Be
Happy!
“Begin
today. Declare out loud to the universe that you are willing to let go of
struggle and eager to learn through joy.”
Sarah
Ban Breathnach
I had
cataract surgery yesterday. Right eye. Everything is very bright now, but I can’t
tell you how good it feels to know my eyes will work better. I came home so
happy, I sent my son on his way because I didn’t need help, got out the ironing
board and a stack of clean shirts (my favorite Zen task), put some old-school
rock and roll on the speakers and went to town. When my doctor called to check
on me, I asked him, “Am I high, or do I just feel good?” He assured me it might
be a little of both.
The question
that runs through my head now, after a night’s sleep, is this: “When I feel
good, why do I assume I must be high?” And do we all assume that in order to
feel really good, we must get high? It’s a good question to ponder since our social
culture revolves around drinking. Even our staid institutions, such as Public
Radio, conduct fund raisers in the breweries around town! “Raise a glass for
WBHM!” I remember when they just played classical music around the clock. Don’t
get me wrong, I’m a member of our Public Radio station. I listen to NPR almost every day.
The point is, we’ve normalized alcohol consumption without giving it much
thought.
I
think, actually I know, that it’s possible to be jubilant without the booster
shot of booze. Carl Jung famously said, “Man needs difficulties; they are
necessary for health.” He wrote this in a letter to a friend who had asked
him for time to discuss a problem, when Jung needed to rest. Jung assured him
that a person must be able to stand these struggles because that’s how we advance
psychologically. In fact, in the process of analysis, when one is going through
an easy streak, no problems at all, one will invent something to fret about or even involve themselves in someone else's struggles.
We may need
to struggle, but we also need to rejoice! When times are good, when some
unexpected gift is handed to us, we ought to be able to declare our happiness
out loud! I suspect it is part of the Puritan ethic that taught us that
excessive joy is a selfish aberration to be avoided at all costs. At the very
least, one should apologize for feeling great in the face of a world full of
disaster. Here’s my advice to you (and to myself)—when you feel good, whoop and
holler, dance in the streets, grab hold of joy and ride it like a bucking
bronco. And then settle down and do your ironing.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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