|
|
Dalton
Roberts |
|
|
The
realization has grown in my mind that the two essential elements of
happiness are humor and awe. At
first appearance they may seem unrelated but in my experience they are
Siamese twins. As life unfolds it has become almost unconscious for me
to apply them equally to all experiences. To
phrase it another way, the degree of happiness we experience is directly
related to how much humor and how much of the sacred we can find in
every situation. It
may seem ridiculous to speak of finding humor in some of our worst
experiences. In one divorce I was so somber it would have made George
Burns sit down and cry his heart out. About all I could find in it was a
touch of awe that I had been faithful and supportive in every possible
way. In previous relationships I had not been able to be that faithful
and supportive. I felt a sense of fulfillment. But over the years more
and more facets of that life experience have become humorous. As
I read and re-read each year my journal entries over those years and
look at all the notes and cards and letters from her and my notes on the
things we said and did, humorous aspects jump out at me. The healing
hands of time hold out to us a big grin. Why
feel grim about something when we can find a grin in it? We feel grim
because we have formed the mental habit of classifying sad experiences
as grim. As we look at them we can learn to reclassify them, to view
them from other angles and perspectives. We learn to see humor where we
have never seen it before. Finding
the sacred is not any easier. We have trained ourselves to view bad
experiences as evil. Yet most of our great leaps forward in
consciousness come from difficult times and painful situations. The
third truth that will help until we can find humor and awe is the truth
of community. We can think of all our fellow humans all over the world
who are going through exactly what we are going through and suddenly we
do not feel so alone. It helps dissipate some of the fear of dying to
realize that billions of beings have gone through the experience. It
helps us dissipate any fear of anything to realize how many of our
brothers and sisters have gone through it and are going through it right
now. Make a new habit of stirring humor, awe and community into all situations. Make
a visit to www.daltonroberts.com
or go to www.ipsfeatures.com.
where all his writings are gathered. Write him at DaltonRoberts@comcast.net.
|
