The year is almost half over. Many of us are taking the time to reflect, to imagine new dreams and to revise our goals. Yet, as we engage in these activities, the shadows of unachieved goals and failed dreams continue to follow us.

Wouldnt it be great if we could discover a magical way that would help to achieve both our personal and professional happiness and banish those shadows? A colleague and I asked this very question over a year ago and spent the last 12 months researching how successful people use their imagination to overcome lifes obstacles and stay happy. What we discovered was that the capacities for happiness were within each and everyone one of us. The difference in the achievement of happiness centered around when we as individuals chose to identify and then employ those capacities and their supporting strategies.

Think about your happiness, your life and your successes. What first come to mind? If you are like many of us, one person stands out. This individual encouraged you as you struggled with lifes obstacles to achieve a better future. In your early life, this person, or mentor, may have been a family member or a teacher.

For me, my first mentor was my Swedish grandmother. As a sickly child, I spent a lot of time with her listening to her adventures in America. At age 16, she worked in New York City as a hotel maid and cook. Returning to Sweden at age 19, she met and married my grandfather. In the ensuing years, she continued to dream about returning to America and having one child born there. This dream was realized at age 41 when she returned to America and gave birth to one child my father. As I grew older, I appreciated her imagination, determination and courage to homestead in Northern Wisconsin, to serve as an English teacher and mentor to her family and to thrive through the Depression of the Thirties. Though she passed on many years ago, her words and stories continue to mentor me as I build my life both personally and professionally. She was an incredible woman my mentor my grandmother.

Now, take a few moments and think of an incredible person in you life right now someone who continues to demonstrate imagination, determination, courage and happiness. Ask yourself if you can possibly live your life without this mentor. Then, take this opportunity to stop and say thank you for the gifts that he or she has brought into your life and begin to experience a life that is truly M.A.G.I.C.A.L.(TM).

M.A.G.I.C.A.L.(TM)is owned by Leanne Hoagland-Smith and Laura Novakowski.