High on Happiness

Posts Tagged ‘Pleasure’

At first, the tulips were reluctant to open their buds.  To stay closed, with their petals wrapped tightly around each other, felt so safe and secure.  The outside, on the other hand, was so unknown, so potentially threatening.

It didn’t help that the spring was unusually cold, that rain fell day after day, pelting against the flowers’ outer petals.

Still, the light of the lengthening days was filled with increasing warmth, and the air that drifted past was filled with bird song.  As they grew taller, thicker, and heavier, the tulips started swaying in the breezes and it was kind of fun.  They learned to bob and bend and their stems grew flexible and strong.  Maybe opening wouldn’t be so bad after all.

When the first one finally dared it, she laughed right out loud.  Everything was so bright and beautiful!

Soon all the tulips were laughing in the sun, rotating on their stems to catch its rays.  They grew resilient in their play and found pleasure in making up ways to adapt to the changes of light and dark, warm and cold, wet and dry.  They spun and bobbed and opened and closed, and stretched and reached and bowed.  And it was all play and joyfulness and they were glad to be in the world.

I was running a little late as I left the house this morning.  But as I was getting in my car, I glanced at the hillside and the light took my breath away.

“The morning of the last snow,” I thought to myself.  “Tonight it will be gone.”  So, late or not, I took time to capture the moment with my camera.

Five hundred and eighty days ago, I started writing this blog and taking daily photos.  Back then, I was asking myself the question, “Why am I so happy now?”  I had no idea where the question would lead me.

But this morning, as I stood in the cold, my heart soaring at the sight of morning sunlight brushing the treetops and laying in pale golden swaths across the last of the snow, I realized that I have a few answers.

And the primary one, the one I most want to share with you is this:  Do that which brings you joy.

Take time to think about the things that give you a sense of satisfaction, that make your life more meaningful, that bring you pleasure.  Then find ways to do the best of them more often—no matter what it takes, no matter how challenging it may be to make room for them.  Let them become a central part of your days.

When you commit yourself to being led by joy, to honoring those things that unlock the happiness within you, you’re expressing more fully who you truly are and living more authentically.

That which brings you joy will lead you more deeply into yourself and bring you rewards you can’t, in the beginning, even imagine.  They’ll release your talents and teach you to thrive.  They’ll connect you more fully to life and enrich your days.  They’ll expand your spirit and lead you wonderful discoveries, within and without.  And your happiness will spill out into the world and make it a more joyful place for us all.

So take some time to think about that which brings you joy, and give yourself to those things.  They will, I promise, give back to you in great measure.

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What if each task was a privilege and joy, and you accomplished it with ease?
What if you decided there was no one you had to please?

What if you let your work be play?  What if you thought it was fun?

Wouldn’t it wow you?
Wouldn’t it wow them?
Wouldn’t it get things done?

Imagine the magic you could perform if you took on each job with pleasure, if you dug right in as if you thought you were digging for wondrous treasure?

If you slipped into each moment with confidence and delight, imagine how smoothly things would flow, how many things would go right.

It’s all a matter of attitude. You can make things tough, you know.  Or you can dance through the minutes gracefully, like grasses in the snow.

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When joy dances through you, whistling like a prairie wind, blowing its flute, streaming its colors in the breeze, give thanks, that it may come to you again.

When joy dances through you, sparkling your spirit, fanning your pleasure, sailing you into ease, give thanks, that joy may visit you again.

When joy carries you to a realm of purity and celebration, when it wafts the fragrance of contentment all around you until it melts your heart and sets you free, give thanks.  Give thanks.  Give thanks.

Beauty walked the field, palette in hand, and everywhere she went she left splashes of joy.  Not a twig, not a shaft of grass escaped her.

She left a banquet for the eye, a feast of color spread beneath the sky for all to see.  And all of it was meant as an invitation.

Come, it said, drink of the season’s delights.  Taste the spice of the harvest time, sharp and pungent and sweet.  Let it linger on your tongue; let its fragrance flow into you like clouds of ecstasy and heal all your sorrows.  I give it to you for your pleasure, from the depths of my joy, to remind you of life’s goodness and treasures.

Every atom has its purpose; every seed, every petal has its place.  Nothing is forgotten, or lost.  Everything is as it should be.  Let there be joy in your heart and celebration.

All is well.  You are loved.

As I walked along the creek’s bank this afternoon, I thought about all the fishermen who had stood there at the start of trout season last month, braving a cold rainy day, just for the fun of it.

The first day of trout season is a big deal in these parts.  The local parks overflow with tents and the fragrance of grilled foods, and even if they have to bundle up in winter coats, families turn out in droves just to launch the season.

Now that the hubbub has died, fishing turns into a much more peaceful pleasure, a chance to get away into the solace of nature, to stand in hip boots in the stream, watching the water flow by, thinking your thoughts, relaxing.

We need that.   We need the pastimes and easy pleasures that let us unwind and get into a leisurely flow.  We need the spaces they provide for our tensions to untangle, for the dreamy free flow of thoughts, away from our routines and obligations.  They’re like mini-vacations for the mind and spirit, refreshing and restoring us and making us whole.

I’m not talking about passive relaxation where you zone out in front of the TV.  I’m talking about engaging in an activity that you genuinely enjoy, just for its own sake.  The key word is “engaging.”   I’m talking about easy pleasures and fun: A sport, a hobby, the pursuit of an interest.

If you don’t have one, get one.  Think about the kinds of things you enjoyed doing when you were a kid, the things you fantasize about doing when you retire.  Browse through the magazine section at a local bookstore and see what grabs your attention.

If you know exactly what your favorite pastime or pleasure is, make time for it.  Build hours for it into your week and keep these hours as a sacred trust.  You owe it to yourself.  It will make you a richer, happier, healthier you.

There didn’t have to be beauty.  A little wave of pleasure now and then would probably have been enough to keep things moving in the right direction.  You know, a little relief from the dullness and drudgery, the anxiety and stress.  A little bit of comfort, a tickle, a taste might have been all that was necessary.

But the world is strewn with beauty nevertheless.  Every corner of it.  It comes in endless hues and shapes and shades.

There didn’t have to be awe, or savoring, or exultation.  We probably could have moved forward with no bigger carrot than a hot, cooked meal and a warm, dry bed.

And yet wonder strikes us now and then so deeply that it takes our breath away.

Why should there be splendor?  Or tenderness enough to make our eyes well with tears?
Why symphonies?  Why poetry?  Why dance?

Why are we so moved by goodness?  Why do we yearn for truth?  What is this mystery in which we find ourselves?  And why do we seek to understand it?

Why is it at once so simple, and so grand?  And why do we feel such gratitude for the very fact of our being, and such deep, abiding joy?

In the world of thought, happiness manifests as truth and light and goodness; as it courses through our emotions, it flows in the rich textures of joy and love.  But oh, when it plays through our senses, happiness reveals its rapturous self in pleasure.

It sparkles through our synapses in a jubilant orchestration of touch, of sound, of fragrance and taste and color.  We become instruments of its best music, spellbound by the rhapsodies it plays through the very biology of our beings.  There’s no part of us it cannot awaken, enchant and satisfy.

Wrapped in a thousand succulent tastes, happiness washes against our lips and tongues, juicing us up, making of sustenance a delight.  It comes as cinnamon and oranges, as barbecue and breads.  It comes thick and rich, baked and fried, leafy and snappy, crunchy and smooth.  “Taste me!” says happiness. “Enjoy!”

But it doesn’t stop there.  It rushes up our noses, too, with the fragrances of morning and flowers.  It wraps itself around memories of home in the smells of breakfasts and babies and clean laundry.  It comes with the pungency of the forest floor, the salty breeze of the sea, the perfume of a lover, the signature fragrances of the seasons.

Happiness pets us with its velvety touch.  It scratches our itches and blows a cool breeze against our hot brows.  It tickles our toes with the grit of sand and the wetness of morning dew.  It comforts and electrifies us with the smoothness of skin against skin.

It dazzles our eyes with light and color, painting itself into our minds through all we behold.  It plays its music unceasingly into our shell-like ears.  It lifts our spirits, it comforts and inspires us with its never-ending play of form and shade, of harmony and hue.  All gifts, all for our well-being and joy.

Come to your senses and open yourself to these gifts of pleasure.  They are happiness at play in you, delighting in life.  Celebrate them and be glad.