Tracks In The Dust

A Father's Advice About Learning the Mission of Life

Archive for the tag “Joy”

27 May 2012

De-coding Happiness

It is amazing that being happy seems so hard. It means so much to so many people who are seeking it daily, perhaps even hourly. They are looking all over for it. At work, at home, at play. No matter where they look they are always trying to get more. Sometimes when they are happy they don’t even recognise it – too busy thinking about the next thing to do on the course to happiness.

Contentment perhaps, is more like it often times. It doesn’t feel bad, it is somewhere on the same side of happy. Just that feeling that you are in the right place at the right time. That things have lined up well in your life and you are “good” with the place you are in.

So it seems like there is a need to de-code what happiness looks like. I have casual friends who have jobs that allow them to have virtually all the possessions they want. They have collected them to surround themselves with potential happiness genrators that will perhaps make each day a better day. But surrounded by all of those possessions and property, they seem even less happy than someone with a tenth as much. So okay, “money can’t buy you happiness”. Got it. But then why keep trying? Because it makes them happy to try I think.

So sadly happiness is a state of mind, driven through the spirtuality of recognizing that there are more important things that the earthly posessions. The energy spent collecting up happiness could be so much better used. As humankind it seems like we have so much more potential, more to seek JOY. Now there’s a word. Almost always coming from an interaction with a living thing. A child or a parent, a family pet or something from nature, something of beauty. Joy is from God.

Joy has a component of happiness; in itself the most precious of contentment. Thank you for those times in happiness. Enjoying the mission of life; taking on the idea that we all have a purpose for being here while we are alive. To bring more to the light and peace that is true happiness. Are you there with me?

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged God, Happiness, Joy, life's meaning, Love, peace of mind, Self-Awareness, spirituality

26 May 2012

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Summer Begins

In the US this weekend is special, it is Memorial Day weekend. On Monday we are to observe a holiday that is dedicated to pausing to recall our veterans of the military who have fought for our freedom. It is one of the most important holidays we have as as a federal holiday, as there are so many fallen men and women who have blazed the trail for our country. They should not be forgotten.

It is also the unofficial beginning of summer. Even though summer solstice isn’t until June – this holiday weekend seems to be the launch of summer, and for all things that it means. My memories of this Memorial Day weekend have always been steeped in tradition and anticipation. Over the years it came to signify the end of the school season and the beginning of some serious length of days off. Of course once you are out of school it’s different. But the ghost of that feeling is still there.

Other summer memories of smells, sound and sun kick in as well. Barbeque on the grill meant that smell of lighter fluid and briquets that had a pungent petroleum smell that always ended up in good eats! The sun-tan lotion that smelled like coconut. The cold brew taste of beer and the music that was pure-pop, originally on some little tinny radio on AM but later blasting thru the latest size of boombox. The Beach Boys begat the psychedelic pop of the late sixties, that brought on the dancing music of the seventies and the punk of the eighties and grunge rock of the nineties, but there was always something that would wrap the sounds of the summer in a package.

So for me the summer begins, not so idyllic as it once was, but summer none the less. Some promise of some “summer vacation” where there could be some “summer fun” (cue the Grease song). Some days when it will be too hot to go out but we will anyway to take in the summer. Nites on the patio with a cold sweating drink, time around the pools or at the beach. Perhaps some time onboard a boat on the cool water of the ocean or lake of your choice. What ever it is, summer is here.

The bookend to that will be that weekend at the end of summer. The unofficial end on Labor Day weekend in the US when we all begin our journey to the fall season. Bring out the warmer clothes in anticipation of those crisp autumn days where we can enjoy trees changing colors and fire pits with a warm glow. But until then, it is time to soak up the sun. May it be a wonderful summer.

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life, Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged Joy, life is precious, Memorial Day, Memories, Music, Slow Down, Summer

11 May 2012

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Stopping to Look at the View

All around us there are things to see. Yet so often we are in a hurry to experience the world around us. Sharing some views I love in nature and the world.

Whether it is in the backroads of the US or around the world or in your backyard, stop and look.

Glass Winged Butterfly

Lavendar Fields in France

Ladybug Lands with Style

: The Edge of the Earth Austrailia

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged backroads, cherish, glass winged butterfly, Joy, life is precious, Reality Check, Slow Down

10 May 2012

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Compassion

I have always believed that one of the most valuable things you can posess in life is compassion. What comes of that is the heart of the Spirit that is “love,joy, peace,forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness and self-control.”

Here is one of my life’s songs. Compassion (Todd Rundgren)

You want more, and still more,
Until you get more than you ever bargained for.
Now its plain, clear as rain,
I’ve seen your symptoms many times before.

Lying on your bed of pain
What will you have now?

What are riches untold in a life without compassion?
For there’s no winter as cold
as a life without compassion.
There’s no prescription that’s sold
that can heal you like compassion.

Well you tried and you cried,
And let your disappointment make you hard inside.
You have doubt, you reach out,
Still you’re the only one you care about.

Hiding in your sack of woe
What do you need now?

For there is nothing so sad
as a life without compassion.
And even love has turned bad,
it was love without compassion.
And you don’t need what you had
‘Cause you did not have compassion.

Dying on your bed of pain
What will you have now?

You’ll get no judgment from me,
I can only feel compassion.
And if that’s what you need,
I will give you my compassion.
Just don’t forget about me
‘Cause we all need some compassion.

Open up your heart
so you can start to feel compassion.
Get down on your knees,
pray to heaven for compassion.
Everybody needs compassion.
If you want to be healed
then you know you got to feel compasion

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life, Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged Acceptance, Compassion, Galatians 5, God, Grace, Health, Joy, life is precious, Sprituality, Todd Rundgren

19 Apr 2012

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The Value of Sharing

I have noticed lately that the value of the things in life seems to change as you get older. I remember as a much younger guy putting so much value on certain possessions in my life. Some of them I collected them up like a hoarder, thinking that if I had the biggest number or the most unique I was going to be more fortunate or recognized for it. Others sat in a drawer or a closet as treasures that would remind me of the past, or as something that signified a special moment in time that was only captured in the self-designated souvenir.

No doubt if others examined these things, most of the items would seem to have no significance to them at all. Many friends and family my age have shared the same experience; over time so ironically many of the things they have collected have become less significant. Memories fade, priorities change, the reason for having them becomes obsolete. Those collections of jewelry, record albums, magazines, books, clothing and the like… just don’t seem to be as important as they once were.

As I got older I began to understand that many of the major purchases I had accumulated over the years didn’t seem to be as valuable either. In some cases now, it has become more about function over the form of it. After all they say “you can’t take it with you”. I have begun to cherish the value of “time”, of nurturing relationships, sharing the virtues of living with those I love most- my wife, family and friends.

Sharing the good news of eternity while carrying out the mission we all have while we are here on Earth. That has more significance than the collection of possessions or souvenirs I could collect. Memories and experiences I was trying to capture in keepsakes aren’t as important as finding ways to share them with family & friends and those who may just want to know.

Perhaps that is why blogging and social networks are so popular these days. Like “posting” something to share can be so digitally permanent it can mean something more, in comparison to those collections of possessions that often only get dusty or spent with age.

Like tracks in the dust, over time our footprints will fade away- but the souls of the people we interact with in a positive way will help to carry-on long after we are gone. Corny yes- but..“The love you take is equal to the love you make”