Happy Friday, All!
“Let me clear my throat!!” Fingers … maybe?!? … T.G.I.F.! Happily corny today … for different reasons. I don’t know about you but I’ve learned to LOOK for reasons to be happy!! There is certainly enough to be sad about … methinks … So, change it up!! Feels better anyways!
Yes, one of the things making me happy is that I got a surprise visit from my daughter Wednesday night. She is staying with my sister in Port St. Lucie … So, my sister had driven down to take care of some family matters in the FTL and on her way back to “the Port”, she sent me a text and told me she was in town and wanted to meet to give me a birthday present … So we met … right after yoga class at the gym, I drove a few blocks to meet up … Out of the car comes my daughter!! Now, last we spoke before she left Florida nearly a year ago, things weren’t that great between us. A lot can happen when folks don’t agree. I’ve lost friends over that same theme … we didn’t agree. It requires maturity and simple acknowledgment that “I (you) ain’t perfect either!” So, get a grip on your ego and come back down to Earth!! So, I did. We hadn’t communicated when she went back North … until very recently … her birthday in April, I sent an e-mail and she answered me back. I was happy. I was happier Wednesday when I saw her. Keepin’ it simple!
We are pretty much responsible for our own happiness. Tough thought and awesome idea but even tougher to do. Recently, I caught myself saying some “not so nice things” when I was stuck in traffic … or somebody cut me off … or someone was driving too slow. Patience was wearing thin way too often! I even got a ticket after nearly two years of NOT getting one!! I made a U-turn in an intersection where there was a “No U-turn” sign next to the light … I’ve got to “tighten up” … focus on all the training I’ve experienced in yoga and stop letting the “world” affect me so negatively. I’ve been paying more attention to myself … not to mention paying more attention to “Reasons to be Cheerful”! You know, it is the “spiritual warfare” where things in our world have the capacity to crush our spirit … if we let them!! Usually, situations can become challenging in general. Then if you add “negative” people with tremendous “egos”, it may seem hopeless! You may have to make YOURSELF happy in those moments of spiritual warfare when the chips are down, so to speak, and the demons are running wild around you! Do you think … even for a second … that your Creator made you to suffer … at the hands of another “creature” much like yourself?!?! I don’t think so! Find something … something good and simple … some thing or someone beautiful and spiritually uplifting. It could be anything from sitting at the ocean’s shore listening to waves dancing and splashing in the summer evening air. It could be a hug from a good friend, the “hello” from a new friend, a kind word from a co-worker or a stranger in an elevator!! Take your pick!
So Sunday, after what I anticipate to be a quiet yet peace-filled weekend … some fun included … there will be the monthly World Peace Meditation sponsored by my friends with the Brahma Kumaris Group of Hollywood. It will be at Young Circle at ArtsPark near the middle and the fountains under a huge tree starting at 6PM!! I look forward to it! Something simple … something peace-filled … Om shanti shanti shanti.
Peace,
John I. Cook, Director
Educational Excellence 