Wednesday, July 18, 2007

A Decision

This little something-something was given Sunday evening, July 15, 2007




I was told at some point this week, or reminded, really,
That the main part of the experience of happiness
Was the decision to be happy.

Now, that’s just the sort of reminder that I love
Because it’s something simple
(Though of course, not everything
That is simple, is easy)
It’s something I can actually affect myself,
Something I can live into,
And it’s something that can have a bold and
Altogether significant effect on how I experience the world.

And since, even though I had heard it before
And had already attempted to incorporate it
Into my life,
yet it was a lovely reminder,
so I’ll repeat it again:

The main part of the experience of happiness
Is the decision to be happy.

And this idea does, I believe,
Tap into something greater than the isolated
Event of profound happiness
Gained by the decision itself

This idea taps into the very
Abundance of the Universe
That is already overflowing with
Joy, among other things

No longer a zero sum game
Order happiness from the menu and you have
To swap out something from
Column B, or two from Column C.

It’s more like putting your hand
Down in the water,
While sitting in a speeding boat

Just testing the water with your fingers
Provides you with a face full of happiness
As the water joyfully leaps up
At your mere inquiry.

And while perhaps you hadn’t planned
To have a face full of water,
Or Joy, at that exact moment
You can’t help but be happy about it

Because that’s the nature of joy.
And that’s the nature of abundance.
Just like exercising is guaranteed
To improve cardiovascular health

On demand, just like that,
A law of the universe, though it seems
Counter-intuitive huffing and puffing
On the treadmill, or in the park

Fully aware in that moment
Just how out of shape you really are
But you know this drop in the bucket
Will eventually fill the bucket

So it goes with any instance
Of the Abundance of the Universe.
So it goes with Love, with Understanding,
With Compassion, Wisdom, and Creativity,

So it goes with everything good
Every little thing, every big thing,
So it goes with Joy, and the rest –
Assumptions, fears, angers,

And all the things that stem from them,
Though they seem endlessly abundant
They are only in the way
Between us and the Reality

They’re the hurdle we have to
Pick out in the distance
So we’ve got a running chance
To jump over it, and not get

Cut down just as we get started.
Because all of those fears, angers,
Assumptions, those petty hatreds
And annoyances we cling to so admirably

Are really just the things keeping us
From having to trust
The Abundance of the Universe

They are really just the things keeping us
Distracted from realizing
That Truth isn’t in the smallness of
Right vs. Wrong, of my way or the highway

Truth lies somewhere else,
Somewhere at the intersection of Joy and Love
With a side of Compassion,
In Wisdom’s neighborhood cooperative

And that the directions to get there
Are blissfully simple, though not always easy,
As Mapquest won’t help,
Nor Google, for all its worth.

It requires summarily dropping
All that you carry
Tainted with anger and fear,
Injustice and intolerance,

Leaving it cold turkey,
And doing a 180,
Because so long as Fear is before you,
Love will be in the opposite direction,

And then you just walk.
Just go straight ahead,
Or more or less straight,
Keep walking, though it’s hard at first

Sometimes it’s easier to think about
Walking away from the Fear, or Anger
And work your way up
To walking toward something

That may seem foreign at first
But you’ll get there,
We all will – we’re all capable
It’s available to every one of us

This Abundance of the Universe.
All we have to do is lean over toward the water,
Reach out a hand, and feel the
Powerful wave reach right back at us.

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