worrying so much about what they think!

This book was an easy read, and Mark's story is one that could belong to any of us. He's having this human experience and sometimes makes decisions that aren't in his best interest. I liked that he fell on his butt sometimes, that he had to learn to put the Seven Secrets of Magic into practice rather than just having everything magically work out!

"Magicians aren't magicians because of what they can conjure; magicians are magicians because of their ability to be present. They're able to receive the blessing of life in every moment. They can go with the flow of life and receive their energy wherever and in whatever form it's being presented." Page 200.

One of my favorite parts of this book was the ending. Without giving away too much, Mark is faced with something extraordinarily difficult, and he can see that, but he's tempted to turn back because even though the way back is even more difficult, at least he's familiar with it. And that's a story we have all lived.

We are all living in remarkable times. We have moments of great fear and anxiety, but there are also moments of great possibility and potential. Walking the Magician's Way is a way to move with courage and hope, because it is really the way we look at the world that makes it frightful or beautiful. It is really the way we walk the path that brings us the opportunity to live a life guided by our heart.