Do You Believe in Magic? (How I Met Bruce Springsteen)
“You’ll see it when you believe it.” - Wayne Dyer
Are you open to magical things happening to you on your creative journey?
Do you expect little miracles? Do amazing things occur that you can’t explain?
Like the other day, when I randomly bumped into Bruce Springsteen at - wouldn’t ya know - a cafe.
I’m not kidding - I met The Boss.
Here’s how it happened:
I was in Concord, Massachusetts on Main Street, when I stepped into a cafe to use the restroom. On my way out I see Bruce walk into the joint with a young lady that I assume was his daughter. I was like, holy crap, that’s Bruce Springsteen.
He got in line to order his sandwich. I had to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me, so I got in line behind him. I knew it was him when he spoke - in that cool, raspy voice.
I had to say something. I’ve been a fan since I was a kid. I’ve got most of his albums, including his new one, which happens to be called Magic. (It was right there in my iPhone.)
I found a moment when I wouldn’t interrupt him. I gave him a friendly pat on the back and whispered, “Hey man - just want to say thanks for all the great music.”
In retrospect, I can’t believe I called Bruce Springsteen “Man”, but it just flew out of my mouth. He seemed like such a regular dude standing there waiting to order a sandwich. I also didn’t want to blow his cover by yelling, “Hey! Aren’t you Bruce Springsteen?!”
Anyway, Bruce turned to me, smiled, and said, “Aw, thanks man, thanks a lot.” and shook my hand.
Have you ever wondered what you’d say to your creative idols if you ever met them? I decided a while ago that “thank you” would do in a pinch.
I confess, I was really tempted to keep gabbing with Bruce. I wanted to tell him how much I love his new album, how Hungry Heart was one of the first records I ever bought, how I used to listen to Thunder Road over and over and that I learned it on guitar. I wanted to take my picture with him. On and on.
But in the end I mostly wanted him to enjoy being a regular person in a cafe with his daughter, so I didn’t do any of that stuff. Shaking his hand was amazing enough.
I think that when you put your intention on something - intensely - over a period of time, you manifest it. So in a way, I’m not entirely surprised I had that dream-like moment with Springsteen.
Coincidence? Synchronicity? Law of Attraction?
A few weeks ago I ran into an old friend I hadn’t seen in four years - someone I’d been thinking about for two weeks, intending to email but not doing it. Then whammo - we bump into each other at the mall. I have no doubt - not a shred of doubt - that it was real magic. It was the result of invisible forces, the power of thought, something beyond logic or coincidence, because the odds were too impossible.
So…what about you?
Do you believe in magic? Do you expect it to happen to you?
Because I can’t help but think that if it happens once - if you experience it - that means it’s real. And no matter how many mundane days you have in between, you know those magic moments can happen again, around any corner, at any cafe.
Any magic thoughts to share? Leave a comment!
so i’m sitting here listening to “girls in their summer clothes” from - you guessed it MAGIC when your BLOG leader arrives via e.mail.
gotta love that.
and yup. i DO believe.
a while back, you wrote a great entry about service and WWPD. i’m guessing the service you gave The Boss in that cafe had as powerful an impact on him as Paoblo’s did on you.
wOw.
and THANKS. this BLOG way you’re using your voice is changing The World.
Lisa - that’s amazing. Should I even be surprised? Ha ha. That’s my favorite song from Magic! Thanks so much for the kind words - I truly appreciate it!
Ok, I’ trying to think about how to say this without coming across as a freak. Have you thought that that force is God? There is a DVD that you would enjoy called “Everything is Spiritual” by Rob Bell. He wrote the books “Velvet Elvis” and “Sex God”. The DVD would tie into what you’re talking about. If you get a change, take a look.
Laurie - nothing freakish about it! Thanks for the tip about Rob Bell. I’ve never heard of him - will check it out.
Oh my gosh! That’s so cool. Mark met the Boss.
I’m a huge believer in magic (or whatever you want to call it).
My best friend (who lives 2500 miles away), and I often call each other and the first words out of the other ones mouth is, “oh my gosh, I was just thinking about you”….. I love how that works.
*laughs* You would not believe how many Springsteen fans I have spoken to in the last few days in my day job - that’s syncronicity!
Anyway - magic, yes I absolutely believe. I have many, many stories I could relate from my whole life. I’ve had lucid dreams from being young and they taught me that the world is created from thought. It’s like our thoughts create a pattern but we can undo the pattern and begin again in different colours and different stitches. In the dreamworld things we think of can manifest very quickly but it just takes a bit longer sometimes in the physical world.
In musical terms I think of it like this - this:-
The universe is like an orchestra playing the greatest symphony and our voices are the choir. We can either be in tune or not. When we are in tune, the symphony grows louder and we can clearly sense we are part of something. When we are not in tune, we feel wrong and out of sorts and our energy struggles (think of how horrible it is to listen to an out of tune band!).
The more moments you have where you are in tune, the easier it becomes to recognise the music.
That is a GREAT article
Keep up the good work
There seems to be a lot of magic in the blogosphere lately. See my latest blog post: http://beplayful.org/aspects-o.....chantment/
I’d love to hear what you think!
If it’s okay with you, I’m thinking of linking to this post in my next blog post roundup.
Barbara - isn’t that cool when that happens? It happens to me all the time too with my friend Ken.
Leah - I like the orchestra analogy. I like the idea of ‘tuning’ yourself, or aligning yourself, with…oh Gosh I’m about to spout very new agey words here…the universal flow - ha ha! When you stay plugged in with faith things do seem to feel pretty right.
Dawid - welcome to the cafe, and thank you!
David - (not to be confused with Dawid) - Welcome and I look forward to reading your blog. By all means, link to my post. Thank you.
Well said. I totally believe in those every day magical events because, like you said, once they happen to you, you start to see the world in a different light and know that miracles abound and that the universe is infinitely amazing.
That rocks that you met the boss!
I’m sure I’d have addresse Bruce as ‘Hey man’ as well
He’s just that kind of guy. I’ve been a fan of his for a long time now and I find it great that he manages to pull that ‘normal person’ thing off.
As for the magic: there is magic in every day. We’ve just been so brainwashed and are so busy DOING that we don’t SEE or FEEL the magic anymore. Stop, breathe, smell the freshly cut grass, watch a child play, see someone smile at you, hear a bird sing in a tree, hug a tree. That is magic. And it’s free and it’s there every day.
Amylia - welcome! One of the great things about art (and artists) is that you can view the world through different lenses. Whenever I want to see the world through magical eyes, I read Tom Robbins as a reminder.
Mindful Mimi - welcome and great name! You know, there’s a great line in the movie ‘Grand Canyon’ that kind of sums up what you just said: “What if these are miracles? What if we’re just slow to recognize them?” Something like that. Thanks for chiming in and for the nice reminders.
I do think that I needed very badly to read your blog today, the last few days were stinky to say the least…. but when I read your post, I felt that funny tickle that says …. yes I DO BELIEVE!
thanks for this blog
Mark - great story - Wow! Synchronicity is working for you. It just goes to show you that celebrities are every-day people just like you and I. It’s great to see and read about that.
Great post.