Tuesday, October 23, 2012

A minute, the moment, and happiness

A Minute, the Moment and Happiness

How to Have a Happy Thought
a review



(First,  if you read October 17th Church of Happy Thoughts and you went to the link for the video and it just looked like an article about eastern bluebirds... that's because it IS an article about eastern bluebirds..BUT, when you scroll down a ways you get to this fabulous video of bluebirds hatching.)

So.
The Moment.  Getting into the moment is key to happy thinking.  There are numerous happy thoughts ALL DAY long that just drop in... things you see, things you think about or remember, hear, etc.  But, recently I read that 80% of our thoughts are not that happy.  For the benefit of our well being and that of all life, it is good to find the way to the place and possibility of happy thoughts. Now and now and now.

There may be some confusion about time, as it has been measured and manufactured to serve our need for order, and our interest in "living in the moment".     There are volumes written on the beginnings of recorded time.. from the simple sundials to the conception of the nanosecond... one billionth of a second. 

A minute, we all know, is 60 seconds.  That unit of time that can be measured any number of ways, like saying "one one thousand", that supposedly takes a second to say. Say it 60 times and you've got yourself a minute.  Or, look at a clock.  Same thing.

But,

How LONG is a moment?  Well, that's a good question.  And the pure beauty of it.  It is right now, and it is infinite. 

A minute, a second, a nanosecond, basically, all have a beginning and an end.  That's the idea of the efficiency of time that the world agrees to.   So, for our purposes here, it is finite.  Everybody agrees, the airline, the pilots, the passengers that a flight is to leave at 8:10.  If you get there at 8:15... you missed it. Those are the rules.

So, you may ask, what's my point?

How can I be happier in this moment than I can in this minute?

Well, when you decide to "get into the moment", you can get into a place that is essentially "out of time"...but, at the same time, completely aligned with time.  Right now. and Right Now just keeps happening over and over and over...and it doesn't matter how many seconds or minutes you are in the moment. It can be all day, or just long enough to breathe in and out, 1,2,3...4,5,6,7.  (You wouldn't want to try to meet a friend for lunch by saying "let's meet in the moment."  You could, of course, meet in the moment AFTER you've decided to meet at noon.)  

So, you may ask, why do it?  Get into the moment?

For happiness.

When you deliberately decide to pay attention to your breathing and instantly notice the sights and smells and sounds around you.  When you find something in your experience, that you already have, that you already like, in your immediate surroundings, or the sun, moon and stars, or thinking about at this moment what your child might be doing in kindergarten or how that mountain goat on a sheer cliff  manages to make its way,  you can find yourself out of time, in a space of infinite possibilities. And when you you are there, here, now, you are lifted for the moment out of the past and the future and into the freedom of right this moment, having everything you need, for as long as you want. 

An amazing thing can happen.  You may find happy thoughts dropping in one after the other.  You may find yourself thinking thoughts you never knew you had, philosophical thoughts about why actually IS the sky blue?  And, even better, someone, somewhere may be having the exact same thought in this moment.  We may learn that there is tremendous life altering power and magic in people all over the globe deliberately having the same happy thought at the same time.

Couldn't hurt.  Might just help. 

If we change the way we think, we can change the way things are.

Hmmm.

What a happy thought.

Oh, I almost forgot...  the Angel Bagel, was something I might have missed, painted on an outside brick wall at Tompkins Square Bagels, (Ave A, between 10th and 11th) if I hadn't decided to be happy this morning.   Fabulous.

Julie














   




2 comments:

  1. trying so VERY hard to comment. because..as you know, i'm a comment-er. and love this unorganized happy church! huge loves my favorite pastor!!! xo

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    1. dear dj, Happy thought for the day: I must have finally checked all the right boxes on the "how to receive a comment on your blog" page..AND, hit SAVE..I think that was the magic..! Now, it is possible I have published this reply twice..
      so happy to hear from you.. xx julie

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