Last night I saw an amazing one-woman show called Leaps and Bounds, offered by The Affording Hope Project (http://www.affordinghopeproject.org); it was a beautiful, joyful, living creation myth played out on stage, and in the audience. Weaving together pieces of several cultures’ creation myths, as well as ideas about ecology and economics (and how we’ve been sold a bill of goods about scarcity which causes us to hoard),  Tevyn East offered us an opportunity to change our minds, right there and then, about how our future will play out. Ms. East is touring the country; don’t miss this chance to see and support this beautiful and hopeful show.

This idea of hoarding reminds me of an experience I had several years ago at a small but very popular cafeteria: At lunch, management put out a sign asking people not to save seats for themselves and, indeed, when people followed this request, the turnover was such that, just as you got to the end of the line and turned to look for a seat, someone was leaving. But if one person decided to save themselvs a seat, out of the fear that there wouldn’t be one for them when they were ready to sit down, then the system broke down, and people started having to stand around, holding their trays, waiting for someone to get up and leave.

This is Wayne Dyer’s message for March 30. I read this as I am eating my breakfast of poached eggs on pancakes, and I look at the exquisitely orange yolk of this organic, free-range egg from a friend’s chicken, and see how beautiful it is. It’s as simple as that. I look out my window and see this beautiful little stream flowing through what used to be a field of tomato bushes; the change is as beautiful as the former constellation. I am listening to my favorite online morning music station (Radio Heartland: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/services/radio_heartland/), and I find the beauty in the bluegrass song, Stan Rogers, Elvis Costello, Randy Newman—even in the unidentifiable c/w song. Perhaps, if I listen closely enough, I might even find the beauty in a rap song; who knows? See if you can “select beauty as your focus” today, tomorrow, and beyond.

My wild and crazy minister (aka “the pagan pope”) and I were having an audience with the “real” pope, who was dressed very simply in a white robe. We were all sitting cross-legged on the floor, though the pope was raised slightly on a dais. My minister took out a pipe filled with marijuana, took a few pufffs, and handed it to the pope—as he did so, I placed my left hand on his back—who also took a few puffs. The air filled with smoke. At one point the pipe flared up into flames, but then settled back down to just smoke. I didn’t smoke, though I certainly got high from the smoke in the air.

Part of my “interpretation”: I am witnessing/supporting the integration of the free and structured aspects of myself, by sharing a “peace” pipe.

This dream has stayed with me for many weeks, and fills me with joy and a sense of freedom every time I think about it. I am always delighted by my minister’s freedom to be himself, and also appreciate a pope’s challenge to be himself within the constraints of his office and all of the expectations attached thereto.

The way I know this is that, if it did, I would have finished my taxes and had my rerund by now.

Once again it is snowing. Schools have been closed, travel in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with their penchant for black ice, may be difficult or even dangerous. I am grateful for having the day off to play/create in my home studio.

All of my fiber art is, in some way, spiritual; I began by making labyrinths, then buddha-figures; now I am making purses. What ties them all together is the joy I feel when I am creating; I have come to the conclusion that there is no higher art than this, whether I am creating something in my studio, serving a customer at the fabric store where I work part-time, or making dinner with a friend. Joy is what makes each of these acts holy, whole, and spiritual.

• Make regular play dates with yourself to do one of those things you are always too busy to do but which you really enjoy.

• Do something similar to the things you most enjoyed as a child. (For example: if you liked making up stories, try writing or storytelling. if you liked banging on pots and pans, take a drumming workshop. if you liked playing dress-up, go try on some clothes, just for the fun of it.)

• Imagine every cell in your body as a happy face, giggling.

• Quit listening to/reading your usual news sources. (Try this for 1 week; this includes “women’s magazines.”)

• Check out positive news sites, such as: http://www.positivenews.org.uk/cgi-bin/Positive_News/welcome.cgi.

• When you feel irritated by someone, search for something you appreciate about them instead.

• Remember the “glow” from when you first met your current partner? Come from that space the next time you see them.

• Look for things to smile or laugh about, remembering that the joy comes from within you.

• How often do you smile during the day? (Extra credit: smiling for no apparent reason.)

• When was the last time you laughed out loud? (Extra credit: laughing for no apparent reason—it just pops out of you.)

• Do you have any sacred cows? (Topics which you consider too serious to laugh about—ever?)

• Under what circumstances do you feel most joyful? (Did you ever notice that the common thread in all those circumstances is you?)

• Do you consciously bring your inner joy to your: day? work? relationships? How?

• If you find something (including a thought) upsetting, how often do you choose to turn away from it and focus on something uplifting instead?

• Go back to your earliest memories of yourself as a child:

—What were you most likely to do when playing unsupervised?

—How often do you engage in similar activities as an adult?

• What do you do to actively bring joy to a(ny) relationship after the first glow is gone?

*There are no wrong answers, and none will be provided, but coming soon are suggestions for keeping the glow going in your life.

Check out this picture for a reminder of what joy is like: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mongol/465550988/

I’m sure you’re wondering what that means. One of my “mentors,” Abraham, says you must “make a decision that you’re going to be happy one way or another—no matter what.” But if you are relying on the external world to make this possible, you are coming at it from the wrong direction. The happiness comes from within you, and is then radiated to the world around you. I invite you to take this challenge which I recently gave to a client who was one of the least happy people I had ever met: Each day, come up with one thing that you are happy about. The first few times she really struggled with this, but within a few weeks she was coming into the office enthusiastic and excited to share what she was happy about that day, and each day the list got longer. Now, the things in her life, and in the world, hadn’t changed—she was the one who had changed; at my urging, she had decided to try bringing a different attitude to how she lived her life. Interestingly, as she got more skilled at this, her world DID change; very quickly there was more of what she really wanted in her life, things which hadn’t been there when I first suggested the practice. 

http://www.thingstobehappyabout.com/

I recently attended a concert by one of my favorite singer-songwriters (Peter Mayer) and had a huge smile on my face from beginning to end. I kept the glow with me through the rest of the evening and was still radiating it the next morning, but I allowed it to fade when I went to work. Then, during a challenging interaction, I remembered the concert, and the glow, and brought that forward once again into the current situation. Suddenly I was smiling, and things began flowing more easily. Whenever you get into a funk, recall a time when you felt joyous and bring that feeling forward with you. And check out http://www.petermayer.net for some delightful music.