why it is important to be happy

recently i have come to a conclusion -  that it is indeed important to be happy.

just because buddhists say: everyone wants to be happy - was not good enough. at least my mind needed a good reason to accept that being happy is important ...even in the face of the destruction going on everywhere on the planet,
or that possibly you live longer because it is healthier.
here is how i came to think it is important to be happy;

there is indeed a oneness of all.
the absolute manifested itself - out of itself it made this world.
it is true what is said, we ARE the body of christ.
- and i currently  view and am beginning to feel every part as a cell, an organelle, a cell network, organs etc
with their own consciousness and function all the way from nano to macro - individual - yet always and already a
part of a whole.
when you love that self, YOURSELF, (even as you are still working on truly accepting ALL parts of it) ...you want - i want - i wish to alleviate the suffering of that whole. i want it to be happy because i love it. and presently, i am therefore NOT impartial  ...but that is another story.
being happy even as a small part of the whole - contributes to the happiness - and health - and wellbeing of IT, the One, God - the whole.

i do not wish to cause unnecessary pain or suffering to anyone anywhere. being happy is helpful for one and all. it does not mean being happy and loud and insensitive.
it does NOT mean being unconscious and unaware of what is also
going on. it does NOT mean NOT feeling, but in the contrary - feeling
more and more of it - and knowing, that being miserable does not heal
or help anything or anyone.

it really is all presence, awareness, attention and attitude...
time slows down
grace can emerge
essential will starts to develop

again, this is NOT denying all the crap, or being blind to it or
allowing abuse with a smily face ...it just means - look around,
pause, breathe, be here and ...be willing to be happy - even if you
have just been riding a deep wave of sorrow, or felt the pain of a
fellow sentient creature, your body aches or you could scream in the face of the abused
earth. being happy is a choice and it helps as in that moment - the
suffering of the absolute - as well as your own -  is relieved.

for me, that is a formidable task.

humor helps
being mindful helps
gratitude helps
dancing helps
appreciation helps
kindness helps
chickens help, flowers helps, dogs help, a raindrop helps, a morning helps, the  sunrise helps, a shower helps, facebook helps, friends help, a mirror helps, a computer helps, soil helps, a movie helps, tears help, a tree helps...the list goes on and on and on - the trick is - being aware of all of it.

being crushed by what you feel is possible - but that is not going to be productive if you wish  to alleviate suffering .....

when i am happy, BEING itself is better off.
i serve better being happy.

- and that is why I want to be happy - because it has a purpose worthwhile .... and my mind needed convincing :) - so the rest of me can go on with the task.

blessings to you and all beings everywhere

dokini

Feeling body of G-D - altar of embodiment

There is a thing called skillful means. I think it is an important skill. Those well studied and experienced and in addition have a well developed social nervous system may have a way to work with certain situations in some skillful way. Don't underestimate the latter - the well developed social nervous system. Some folk' s brains just are not like that. It is painful to watch it in others or to experience it in your own body and mind...the non-skillful ways.
What happens to those who basically are speechless and without skillful words...and even the words that were there earlier - did not matter?

How to proceed when someone else's work -actually, it's quite beautiful and efficient work-, whether through love, personal conviction, sheer obligation,  with consent of others in the company or just giving in to those who cried the loudest - ends up undermining, or at least rendering useless and proving a waste of time  what you considered your work of love? Inexplicably there was such energy there for it..until that moment you find out that no matter what you write now - it won't matter? You just happen to spend a good portion of your life and resources into a project - but you just work there and matters have already been handled.
How to carry on in the conviction that all is mutable and open, possibilities endless, working with inspiration and intuition - when things are already written in electronic stone? Where to take the energy from to continue working on the project? Or is this the Universe telling you - not that direction?

Sometimes I wonder if any of us here in Western culture ever have any reason to complain about anything - no, I don't think so. You have too much, it's too good, too many options, and the planet as it is needs too much to continue to provide us with an embodiment homestead. Having no reason to complain  does not mean there is no pain -  that is part of embodiment, part of being on the planet. This does not mean violence does not happen -  however disguised it may have been...and  well meaning ignorance and it's consequences can be most difficult things to endure.

Violence has various forms  - the insidious, couched disguised violence is not one you see easily. It's not the one screaming in your face, not the one going loud and wild. It is way deeper....and it gets you deeper....but you can't prove it, especially in the midst of smart words and social skills you may not have.

It  gets difficult. You get over it when you put things into perspective, you count your Blessings. You give thanks for all the good in your life, all the possibilities and wonders.  Then you feel the next wave of pain, without obstructing it, and even there, grateful to be a feeling body for G-D, offering up this too on the altar of embodiment of love -  expanding ever so momentarily,  to touch the freedom and the knowing ..the sensing that there is no difference - this beingness of one and only. This is what THIS feels like.

And then you do something else. The energy just is no longer there for what you were doing. And who knows what is better and what anything is ultimately good for? Pretty much you can't see that far ahead. A very long time ago I came across a poem by Stephen K. Hayes: "Do not speak to me of that which could have been. All that was -  is all that could have been. Let us level our gaze and move purposefully into today".

Love does not depend on having respect. Respect will effect trust. Trust had to be earned. Without a certain trust, some things are impossible to achieve between human beings. Ask yourself: is this the company you wish to keep? That world does go on without you just fine.

You can still offer what you do have to offer with openness and love. It just might look differently than what you thought it would look like. Ask yourself: who am I giving to - what is it I am giving and am I giving freely?
Being open means you feel stuff....

Years ago, a few months after I started a new life and work - something came across my desk. I do not remember now where I got it from, it went something like this:

"Just because it's futile, does not mean you should not be enthusiastic."

:) - well, I know some people who might benefit from putting it on their desk...but then again - who knows.

Life is such a mystery.