Into the magic shop by James R. Doty
Published: February 2nd 2016 by Avery
Genre: Non-fiction, Science, Memoir, Self-help, Psychology
Pages: 288

Earlier this year the korean boyband BTS released an album trilogy called Love Yourself and on one of these albums is a song called Magic Shop which was a song inspired by the book Into the magic shop.

Now the song is mostly in korean, but loosely translated, it goes something like this:

On days where I hate myself for being me
On days where I want to disappear forever
Let’s make a door it’s in your heart
Open the door and this place will await
Magic shop

And this, actually, is a great representation of what the book is about: opening your heart. It all starts when the author is a young boy and he walks into a magic shop and meets Ruth. Instead of card tricks and disappearing acts, Ruth teaches James the practice of what I like to call “meditation and manifestation” in four parts; Relax your body, Tame your mind, Open your heart and Clarify your intent. It’s a beautiful thing, and I believe more people would benefit from it.

“What you think you want is not always what’s best” I had been chasing the wrong thing, and a heart ignored for too long will always make itself heard.

I was already a believer in meditation before I read this book, and I will continue to do so after having read it, but I’m also aware that there are sceptics out there. This is why this book is great, it might, in some occasions, be able to change some minds. This is a neurosurgeon talking, and explaining the connection of mind and heart and how it benefits us to have a connection between the two. There is science behind this and not just incense and colorful blankets, and I think that may speak more to some people.

“The ancient Egyptian word for happiness is awt-ib, literally meaning “wideness of heart.”

It’s an easy read and a nice story which leaves you optimistic and hopeful that you might have more power over your own destiny than you might think. I recommend the book, but if you want to skip straight to the exercises or see what it’s all about first, you can visit intothemagicshop.com