By Shivaji Dasgupta
Even when viewed through an ordinary lens, Dr Gregory M Walton’s book can well turn extraordinary, as it offers thoughtful, yet easy-to-do lessons on how to orchestrate difficult changes through the power of simple actions.
‘Wise interventions’, as aptly christened by Walton, are based on deep rooted academic inputs as well as practical insights that offer ordinary readers the opportunity to ‘spiral up’ in terms of fulfilling our due potential in life, thereby unleashing the power of a reservoir that most of us are thankfully blessed with.
The book is fundamentally rooted in timeless emotion and anchored on the anxieties and uncertainties that we grapple with almost daily. ‘Can I succeed? Do I belong? Am I loved?’ Often downgraded as ‘ordinary worries’, they can quite easily upgrade themselves to life-threatening dilemmas that affect motivations, relationships and well being. The writer thrives on the deeply scalable purpose of helping us identify seemingly minor yet deeply timely actions that can convert them to valuable catalysts for success in do-it-yourself mode, quite like an Ikea furniture set.
Turning worries into ‘ordinary magic’
‘Ordinary Magic’ is the way he describes this intuitive process that empowers us to curate strengths out of worries, and most astutely defines citizenry as ‘ordinary magicians’, blessed with the power to unfurl our best self in simple daily interactions that have a lifetime impact.
Walton takes us through a thematic exposition across the narrative, which acts as compelling unifiers. ‘Agency in Daily Life’—minute gestures that have an exceptional impact on building trust. ‘Emotional Architecture’—the art and science of understanding relationship dynamics and leveraging them for the common good. ‘Belonging Uncertainty’— how the anxiety of adjusting to new socio-cultural settings can became a positive agent.
Lessons made simple and actionable
However, the core utility of this voluminous exposition is the distillation of large thoughts into simple doable actions, neither intellectual nor exclusive. Seventeen skillfully crafted words that led to an increase in academic trust and performance; the normalisation of feelings of not belonging, leading to students unfurling their fullest potential; a seven-minute thoughtful chat that helped stabilise a strained marital relationship. These are just a few of many meaningful anecdotes that lovingly bridge the gap between intent and action, in many purposeful ways.
What is also enormously attractive for readers, in this dummied down social media age, is the simplicity of the narrative and its pleasing implementability, thereby combining the virtues of a self-help handbook and the gravitas of a mainstream academic output. Published teamwork of this nature is rather rare.
Also to be noted is the avoidance of instant gratification, inviting readers to a thoughtful and structured journey to make the magic come to life, therefore, building an organic ecosystem and not a preacher-follower regime. Its inclusive nature is unconditionally invitational, where many readers in most stages of living can discover meaning and, more importantly, empathy in the form of tools and devices that may integrate seamlessly with multiple belief systems and challenge scenarios.
As the reader gets immersed in the journey, some parts may seem unconsciously repetitive as constructs have a tendency to overlap with each other. This may be a deterrent in building a mutually exclusive flow from a ‘writing’ perspective but truthfully, from a user point of view, it reinforces the self-development roadmap—by building patterns of conviction and a rationale for adoption, in happy tandem.
Even those cynical about self-help regimes, especially from the evangelistic American genre, will be rewarded by Walton’s refreshingly simplified, while not simplistic, recipes. Those who thrive on such reinforcement prescriptions will surely benefit from its zero side effects yet high potency action process. At times the ordinary can become extraordinary and, clearly, magic is no earthly exception.
The author is an autonomous brand consultant and writer.
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Ordinary Magic: The Science of How We Can Achieve Big Changes with Small Acts
Dr Gregory M Walton
Hachette
Pp 464, Rs 799
