Let’s face it…not every kid is going to be a professional magician and travel the world as a Master Illusionist.  However, I do believe that there are at least 7 HUGE reasons why every kid on the planet should learn a few tricks, and get a little into magic, even if it’s only for a season…

1. A Rise in Social Skills :: Magic provided me an opportunity to interact with others and majorly improve my social skills, and even interact with people older than me.

2. Improved Communication Skills :: Magic forced me to become a better communicator through my desire to entertain those around me.  It forces those who perform magic to process their thoughts and find the necessary words to communicate properly about what’s going on.

3. A Higher Level of Confidence :: Magic gave me the boost I needed to come out of my shell a little and finally make some friends, by displaying some talent.  As a kid, I felt like I wasn’t good at anything.  Finally, I could do something others couldn’t, and that massively increased my confidence.

4. Improved Dexterity :: Performing magic required a little bit of practice, which improved my dexterity, which in turn, made me better at other skills as well.

5. Better Hand/Eye Coordination :: My coordination also improved, and I finally learned the answer to the question, “Is the hand quicker than the eye?”  In fact, it took my hand/eye coordination to another whole level.

6. An Understanding of Trust & Respect :: Learning to keep and respect the secrecy of magic gave me a positive example of how to trust and respect something or someone, and can help your kid understand it as well.  It’s a complicated concept to grasp, and something even adults these days struggle with. Teach someone to learn to truly value the secrecy of magic, and you’ll have taught someone the value of real trust and respect.

7. A Healthy & Potential Life-Changing Understanding of Trickery & Deception :: Understanding illusions showed me just how easy it was to be deceived, as well as deceive others.  That concept transformed my life, caused me to take my thoughts captive, question things more intentionally, and even strengthened my faith.  Can imagine how powerful it’d be for your child to truly understand that what they see and hear from their TV’s and websites is NOT always the truth?

Click here to order a magic set just like the one I got for Christmas from my grandmother as a kid.  Not only will you be supporting our efforts, it’s the perfect gift!  After all, it changed my life, and you never know what an impact it could have on yours, or the lives of your loved ones… 

CLICK HERE to order now, and receive it in plenty of time for Christmas!

Still don’t believe me?  Check out the first minute of this video…

Has your child ever been interested in magic?  If so, what did I miss?  What positive development or character did you notice your child develop while learning and performing some simple magic tricks?

The film Inception? Incredible. Loved it! One of the best movies I’ve ever seen, and one of my favorites of all time. BUT…

What if I told you that “inception” actually happens? To you? Every. Single. Day.  

It’s every where you look, and a steady stream of ideas are being planted in your brain daily. The dangerous part?  You don’t realize it, because you take these ideas in subconsciously.  And when you act on those ideas, you don’t really take the time to stop and think, “Hmmm…I bet I did that because I heard that ad on the radio, or saw that commercial on TV.”

Here’s an obvious example.  There are plenty more where this came from, and they aren’t anywhere near as noticeable…

[Note: Facebook Note readers click here to watch the video. Facebook does not embed videos when automatically importing these posts from my blog.]

Laugh if you want. You may think I’m crazy, but that’s exactly what makes it so easy for you to be cleverly tricked and deceived.  If you let your guard down, it makes planting ideas in your brain that much easier.

And you thought “Inception” was just a fun movie?

Harry Houdini, one of the world’s most famous magicians and escape artists was certainly an expert in the art of deception.  This expertise gave him very valuable perspective, including the following words:  

“What the eye sees, the ear hears, the mind believes.”
-Harry Houdini

I wish it weren’t true, but unfortunately, Houdini was spot on.

Back in 2001, I was part of a tour in Southeast Asia. In Sri Lanka, an illusion was featured in the show where a table levitated. Turns out, the people there had seen that “trick” performed before, just down the street.  But not by a magician or illusionist, but by a Buddhist Extremist “Spiritual Leader.”  He made the exact same looking table levitate, using the exact same method and months of practice we did as “magicians.”  Only he claimed the table was able to levitate because of “spirits manifesting their presence.”

He was lying.

And the people in Sri Lanka believed him.

Why?

They saw it with their own eyes.  They heard about it with their own ears.  They couldn’t explain it.  Therefore, it must be real…RIGHT?

Unfortunately, it’s easy to be deceived. What you see and hear and feel is not always real.  Your senses get tricked, and end up telling your mind what do believe.  If we began to understand this principle, oh the truth we could discover, and more importantly, live out.

If only Houdini had been wrong…

Question: What kind of decisions have you made, just because you saw something, or heard something, and therefore just assumed it to be real or true?

]]> http://www.harrisiii.com/deception/if-only-houdini-had-been-wrong/feed/ 2 http://www.harrisiii.com/tour/the-gift/ http://www.harrisiii.com/tour/the-gift/#comments Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:11:50 +0000 Harris III http://www.harrisiii.com/?p=1480 If you are…

1. Looking for a great way to entertain and show appreciation to your staff and volunteers this upcoming Christmas season, or…

2. Looking to do something different than the same-old, same-old, holiday-themed Christmas outreaches for your community…

We just created the perfect solution:  The Gift.  It’s the same show that Andy Stanley’s team at North Point Community Church invited us to do for their team, (two nights in a row, because their team is so big), back in 2008.  I was in Thailand all last December, so I’ve waited almost two years to offer this show to you! Check out this short video about our 2010 Christmas Tour:

[Harris, III :: The Gift]

Only 10 dates are available, (unfortunately, Christmas doesn’t last forever), and these dates won’t be available long!  Now is the time to get in touch for more information.

“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”   - Helen Keller

I love that everyone thinks it’s awesome that my wife, Kate, and I are “willing to go travel the world” and do missions work.  But so many times, the “I think that’s awesome” comments are followed by, “I could never do that.” And if you try to determine why they think that, it almost always boils down to comfort and security…

“It’s just too unsafe.” Baloney. (And that’s to put it nicely.)

The chances are good that most of the places in the world you think are unsafe, are still safer than walking through some cities in the U.S. It’s just that your obsession with security is a superstition.  Like one of my close friends in the Middle East once told me, “I’m where God wants me to be, and I’m safer in God’s will than I am anywhere else in the world.” Amen to that.

What are you scared of??

I agree with Helen.  Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.  Who wants to live nothing??

I’ve been blown away by how people responded so immediately!  Everyone started tweeting, re-tweeting, posting to Facebook, making calls and sending emails, and before you know it, we had plenty of opportunities and invitations to make a huge dent in our July & August schedule.  We’re even going to Nicaragua for a week…more on that in a later post.

Honestly, I can’t believe what’s happening.  Two years ago, if this would have happened, we would have rushed to put together some kind of “marketing campaign”, with some kind of “special discount offer”, and done my best to make a bunch of phone calls.  Instead, I’ve spent the past year doing my best to add value, serve others, and just build relationships with people right here, online.  And instead of putting together some kind of fancy piece of advertising, I turned to those who believe in us and what we do, and asked for help.  And you guys responded whole-heartedly, pitched in, and made some really amazing stuff happen.  How cool is that?

In my opinion, it’s very cool.  So to all of the Facebook and Twitter haters out there, I’ve gotta tell ya…without the power of social networking, what’s happening right now with our schedule and income just wouldn’t have happened the way it has.  It’s been absolutely unbelievable to see how God has been providing.  Thank you Web 2.0, and thanks to all of you who have embraced it, connected online, and followed along with what we’re doing. I can literally say, I couldn’t have done it without you!

And finally, a huge special thanks to my good friend, Bill Seaver.  He’s the one that talked me into jumping into this whole new world, and helped me understand the importance of blogging, and the potential community found through tools like Facebook and Twitter.  Check out Bill’s blog, and his upcoming Social Media & SEO Bootcamp here in Nashville.  No matter what kind of work you’re involved in, you should be there.  You’ll learn a ton, and you can’t beat the value.

Thanks for following along, and being a part of the journey.  I’m so thankful.  You guys rock!