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Feb 22, 2013

"We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all of the power we need inside ourselves already." --J.K. Rowling

James Doty on Magic, Compassion and the Brain

James Doty is no stranger to struggle. He served as a caregiver in a family whose mother was an invalid and father suffered from alcoholism. They were on public assistance all that time. As he said, "At that age you feel like a leaf being blown by an ill wind." ...At age 13 he wandered into a magic store and had a serendipitous conversation with the mother of the owner who was there. She took a tender interest in him and said, "If you come back every day for six weeks, I'll teach you something." He did. And what he learned was the practice of mindfulness, envisioning, positive thinking, and making his choices his own and no one else's. Learn more in this beautifully crafted article, based on a recent interview with Doty -- now a top-rated neurosurgeon and founder of Stanford's Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education.