Essentially Casual Magic
how to make the rest of your summer the best yet and the art of casual magic
Essentially
I don’t know about you but this summer has been one of the busiest I have had in years. I find myself craving the child-like summers of my youth: endless hours at the beach pouring through my to-be-read book pile and nights that smell like a thick layer of aloe vera. But, most importantly those summer months gave me freedom and time and that is what I miss most. I pour the energy this craving gives me into trip planning and dreaming of far away adventures, but how do we find child-like joy in our day to day still busy lives before our much needed vacations? Casual Magic.
My Word on the World
This past week admist my busyness, I took a few days off to fly to Chicago for a long awaited postponded family wedding. While, I was excited to see my family and celebrate my cousin's forever love, I woke up with nervous excitement not for the trip but for the airport. Yes, I am one of those crazy people who loves airport travel. For me, airports are always a little magical. There is something special about peoples energies: excited, hopeful, a little on edge and nervous. I especially love the way these energies intertwine as people chit chat in lines and talk to people they never would in their near by grocery store or normal lives. These interactions, to me, are magical. Others, hate traveling. I don't fully blame them: business men talking too loud on the phone, kids who are confused and uncomfortable (and express those emotions), and a gross dirty port especially during a pandemic. But at the end of the day, we are at the same place at the same time so what truly makes our mindsets so different?
"Mindfullness" and "gratitude" are popular buzz words that for many are the end-all-be-all to their way of life with positive mindsets. But let me introduce one more to you: "casual magic." Casual Magic might just be the solution to helping to cultivate a more postive mindset throughout our day (at an airport or not). This phrase coined by Jade of the unjadedjade study youtube channel, is based on the fact that not every day will be the best day of your life, your graduation day, your wedding day, or a day you attend a loved ones wedding, etc. But every day is special in some way. The key is finding what simple, little, casual thing makes it special. It could be as little as seeing a bird land near by in a funny way, a beautiful bloom on your walk, having a great conversation with a stranger at an airport, or anything! Casual magic, the theory of making the little things in your life special and ensuring everyday is a better day.
I have found the concept of casual magic to be incredibly helpful. It’s not that I didn’t notice the birds flying in a particularly interesting way or a bee landing on the arm of my chair prior to knowing about casual magic. But, now whenever I see something little that is beautiful, funny, interesting, (or in the instance of the bee a little scary), etc. I don’t just notice and move on. I notice, think about it, remember the significance of casual magic, and then move on. By lingering on the nice little things a little longer, my day becomes just that much better. Kind of like, magic.
I found Jade on her instagram and have greatly enjoyed her daily motivation, positivity, and honesty with her anxiety about re-teaching herself to drive.
Rave, Rant, or Review (you decide)
Staying on the topic of magic, I have to ask you all, my dear readers, a question (I promise it relates eventualy). How do you feel about book to movie adaptations? Do you insist on reading the book first? Do you think that a movie was made for a reason (so you don’t have to read the book)? I would love to know. Please leave a comment on this newsletter, I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!
My thoughts (as per usual) are conflicted. If you didn’t know I loved reading the Harry Potter books, and read them a lot. No really, a lot a lot (like 9 times all the way through.) The movies? Meh. To me, they are more like comfort films, a way to have my HP fix in a mere hour or two without dedicating a week to reading one of the books. In the past, I have been firm that reading the books before watching the films is a must as the books are just that much better. But, lately my mind has shifted. My 4 year old niece (Hi Avery!) has come to love the Harry Potter films and magic (see, I told you the question relates to magic!) even begging to fall asleep to the films each night and I love that for her. But, she is four and I would never suggest she have many of the books read to her as they become far too dark for her age. So without knowing, she has made my change my mind. I, now, encourage anyone to enter magical exciting worlds any way they are excited to (but, if you are able and want to I still encourage you to read the books!)
The worst book to film adaptation I have seen?
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer which was adapted to a Netflix Film of the same name starring Lily James and Michiel Huisman. Perfect casting with lovely scenery but, unfortunetly completely destroyed the unqiue and funny relationships so artfully and perfectly constructed in the novel. A shame. Seriously read the book, though, it was incredible.
The best book to film adaptation I have seen?
Normal People by Sally Rooney was adapted into a Hulu limited series of the same name. Again, perfect casting but this time the incredibly awkward and unsettling tone of the book was nailed scene after scene mimicing the weird dynmaic of making the reader so uncomfortable that they can not stop reading (or watching). I reccomend reading the book first, here. Sally Rooney’s character development and artful consistency of tone is seriously impressive and only proves to be more impressive as you experience it for the second time watching it on film.
What are your best and worst book to film adaptations? Do you always read the book first? Let me know!
Essentially…
Magic: my current presription for a slightly more enjoyable life (if you, like me, have found yourself wound up in stress and are in need of one.) Experience it in any way you can whether that is by reading, watching, or noticing the casual magic in your own life stories.
This is really great Jules. As you likely know I find the magic of my day often on my walks with Parker or even five minutes in my garden. Stopping to smell the roses isn’t really a new concept, but it is magical and it does help me to find gratitude and joy in each and every day. Books to movie? Well I think you know that I am a firm books 1st proponent. However there are clearly some books that I just wouldn’t be interested in so the movie adaptation might be for me. Are many of the Stephen Kings book/movie examples fit here. For me it is a matter of not being able to re-create the magic of the book from my head in the vision of a movie from someone else’s interpretation. However, excellent cinematography can sometimes change my mind. The life of pi movie is one example where the movie visuals were so spectacular I forgave any shortcomings in the story telling. Hope we can share many more movies and book discussions this summer.
I love this so much, because I've literally been thinking about two really similar topics. First, I love the idea of casual magic first. I just spent the day helping a friend move out of her apartment and I realized I actually quite like the whole moving process (which is crazy, it's something most people dread). Something satisfying about being able to organize your entire life's possessions / take stock of them. Maybe similar to your excitement about traveling / airports (lol!) And then on the film-book adaptation thing, I've been thinking about this too! I actually just read A Handmaid's Tale after watching the first 4 seasons of the show and at least for this specific show I feel like ruined the magic a little...like I appreciated how the author constructed this entire world, but having already consumed it visually, I already had this picture of it in my head...It limits your ability to imagine that world yourself, if that makes sense? Though I agree with you in that, maybe if there is a movie adaptation you don't actually need to read the book! So maybe I'd either do that, or just stick to reading the book first and then watching the film / show. You've given me so many ideas for my own newsletter / bookstagram account!