Joy At Last

"Joy at last, to know there is no happiness in the world."

This statement is by Thai Meditation Master, Ajahn Chah. I had never heard it before today and instantly fell in love with it.

The pursuit of happiness - and our hoping to find it through material things, entertainment, personal fulfillment, intellectual and scientific pursuits, religious experiences and achievements - never ends. Happiness eludes us no matter what we try and how successful we are at achieving all of our dreams. Even when we achieve our fondest dreams we feel we should be happier than we actually feel. Somewhere there is an idea or a memory what it should feel like. It is like water running through our fingers. It always seems so close, just around the corner. We can't hold on to it for long when we do feel it. Things, events, insights all give it to us for a moment or a while, only to be lost again. This is how we spend our lives and it is what makes the world go around. There is nothing wrong with it. Without this mechanism life would not go on - and still - we need to wake up from it to find the joy we were born with that this Thai Meditation Master is talking about. When we do, we laugh with relief. It was never lost in the first place. We were just so busy preventing it, by looking for it endlessly - like someone digging for treasure with a golden, diamond studded shovel.

Show Me God

All you need is a piece of chocolate.

Wave And Smile

This morning on my way home from school a group of middle school boys from out of town, were walking towards the ferry terminal for their spring field trip to Angel Island which sits in San Francisco Bay. It was obvious that they were excited, and a bit awed by our wealthy little town here on the Bay, where Porsches and Ferraries zip by every few minutes. One boy - shy, but ready to be bold - waved at me as I drove by, to see whether he could make friends in this magical place. Waving back I was hoping that my hair would look shiny, and my sunglasses big enough to make me look like a movie star, so it would make his day. No glory in waving at an old Mom who just dropped off her child number five at elementary school. Sure enough, he broke out in a triumphant smile and walked on, a foot taller with an extra bounce in his step, suddenly the alpha male of the group - and made my day. The light of his spirit stood out from the little crowd he was moving in.

Sometimes making yourself or someone else happy, is that easy.

The Big Secret

Just in case someone may be wondering...

The stories I write here about people, are not here to promote the book. The book flies out of my hands wherever I take it, and when someone needs it, I just give it away. Since I started this project three years ago, without any intentions of becoming an "author" or "illustrator", things have been happening worth noting and sharing. The book is almost a little catalyst in my life to engage with strangers and there are a lot of surprises. Those are fun to write about.

This summer I gave Here You Are to several people I have known almost my whole life, and found out that they all were meditated on a regular basis. One even had a meditation garden, and another one had had her child in a meditation play group for several years. I would have never known. People are somewhat reluctant to talk about their interest in meditation, and then so happy to find someone who understands. Understands what exactly?

That we can be happy - without religion, without money, without power, without the perfect life, without anything, even without our loved ones - ( some of the people I am talking about had lost a child, a parent or a spouse recently) - if we just sit silently. It's the big secret.