Greetings to my fellow life travelers!

I hope that you were able to spend some time creating / assessing / adjusting your morning routine yesterday! Hopefully by now, you have grabbed your copy of the workbook! (Remember there is a coupon code so you can get it for free in the Life Souvenirs chat on the Substack app!) Just a reminder to the Life Souvenirs list, after the first 3 days of this in your inbox, you won’t receive them daily unless you go to your Substack profile and toggle this to the “on” switch under Life Souvenirs sections: 90 Days with Life Souvenirs. This Video will show you screen recording I did of my test account to set it up in Chrome.

Today, I’d like to take you through the Magic Wand Experience. This is an experience currently for sale in my store; but I am including it in this FREE 90 Day Journey. We are going to do this right here, right now because it’s important that you know early in this journey that your dreams are closer than you think.

Don’t glaze over this and think you will do this later. There is a huge spoiler here that will ruin the effect of this exercise if you know it ahead of time. So, take a pause, grab a pen and paper - or print today’s page from the 90 Days with Life Souvenirs companion workbook (coupon to get it free in the Life Souvenirs chat in the Substack app) and do this exercise.

Ready?

Take out a sheet of paper. You will regret it if you grab a tiny post it note. So, splurge and grab a whole standard sized sheet of paper. Or, you can grab today’s page from the workbook.

On your paper, make a large tic tac toe / hashtag grid. (Or just grab today’s printable for a done for your worksheet.)

Across the top row, write in the top dreams or goals for your life this year; one in each section. So the top row of your grid should be filled in. DO NOT OVERTHINK THIS! There is no wrong answer today. Just write in the first 3 things that pop in your head. I’m not going to see this. This is just for your benefit.

Next, across the middle row, write in what achieving that goal at the top of the column would look like. The visual or external evidence that the goal has been achieved.

Finally, across the bottom row, write in what achieving that goal at the top of the column would feel like. This is the internal evidence that the dream or goal has been achieved.

My guess is that you chose something from that top row, because that is what we do. We identify a goal or dream as something we want. We break it down into steps or habits to get us to the goal - and that’s why we hire coaches - to help us get to that goal, right?

What if I told you that you do not need a life coach and that in fact you could take a little time right now and get a taste of that dream today?

I’ve done this exercise with a ton of friends and clients. And I’ve had only ONE person ever do this on the first pass. Every one else chooses something from that top row. It’s kind of a trick question. I didn’t ask what of the top row do you want to work on, did I? But most people go there!

Look at your page again. What from that entire page do you want the most for your life? If I told you I had a magic wand and I could make that happen, what do you want most from that page? Chances are it’s not on that top row. It’s something on that bottom row of the grid. Am I right? And chances are it’s something that repeated across that bottom row. It wasn’t a feeling isolated to just one of those top 3 goals. So, if you see the same feeling in all 3 of those boxes - that is probably what you want most.

Identify those feelings that you want to feel and then reflect upon a time in your life when you’ve experienced those feelings. Close your eyes and go back to it and tap into those feelings! Then, think about any activities you do that generate these same feelings.

Keep reading below about hot air ballooning… and how I use it to tap into my own dreams.

This is an example from me. The photo is from my second hot air balloon ride. It wasn’t long after my brother died. I love hot air ballooning (in spite of my fear of heights, crazy right?). I feel free and at peace and I’m surrounded by beautiful views (well, when I travel to Colorado - views aren’t worth the trip up in a balloon where I live now). This is what I dream for my life. Feelings of freedom, peace, and surrounded by beauty. I may not get to live this 100% of the time, but any time I want to taste my dream, so to speak, all I have to do is the hot air balloon ride in the Colorado Rockies! I don’t do this nearly enough.

There are other more easily accessible things I can do to generate feelings from my own magic wand grid… Attend a symphony or visit the botanical gardens. Cook without a recipe. Write. Go for a hike in the mountains (still have to travel for that - but its cheaper than a hot air balloon ride lol!). Or,I can just close my eyes and remember a time I’ve experiences these feelings and my brain doesn’t have a sense of time- so my brain thinks I’m experiencing these things now, in this current moment. Cool, huh?

This is why it’s so important to anchor in those moments as you experience them and you are aware: I want more of this. This is what I imagine my dream life will feel like a majority of the time! To anchor in, take stock of your senses. What are you seeing? Hearing? Smelling? Tasting? Touching or Feeling on Your Skin? Stay in that moment. Take it in through your senses. It anchors the moment to memory and you can recall these feelings at any time.

One way I do this is through music. I have playlists for everything, including this 90 Days Series!

My Personal Story - Perfection Disruption

Today’s story is short. I was in the 5th grade. I was working on a poster I had entered into a local competition about the environment. I remember that I won the competition. I couldn’t tell you for the life of me what was on the poster or the subject or anything… Except 2 things. Up near the right hand corner there was a flock of birds and it was on bright yellow poster board.

I had finished my poster and got up off the classroom floor (where I preferred to draw on my poster so I could get better perspective and have space) and I dropped the uncapped black marker in my hand onto the poster. It left a mark. This perfectionist wallflower 4th grader lost her salt (aka cried like a baby - but “lost her salt” sounds so much better than the ugly crying scene it truly was).

Mrs. Quirk was one of my top favorite teachers. She came over to me and asked me what was wrong and all I could do is point and explain through heaving crying that I dropped my marker on it and ruined it. She looked things over and she said, “Honey, I don’t see a wayward mark on your poster. All I see is an unfinished bird in the upper righthand corner! So, let’s finish the bird and maybe give it some friends.”

She preceded to teach me one of the most memorable lessons of my life when it comes to perfection and how we can create our way out of mistakes and create something “extra” and go on to a win for our lives. She told me to make that mark into a bird and then make some smaller birds (all of these were basically fancy m’s to create the illusion of bird silhouettes).

So, what do you think so far? Day 4 of 90… If you haven’t grabbed the companion workbook yet, you should. My workbooks are cool! (I might be biased - but I think they are!) As I go, I also add a link on workbook pages of the corresponding 90 Days post.

Would you please share this on your social media platforms? Invite others to this 90 day journey? You may be late to the party and that’s okay. This 90 Day section will stay right here. So, share away if you got value from it. Also, please comment and let’s have a conversation! Also, please take the time to comment on my post! I know that it’s being read according to my open stats. But the point of this journey is to connect to my readers. I can’t do that if this is one way. So comment, join the chat in the Substack App… I want to hear your stories or how a post has helped you in some way or what more you want to know.

Until tomorrow,

MelAnn