All These Places

There’s a whole lot of happiness going on around me right now and I can’t say that I’m complaining.  Yesterday I was just feeling extremely fortunate about what I had in my life.  I had spent a weekend full of fun times and it left my heart smiling.  I posted an update on Facebook, just saying how grateful I felt for the good things in life and noticed that a few other friends, some near and some far, had posted very similar updates.  It uplifted me for a few reasons.

                For one, I am always happy to hear that my friends are happy.  Two, I am a firm believer in the fact that the good stuff needs to be reported on as much as the icky stuff.  I have always said that there needs to be a ‘good news network.’  It would be a place where we heard about all the positive aspects of humanity instead of the many ways in which people seek to hurt each other and the earth that we inhabit.  Now, that doesn’t mean that I want to just live in a world of unicorns and rainbows and deny the fact that there’s some real bad crap happening all around me.  And it doesn’t mean that I can’t all see through the person on Facebook who constantly posts about how wonderful their life/lover/kid is (we all know that person don’t we?).

                And it was just last week that I was in a not-so-great mood.  Did my kick ass weekend negate all the other stuff going on in my life?  Well, no, but it sure did help.  I went for a little run yesterday and started out by chastising myself for sleeping in because it was hot and 1000% humidity when I stepped out the door.  But then, at about the first mile, something just popped into my head.  “Things are pretty good these days sweetheart.”  That’s what popped into my head.  And yes, my little voice calls me sweetheart.  I had this weekend in which the sun shone on everything that I did.  It was running through paint and swimming through turquoise pool water.  It was long talks with friends around a table on a summer night.  I didn’t solve all my little problems but man, I felt like I was taking the right steps towards doing so.

                So as I was writing my status, I typed that I was “feeling lucky” and then backspaced.  Lucky indicates that all of this fell in my lap, that I did nothing to create this little destiny of mine.  It also whispers that it’s luck, a thing which can turn on a dime in a hot second.  And that’s not very comforting.  No, I instead said that I was “feeling grateful”… because I’ve actually done a good deal of work to get my life to this point.   I have cultivated healthy friendships, I followed my bliss to become a yoga teacher, and I know when I need some time alone and when I need to be surrounded by similar souls.  And, most importantly, I’m usually smart enough to realize when things in my life are good and take some time out to offer some silent thanks for it all.

                That’s the big thing of it all I guess….that we realize how many good things are happening in our life so that we don’t take it all for granted.  Because nothing in life in permanent, and everything is always changing so what’s the harm in realizing what you have when you have it.  It sounds simple…but it’s something that is taking me a while to get to.  In times past, I’ve looked at my situation as a giant jigsaw puzzle and if absolutely everything wasn’t shored up into neat little corners, then I felt like a failure.  But here it is, this beautiful little piece of a Labor Day weekend that might not fit anywhere really but if I keep moving it around and finding more beautiful pieces….well, someday it will all take this shape that maybe I can’t even perceive right now.

                A few weeks ago, I was in Canada at the top of a very tall mountain, being guided in yoga by Native American musicians.  It was the absolute definition of bliss.  As I sat in beginning meditation, the sun from a bluebird sky warming my face, the teacher spoke these words—-“what awesome karma we must all have to be here right now.”  And maybe you don’t believe in karma.  But believe in this—something happens when you recognize the good stuff in your life; it’s like you give the universe permission to bring on more good stuff.  Because, be rest assured, bad stuff will happen and more so than that, drastically in-the-middle mundane stuff will happen even more.  So if you’re joyous, feel that, and love that feeling.  And make it a piece of your puzzle.