Tag: Happiness

Much Still To Come

~ Majella ~ 1 Comment

Once we’re thrown off our habitual paths, we think all is lost; but it’s only here that the new and the good begins. As long as there’s life, there’s happiness. There’s much, much still to come.
~ Leo Tolstoy

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
~ Henry David Thoreau

~ Image credit: One of my sons

Things I Love

~ Majella ~ 1 Comment

Julia Baird, Author, Journalist and Thalassophile recently wrote about the simple exercise of making a list of things you love. Inspired by her, and by Andrea Gibson who inspired Julia, I decided to make my own.

  • I love the feel of a book in my hand; no substitute can ever give the same contentment. I love words and the power of language.
  • I love the Dulux paint colour grey green for its peace and beauty. The soft pale green welcomes the garden inside.
  • I love lakes, hills, rivers, creeks and trees; lakes for their tranquillity, the hills for their changing colours, the rivers and creeks in ebb and flow; and the strength and majesty of trees.
  • I love the sparkle of a small child’s eyes when they are telling you something very important; I love the stories children make up with such conviction when they’re trying to get out of trouble!
  • I love snuggling down in bed with a morning cup of coffee.
  • I love the patient unfurling of a rosebud into full bloom revealing secrets at their heart.
  • I love the sound of rain on a tin roof and the smell of earth after rain.
  • I love the sound of a Kookaburra laughing and the chortle of a Magpie.
  • I love reflections on water and dappled light.
  • I love the character of old houses and the stories they can tell.

I found it uplifting to gather them together in a collection, with the memories of feelings felt.

And you — what do you love?

~ Image credit: Matt Gleeson – The renewal of trees after fire

Understanding Is Love’s Other Name

~ Majella ~ 4 Comments

Understanding is love’s other name.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh, Monk, Poet and Peace Activist

A flower is made only of non-flower elements, such as chlorophyll, sunlight, and water. If we were to remove all the non-flower elements from the flower, there would be no flower left. A flower cannot be by herself alone. A flower can only inter-be with all of us … Humans are like this too. We can’t exist by ourselves alone. We can only inter-be. I am made only of non-me elements, such as the Earth, the sun, parents, and ancestors. In a relationship, if you can see the nature of interbeing between you and the other person, you can see that his [her] suffering is your own suffering, and your happiness is his [her] own happiness. With this way of seeing, you speak and act differently. This in itself can relieve so much suffering.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh, from How to Love

~ Image credit: christels on Pixabay

Happiness Myth

~ Majella ~ 3 Comments

A myth we have believed throughout our lives is that we have to ‘get’ happiness, and if we can just get the external details of our lives right, we will be happy. This is not happiness, it is a form of enslavement.

~ Gelong Thubten, A Monk’s Guide to Happiness: Meditation in the 21st century

~ Image: Nelson Ribeiro on Pexels

Happiness In Ordinary Hours

~ Majella ~ 1 Comment

There are many more ordinary hours in life than extraordinary ones. We wait in line at the supermarket. We spend hours commuting to work. We water our plants and feed our pets. Happiness means finding a moment of joy in those ordinary hours.

~ Haemin Sunim, from The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down: How to Be Calm in a Busy World

~ Image: Joanna Malinowska on freestocks.org