Dear Friends,
Our guest contributor this month is Braden Daniels. Braden has over twenty years of experience in business leadership, training, and coaching, with clients that include global brands such as General Mills, Lowe’s, Live Nation, Petco, and Petsmart. He engages, empowers, and transforms leaders across industries through his thought-provoking keynotes, mentorship programs and workshops.
Three Sirens of Fear
In Greek mythology, a siren’s enchanting ballad would lure sailors toward their peril by crashing their boats into the rocks, or by compelling them to leap into the ocean. Symbolically, these three sirens seem to represent temptation, desire, and risk. In modern times we recognize the sound of a siren to indicate a warning sign of potential danger.
The Siren of Temptation – Procrastination
The siren of temptation sings the verses of procrastination. It is the habit of putting off or delaying tasks. The growing temptation to do other things when one should be working on something more important. The habitual conditioning of procrastination dulls one’s concentration, attention, and focus, making one vulnerable and easily caught up in distractions. This is when we find ourselves most enchanted by the lyrics of temptation, isolating us and steering us closer and closer to the jagged coastline.
In order to prevent the slow-moving and mischievous melodies of procrastination from entering your mind, one must first recognize that procrastination is the manifestation of fear inside the body. Our body’s mechanism for handling fear, which causes stress, is to delay or put aside what is causing the fear stirred inside us. The delay can be extreme, and often triggers us to build a sense of deadline, with the hope being that it triggers adrenaline, which in theory allows us to power through it. The downside being that adrenaline can lead to increased anxiety and worry.
If what we are working on is important but not urgent, we often do not build up enough energy to surmount the procrastination, which tends to pull us away from ever finishing it. This happens to us when we have projects we can’t seem to start or finish. In cases such as this, procrastination seems infinite.
Here are a few strategies to block the siren song of procrastination:
Procrastination is best friends with distraction. Be mindful of what has your attention throughout the day. Attention is an act of magic. Ideally, our daily activities should be a reflection of our central focus, and our magic goals should be part of that. Stay off social media, e-mail, podcasts, audiobooks, and TV for set periods of time when you are getting work done.
The Siren of Desire – Perfectionism
The siren of desire sings the verses of perfectionism. Perfectionism is the habit of holding an unachievable personal standard, attitude, or philosophy which demands perfection and rejects anything less. The never ending desire to make things “better” often serves to block our most creative instincts. While perfectionism seems useful at first, it can block our ability to see the power and the promise in the work we’ve done.
Desire wants perfection from everyone around us, and in everything we do. Perfectionism deceptively masks itself as a blanket of protection, when it keeps us isolated from the judgements of others by consuming us with our self-criticisms.
Here are a few strategies to block the siren song of perfectionism:
The Siren of Risk – Self-criticism
The siren of risk sings the verses of self-criticism. It is a disempowering habit of expressing adverse, disapproving comments, or judgments against oneself. Risk comes to us as the voice inside our head that wants to make us feel afraid, that putting our ideas out there is risky, that other people are bound to judge us, and that they will realize we aren’t perfect. Our inner critic must be dealt with head-on because it intends to attack our credibility, so that we never take a risk. The inner critic is the voice of our self-doubt waging war on our confidence and assurances.
As we grow, our inner critic grows, and the more we fight through it, the more it comes back again. There is no end to its criticisms. For every act of creation, our inner critic wants to balance it out with an equal amount of destruction. This increasing imbalance in our minds between security and insecurity is where our inner critic gains its power.
Here are some strategies to help you gain back your security:
The myth of the sirens reminds us that there are three sirens of fear to be wary of, and that we should not listen to them sing. Fear impacts our overall ability to be free and to create. Listening to the sirens calls forth procrastination, perfectionism, and our inner critic, which leads to the destruction of our ideas and the ruin of our magical productivity.
Braden Daniels
1. My First Immersive Magic Theater
You never forget your first.
I didn’t even know what the word “immersive” meant when I started building my “Magic & Mystery Room.” I was ten years old, living in Rock Hill, New York, in the Catskill mountains. I had been into magic for two whole years, and already I was known as the only magician in my area. I read a lot of books and started building my magical world. To outside eyes, it just looked like a storage room in the corner of the house.
Filling the tiny room were all my magical treasures: my little magic props, an old top hat, my wand (I made it from a wooden coat hanger dowel), my Houdini-style handcuffs, my imitation rabbit, and my budding collection of bizarre curios – rubber vampire bats, plastic spiders, and two rubber shrunken heads my Dad brought back from South America. Hey, he knew what I liked!
I painted and decorated the walls of my tiny room with scraps of paper and any magazine or news clipping I could find about magic – even from Boys’ Life magazine, when they had a magician on the cover. I had full-color classic magic posters, and some black and white photos of Doug Henning, Mark Wilson, Cardini, Thurston, and Houdini.
I would give tours of my magic room, show off my treasures and perform my magic show for anyone who came into our house. I charged them a quarter.
2. The Disco Daze
After high school, I moved away from home and got a day job working at Al Flosso’s Magic Shop in New York City. At night, I would work in discotheques with a theatrical troupe called Le Clique Fantasy Players.
At nineteen years old, I was gigging with this company, doing conservative Bar Mitzvahs in the afternoon, and then diving into the decadent ’80s disco scene until the wee hours of the morning. What was so interesting about working with Le Clique Fantasy Players was that they were working in immersive nightlife environments like The Electric Circus and the legendary Studio 54.
I lived two blocks from Studio 54 and performed there often. I hung out there every week just to meet and mingle with the famous folks while making magic. I developed many of my routines in this chaotic but magical environment. By immersing myself in the night club culture of NYC, I met Bill Barnes (my first manager), show business agents, and performed on shows with artists like Andy Warhol, Grace Jones, Raquel Welch, and Diana Ross. T’was a wild era indeed for my magic career! (I’ll tell you the details only in person next time we meet, ok?)
We did not do traditional stage shows in the clubs, but created installations and dynamic interactive experiences that went with the flow of the music and night culture. We broke down the walls between audience and performer. We were integrated into the party.
Sometimes as many as thirty of us performing in the troupe would all bring three complete costume changes, creating the illusion of ninety different outrageous masked characters. It was a wonderful time, and I got paid a hundred dollars a night. Things were looking up!
3. Diana Ross
Ms. Ross chose me as her opening act for her show at Radio City Music Hall, and brought me to Caesar’s Palace as her opening act in the late ’80s. I was performing on some of the biggest stages in Las Vegas, sharing my untraditional magic in very stereotypically Vegas shows – you know, showgirls, feathers, and tall neon staircases.
Adventure Theater
The real magic happened a few years later when Vegas fully embraced the art of magic and spent 65 million dollars creating an adventure theater experience called Caesars Magical Empire, where I headlined for many years. The world had never seen anything like this immersive experience before.
Patrons entered into an ancient temple of magic, then descended into the catacombs on a giant elevator, to walk through tunnels and caverns into a world where magicians surrounded them with their delights, deceptions and illusions. There was food. There was fire. There were lots of interactive installations and “immersive magic.”
I won’t tell you how much I made working there, but it was enough to build a wonderful home, school and community here in Las Vegas. You can get a little taste of what “The Magical Empire” was by watching this:
Immersive Magic Theater
Over the years, I’ve worked in the most extraordinary venues in the world, from Radio City Music Hall in New York City, to The Mikado in Tokyo, Japan, to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. In my experience, the most transformative performances are ones where the audience feels like a part of the mystery, and part of the magic. The key to creating this experience is dissolving the barriers between performer and audience.
The term “immersive magic theater” is often used for this ancient, yet re-emerging, form of magic theater. In January, I will be hosting a three-part online class to explore the history and current state of the art.
Your Invitation to Mystery
Performers, magic fans and enthusiasts are all welcome to attend. This will be a lively, fun, interactive class, filled with insight on how this exciting form of magic can enhance your life and performance. Click on the link below and join me for a three part journey beyond imagination.
https://shop.magicalwisdom.com/event/immersive-magic-theater
I look forward to taking you on my mind blowing magical adventures here at Mystery School in Las Vegas or in our class room online!
Jeff
Jeff McBride here in Las Vegas. Recently, I was asked about my opinion on “flashy, Las Vegas magic,” versus more philosophical storytelling magic.
Visual Magic vs. Storytelling Magic
Are you more of a Storyteller or a Visual magician? I feel that the key to connecting with your audience might be cultivating the ability to perform both styles of magic at the right time.
Our guest writer this week is Eric Henning, who just received his certificate as “Ambassador of Magic” from the Magic & Mystery School for his continuing contributions to our Mystery School Monday classes and for the amazing work he’s been doing with the team at Washington Magic.
Sometimes the Magic is Real
It happened on December 6, 2008. For ten years running, I did a holiday party for military families near Washington, DC. The party is in a secure military facility, which is inside another secure facility. It takes longer to get inside than to do the show! Once you’re inside, you are in a fairy land of Christmas trees, lights, garlands and cotton “snow.” Hundreds of children play games, color, eat popcorn and watch Christmas movies.
Around 10:00 am, Santa arrives outside on a huge fire engine and holds court in the lobby. This is, by far, the most efficient Santa line I’ve ever seen. Every child gets plenty of time with the Big Guy, yet somehow the line keeps moving. At the end, the Lilliputian petitioner has a bag of goodies and a picture with Santa.
During all this, I am doing close-up magic, “pulling” lights from the Christmas trees, making coins appear, and generally making fun. Around noon, the 400 or so people line up and get lunch while I set up for my platform show. My holiday shows always have some new material, more if it’s a repeat client.
That year, I planned to end with the piece of classical magic “Snowstorm in China.” It had not snowed yet that year, so I ended my show by promising to add the one thing that was missing from that holiday season. The magic got a great response, especially from the kids, who rushed the stage to collect bits of the “magic snow” to take home.
As I was leaving the base gate, I had a wonderful view of the US Capitol, the Washington Monument, and the Jefferson Memorial. Then I saw something else. It was starting to snow! This wasn’t a Hallmark Channel “gazebo snow.” This was a thunder cell dropping a massive load of snow all at once. I could hardly believe my eyes! I thought of those kids going home from the party, seeing the snow, and their parents trying to explain for the hundredth time that it wasn’t really magic – except it was.
Then I remembered something that has had me chuckling ever since. Earlier that day, as I was entering the base gate, a huge Marine guard, bristling with armaments, greeted me. As he searched my car, he made conversation.
– “So what do you do in your magic show?” he asked.
– “I make it snow,” I replied.
– “No, really.”
– “Really.”
Now all I could picture was that Marine looking up and seeing the snow! Sometimes things just come together, and they seem to happen more often when I’m open to seeing them. I live for moments like that.
Happy Holidays!
Eric
Eric Henning, “The Wizard of Washington,” has been doing magic professionally in the nation’s capital for more than 50 years. He’s appeared at the National Theatre, three Presidential Inaugurals, and the White House, where he performed for the Obama family.
Greetings,
Our guest contributor this month is Abigail Spinner McBride, the McBride Magic & Mystery School Human Resources Director. In this offering she urges us to pause, take stock, and plan ahead with purpose and vision.
Hello my magical friends,
Come and sit here with me, in the warm afternoon sun, before the evening chill comes in, and, as The Master would say, “Let’s talk.”
“Now listen,” I hear Eugene’s voice in my heart’s ear. “I want to tell you something. What you’re doing is really good.This hasn’t been an easy year for many of us, but you’ve gotten through it, and you’re here now, and that means something.”
We’re coming up toward the end of the year, so this is a good time to begin to reflect backwards on the challenges we’ve overcome this year, and to look forward to what we want our magic to be in the coming year.
When You Look Back
When You Look Forward
For me, I want you all to know that I am incredibly grateful to feel connected to you, to be woven into this tapestry of magic together with threads both bright and dark. I am grateful to feel your support through times of challenge and times of celebration, and to be weaving marvelous things together.
I look forward to seeing you, either live here at the Magic & Mystery School, or online in the Mystery School Monday classroom soon!
Your friend in magic, music and mindfulness,
Abigail