Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!

     What a great morning! Hot, freshly ground coffee. Freshly baked bread. A little Schlock Mercenary to accompany. And now my first post on the new computer.
       The week before last my computer gave up the ghost. Oh, it would turn on; it just wouldn't do much after that. I tried finishing up a solar eclipse post on the 22nd of August and it just laughed at me. I would do the writing on my iPad, then go to the computer to add the pictures when I could get it to work. Two hours later, no finish in sight. It was time.
     So today is Christmas, three months early. I hope the joy that is abounding in my house spills out to you. Have a great Thursday and I'll get back to regular posting once I get all of the computer stuff up and running. Tomorrow sound good to you? It's a date.

What is Valuable?

African dentistry

     I have good friends in Kenya on a dentistry mission, right at the time of a huge hostage standoff in a Nairobi Mall.  Thank God for the modern phone system so I know they are safe, but there is still an overwhelming fear for them.  I look at what they are doing and at the same time my life.  Is it worth it?  As Jesus said (Matt 26:11) "you will always have the poor among you,"  in other words, there will always be another toothache.  Is the work we see in the picture worth the risk.
       I actually wasn't even aware of why I felt down until I looked at my list of thoughts for this post, all of them were about one or two people living their lives for an obscure cause or group of people, all in Africa.  I've been absolutely riveted to the series the Long Way Down, where Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman travel by motorcycle from Scotland to Cape Town.  It wasn't about the bikes for sure, I've seen way too many horrific accidents among my friends.  It is all about the small stories of the people they met.
 years.  To raise one adult black rhino. One.  How do you measure the worth of your days?

waiting line for the dentist

      One of the men was part of a two man team that were raising a baby black rhino.  It's mom was blind, so could not care for the baby.  They worked toe and toe shifts, sleeping right next to the baby rhino, feeding it a bottle every 3 hours.  The care would continue for 4-7
       Later there was the story of the two HIV positive parents who followed the protocol and gave birth to an HIV negative child.  Do you mourn for the dead who only go to the witch doctor or rejoice for the living child?
      Then the well spoken woman who took care of HIV orphans, teaching the origin of the disease and how to avoid it.  She looked very satisfied with her life and sure it was a good thing to do.
     All of these things are important and valuable and remind us that beauty and grace are in all of the small moments in life, not in the Nobel Peace Prize or being awarded a TED talk.  Are they worth the danger?  If it's my life, I always say sure.  When it is my friend's life that I have no control over, well, that's a much harder proposition.  Good thing they make their own decisions.  God Bless to all

Make Your Heart Sing

    In this season of change, I have come to several conclusions. Unfortunately for my blog, I could not put them into words.  Well fortunately for me, the Dalai Lama took care of one.  I've been reaching for a way to explain discernment among opportunities.  So much 'save the world' work is wonderful, but is it always the best use of your time?
     As a veteran 'I'm going to save everyone' person,  I knew that was not true.  My mentor always says 'go for the low hanging fruit,' which sounds great, but figuring out which fruit that is can be problematic.
     Today I was watching a documentary "I am," on Netflix (more about this wonderful movie tomorrow).  One of the people interviewed was Elisabet Sahtouris, who had spent some time on tour with the Dalai Lama.  Here is her paraphrase of him when asked "What is the best thing we can do?"

"Critical thinking followed by action."  Discern the what your world is.  Notice the plot, the scenario of this human drama and then figure out where your talents might fit in to make a better world.  And each of us must do something that makes our hearts sing, because nobody will want to do it with us if we are not passionate and inspired.

     My ikigai is to make each meeting matter, no matter what I am teaching or doing.  What is yours?

Making Life Meaningful

      What makes you get up out of bed in the morning?
      If your first thought is 'duh, the alarm clock', try going a little deeper.  Do you leap out of bed with the idea that today will be a pleasure, doing what you love?  Or is rising from bed a slower, more painful process?
     On the islands of Okinawa, they have a concept that we don't even have a word for in English (like schadenfreude in German).  It is called ikigai which can be loosely translated as "the reason to get up in the morning" or life purpose.  I first heard about it in The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest.  Here is the same concept on YouTube .

     The concept has always made sense to me intellectually, but never in the context of my life.  I've been a student, a naval officer, a mother, an employee, a volunteer but none of these 'jobs' were the reason to leap from bed.  All of these things were what I do, not who I am.  Let's just say the whole thing bugged me.  This fisherman on Okinawa still relished fishing at 86; it was his ikigai.  Where was mine?

     It crystallized this week.  I went onto the Authentic Happiness website and took the VIA survey of Character Strengths.  The results were baffling.  What a useless group of strengths.  Here they are:

1. Appreciation of beauty and excellence
2. Spirituality, sense of purpose, and faith
3. Curiosity and interest in the world
4. Love of learning
5. Zest, enthusiasm, and energy

      Doesn't it kind of look like a recipe for the eternal college student who has studied art, art history, divinity, and basket weaving?  When I looked at it from the perspective of ikigai, it looked different.  It became very clear.  My reason to get out of bed in the morning was almost the same as my business mission statement (Creating a more peaceful world one satisfied client at a time).   My ikigai is "make each meeting matter."  

      Not only does it make each person I meet a little happier, but it also is a continual challenge for my personal growth.  Sometimes it's just easier to resent the person in line who is yelling at their kids or who cut me off in traffic rather than loving them into a better world.  What is interesting is that I have been living by this "rule" for all of my life, but writing it down clearly was such a relief.  Not only did it clarify some past decisions but it also freed me to be the person I have always been.  Strange, but wonderful.

     Now, a lot of you readers I only touch through these posts.  To make this meeting matter, I need to provide interesting information in a clear manner that helps make your life better.  I hope this post fulfills those criteria and helps you find your ikigai.  The journey is worth it.