Happiness is Magic

Brian said:

Happiness is something that you create for yourself. Things can’t make you happy, people can’t make you happy, even experiences can’t make you happy. Happiness is only found when we allow ourselves to experience it. I know this, because my job is to make other people happy.


As a professional magician I’m hired to appear at parties and other special plans and make people laugh, applaud and feel happy. Now a lot of people think that a magician’s job is to trick and fool people into believing in his illusions, but that’s not true. A magician who merely tricks you is no more entertaining then a puzzle you are not permitted to solve. My job is to help people enter a world of wonder and surprise and encourage them to experience the magic of wonder.


Of course, without trickery there’d be no surprises and wonder. And yes, I take a secret delight when my audiences are slack-jawed and dumbfounded when I magically produce a bunny rabbit or read an individual’s mind. But my real bit of happiness comes when I see the expression of delight on other people’s faces as they give in to the power of wonder.


I perform magic for a number of company events like trade shows and client appreciation cocktail parties. Most of my clients are high powered Wall Street types, lawyers and media tycoons. There’s something very satisfying about transforming a room full of stodgy and uptight adults into a bunch of wonderstruck and laughing kids. I find that the more I focus on making them happy, the happier I become. And that’s pretty magical to me.


When people watch my magic show they’re transported to place a mystery and wonder. They’re not thinking about their to-do lists. They’re not worrying about tomorrow, they’re not lamenting the past, they’re just experiencing the present moment. As my illusions challenge their senses and sensibilities slowly they give up preoccupying thoughts and just experience the magic.


Brian McGovern is a magician in NYC. For more information, visit his Brooklyn Magicians website.