Finding Happiness in the Purest Pleasure of Living!

Living!

Out for a Sunday morning hike, I admired the calmness of my surroundings.  Across the way, I notice two large dogs pulling a couple, relating it to an Alaskan sled race it struck me how few people enjoy the simplicity of living. 

Keeping busy is most definitely a way of life here in Southern California.  However, must we always be multi-tasking, with every single task having a dual purpose?  What happened to pleasure in its purest sense of enjoyment? 

“Everybody’s on the run, moving so fast, gotta slow it down and breathe, hold fast to your dreams and don’t be afraid to fly, alone in the sky.  When you do then, you’ll be free!  Nothing’s impossible, free!  You’ll achieve the unexplainable, free!  I believe that miracles happen to those who refuse to be told.  They can happen when we least expect, when we let ourselves be free!” –  Free, Elliot Yamin - Singer

Miracles do happen in our lives and small miracles everyday should be expected.  How shall we notice when we’re moving so swiftly through them?  As I reached the peak of the mountain, near my home, I became aware of the exercise I was gaining during this climb.  I was thankful and meditating on a very large boulder above thousands of homes was breath taking.

As I began my trek down the other side, it became clear.  The wonderful weather, the serene landscape and the beautiful valley in which I live, all allowed me the pleasure of a peaceful morning experience.  It was my little morning miracle. 

Expecting miracles is a required human expression.  When can we be simply open and accepting to acknowledge our living among many millions of miracles? Why have we turned our attention to our own devises?  

“It’s ok not to know, exploration is how we grow.   It’s ok to not have the answer, cuz sometimes it’s the question that matters.  I don’t know what’s gonna happen, that’s alright with me.  I open up my arms and I embrace the mystery.” – Just for Today, India Arlie - Singer

There is no way around it.  We don’t know what’s going to happen.   Even with all our hard work, life will remain a mystery.  Embracing the mystery is just as important, if not more than, preparing and planning.  When we open our arms and embrace what we may not have already figured out, realizing our knowledge is limited, we allow into our experience things far greater than we could’ve possibly predicted.   Isn’t that living?

I need neither future nor past, but to learn to take today not too fast”.  ~Jeb Dickerson

What is living to you?  If you are waiting for an event or for something to happen, where’s the living?  If you’re waiting to get off work or for those last five pounds to drop off, why are you not already enjoying?

Plans and schedules are a necessity and goals are monumental.  However, when the preparation becomes perpetual and the present is lost in the preparing, you’ve bound yourself to the prediction and you forfeit the living.  

“We are always getting ready to live but never living”.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Why are we waiting to live?  A client of mine had the best week of his career in his current business.  When I asked him how he would be celebrating, his expression was as if he’d misplaced his cell phone.  He wasn’t quite sure what to do with the question and where to go for the answer.  My solution was simple, “live a little.”

What are you waiting for?  When you can celebrate your life; that is living! 

Tips for your week of really living:

·        Expect Miracles:  How many little miracles can you find this week?  There are so many miracles all around us, some are monumental and many may be small, but recognizing the presence of them will open the door for a flood of many more.  

·        Slow Down:  When we are moving through every aspect of our lives so quickly, where is our appreciation?  Slow down and notice the little aspects of living; your child preparing for school, the trees blowing in the wind and the cat walking along the fence.  Take time to relax and enjoy without an expectation of what it’s to bring.  Notice the small stuff.  After a client began working with me, he noticed on his way home from work an old home. He was so surprised, knowing it had been there for a long while, he’d never seen it before.

·        Celebrate:  Find at least one thing to celebrate each day. Seizing the moment of victory in anything, large or small gives recognition to your accomplishments.  You have got to take time to tell yourself, “Good job!”  This acknowledging is very rewarding and vitally important to your inner being in gaining and maintaining your strength for further progress and productivity.