Hi there. I’m not sure if you’re on this page to learn about me, or to learn about what this thought magic stuff is all about. So I’ll share a bit of both.

In my life, thoughts have been both prison and liberation. Growing up exceptionally bright I learned how to pick apart other people’s ideas, even when they were trying to help me. Judgment and perfectionism plagued me for a long time, and suffocating mental models left my heart wanting. So I’ve been working with my own mind towards habits which I find more pleasant to live in, by noticing the effects and implications of holding onto certain ways of thinking. I’ve been learning how to try new things myself despite my mind’s drive to dismiss them as “stupid” or “useless”, and learning why my mind was doing those things in the first place.

I offer these conversations as a way to give back and because I think it’s better not to be alone. I believe in each person’s ability to take responsibility for themselves and their own growth as well, and this work isn’t about being a consistent support, but about offering new catalysts for growth. Together we can find things which you can go try on your own and learn from, with help from the supports you already have.

Lastly, this is fun for me. I find thought to be one of the most expansive playgrounds. Brainstorming and splitting apart ideas and changing out their pieces is fulfilling for me in a very special way, and I’ve been practicing grounding these things in the body and emotions as well so that they’re useful, too. So if you’re looking for a new approach, for some mental spaciousness or new ideas framed in ways which are approachable, which you can try for yourself to see if it works for you, I’m here to talk.

About Thought Magic

This is a work in progress, and I’ll admit I don’t rigorously understand a lot of what I’m doing. But here are a couple starting places to give you some context of how it works.

1. Attention

Thought magic, much like stage magic, is about directing attention. Each person’s mind has its own attentional proclivities in different contexts. Your mind will move differently whether you’re watching tiktoks or feeding ducks by the lake. The magician’s job is twofold: to notice the attentional patterns of the other person, and to disrupt them in ways which can produce movement. This includes changes in focus or topic and invitations to visualize or simulate. There are particular attentional modes which are more conducive to making progress on various kinds of mental work. It’s the magician’s job to guide the mind into those modes.

2. Language

Language is not a necessity, but thought magic without it has a very different flavor. I find that conversation is an immediate way in for people to begin having and mutating an experience of their own attention towards mental progress. So we talk, and in turning experience to words will begin to witness the edges and cracks in what we feel and what the words do for one another. The frame is one in which all language is a useful lie. The words are not a thing themselves, but a road to travel on and leave behind in search of a wordless place. The magician’s job is to pay attention to words, to phrases, to the impacts of language on the other person. How does one phrase and rephrase a question until it becomes sharp enough to delve into a truth which couldn’t be separated out in the beginning?

3. Receptivity

I find that people are able to experience different things when they feel heard, and in having a different experience come to take different actions or have different thoughts. But what goes into feeling heard, into believing that one has been adequately perceived? The magician’s job is to have a relationship with mystery. By opening to the unknown, there is a chance for information to enter. It is by this that the magician can perceive and conceive of a person on their own terms. Additionally, the magician’s relationship with schema must be loose — attachments to labels and categories drives perception away from the individual expression of each person which is always unique in its immediacy, carrying more information than any words can pin down.