Let’s talk about casual magic. You may or may not be familiar with the concept of ‘Casual magic’, a term fondly used by YouTuber ‘Unjaded Jade’, which in short refers to finding the beauty in everyday day life, or “casual moments of magic”. The essence of the concept is that beauty lies in the simplicity of the mundane – which may sound overly cliché, but practicing ‘casual magic’ is a great way to de-stress, increase mindfulness, gratitude, and overall satisfaction with your life, and here’s how.
Casual magic offers you a new perspective on the everyday. You might feel like majority of your days are spent going through the same routines: getting up, going to a lecture or seminar, going to the library, going home, with the occasional hangouts with friends and event here and there to change it up. As a result, it’s easy to fall into the habit of compartmentalising your days as ‘normal’ versus ‘special’ or ‘exciting’ for those days when you have something a little out of the ordinary going on, like a holiday or seeing some friends. This division gives us something to look forward to, acting as a kind of motivation even to get through those painstaking deadlines, bouts of seasonal depression, and just general routines of life, using the quieter moments as a filler for what’s to come. But why wait for something out of the ordinary to happen to enjoy each day? That’s where casual magic comes in. Everyday tasks and routines that seem like just going through your daily motions can actually be a source of their own unique kind of ‘magic’, offering you a new appreciation for the little, mundane parts of life. Casual magic is about finding the special in the ‘non-special’ or ‘ordinary’ days, looking for happiness in the quiet, simple moments of your life to help you appreciate your days more and more, even when it feels like there’s nothing really to celebrate.
Casual magic is about enjoying the little things, so you don’t have to wait for a holiday or an occasion to make your days feel special and by searching for those moments of magic, you become more attuned and appreciative to the world around you. It could be experiencing the subtle changes in weather as the seasons change, like the longer days as we move out of the winter months, seeing the daffodils blooming around campus as the first signs of spring approaching, or hearing the birds chirping outside. It’s easy to feel like most days are just about ticking boxes, following the same routine and having the same thoughts over and over again. But casual magic can show you how there’s something unique to appreciate about each day. A spontaneous catch up with friends in the library, an exceptionally good coffee that day, a cooling breeze, a smile from a stranger as you walk home… the list really goes on. The point is that rather than treating each day as a never-ending cycle of just waiting for the next big thing to happen to you, learn to appreciate those unexpected, casual moments of bliss, understanding that there is a uniqueness to each day to be grateful for.
Practicing casual magic can help you to de-stress and improve your mental health, ensuring that every day leaves you feeling grateful for something. It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed from just life itself, and having those days where you feel like you’ve genuinely achieved nothing. Once again, casual magic can change your mind set. Rather than being so hard on yourself or feeling like you’ve had a day wasted, looking for casual magic can help put things into perspective. Casual magic doesn’t mean that every day will suddenly become perfect, happy days. You’ll still have those bad days leaving you feeling lonely, tired, and just not in the mood to do anything or see anyone. But like I said, casual magic means that even those bad days have some sort of silver lining – something to keep you motivated, and just keep moving forward. Like those few moments when the sun has just set, and there’s those last slivers of light in the sky and it feels like the world has gone quiet around you, a sense of calm among the storm in your head. Eating your favourite meal for dinner, watching an episode of a show you enjoy – literally anything and everything could fit into the category of casual magic, it’s just about finding one thing that makes you feel happy or grateful that day.
The practice of casual magic has helped me to de-stress particularly while at university, giving me a chance to take a pause for a few moments a day to be truly in the moment. Walking to my 9am lectures, otherwise an inconvenience in my day, turned into a brief time of reflection in the early morning, taking in the rays of early morning sunshine and admiring the nature on a generally empty campus before the afternoon rush begins. All moments of casual magic for me, making a conscious effort to search for the beauty in the everyday and finding something special in the ordinary. This is just one example, but casual magic has helped me to pay more attention to life in general – rather than waiting for the ‘special’ or ‘exciting’ to appear. If you look for it, you’ll start to notice how the ‘special’ and ‘magical’ moments in life can happen anywhere, at any time, leaving you with something to be grateful for.