I would be so happy with your sense of happiness. But I am me, and you are you.
I feel that I am happy to a certain degree of contentment, just like you, with very simple things. But sometimes, when I write - I’m writing my memoir - it brings up unpleasant feelings about how things were back then, and then I need a good walk to get back into my comfort zone. Or a conversation with my husband.
I feel happiness always in my eyes :-) Then I get a little emotional because I’m so happy with my wool socks, my coffee, waking up, and the holes in the rainy sky where the sun shines through for just two seconds. That moves me. The darker moods I feel in my stomach, like something gnawing at the edges, something sad.
I enjoyed your writing. It was really good. Thank you.
Yes, happiness in the eyes. I love that. And maybe my throat. I feel sadness in my chest, I think, heavy. And anger in my belly and across the bridge of my nose. Thank you for the chance to think about that.
The world is always falling apart. If you want to find proof, you don't have to look hard. Or you can focus on finding proof of the opposite - that you make your own happiness and it's not a crime to be happy if others aren't. I have spent too much time worrying about others' happiness. Even writing that sounds selfish - but if I don't put my mask on - I can't breathe to help others.
I love this, Barbara. I’ve experienced this same thing recently choosing to go inward, be creative and practice hygge which is easy to do here in Minnesota. It brings such joy and happiness. It’s what’s keeping me sane as I anticipate the utter chaos about to come. Thank you for expressing this so well.
Barbara, yes, be happy! I loved this post. It brought up two things/memories. The first was from Ted Lasso, when he tells Sam that the goldfish is the happiest animal on the planet, because it has a 10-second memory, and in a later episode he reminds his team to feel their sadness, and then be a goldfish. You don’t care any less about all of the sadness just because you don’t drag it around like Jacob Marley’s chains.
It also reminded me of my master’s thesis on Vasubandhu’s Thirty Verses, and how we create our own suffering all too often with our minds. That’s a bit oversimplified, and the perfected nature (of mind) as Vasubandhu put it, is when we can let go of our story about what’s going on and simply be present with what is. Those moments of being awake I think are the happiness you describe. I love it! And your photo is evocative - I can feel it churning. Thank you.
I shot the photo on the beach a couple of days ago--such high surf and wildness with those birds, just sitting there. And I love the image of dragging around dark emotions like Marley's chains!
Maintaining a positive attitude is difficult. It must be practiced, and I don't pull it off all the time, but it is worthwhile. And while we're feeling fairly cheerful, let's not forget to organize.
I agree that being in a state of happiness is the Resistance- the opposite of what the Trump people seem to vibrate to. While I was in grief for weeks after the election, that emotion has now become something else - an inner calm and state of mind that is mostly happy. Perhaps we can ride these feelings for the next 4 years and be aligned with spirit while the wheel of Karma plays out.
What excellent thoughts. I am of the school of happiness as a choice. That belief that we choose our reactions to what happens. Not a fan of anger, as my observation is that it hurts the host more than the recipient. Around our house, we often say "It's what It's," and then choose how to respond.
Happiness and joy are totally the Resistance!! I'm feeling it, too. Strange, but true. Like, this is it, you guys. Watch us not cower and quake and react to every stupid thing you say and do. Instead, we dance. We work. We laugh and we love. I wrote about it on Medium a few years back. Defiance as a spiritual practice. The cool thing about joy is that it's catching. Love this post!!!
Thank you Barbara. I resonate with what you wrote about joy in these times. “They can’t take our joy away from us,” Black Americans taught me.
It’s nice to read in one of your posts that you live in Oregon. I love the Northwest. Last year I returned to Oregon where I was born & raised after living 40 years in Los Angeles. So good to be back, rain and all. After watching the heartbreak of those fires in LA, I had a deeper appreciation for the rain here that nurtures all the forests and wildlife, gives us water to drink and keeps most of Oregon green. Like you, I also like to write and paint. I like your writing and insights. We each have gifts to share that can help heal & uplift this world in ways we may never know.
I would be so happy with your sense of happiness. But I am me, and you are you.
I feel that I am happy to a certain degree of contentment, just like you, with very simple things. But sometimes, when I write - I’m writing my memoir - it brings up unpleasant feelings about how things were back then, and then I need a good walk to get back into my comfort zone. Or a conversation with my husband.
I feel happiness always in my eyes :-) Then I get a little emotional because I’m so happy with my wool socks, my coffee, waking up, and the holes in the rainy sky where the sun shines through for just two seconds. That moves me. The darker moods I feel in my stomach, like something gnawing at the edges, something sad.
I enjoyed your writing. It was really good. Thank you.
Yes, happiness in the eyes. I love that. And maybe my throat. I feel sadness in my chest, I think, heavy. And anger in my belly and across the bridge of my nose. Thank you for the chance to think about that.
The world is always falling apart. If you want to find proof, you don't have to look hard. Or you can focus on finding proof of the opposite - that you make your own happiness and it's not a crime to be happy if others aren't. I have spent too much time worrying about others' happiness. Even writing that sounds selfish - but if I don't put my mask on - I can't breathe to help others.
I love this, Barbara. I’ve experienced this same thing recently choosing to go inward, be creative and practice hygge which is easy to do here in Minnesota. It brings such joy and happiness. It’s what’s keeping me sane as I anticipate the utter chaos about to come. Thank you for expressing this so well.
Love the image of hygge in Minnesota!
Barbara, yes, be happy! I loved this post. It brought up two things/memories. The first was from Ted Lasso, when he tells Sam that the goldfish is the happiest animal on the planet, because it has a 10-second memory, and in a later episode he reminds his team to feel their sadness, and then be a goldfish. You don’t care any less about all of the sadness just because you don’t drag it around like Jacob Marley’s chains.
It also reminded me of my master’s thesis on Vasubandhu’s Thirty Verses, and how we create our own suffering all too often with our minds. That’s a bit oversimplified, and the perfected nature (of mind) as Vasubandhu put it, is when we can let go of our story about what’s going on and simply be present with what is. Those moments of being awake I think are the happiness you describe. I love it! And your photo is evocative - I can feel it churning. Thank you.
I shot the photo on the beach a couple of days ago--such high surf and wildness with those birds, just sitting there. And I love the image of dragging around dark emotions like Marley's chains!
Maintaining a positive attitude is difficult. It must be practiced, and I don't pull it off all the time, but it is worthwhile. And while we're feeling fairly cheerful, let's not forget to organize.
Indeed. I don't make it all the time, either.
I agree that being in a state of happiness is the Resistance- the opposite of what the Trump people seem to vibrate to. While I was in grief for weeks after the election, that emotion has now become something else - an inner calm and state of mind that is mostly happy. Perhaps we can ride these feelings for the next 4 years and be aligned with spirit while the wheel of Karma plays out.
I'm intrigued to discover I'm not alone in my sense of inner calm. So interesting!
Yes- it is interesting and I think it is a way of surrendering so that we aren’t focused on the chaos and won’t be triggered as much..
Good point!
What excellent thoughts. I am of the school of happiness as a choice. That belief that we choose our reactions to what happens. Not a fan of anger, as my observation is that it hurts the host more than the recipient. Around our house, we often say "It's what It's," and then choose how to respond.
Happiness and joy are totally the Resistance!! I'm feeling it, too. Strange, but true. Like, this is it, you guys. Watch us not cower and quake and react to every stupid thing you say and do. Instead, we dance. We work. We laugh and we love. I wrote about it on Medium a few years back. Defiance as a spiritual practice. The cool thing about joy is that it's catching. Love this post!!!
Joy IS catching!
Thanks! I needed that!
Thank you Barbara. I resonate with what you wrote about joy in these times. “They can’t take our joy away from us,” Black Americans taught me.
It’s nice to read in one of your posts that you live in Oregon. I love the Northwest. Last year I returned to Oregon where I was born & raised after living 40 years in Los Angeles. So good to be back, rain and all. After watching the heartbreak of those fires in LA, I had a deeper appreciation for the rain here that nurtures all the forests and wildlife, gives us water to drink and keeps most of Oregon green. Like you, I also like to write and paint. I like your writing and insights. We each have gifts to share that can help heal & uplift this world in ways we may never know.