The past three months have been a bit of a roller coaster as we finally faced the clutter we have accumulated over the years, while at the same time acknowledging areas of the house that needed attention — in some cases, a lot of attention.

It’s a very sweet thing, as I say, to come to the end of a busy cycle — and realize that the stillness and peace of being that I have come to know and love is present with me now just as it has been throughout the last three months.

This is a remarkable thing, it seems to me. We change, as we meet the challenges of our lives. But the truth at the core of our being is unchanged by any of it.

Trust change — and extend the borders of your life

I came across a rather remarkable quote the other day that I’d like to share, from a Spanish philosopher named Jose Ortega y Gasset. It goes like this: “Our firmest convictions are apt to be the most suspect, they mark our limitations and our bounds. Life is a petty thing unless it is moved by the indomitable urge to extend its boundaries.”

Though they were written a century or more ago, these words portray very accurately the situation or challenge in which we all find ourselves in these days.

It doesn’t matter where we live on the planet. It doesn’t matter how old we are, or what our gender is, or how successful or unsuccessful you think you are.

If we want to live a truly satisfying life — if we want to be truly happy — we must be true to the indomitable urge within us to let the boundaries of our life be extended. And then be extended some more.

We must be willing to question even our firmest convictions — and keep changing.

Listen to your inner voice

Change is not always comfortable. But the funny thing is that when we honestly listen to the wisdom that is in us and answer its call for change, if that is what is going on –it feels good.

It feels very good.

What is hard — the very definition of suffering — is trying to hang on to our convictions and avoid change at all costs.

JoAnn and I have been very happy in our home in a quiet and peaceful cul-de-sac in Loveland, Colorado.

We’d have been quite happy to keep on living here, me going for my familiar hikes, interacting with familiar faces and circumstances — JoAnn going to meet her friends at her local quilting group. But one day about three months or so ago – out of the blue, it seemed — this quiet inner voice began speaking to us.

It spoke to both of us at the same time.

Trust change, trust life

“Time to make a move,” said this inner voice. “Time to go back to Denver.”

I can’t say I know all the reasons behind this move. I can see one or two reasons, and they make a certain kind of sense. But I’m sure there are more reasons of which I’m completely unaware.

It comes down to trust, it seems to me. Trust life. Trust your own inner wisdom. And above all — trust the process of change that is at work in our world.

It’s possible, more than possible, that it knows what it’s doing – and that back of the apparent confusion and chaos in our lives and everywhere else an unshakable order and purpose is at work with blessing in its wings.

But what do you think? What’s happening in your life?

I’d love to hear from you, and I wish you all the very best as you handle the challenges that are up in your own life.

Picture credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fortphoto/380004531/

How to live a truly satisfying life is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Happiness inner peace

Our RV, a nice little 22 foot Winnebago that we call Tanner, needed an emissions check. I drive the RV by the way, because JoAnn isn’t comfortable with it.

We took Tanner over to a nearby garage and sat in the waiting room with a bunch of other people who were also waiting to get their vehicles checked out. Eventually the service guy came to us and said it had passed the test and was good to go.

JoAnn waited inside a few minutes while I went outside to start the engine and get Tanner turned around so that we could leave. There wasn’t a lot of space to maneuver and I had to really focus on what I was doing.

The trouble is that after finally getting Tanner turned around – without hitting anything — I just kept on going. That is to say, I proceeded out of the exit and drove home.

As I opened the front door of our house I heard the phone ringing. “Who could that be?” I asked myself. And then, in the same breath, “And why isn’t JoAnn home?”

This all happened very quickly, you must understand. The penny was beginning to drop, but hadn’t gotten all the way to the ground yet.

“Did you forget something?”

I picked up the phone. “Did you forget something?” a familiar voice asked.

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. “Embarrassed” hardly describes how I felt as I whipped back to the garage at a very hasty clip.

Good job that JoAnn is such a good sport is all I can say. Good job we were able to have a good laugh as we drove home together.

I suppose it’s only fair that JoAnn got quite a bit of mileage out of this story when she shared it with her local quilting group a week or two later. They all roared. Apparently quilting groups like telling husband stories and this one brought the house down.

Reminds me of a joke I heard a long time ago when I was still living in England. A vicar is traveling somewhere by train. When the conductor comes along and asks for his ticket, the vicar starts searching his pockets. After awhile, he gets a bit flustered.

“It’s all right sir,” the conductor says kindly. “I know who you are.”

The vicar looks up indignantly. “My dear man, that’s not the point. I need the ticket to remind me where I’m going.”

Key to a happy marriage?

I always share my posts with JoAnn before I send them out. As she sat down to read this article she had a good laugh and then she said: “What turned that into a funny experience rather than a disaster or fight was because we understand each other.

“The other people in the garage were quite worried for me when they saw you driving off without me, and if I wanted to, I could have been really mad when I called you.

“But I think we’ve learned to be thankful for each other’s strong points while at the same time we understand and accept each other’s idiosyncrasies.”

Is this a key to a happy marriage? I think it is.

The magic of complementation

I’m a poet and dreamer. Imagination is where I live — though I’m happy to say I’ve become more connected to earth since I met JoAnn. One of the blessings of complementation, I suppose you could say.

As you may suspect, I’m definitely capable of being a bit absent-minded at times.

JoAnn, on the other hand, is very focused — very practical, and down to earth. Imagination isn’t really her thing. Ask her to read a poem, for example, and her eyes immediately begin to glaze over.

If you were to ask me what has held us together despite these differences since we first met 15 years ago — I would answer this:

We both love inner peace.

We cherish truth more than anything else in the world — and this gives us a basis for agreement.

Somewhere to turn when we are in trouble

It doesn’t mean we don’t run into difficulties, of course. It doesn’t mean we don’t get into arguments and fights once in a while.

But we have somewhere to turn when we get into trouble together — which so far has never let us down.

As JoAnn said, we have been learning to understand each other better, and appreciate our differences. And while that is all very uncomfortable at times, it is also quite magical and wonderful.

If I’m having trouble trying to make my office look a bit nicer — or if I’m getting nowhere trying to open a difficult package — it’s a pleasure to know I have a partner who can bring a little more practical expertise into the situation.

Growing toward light and happiness

It takes a heap of patience and integrity to learn how to love and appreciate another person without sacrificing our own truth and individuality.

As my mentor said one time: “Perhaps it shouldn’t be live and learn. Perhaps it should be learn and live.”

But as far as I’m concerned, it’s worth every bit of hardship and discomfort that may come along.

What greater joy could there be than to share in a relationship that is growing toward wholeness – toward light and happiness?

To quote the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke:

“For one human being to love another that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof; the work for which all other work is the preparation.”

Or as George Eliot put it:

“What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined… to strengthen each other… to be at one with each other in silent unspeakable memories.”

Picture credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferranp/

The surprises (and delights) of a complementary relationship is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Happiness inner peace

JoAnn and I saw “Invictus” the other day. What a gift. My thanks to the director, Clint Eastwood.  Invictus” (Latin for “unconquered”) is the name of a short poem written by an Englishman, William Ernest Henley, in 1875. The poem helped give Nelson Mandela the strength to handle the vicissitudes of his life.

The movie portrays most beautifully the timeless truth that if we stay true to our integrity, our own true character, we will find freedom even in harsh or difficult circumstances.

Morgan Freeman, as Mandela, does a wonderful job of portraying that gentle, yet strong character that is the birthright of every one of us. It brings him through his years in prison. It gives him the moral strength to forgive those who had mistreated him and tried so hard to break his spirit.  

Matt Damon is also superb as the young white South African rugby captain who, inspired by Mandela’s example, helps him unite his countrymen and bring peace to a fragile land by winning the rugby World Cup for South Africa.

One of the most touching scenes, for me, was when Matt Damon and his team visited the infamous prison where Mandela spent 27 years of his life.

As the young rugby captain looks out of a window at a bleak, deserted area we see a flashback in which Mandela, in convict clothes, is splitting a large rock. Bowed, swinging his pick, he stops and looks up for a moment at the watcher in the window.

Personally, I think this was a great time to release this movie.

Christmas means different things to different people. But for me, the truth portrayed in ”Invictus” is the same truth at the core of Christmas. Just as there was Love and Forgiveness in Jesus, so there is Love and Forgiveness in us. Just as Jesus stayed true to the inviolable Truth at the core of his own being – so may we.

Thank you for reading my blog. I wish you and your loved ones a very Happy and Blessed Christmas.

“Invictus” and the truth at the core of Christmas is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Happiness inner peace

The other tree is so close to the cottonwood they almost touch. It’s a linden tree, graceful, feminine, and verdant with the most gorgeous blossoms and leaves in the spring. I could never prove it of course, but I know the two trees are aware of each other’s existence, and take comfort in their proximity to each other.

A family of squirrels inhabits these two trees. Sometimes they cross from one tree to the other in a dazzling aerobatic leap from one branch to another. Sometimes they travel by a more prosaic route, walking delicately along the top of the backyard fence like a model walking down a runway. Breakfast is around seven, when I put out peanuts at the base of the linden tree.

Of course, other creatures come for breakfast too, including a flock of blue jays. One of them is always on watch when I step out of the house in the morning with peanuts in hand, and immediately signals the rest of the family.

I call one of the squirrels “Edward.” He is a friendly, sociable little creature. I know him by the way he behaves and by the fur on his front, which gleams almost white in the sun as he stands upright like a statue, front paws folded as he waits for my arrival.

Goodness. We have so many creatures in our backyard. We have a rabbit, who has been coming around ever since he was a baby. He (or she) is fairly big now, and enjoys JoAnn’s bread just as much as the grass in the yard. We have flickers, and chickadees, and other kinds of birds. A large family of sparrows arrives each morning from we know not where and takes up residence in the lilac bush that grows just in front of our kitchen window.

It doesn’t seem to bother the sparrows at all when we peer at them through the kitchen window. They chatter and chirp away amongst themselves between short trips to the feeder, somewhat aware of us, I think, but unconcerned because of the glass between us.

A raven drops by every now and again for a drink or some bread. Once in awhile a fox walks casually across the yard, never to be seen again. And so it goes.

How rich and abundant is this one life that we share with trees, with animals, with each other, with the sea, with the stars. The forms come and go, of course, our own included. Even the sun dies, as I was reminded the other day when I visited Eckhart Tolle’s website.

Emotions whirl. Troubled thoughts and happy thoughts rush through our lives. But the one who we truly are is not touched by any of it.

Let me be true to the truth at the core of my being just as the cottonwood and the squirrel and the linden tree are true to their truth.

Let me not deny my eternal heredity. Let me be at home in the stillness and peace of my being just as the squirrel is at home in the branches of the linden tree.

Let us trust the timeless Presence that is in us all, from whence all life comes.

Trust life — like the cottonwood and the squirrel is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Happiness inner peace

Bolt has adopted the cheetah to raise awareness about the endangered African animal. The cub, named Lightning Bolt, was shown clinging to the champion runner’s chest, in the firm but loving grip of two large human hands.

A happy smile lit the runner’s face. The cub seemed to me to be happy where he was, but understandably, slightly apprehensive as the photographers clicked away with their cameras.

I don’t remember the exact quote, but in the movie “Chariots of Fire,” one of the British athletes, who later went on to be a missionary in China, said something to the effect, “God made me to run.” Usain Bolt is obviously born to run. And so is Lightning Bolt — I don’t know of any more beautiful sight than cheetahs racing across the African bush.

We are all born with a calling. But ultimately, it seems to me, we all have the same calling. We are here to let the truth of love, the truth of our own being find expression through us in our lives.

That is our real purpose. That is our true destiny.

Adversity, in these days particularly, is never far away from any of us. But as I was sitting at breakfast this morning, thinking of some problems, stillness came to my rescue and reminded me that there is so much more going on in the world and in each one of us than mere external events.

It happened more quickly than any cheetah could run. It happened more quickly than Usain Bolt himself could run. As I stopped eating, and let my thoughts come to rest, I became vividly aware of the presence of that timeless being that is at the core of us all.

There is wisdom here. There is courage here. There is strength here. Unaffected it is, and undisturbed by any of the outer events in our lives.

“Love never fails,” it was said. Have truer words ever been spoken?

I send love and blessings to all who may read this blog. May the courage of your own true spirit give you the strength and wisdom you need to give your own unique gift to the world.

Giving our gift like a champion is a post from: The Happy Seeker - Happiness inner peace