I'll Send the Sun Smiling Through

as i watch Kamala Harris's campaign, i am impressed with the sense of joy she brings to her run for the presidency.  i see that same joy in the vice-presidential nominee, Tim Walz.  this joy is in sharp contrast to the candidacy of donald trump and j. d. vance, both of whom seem to be filled with negativity and anger.  at their respective rallies, i see the candidates' attitudes reflected in the faces of their supporters:  those who listen to harris and walz appear happy, while trump's and vance's followers seem to be filled with rage.

an attitude of happiness is important if our lives are to be fulfilling and positive.  anger is harmful to those who fill their lives with it and to those around them.  happiness begets happiness, just as anger infects those who spend their time with others who are angry.  happiness is our natural state, and when we allow bitterness and a sense of victimhood to creep into our lives, we become less human.  we suffer mentally and physically and inflict our pain on others.

i did not always believe that happiness was a worthy goal.  i thought that our chief aim ought to be to fulfill a sense of duty and obligation, even when doing so made us unhappy.  i now realize that one can be happy while still shouldering our responsibilities.  when we feel duty-bound to do something that makes us unhappy, that task is not something we ought to undertake.  it is good to say no at times.  we must live the sort of happiness that brings us joy and spreads joy to those around us, not a selfish pleasure-seeking life that flits from one temporary moment of elation to another.

may we make happiness our intention.  may we let go of anger and recrimination.  may we not seek out temporary pleasures and instead discover what makes us happy for the whole of our lives.  may we share our happiness with others.  shalom.

Memory Lingers On

each week when we go over to care for our granddaughter, we marvel at the changes we see in her.  this week, she had become able to sit up for longer periods of time and was struggling to figure out how to move from a lying position to a sitting position.  she was tracking movements around her with more precision and interest.  she had learned to hold her bottle on her own and knew that if she raised the bottle to a higher position she could get the last of the milk from it.

seeing her development has made us yearn to spend more time with her, so we have decided to move closer to the home of our son and his partner.   we are exploring the different towns nearby and looking at the available housing.  we've been told that our home here will sell quickly, so we know that we will need to be prepared to move as soon as we put it on the market.  knowing that we may be able to spend more time with our granddaughter and her parents and to be of greater help to them fills us with excitement, though we dread packing up and moving.

as we age, we will need more assistance from our children, so it seems prudent to be closer to them.  when we need them, it's unfair of us to expect them to make a two-hour drive each direction to get to us.  knowing that we may soon be near our family is exciting, especially so since our daughter and her husband plan to move to the same area in a few years when they retire.  the thought that we may be able to live out the remaining years of our lives with our children nearby fills us with a joy that outweighs the arduous task of moving.

to end our years on this earth near our children and grandchild makes the coming of death more palatable.  may we each hold those we love dear to our hearts, even when we are separated by many miles.  may we do what we can to help one another.  may we see each person we encounter as one of our kin in the knowledge that we are all brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, and children of one another.  shalom.

When Morning Lifts the Veil

when i think about suffering, i am reminded of the part of my morning meditation when i say, "may i understand my suffering, may i recognize the clinging and craving which cause it, may i have confidence in and take refuge in the teachings of jesus and the buddha, may i learn to walk on the path that leads to the end of suffering."  in the past couple of years, i have experienced the suffering that comes from aging.  i feel pains i never felt before, and i am reminded that my body which has served me so well is wearing out.

i've gone through two rounds of physical therapy to help ease discomfort in my back and hips.  fortunately, the exercises i learned in therapy help if i do them regularly.  now i must make time to do them daily in order to live my life without debilitating pain.  i suppose part of my suffering in this sense comes from longing to function as i did at a younger age, but the physical suffering i experience is the result of something quite different from "clinging and craving."  

most people my age are suffering in the same way as i am.  we try to stave off the effects of aging, but our efforts are not entirely successful, though they may offer some relief from pain.  recently i read that it is a good thing to remind ourselves daily that we are dying.  as long as we have breath, we are in the process of coming to the ends of our lives.  as i told my daughter yesterday, i am getting old and i want to continue to get older.  the only remedy for stopping our dying and aging process is death.

may we be grateful for bodies that have seen us through the days of our lives.  may we recognize that each breath brings us closer to the cessation of breathing and give thanks for those breaths.  may we live our lives so that we can say that we have lived fully, compassionately, and well.  shalom.