Happiness is the way

I was chatting with a friend that had been poking around on my blog (Hello Aaron!) and I was telling him how I was doing and realized it had been too long since my last update to the blog.

 

First, apologies who reached out concerned that I was dying after my last blog post.  I never meant to scare anyone or mislead anyone about the condition of my health.  It does sound like it was impactful to a few people who felt the "punch to the gut" of going through that exercise and seeing that somehow we get lost along the way sometimes.

 

It's an interesting time for me at the moment (as I do my best "Dude" impression from the Big Lebowski).

But to be honest I'm really having the time of my life.  I don't know if it's possible for someone to be happier.  I'm grateful many moments throughout the day where I thought...  You know if I died right now, I'd die happy and truly enjoying what I'm doing and working towards something I love.

 

That moment when my daughter asks me to sit next to her because she WANTS me to be right there with her as we play "my little ponies".  It's absolutely adorable that we've taken a game and figured out a way for both of us to truly PLAY and experience things for the first time.  When she's been playing outside and looks up at me with all the wonder and joy and happiness of a 5 year old just PLAYING in the sprinklers.  In that moment she is an awakened being, entirely consumed in the moment...  And I'm watching the amazing thing happen right in front of me.

 

Many of my "spiritual stretchings" have stalled a bit of late because I'm at home with my 5 year old.  And when I'm with her I really try and be WITH her and give her my attention.  Even though I'm focusing on my 5 year old right now, I see that it's EXACTLY the right thing to be focusing on and really am enjoying knowing that I'm doing the work that I should be right now.

 

I was chuckling the other day because I viewed my attention as the "eye of Sauron" from LOTR and whenever I brought it to bear on whatever I sought it burned with an intensity that the other person couldn't help but feel.  It's an interesting thought that if we treated our attention as though we were "Sauron".

 

By changing myself, I change the world.

Reposted from May 13, 2016