High on Happiness

Posts Tagged ‘connection’

Peace flows as calmly as a winter stream, as deep as the sky.  Riding our breaths, it fills the spaces between them.  Riding life’s music, it’s the song between the notes.

It’s the presence of harmony and connection, weaving all things into an endless, dynamic whole.

It’s the grace that underlies being, the motion that makes all things sing.  It’s the ever-changing rhythm of the dance, the river of life’s flowing seen through eyes of acceptance and love.

Peace is the whispering of the great Yes, the infinite affirmation that all is, and will be, well.

It unfolds its gifts to us when we trust life as it comes, when we embrace its mystery and echo back its Yes, letting go of our need for it to be anything other than it is, letting ourselves take it as beautiful and perfect beyond our ability to see.

And when we accept the gifts that peace would offer, it wraps around our wounds and heals them.  It dissolves our fears and leaves us valiant and free.  It bathes us in its beauty and makes us fresh and new.

Its right here, now, this very season, this very moment, gift-wrapped with joy and tied with ribbons of love, offering itself to us for a single, silent yes.

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Sometimes I think the whole reason for the sky is to mirror the rapture of the cosmic heart when it touches our knowing.

It takes something that broad and wild, that boundless and free to sing the heart’s Yes, to express its exultation, to hint at the ecstasy of its connection with our human minds.

What else stretches wide enough and deep enough to hold it, to contain its music, or ours, when we trip into the infinite reality, when we taste, at last, its certainty and love?

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Gratitude opens as golden as dawn, unfolding the petals of the heart.  In its light, joy sings, peace reigns, hope bursts forth.

Its warmth dissolves fear.  Its power blots out lack.  It comforts and satisfies and fills.

To taste gratitude is to taste the nectar of life.  Its richness revives us and reveals life’s worth.  It drenches us in complete acceptance.

It comes as a gift, humbling us and making us whole.  Its gentle flame kindles our desire to extend ourselves to one another, to give of our talents, to participate in life with gladness and joy.

In the beauty of its light, we sense our connection to all that is, and to the undying Yes that dissolves all the mysteries.  “Be at peace,” it whispers to our hearts and through them.  “All is well, and you are loved.”

“The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.” ~William James

Oh, how we long to be appreciated!  For building a bond or strengthening one, nothing surpasses the connecting power of appreciation.  Children blossom in its light; marriages warm; friendships deepen.  Professional connections take on greater significance; neighbors become friends.

“There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread,” said Mother Teresa.  Feed someone with appreciation, and you are nourishing his or her very soul.

When you convey your genuine appreciation for someone, you’re letting her know that she’s real for you, that you have heard her, paid attention, noticed and value what she said or did or tried to do.

Appreciation recognizes the goodness in others.  It happens when something about someone touches us in a way that makes us feel uplifted and proud.  Touching our minds, it takes the shape of respect, or admiration, or esteem.  Touching our hearts, it delights us and makes us feel that we have spotted a precious treasure, and it moves us to cherish and adore something in the person who moved us in such a beautiful way.

But the true magic of appreciation is in the expression of it.  Once it’s kindled within us, it wants to leap forth.  It likes to be wrapped in notes and acts of kindness and in words.  “That was wonderful!” it cries.  “I love the way you do that.”  “You really inspired me.”  “That was amazing!”   “Gosh, I love your face in the morning.”  “Wow, you really worked hard at that!  Great job!”

It’s the giving that makes appreciation come alive, that sends it reverberating back and forth between the recipient and giver in an interplay of deepening recognition and meaning.  It’s the dance of human connection, the weaver and restorer of relationships.  It’s the sharing of the bread that feeds our souls.

The mother duck looked so alert and poised as she sailed out into the pond, a bevy of little ducklings following in her wake.  I imagined she was content, following the path that nature laid out for her, performing all the tasks of motherhood by instinct.  She was made to do exactly what she was doing.

I don’t know, of course, whether ducks feel contentment or not.  But they look pretty peaceful.  It’s hard to imagine them saying, “Geeze, I hate this job.  I can’t go anywhere without all these ducklings following me.  Can’t a girl get a break?”

Not all of us find work that feels like we were born to do it.  When I drive to my office in the morning I sometimes wonder how many of the other commuters are going to jobs they dreamed someday they would do.  Very few of us, I’d wager, despite all the “do what you love, the money will follow” advice out there.  But we do end up in work that allows us to exercise our capabilities and, once we’re past the learning curve, to apply our strengths and talents in performing our duties well.   And to the extent that we apply them, giving our work our focused attention, doing it well, we find satisfaction in what we do.

That combination—engaged attention on an activity where our skills meet its challenges—is the recipe for what psychologists call “flow.”  Feeling neither bored nor anxious, you’re absorbed in the moment, performing with focused attention.  You feel in control. You have a clear sense of what you’re working to accomplish.   You lose track of time.  There’s just the activity.  And at the end of the day, you feel that you did something worthwhile.

In addition to the satisfaction that follows a stretch of being in the flow, the skilled performance of our duties yields other psychic rewards.  It provides us with a sense that we contributed our piece to the larger whole.  The earnings from our work help us feel self-reliant.  The work itself moved the company toward its goals and served its clients or customers.  We were part of society’s rhythm as we performed it, connected.  We held up our part.  We met the expectations of our position.  And those things generate a sense of belonging, pride, and self-esteem.

So it’s Monday and most of us are sailing out into the pond, ready to paddle through another work week.  And most of us grumble about it, and say we would rather be eating bon-bons at the beach, or playing golf or gardening.  But the truth is there’s happiness in duties well-performed, however subtle and overlooked its appearance may be.