Second Chance Dance: April 2015

Thursday, April 2, 2015

An Easter Reflection - Happy ( Joy )

Ode to Joy- Cell Phone users click on link

https://youtu.be/kbJcQYVtZMo

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso once told a group the following story that went something like this….

“I went into a green grocer where I saw a piece of fruit that was my favorite. I knew that I would be absolutely delighted if I purchased that piece of fruit and would be happy to taste it’s sweetness. I had more than enough money to buy it but I left the store without purchasing that fruit. I really didn’t need to have it so I could be happy. I can be happy without it.”

Recently after what seemed to be a hard few days on a business trip I returned to be welcomed at the airport by my oldest daughter. The fatigue I had felt earlier on the plane seemed to diminish when I saw her smile as she greeted me and drove me to her home. There my wife and son in law seemed to be slightly frustrated, as my half asleep two-month-old granddaughter seemed restless and whining. I reached out and they placed the baby in my arms and within a short exhale between whines the baby looked up and realized and noticed a new adult was now holding her. It was Nonno! (That’s what the family fondly calls me.) Just like that the baby smiled a smile bigger than her face could hold and quietly rested her head on my shoulder.

My daughter smiled and said, “she is so happy to see you!” I wondered about what is this happiness that the baby is experiencing. I thought, “ What is it within this recently created human being that sparks the flame of happiness or joy? How can she know happiness? What is it that she is really feeling?"

I have read books and heard lectures on true happiness and peace of mind but I decided to do some research from a more scientific perspective. But after reading pages and pages about neuroscience and oxytocins and behavioral stimuli and such and on and on and on, I thought of what causes me to really feel happy.

Just as I have found from my own experience, there is a common thread amongst all cultures that the desire for and attachment to things often brings temporary satisfaction but not a sustainable pure sense of happiness.

Whether the happiness I have felt surfaced when in connection with another person, or stimulated by a beautiful sun filled day, or the song of a morning bird, or walk on a beach at dawn or sunset, or the sweet soothing sounds of a new or familiar song or of course the smile of granddaughter there is something mystical, spiritual …no, sacred that is present. Some common source that connects everything to everything and lives in everything is that essence that fuels our happiness or joy. That pure true happiness is love.

This morning in my journal I began a litany of what fuels my spirit with joy and happiness. I then thought of all those I know and love and who are seeking happiness. I hope they know, as I too must often recall , that it is within us and around us all ways.

It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.

Charles Spurgeon

If you want to be happy, be.

Leo Tolstoy

Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.

Thomas Merton

Joy is prayer; joy is strength: joy is love; joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.

Mother Teresa

Why are we Happy- cell phone users click on link

https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy

Happiness Factor- watch video in the story – cell phone users click on link

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4548604

from" Hector in the Pursuit of Happiness"- cell phone users click on link

https://youtu.be/R2rnzSmlhv8

Pharrell- Happy cell phone users click on link

https://youtu.be/y6Sxv-sUYtM

Happy – Rolling Stones – cell phone users click on link

https://youtu.be/fBcFjNUzFJ0

I wish you all Happiness and Joy!

amdg

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

New Blog - Rain and Rivers Revisited: A Journey of a Lost Weekend

Well you may recall I have been working on a piece of fiction for a while now. It is still a work in progress. However, I decided

to release drafts of the first few episodes ( chapters.) Much of the work is completed but I am always cutting and editing.

http://rainandriversrevisited.blogspot.com/

It is difficult to release just pieces at a time as they are created as independent episodes they are also all parts of a larger piece (and picture .) I could share more but I am curious to read or hear your feedback.

I want to thank those friends and supporters who have already provided feedback ...and of course all the folks who have been following my Second Chance Dance Blog ( by the way that will continue.)

The material in the Blog is all copyrighted and cannot be reproduced in any form. Though, I welcome you to share the link and this blog with others .So please when you have a few minutes take a read and let me know what you think. I expect to be posting a series of subsequent episodes shortly.

Thanks....

News of Death

(This is for Coach)

Last night they came with news of death
not knowing what I would say.
I wanted to say,"The green wind is running through the fields making the grass lie flat."
I wanted to say,"The apple blossom flakes like ash covering the orchard wall."
I wanted to say,"the fish float belly up in the slow stream,stepping stones to the dead."

They asked if I would sleep that night,
I said I did not know.
For this loss I could not speak,the tongue lay idle in a great darkness,the heart was strangely open,the moon had gone,and it was then when I said, "He is no longer here"
that the night put its arms around me
and all the white stars turned bitter with grief.
- David Whyte

What Work is

We stand in the rain in a long line

waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.

You know what work is--if you're

old enough to read this you know what

work is, although you may not do it.

Forget you. This is about waiting,

shifting from one foot to another.

Feeling the light rain falling like mist

into your hair, blurring your vision

until you think you see your own brother

ahead of you, maybe ten places.

You rub your glasses with your fingers,

and of course it's someone else's brother,

narrower across the shoulders than

yours but with the same sad slouch, the grin

that does not hide the stubbornness,

the sad refusal to give in to

rain, to the hours wasted waiting,

to the knowledge that somewhere ahead

a man is waiting who will say, "No,

we're not hiring today," for any

reason he wants. You love your brother,

now suddenly you can hardly stand

the love flooding you for your brother,

who's not beside you or behind or

ahead because he's home trying to

sleep off a miserable night shift

at Cadillac so he can get up

before noon to study his German.

Works eight hours a night so he can sing

Wagner, the opera you hate most,

the worst music ever invented.

How long has it been since you told him

you loved him, held his wide shoulders,

opened your eyes wide and said those words,

and maybe kissed his cheek? You've never

done something so simple, so obvious,

not because you're too young or too dumb,

not because you're jealous or even mean

or incapable of crying in

the presence of another man, no,

just because you don't know what work is.

Philip Levine

On Marriage - Kahil Gibran

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness,And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love:Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loafSing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.And stand together yet not too near together:For the pillars of the temple stand apart,And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

A favorite "Journey" poem from a favorite poet

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.
-- Mary Oliver

Send or post one of your favorites! They can be lyrics to a song!

Playing For Change

Please see the current music video from "Playing for Change" at the bottom of this page. It is a movement. Enjoy!

"Playing for Change" is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world

Fall in Love

“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in a love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.” --- Pedro Arrupe SJ