Jul 12, 2015

Pondering’s

Life Stinks! Why does it not produce the Joy and Happiness Promised?

Sometimes we think we are doing things in the manner described. And somehow the promises of Joy and Happiness do not appear; in fact, so much of life frankly stinks. What happened? Why are things like this? I thought this was to lead me to easy street in life and everything would be roses.

Working the 12 steps is not just mouthing the words, as thousands of addicts have discovered. No, it requires real commitment into giving your life over to the care of the God as you understand God, and taking each day, one at a time, and working the steps and taking the time to complete the surrender of self to this higher power.

Jesus put the problem that we face clearly when he stated: “If anyone says to this mountain, Be lifted up and thrown into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be granted him.” (Mark 11:23.)

This is the underlying problem: we do not believe God will grant us what we want, and as Jesus indicated, we get what we believe: our wishes are not granted. The key is to place ourselves totally into the hands of our Eternal Wisdom, and surrender into the Love that awaits us if we desire. What we have here is simple: we are not to wish for Joy and Happiness, but we have to “Believe that what we say will happen, and it will be granted him/her.” This means not a wish, but an absolute belief that our desire for Joy and Happiness will be granted. This is not faith, but Knowing that it will be granted.

Surrender

Sounds difficult? Not really. It is actually quite simple, if following the simple dictum: “One Day at a Time.” You can drive yourself crazy thinking “How am I going to do this everyday for the rest of my life?” No, all you have to promise is that today, just today, just this very moment, I will give my life over to the care of my God. One day, one moment, at a time. One prayer, one giving of the day. I will spend a time, today, just today, in surrender to the Eternal Wisdom, the Comforter, the Giver of Life, and let my worries and concerns rest in the hands of that Joy of Life that sits inside me all the time (The Kingdom of God lies within.”) knowing, just knowing, that my desire for Joy and Happiness will be granted, and it shall be.

The most difficult part of the process is understanding that these words of the steps are not just words printed on a page before you, to be read and say “Oh yes, this is great, all I have to do is this and all will be well”; and then put it aside, like reading the daily news: “Ah yes, I understand, now what’s next?”, as something finished and on to the next. We are so used to ‘throw away’ news that we see every day, that we flinch when we realize that these approaches to life require a daily monitoring for the rest of my life, even though it is ‘One day at a time’. Having something requiring discipline in life is a different mindset that requires effort to achieve. Most failures to achieve the Joy and Happiness in life that I have talked about is that we do not want to apply the discipline in life it requires. We have become used to ‘instant gratification’, with a simple swipe of the credit card we have the next great thing, great until the next great thing comes along. But here we are trying to achieve lasting Joy and Happiness that does not diminish or vanish from one day to the next.

The discipline is not odorous, no indeed, it becomes one of the greatest joys in life; but it is a daily discipline that must be adhered to if the results are to be what we set out to find.

The question is: do we truly want to find unlimited Joy and Happiness? Part of our problem is that we have never had unlimited Joy and Happiness, and even though it kind of sounds good, is it that good? All you can do is take the words and comfort from those who have found this Joy and Happiness, even in times of sorrow and stress, even in sickness and health, even in the face of death or transition. Yes, the results are that good, worth everything you have in life, that Pearl of great price, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it”. (Matt. 13:45-46.)

The Eternal Wisdom is offering each of us that Pearl of Great Price. It does require us to ‘sell all that we have’ that is, we are required to surrender our ego, that self-centeredness that fills our days, and live a new life, one tuned to the throb and pulse of the universe that surrounds us, allowing us the receive the gifts of Love that flow abundantly around us, and contribute back into that flow the Love that flows through us. We discover that giving Joy produces Joy, that giving Happiness produces Happiness. What we give away we give to ourselves, each time, every time, without fail.

The Process of Surrender

So, how often do we have to surrender to our Eternal Knowing? Once? Once a year? Once a month? The answer is Now. Every Now. If we truly want to find Joy and Happiness we have to surrender every moment, have a knowing that God will grant us the ability “to cast the mountain into the sea”, that mountain of self-doubt and fear that prevents us from total surrender.

Just for this moment, look at your life, just this moment. Is anything catastrophic happening? Or is everything seemingly still, while your read these words. While catastrophic events do happen, the odds are that right now, in this moment, everything seems fine, and the world is not about to end. Maybe tomorrow, but not right now. How do you feel? Are you sad, or are you just a bit happy? Maybe some hints of joy fill the air? Are children laughing somewhere, and can you feel their joy?

If you can feel some happiness, some contentment in life, some joy that seems to permeate the air, God has indeed answered your desires. God exists only in the Now, never in the past or in the future. Every religious faith teaches this if they believe in a God. The only place you will feel the Joy and Happiness we have been talking about is right Now. Only Right Now!

Now

Every Now is a new Now. Each moment, each nano-second, is new, and did not exist before it appears, and will never exist again. And like the Quantum Field, it has an infinite range of possibilities until the Now explodes into being, following in the heels of the previous Now. Each Now is a new possibility, and it does not have to be linked into the previous Now. Therefore if we truly surrender this Now into the Power that lies within each of us, that Kingdom of God, the power of the Universe we call God, we can change the direction of our path, and discover that “The mountain is cast into the sea”, just as Jesus said it would occur, and wonder of wonders, we discover a sense of Joy and Happiness that we did not know existed.

I can not stress strongly enough that we have control of how we perceive our world in every moment of our life. Our perception of the world around us is our universe, and is the only universe we can know and understand. By changing our perception of the smallest event in our lives, we change the direction of the unfolding of our life, event by event. It is this changing of our perception of our life that opens up the possibilities that we can change the direction of our life, simply because we follow the words of Jesus: ,” and shall not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be granted him.” These words of Jesus talk about a perception of the world, a perception that what was desired to happen would happen, simply because we desire it to happen, and nothing more. Doubt cannot enter into the equation, even the slightest doubt cancels out the possibility that it can occur, for the slightest doubt becomes an instant landslide into failure. But Jesus put it like thus: “If you have the faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.” (Luke 17:6).

I am going to change the way we think about the presence of Joy and Happiness. I will no longer use the word “desire”, but will use the word “know”. We will stop saying we desire Joy and Happiness, but we will say that we Know we are and will be Joyful and Happy.

The process is simple, but does require a shift in our lives in both thinking and doing. The following steps will lead you to this level of behavior in a gentle and continuous life:

1. Meditate for at least 15 minutes every day, preferably in the morning to set the mind in a good direction.

2. Stop filling your mind with negative thoughts that have no meaning in your life. Most news is filled with negative information that has no impact now or in the future on your life. Cease following every news story as if it has some meaning to your life, as 99.99% (and a lot more nines) of the time these stories are only information with zero impact on any portion of your life. I no linger watch any news broadcasts, but I keep aware of the world events to sufficient depth to understand what others know so I can discuss it if it seems important to them.

3. Find sources of Joy to be part of your life. Children are a special source of joy, with their gifts of uninhibited joy and laughter. I find music to be a bringer of joy, and I find sources of the type of music and use it daily (for me, I use many sources except modern rock). Each of us have sources of joy that we can draw upon. Make a list of these things that bring you joy and use those items of joy to fill your days.

4. Read joyful or uplifting stories and poetry and many scriptural texts from many sources.

5. Help someone in need, and feel the joy of giving.

6. Even when in a bad situation, find something to bring a smile to your face, and yes, there is always something to smile about somewhere.

7. Avoid things that upset you that have no meaning in your life.

8. Do good, and avoid that which you know is bad.

9. Look for the good in others, for there is always good to be seen if you but look.

Following these and similar lists of actions will allow the grace of God to fill your life in a constant rush to overflowing and bring you to wonder how you could ever have seen life as dull or anxious, and bringing Joy and Happiness into every moment of your life, until you transition into the next stage of life.

Meditation

Great Spirit, you have made us in Your Image and Likeness, filling us with Love and Life. We are grateful for all that you have shown us, and we eagerly await the joy that is ours to experience each moment of our life, here and beyond. You have given us this world which has so much beauty and grace to sustain us, and you fill our lives with opportunities to dip into that beauty and grace to fill us to overflowing levels of Joy and Life. You have shown us the beauty of Your existence, and are constantly offering us ways to find Joy to celebrate life in the fullest. We marvel at the green of summer, the blue sky which is filled with the wonders of our universe at night, the warmth that celebrates life, the rainstorms that bring life to our earth and our bodies, the beauty of the snow of winter to let us marvel at diversity and to truly enjoy the wonders of spring. We are thankful for the ability to see beauty in this world of ours, that wondrous ability to take this chaotic world and see the perfect order that is there. Keep us fresh and green we ask of you, no matter what our age and what are circumstances are at this moment.