{"id":253,"date":"2009-12-24T14:59:19","date_gmt":"2009-12-24T19:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/?p=253"},"modified":"2016-10-17T17:51:56","modified_gmt":"2016-10-17T21:51:56","slug":"christmas-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/christmas-magic\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Magic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There is something people don&#8217;t understand about me, and they have to in order to truly know me.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<div>I NEED to believe.<\/div>\n<div>I NEED to see the world and all of its mysteries with a child-like awe and amazement.<\/div>\n<div>I NEED to believe all things are truly possible.<\/div>\n<div>I NEED to believe in magic and other unexplained forces at work without looking at it too close.<\/div>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin-left: 10px; width: 200px; height: auto;\" src=\"http:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/images\/posts\/lightning.jpg\" alt=\"\" align=\"right\" \/>It is essential to my creative process and ability to tap into something deep inside me to make my own magic in all that I do. This is what works for me. I suspect it&#8217;s the same for many creative types.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\"><strong>I<\/strong><\/span>n the Summer, I find myself drawn to lightning storms and wander outside to face it unprotected.<\/p>\n<p>I draw from the sheer power and rage of Mother Nature, making it my own. I know how She feels. It&#8217;s OUR fury She is acting out.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t feel the cold rain, the howling winds, or even fear being struck&#8230; I let go and trust Her not to hurt me.<\/p>\n<p>I just let go&#8230; AND BELIEVE.<br \/>\nAt some points in my life, blind faith was all I had to go on&#8230;.<br \/>\n&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;<\/p>\n<div><strong>&#8220;I hope you hear the music again this year, Eric&#8230;&#8221;<\/strong><\/div>\n<p>An email I get every year from a friend, and it brings a smile to my face. There&#8217;s a story behind it. There is a magic in the air this time of year that I have no desire to look too close at it. I just appreciate it. I shared the story on a message board and fully expected people to think I was insane. The response was surprising and unexpected&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin-right: 5px; width: 150px; height: auto;\" src=\"http:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/images\/posts\/silentnight.jpg\" alt=\"\" align=\"left\" \/><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><strong>O<\/strong><\/span>n several Christmas Eves, in the middle of the night, I found myself wandering out to the middle of the streets. Much like I do during lightning storms. It&#8217;s as if I was being called, and my body had no choice but to obey.<\/p>\n<p>There is no religious significance to it. The settings were just right. The stillness, the quiet, the lights, the starry skies and the snow all around me. The animals foraging for food in the woods quietly. The peaceful souls sleeping comfortably, the excitement and anticipation of dreaming children of what is about to come. The energy of all living things around me&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><strong>I<\/strong><\/span>n the middle of the quiet road, I&#8217;d close my eyes and draw from it all&#8230; Opening myself. Connecting. Becoming one with everything. Becoming something larger than myself, or the world around me, even the universe surrounding it&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>And then I&#8217;d hear it.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;d hear the music that was calling for me.<br \/>\nNot quite human voices&#8230; it&#8217;s way too high pitched, possibly out of human frequency.<br \/>\nA beautiful melody that can&#8217;t be described with words or explain the joy and tranquility it gives you. The tears you formed from the beauty of it all&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin-left: 10px; width: 150px; height: auto;\" src=\"http:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/images\/posts\/aurora-borealis.jpg\" alt=\"\" align=\"right\" \/>You can&#8217;t experience these things unless you keep yourself open to them. This is why I NEED to believe.<br \/>\n&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\"><strong>A<\/strong><\/span>nyway, one friend on that message board had to share this with me. She told her husband about my story, and he froze. He was a musician. A very spiritual man. Tears welled in his eyes.<\/p>\n<p>He said &#8220;I&#8217;ve heard that music too. I thought I was the only one and was afraid to tell anyone thinking I was crazy&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;I hope you hear the music again this year, Eric&#8230;&#8221;<br \/>\n<\/strong>Every year she drops me a note in my inbox to remind me. <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/x.myspacecdn.com\/images\/blog\/moods\/iBrads\/happy.gif\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I hope you all can hear that music at least once in your lives&#8230;<br \/>\nAll the best to you and yours.<\/p>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/images\/MySpace\/subscribe2.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is something people don&#8217;t understand about me, and they have to in order to truly know me. I NEED to believe all things are possible to work my magic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-latest"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Christmas Magic - SoApBoX<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ericbrooks.com\/soapbox\/christmas-magic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christmas Magic - SoApBoX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There is something people don&#039;t understand about me, and they have to in order to truly know me. 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