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First of all, that's great! I'm always happy to meet someone who wants to give magic a start! Don't worry about being good at it yet, it's a very involved performance art, but once you know the core fundamentals (misdirection, audience management, sleight of hand, banterful patter) it's super easy to get into.

If you want to know how I personally started seeking out magic to learn, it was around age 12 with a book called Now You See It, Now You Don't by Bill Tarr. That was my first book on sleight of hand and it covers a multitude of moves and sleights with various objects like coins, cards, and balls. I studied that book like it was a holy text and learned every move, though I didn't quite know how routines worked yet and I wasn't especially charismatic at the time. Not to sound dramatic, but that book had a huge impact on my life and very much shaped the person I would become. I still have that same copy on my shelf. After that it was the Royal Road to Card Magic for my first real introduction to card magic and card routines, but that was a much denser book. It wasn't until a bit later that I discovered online magic stores and downloadable instructional videos. They were so accessible and easy to diget, my desire to learn skyrocketed.

The first I found was penguinmagic.com when I was maybe 13? It's still my gold standard for online magic shopping; my first purchase was Sponge by Jay Noblezada, game changing magic for a kid. From there I graduated to coin magic routines from In the Beginning There Were Coins (also Jay). I recommend sponge or coin magic to start if you want an easy introduction to the principles and fundamentals of sleight of hand.

After that, just before starting high school, I found ellusionist.com and the "leather coat" magicians like Brad Christian and Justin Miller (they've since become more hipsterish, and still a great resource). They were edgy, cool, and influenced my personal style an unfortunate amount... I wore a lot of black and gray back then.

Just before high school I stumbled onto theory11.com, which had more of an artful feel to it, but it's there that I found out about Daniel Madison's Dangerous video. His card magic shaped my performance style in a huge way. He was so laid back and casual about his massive skill. I got really into gambling sleights and card control and manipulation around that time. Cards became almost my exclusive medium for years after that.

I'm 27 now and I'm more into organic magic that fits in one pocket, so less cards and more coins, rubber bands, and mentalism. I use a lot of different resources and it's mostly advanced stuff, I love the challenge of complex sleights though! Those books, those sites and those names guided me into the world of magic.

You can find some other great starting resources on the r/Magic subreddit they have a pretty comprehensive list. There are also a ton of free materials in the public domain available through libraries, google, youtube, tons of effects and fun routines you can learn quickly and easily. If you ever have any questions, need some direction, or just want to chat about where to start, I'm happy to help!

Do you have a type of magic or magician you especially enjoy?

This happened to me about twenty years ago.

I was a voracious reader since I was in High School. I loved fantasy and sci-fi, but would read pretty much any fiction. I enjoyed a bunch of Historical fiction as well as mysteries and horror.

I read the classics when I was in college, I basically just filled up all my elective courses with different Lit classes.

Then I just fell out of it. I was up to about a book a week and I used to read before my AA meeting would start up. I had to arrive an hour or so before the meeting started because I was in charge of setting up the coffee pot, so I'd bring whatever pulp I was reading.

At this time a lot of the books I was getting was from a friend I knew in publishing and she worked for the printing company that was in charge of TOR, so she would bring me all there pulp sci-fi and fantasy. And I think I just burned out on it all.

I found myself just finding other things to do with my time because the books I'd try to read just didn't do it for me. I picked up some short story collections of some of the classic authors that I had loved in college, but those collections were bulky and expensive.

What got me back into the habit of reading was when I got a Kindle. It just changed it all for me. Suddenly I could get all those classics that I loved and they were all free as they were in the public domain and I could get them from either Amazon or Project Gutenberg, also I found that it was easy to discover all these new authors on amazon and since they'd have great sales I didn't mind taking a risk on a book when it was only a buck, and if I didn't like it, it's not like it's taking up shelf space until I can be bothered to donate it somewhere or find someone else who would want to read it.

I also found a genre that I was never exposed to before that i fell in love with, modernism and postmodernism. Specifically, Donald Harington, and I love him because he inspired me to read Vladimir Nabokov who has become one of my absolute favorite authors.

I think what you need to do is find a book that grips you and you'll be back in the habit. If you like fantasy, I'd say check out Robin Hobb and her The Farseer Trilogy, just an awesome series. I just finished the ninth book in the series and I'm looking forward to the next series that follows, but currently I'm halfway through Women in Love and it's just amazing. The Rainbow, the book that precedes this one, is actually the first book I read on my Kindle and I loved that novel as well. It is one of those books that you seem to either love or hate, so not one that I'd recommend.

Can I give you a list? Imma give you a list with a little from each category. I LOVE books and posts like this!

Non-fiction or Books About Things:

The Lost City of Z: In 1925, the legendary British explorer Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon jungle, in search of a fabled civilization. He never returned. Over the years countless perished trying to find evidence of his party and the place he called “The Lost City of Z.” In this masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, journalist David Grann interweaves the spellbinding stories of Fawcett’s quest for “Z” and his own journey into the deadly jungle, as he unravels the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century. Cumberbatch will play him in the movie version of this.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers: Hilariously gross and just super interesting. Her writing is like a non-fiction Terry Pratchett. Everything she's written is great, but this one is my favorite.

Devil in the White City: All about HH Holmes and his murder hotel during the Chicago World's Fair. Incredibly well-written and interesting.

The Outlaw Trail: Written in 1920 by the first superintendent of Capitol Reef National Park (aka, the area around Robber's Roost). He went around interviewing the guys who were still alive from the original Wild Bunch, plus some of the other outlaws that were active during that time. Never read anything else with actual interviews from these guys and it's a little slice of life from the end of the Wild West.

Fiction, Fantasy, Sci-Fi:

Here I'm only going to give you the less known stuff. You can find Sanderson (light epic fantasy), Pratchett (humor / satire fantasy), Adams (humor fantasy), etc easily in any bookstore. They are fantastic and should be read, but they are easy to find. I suggest:

The Cloud Roads: Martha Wells is an anthropologist and it shows in her world building in every series. She creates societies instead of landscapes. These are very character-driven and sometimes emotional.

The Lion of Senet: Jennifer Fallon starts a great political thriller series with this book. If you like shows like House of Cards or things where there's a lot of political plotting, sudden twists, and a dash of science v. religion, then you'll love these.

The Book of Joby: Do you want to cry? This book will make you cry. Mix arthurian legend with some God & Devil archetypes and it's just this very powerful story. Even though it deals with religious themes and icons, I wouldn't say it's a religious book. Reads more like mythology.

On Basilisk Station: Awesome military space opera. Really good sci-fi.

Grimspace: Pulpy space opera. Brain bubble gum instead of serious reading. But that's fun sometimes too!

Oh man, I should have seen this one coming, you sure get right to it. So, this one was a little different as a question for the layout I'm giving. I wasn't sure best how to address the questions with the spread so I still pulled three cards, and I think they sort of explain themselves. I was so curious what the answer would be, and I know you have no way of knowing I really drew these at random, but I cross my heart I did, and they're actually pretty perfect.

Here they are!

Your first two cards are the Queen of Wands and the Queen of Cups. Tarot has a lot of different interpretations, the way I have found it to be most helpful is to allow the tarot to mirror the cycles of life, it just follows the pattern that is already surrounding us, if that makes any sense. A lot of interpretations of the Tarot would say that the Queens represent actual women IRL, and I think they could. But in your case they represent an idea. The Queen represents the highest maturation of an idea, and the pinnacle of an ideal or an experience. Wands represent human identity, whether that is who we are to ourselves and who we are to other people. Cups represent love and emotion, they later evolved to be the heart in the deck of playing cards we all know and love. Pulling these two gorgeous creatures right next to each other suggests that you might have conflicting ideas of who “the one” even is. If I were asking your head or your heart I might get different answers. The good news is that this could have been a battle between a lot of things, money or power most notably. These things aren’t the issue for you, but your identity and your heart may be at odds at this point.

The last card really sums it all up. It is The World Reversed. Now here I’m going to actually quote the book I reference (called EveryDay Tarot) because I can see all these comments stacking up and it’s already said so perfectly right in front of me: “You have numerous possibilities available within your own being. You can be many selves and experience many levels of reality. You may even move in and out of various lives and various realities—at your will. You are aware that the Universe is a complex place and you are experiencing its multiple dimensions within your own consciousness.”

Let me know if you have any questions, but remember no refunds! lol

I also want to talk about your definition of "made it in life." To me, that sounds like you probably mean "rich and/or famous", which I don't think is a sound yardstick by which to measure yourself. I'm pretty successful by the traditional yardstick - I've got a good job and a good house. But I don't really care about that stuff, it just enables me to do what I want to do - to be successful at what I care about. Which is my relationship, my dog (3 months old, woo! A dream 8 years in the making), and woodworking.

You're invested in Psychology, which is an amazing field with so many interesting twists and turns! I've loved books like 'Thinking: Fast and Slow', and it seems like a fantastic field! But you're probably not going into Psychology with an aim to make money - you're probably doing it because it interests you, and you love the idea of being a Psychologist. That's your success measure, not anything extrinsic.

On that note - before I went to University I wanted nothing more than a Ph.D in Physics, and to become an academic. For me, that didn't work out - I started again after finishing my second year in Physics, and started again in Computer Science. I then went on to start a career as a Software Engineer type person. At the time, I thought myself a massive failure for not managing to achieve my dream - but I'm happy now, and I've got no regrets. It didn't take long to get that way either. Remember your yardstick can change, as long as it stays yours.


I'd thoroughly recommend reading "The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck"
It taught me how to care passionately about specific things, and see those goals as successes. And to tune out the rest of it.

I also absolutely loved "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelious which talks about our place in the world, and our duty to it.

Meditation and cognitive behavioral therapy may be able to help you.

>The experts we spoke to agree that, when looking at the science on the benefits of mindfulness meditation, there are three conditions with a strong and convincing body of evidence to support its effects: depression, anxiety, and chronic pain.

>Although the research still is not definitive, the positive effects of mindfulness meditation on these conditions “is holding up to the strongest, strictest standards of research” in well-designed, well-powered trials, Vago

https://www.self.com/story/mindfulness-meditation-health-benefits

>Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been shown to be effective for a wide variety of mental health disorders,1 including anxiety disorders.2-6 CBT has also been associated with improvements in quality of life in anxiety patients.7 CBT is typically conceptualized as a short-term, skills-focused treatment aimed at altering maladaptive emotional responses by changing the patient's thoughts,behaviors, or both.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4610618/

A really good place to learn CBT on your own is the books of Dr. David Burns. This one is a good start: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0380810336/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_lBtNBbBVT5CM4

Here's a good webpage on CBT too: https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/cbt-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-techniques-worksheets/

> I'm always focused on me me me (like this post) and as a result I feel I've become detached from the feelings of others around me. Or otherwise I'm busy judging other people to make me feel more secure in myself. It's a terrible loop. Anything I do for others is usually framed by my mind as "oh this will make them like me" resulting in me feeling very fake. I'm always looking at how I can use people to my advantage/how they can be of use to me.

>I'm always living in fear and as a result I think I've lost what ever love I had for the outside world.

This strikes me as something particularly able to change with meditation (well, and cbt too). One of the effects of continued meditation is loss of the strength of your ego, of your self conception, and stronger authentic interest in others.

A type of meditation that you can also engage in is "loving-kindness meditation", which is exactly directed at meditating upon developing a sense of love and kindness towards other people, without any self ego in the picture. It'd be best done alongside regular mindfulness meditation.

Finally, you may consider this one odd, but I wouls recommend possibly experimenting with psychedelic therapy in a safe environment, if you can find such a thing. Please don't just go out and take a drug right away, but perhaps read up a bit on that subject, what you find might interest you.

But anyway, I'd really strongly recommend the first two things, meditation and CBT.

Lynda.com is a great resource for this type of thing. Of course there are a various videos on YouTube on how to edit and become more proficient with different NLE's.

However, if you want something more structured and geared toward a better understanding of the various techniques used in cutting long and short form material I'd recommend doing an editing course on Lynda.com.

It's relatively inexpensive and a good way to get the fundamentals down. And if it's not your thing, you haven't wasted too much money to start with.

I also agree with Ducks_own. The AFI top 100 is a fantastic place to watch some of the most amazing pieces of cinema and see how the professionals cut their films.

I'd also recommend checking out FilmCraft: Editing. It's not too dense a read and has various interviews with some brilliant film editors and the creative decisions behind some of their editing choices and techniques.

Link to the book on Amazon. You might be able to find it cheaper elsewhere.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/FilmCraft-Editing-Justin-Chang/dp/1907579567

Good luck!

A therapist is going to be able to help you with this way more than anyone here (especially since apparently half the people here are suicidal). They're specifically trained for this kind of thing and can give you techniques, behaviors, medications etc. that are tailored just for your situation.

That said it sounds like your problem is concentrating on negative things. There are a lot of options to help with that. Mindfulness helps a lot and can be worked on with meditation. Keeping your life in general good order is another important step (exercise, sleep, nutrition, being social, keeping an active mind). After that I think the important thing is to identify what you really care about (your values) and stay busy working towards them. It's hard to be so negative when you're in the moment and things are going well in your life.

There are tons of books that can help too. Here's a fairly simple one that I enjoyed. Otherwise I'd recommend books on ACT therapy (e.g. "The Happiness Trap"), Stoicism (this one is good), Meditation ("Mindfulness in Plain English" is good and free), and CBT therapy (I like this one, though it's kinda long). "The Happiness Hypothesis" is another good overview type book.

I am glad that other people can find peace through religion but I believe that it is all neurobiology. I don't have a question, just a suggestion, if you wish to study religions. This book goes through various religious practices and links them to science. I was able to find my peace through it and understand what religions are meant to be. I hope we can all eventually find the divine peace and love in ourselves and make the world a better place, with less suffering.

Congrats on getting some of your student loans paid off and getting two jobs within a week of each other, that's impressive! Best of luck with school.

I will recommend a book that you might find helpful: Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy

Take care :)

Learning how to do magic might be something to look into. It can get expensive, but if you're smart about it and you're willing to put in a good amount of work it can be pretty cheap. Get a deck of bicycles ($2-3) and The Royal Road to Card Magic (≈$10) and start working. That's an older book and a lot of modern beginners ignore it, but it has great information.

The biggest problem with learning magic as cheaply as possible is that you have to learn primarily from books. It's not a massive problem, but it can get really confusing when someone is trying to describe a slight without any real demonstration. I can list some other pros/cons if you're interested. It's a fantastic hobby and it'll help build creativity and dexterity.

Do me a big personal favor and don't buy a Blue mic. I regularly refer to them as kings of the trash heap. Get something like this instead, and couple it with this.

It's much easier to upgrade/replace things when you have the modularity that a setup like this will provide. It's a little more expensive than the snowflake in total, but it'll sound better and the quality of life improvements are super real.

I have a bunch of audio/video equipment lying around in my room from going through loads of trial and error and being super anal about my quality.

My camera is a Sony A7SII and probably a good half of those photos were taken with a Zhongyi Mitakon Speedmaster f/0.95 lens. I'm not a pro, just irresponsible with my money.

I'm partial to Behringer tech so I'd recommend [this] (https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-UM2-BEHRINGER-U-PHORIA/dp/B00EK1OTZC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1524521333&sr=8-3&keywords=xlr+interface) or [this] (https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-302USB-BEHRINGER-XENYX/dp/B005EHILV4/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1524521333&sr=8-10&keywords=xlr+interface) if you're planning to record alone. If you're going to have guests, I used the [XENYX Q1202] (https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-1202-BEHRINGER-XENYX/dp/B000J5Y282/ref=sr_1_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1524521461&sr=1-1&keywords=Behringer+XENYX+Q1202) for a long time and it served me well.

Social media and promotion is hard, but necessary if you want to build a listenership. I'd recommend tweeting about more than JUST links to your show. I don' think anyone wants to follow an account that's all about self promotion. My shows are all comedy podcasts so I lucked out in that I can just throw out dumb jokes/observations all day and people enjoy them. For a more serious show, it's a bit harder.

To get started, follow a bunch of people that follow shows similar to yours, wait a week, unfollow anyone who hasn't followed you back, then follow a bunch more. If people post things you like, interact with them. Retweet, respond, whatever. It's basically about building a community. I've built up 1,200 followers doing all that, which is puny next to my podcast listenership, but it's nice to have a place to let people know what I'm up to.

Also to build a podcast audience, guest on a bunch of shows that are similar to yours. Guest on science podcasts, have them on yours, promote it on Twitter, etc. I've had different guests on all the time over the last few years and it's really helped me build a big international audience in Australia and the UK, reaching people who never would have heard my show otherwise.

I know that feeling. Well. I first wanna say, you're not alone, and second there is a way out. Its in your mind. its how you see and perceive things. try to start in the morning getting up and as soon as you realize your awake - Focus on your breathing, in and out. calm, slow breathing. and start thinking of the things that are good in your life and what you have to be grateful for. Think about the cool things you get to do, or that you want to do. Have those thoughts in your mind when you get up. Try it.

start looking into self help books. Like:
[(https://www.amazon.ca/Power-Now-Guide-Spiritual-Enlightenment/dp/1577314808)]
[http://www.daniellelaporte.com/store/shop/books/the-fire-starter-sessions-paperback.html]

Hi OP, reading your comment "I’m really insecure about my intelligence" took me back a bit. I'm a scientist (and a few decades older) and there is no good scientific explanation for intelligence. IQ is a measure of what IQ tests measure - and work from 2011 illustrates the effect of motivation [see here for an article from Science.](http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2011/04/what-does-iq-really-measure)

You should be humble, which means you don't even think about how 'smart' or 'intelligent' (quotes used on purpose!) you are perceived, you are just /u/Spudnik1808 that fellow or gal who is a genuine person with good empathy.

The brightest people I know don't think themselves very 'smart' themselves. Why?

They know how ignorant they are, and are pushing hard to reduce that ignorance, and so they are humble about it and outwork the brightest. You know, tortoise and hare stuff.

A copy of [The Slight Edge](https://www.amazon.com/Slight-Edge-Turning-Disciplines-Happiness/dp/1626340463) is on my bookstand, and I'm going to start reading it this weekend. It will likely confirm a suspicion I've had for a long time - that my own personal self-image isn't built on 'I'm the smartest, I'm the best' but rather 'I'm the hardest working, I'm the hungriest' which has made an enormous difference in both my personal and professional life.

As others have said there will be always somebody who knows more, earns more, is more famous, is more handsome/pretty, is more accomplished than you. And it really doesn't matter.

FWIW don't let it bug you - it really doesn't matter what people think (of whether you are considered 'smart' or not).

I'll finish with a quote from Goethe: "To create something you must be something."

>Whenever i tend to try to meditate i fall asleep.

Are you sitting upright?

My best advice is that mediation isn't only limited to sitting down. What you're essentially doing when meditating is tapping into the present moment, which can also be done during everyday activities. By doing so you can easier experience the benefits from meditation in your everyday life. Just notice the sensations in your body, your breath, your vision, your thoughts etc. while doing the things you normally do, and over time your awareness will be strengthened.

I recommend the book The Power of Now to get an in-depth view of this.

"Not all those who wander are lost"

You probably will have to work twice as hard as everyone else if you want your dream job career.

Get a job in order to finance your dream career; have your overhead as low as possible (cheap rent, no debt etc...) and then all your free time and money go toward creating for the sake of creating. Find your medium of choice, or - better - mediums and intersection of mediums, and then your voice.

Keep on creating, hang out with other creative people for cross pollination, stay away from too competitive creative people and keep on going. Don't stop.

This is a good book: https://www.amazon.com/Ignore-Everybody-Other-Keys-Creativity/dp/159184259X

Looking for a new author? Check out my awesome book. It's 43.7 times funnier as the Simpsons in their prime. It's 11.2 times funnier than Catch-22. You being in a rut and looking for a new author could be the break I was looking for! You could be the first person to discover a great author, and rise him out of obscurity! https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Bara-Andrew-L-Frazier-ebook/dp/B00SEEN6HS/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Baby+Bara+by+Andrew+L.+Frazier&qid=1571447192&sr=8-3

Hey Friend,

​

Fellow musician and programmer here. Use my hands a lot, was experiencing painful RSI symptoms. Be open minded but I do recommend this book https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FA5SJS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

​

You'd be surprised at how much pain your own mind is inflicting on yourself right now. My hands feel amazing now. Good luck.

​

​

If you haven't read it, you should check out Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. Each chapter is about a different use for bodies that have been donated to science. It's humorous, engaging informative, and fun. Really great read!

> They're Grado SR-80e, which are (so far) really fantastic.

Very nice! I'd like to have a pair of Grados in my collection someday. At present I don't use headphones all that often. I do have the Sennheiser HD-595 headphones, which are extremely comfortable and don't require a headphone amp. I carry Koss Porta-Pros to work every day... probably the best-sounding headphones in existance under $30.

This book had a profound affect on me like few have. It was on the NYT best seller list nearly a year. Truly a beautiful read, more or less an autobiography written by a brilliant brain surgeon who dies from brain cancer. His wife finished the last chapter. It sounds sad but it isn't ... its about the triumph of the human spirit. You will quote passages of this book years after you read it.

"When Breath Becomes Air," by Paul Kalanithi

r/https://www.amazon.com/When-Breath-Becomes-Paul-Kalanithi/dp/081298840X

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140120416/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That one, the New Penguin Russian Course. I don't really think it was the "best" one I could buy, but it was a well-reviewed book and had recommendations from several websites I found. Plus it was only 13 bucks, so I didn't feel too bad about buying it if it happened to not be a great book.

So far the book has been pretty good. It's got exercises for handwriting and pronunciation, and thoroughly explains things that need explaining.

1. [The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1401308589/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469988382&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=the+five+people+you+meet+in+heaven&dpPl=1&dpID=41D9P3BZSWL&ref=plSrch)
   It's my favorite book because you learn a lot from it.
   This is a story about a man named Eddie and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun. It might seem strange to start a story with an ending. But all endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time.
   
2. I'm not sure. Hopefully if I do have one in the future I can remember it.
   
3. Work , sleep, run, and celebrate my birthday
   

Suction Cup Reacher Grabber by VIVE - 32" Heavy Duty Mobility Grip Aid - Tool for Light Bulb Remover, iPad Pick Up, Litter Picker, Trash / Garbage, Garden Nabber, Long Extender https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O47ILVA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i8RIAbG1EFJWF

It actually works surprisingly great with the small stuff. I can pick up straws and beer bottle caps with this guy.

I really dig the Slight Edge philosophy.

It's if you work on something a day to gain 1% mastery, time will eventually get you there.

It's not about the intensity, but the consistency. The daily discipline.

I highly recommend everyone to read the Slight Edge book.

Did you know Amazon will donate a portion of every purchase if you shop by going to smile.amazon.com instead? Over $50,000,000 has been raised for charity - all you need to do is change the URL!

Here are your smile-ified links:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0140120416/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00

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^^i'm ^^a ^^friendly bot