Practice
Happiness
“Health
is wholeness and balance, and inner resilience that allows you to meet the
demands of living without being overwhelmed.”
Andrew
Weil
As I
make my way up to Ft. Wayne to be present for my friend’s death, I have thought
a lot about what it takes to live one’s life in a healthy way. Most of us, including
me, swing from emotion to emotion, or block out unpleasant emotions either with
substances, or food, or work. None of that could be considered healthy. The
healthy point would be to feel what we feel--to be able to feel the whole range
of human emotions, but not be overwhelmed by them. Health is not just being
able to get up and do what needs to be done in spite of how horrible you feel. It’s
all about right attitude and right practice.
We know from experience
that life can throw some stuff at you—look at my friend, for instance. He had
no idea he would be here now on the brink of death because of a fall. None of
us know what will happen with this virus long-term or where our political
climate will take us. The temptation to pull the cover over our heads and just
stay in bed is pretty strong. But we don’t do that. We get up and get going; somehow
there is a reserve within us that keeps us in balance enough to continue. I
think that resilience comes from faith and experience. Faith that we are here
for a reason and we are strong enough to handle what comes our way. And every day
of our lives, we experience change. All things change—all living systems
change. We know that what is true today will not be true a year from now. Ten
years from now, all of this will be a distant memory. There is comfort in that.
Happiness is part of
health. Andrew Weil says, “Happiness is a skill. It requires effort and time.”
There is a resilient part of us that knows that whatever sadness envelops us
today has a twin sister who stands just behind it. That sister is happiness,
and she is waiting to step into the light. There is sadness in life, and there
is happiness in life, and the balance between the two is health.
I hope today is a good
one for you. Don’t allow fear and sadness have you off balance. Practice
happiness. It’s like playing tennis—you get better with time.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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