High on Happiness

Posts Tagged ‘Understanding’

For no other reason than an affinity of spirit, they’re drawn to us, hearts and hands open, wanting nothing but to walk a stretch of the journey by our sides.  And yet, what riches they bring: Comfort, encouragement, understanding, a belief in our worth.

You would think that was enough.  But it goes on.  Friends pull laughter from their pockets and long strands of honesty from their sleeves.  They have mirrors in their bags that reflect our worlds from whole new perspectives.  They keep our secrets under their hats and carry handkerchiefs scented with pardon.

Friends sit by our sides when we’re hurting and fly streamers when we’re glad.  They sing our successes and think our failures are nothing at all.  They share their bread and stories.  They find flashlights in the dark.  They’re not afraid to walk with us through the hard and scary places, and even if they are, they walk with us anyway.

All this, for no other reason than an affinity of spirit.  Makes you think that the guy who wrote this play must have had a big heart of his own.

Interpret it as you will.  Call it allegory, call it myth.  Take the current account as literal truth.  It doesn’t matter.

What matters is that inside you, something is drawn by the Light.  Something in you longs for the Word that will make all things clear, give you hope, give you peace, let you understand, heal you, love you, set you free.

And once, we are told, the Great Yes took on human form and came to live among us, offering all this and more, pointing the way, living it for our benefit.

And even though its passage through the sands of time and across a multitude of cultures has woven countless versions of the tale, its essence remains.  Its truth lives within us still and sings to us in the darkness, bringing hope, kindling the flame of faith, of belief that all our highest ideals are rooted in it somehow, and through it will one day blossom and bear fruit.

Past the farthest reaches of our reason, beyond our limited capacity to understand, the Great Yes speaks to us still, to our hearts, to our spirits, to our souls.  It beckons us.  It radiates love and joy.  It tells us we are one with it, and with each other.

In it lies fulfillment, and peace, and freedom, and boundless potential.

And on this night, we sing of the legend, we sing of the story.  We sing of the birth of Love and Light, of Peace and Good Will, personified in a being who took on human form that we might be truly known.  And our hearts overflow with the joy of it, and burst with a grand Alleluia, in praise, in worship, in thanksgiving.

And from the heart of the cosmos, the Source of it all, the Giver of Life, echoes back our joy and, calling us each by name, whispers, “All is well, my child.  Be at peace. You are loved.”

The heart of happiness knows all your sorrows.  It tastes your jealousies and anger, and understands your grief and pain.  And when they visit you, these seasons of darkness, happiness wraps them in webs of its compassionate light.

You may feel it only as a longing for relief; but that longing itself is happiness reminding you of its presence and peace.

The heart of happiness is the radiance that shines from the core of your being, from the center of your every cell, from the center of all that is.  It flows beneath your sadness as ceaselessly as it flows beneath your joy.  Its light enfolds your tears as tenderly as it sings with your laughter.

Your emotions are but melodies playing on its surface, the colors that dapple its flow.  And it dances with them, and with your thoughts and with your dreams, sparkling them with its clarity, bathing them in its beauty, endlessly pulsing its oceanic love.

It fills all the spaces; it sings in the silence; it breathes its light everywhere, to the ends of the universe and beyond.

And it knows you, intimately, as its child.  And it whispers without ceasing, “All is well.  You are loved.”

When I say that a best friend truly understands you, what do you suppose I really mean?  Does understanding mean that your friend will sympathize with your hurts?  Comfort and console you when you are disappointed?  Stand on your side when you have been unjustly judged?  Absolutely.

But it goes farther than that.  It also means your friend understands that you don’t need to wallow in your hurt and disappointment or to carry a grudge. A true friend will remind you of your healing capacity, of the temporary nature of a wound, of your essential dignity and your ability to transcend misfortune, to reestablish your boundaries, to champion own your rights.

Do you need a meal?  Some exercise?  A change of scenery?  A nap?  A true friend sees your real needs and shows them to you.

A true friend helps you rediscover your perspective when you lose your balance.  Maybe you need a reminder that you’re not a loser just because you make mistakes, that errors are for learning, not for self-blame.  Maybe you need to see that the good in your life is far more abundant than today’s misfortune.  Maybe you didn’t see that someone’s remark or action wasn’t intended as an attack but was no more an indication of his or her mood.

Best friends can do this because they pay attention to you.  They notice what’s going on with you, and when you need it they address your needs with respect, belief in you, and positive regard.  And that’s exactly the vantage point that helps the most, and the one from which we can most benefit as we practice being our own best friends.