Many questions. Let’s examine some examples of the pursuit of happiness. As well, let’s examine how selling happiness in the religious arenas of the world might be presented as a kind of commodity.
Feel free to look around. Take what you can use from these posts and leave what doesn’t serve your well-being and happiness.
Posts about Selling Happiness
Is Happiness a Commodity?
What dollar amount would I pay if I could go somewhere and “buy” happiness? Is happiness a commodity? Who might be selling happiness? A supermarket? Amazon? Politics? Religion? What if someone was selling everlasting life? Or peace? What if they were having a sale! Seriously, what would you say if someone rang your doorbell on Saturday morning, got you out of bed, and you opened the door to this: “Hello, my name is George and I’m selling the commodity called happiness.”
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Birds in My Yard
When healing from the ravages of a cult, one of the things needed for wellness is what is called a “safe place”. I live in Vancouver, BC, and my yard is a very restful place where it is easy to relax. Besides my home, my yard feels safe. One reason for the feeling of vital well-being is that I am surrounded by my favorite feathered friends. Chickadees, robins, hummingbirds, and flickers are a few of our frequent visitors. Sometimes, I even have a woodpecker visit me. At times it feels like these lovely creatures are aware of my presence — and they are watchful and cautious — but they still linger. It seems to me that birds all have their little behaviors and preferences, just as humans do! Read more >>
Star-Gazing
During the summer meteor showers a few years ago, my partner Stan* invited me join him in our backyard to watch the shooting stars. Stan enjoys laying on the cool grass. But me? I like to wrap myself up in a floral quilt, which I keep specifically for outside uses, such as star-gazing. It didn’t take very long to glimpse what appeared like a spark almost directly above us. We simultaneously yelled excitedly and pointed, “There!” Read more >>
Address Health Challenges Using Intuition
I guess we all have health issues to one degree or another. I began to wonder if it was possible to address health challenges using intuition. Personally, I have taken myself off wheat and other gluten products (such as rye and barley) since about 2005. My health practitioner suggested a gluten-free diet to combat the eczema outbreaks that tormented me since the 1980s. Read more >>
Pick Up Your Cot and Walk
“Pick up your cot and walk.” (Mark 2:9) Those were Jesus’ words, weren’t they? Just after he healed a paralyzed man? Whenever I think about the Bible, I flash back to some point of time when I used to belong to a patriarchal religious organization. Listening to the elders speak from the platform was a challenge, as I had to wrap my head around the most bizarre ways of thinking. For example, an elder used an illustration about when someone fell down and could not get up. Read more >>
Loneliness or Solitude
Loneliness and solitude are two different things. We can be alone yet happy, because we know we are part of something greater than one’s self. On the other hand, loneliness is a feeling of not being part of anything — of being cut off. It is a feeling of unworthiness, of an inability to cope. I have experienced both loneliness and solitude. Maybe that’s why I chose to read Jean Vanier’s book, Becoming Human. I felt lonely during my first marriage because my ex-husband and I lived in two different worlds. I didn’t understand him and he didn’t understand me. We didn’t communicate very well about our differences. Read more >>
Mom Gets Reinstated
If anyone wonders how much our family was blessed with happiness when Mom gets reinstated, you’re in the right place. I was convinced our family could be truly happy if Mom would just come back to the family religion to which I clung. Finally, in the year 1990, Mom appealed to the elders to get reinstated as a Jehovah’s Witness. She decided to go back to the family religion after being disfellowshipped for 13 years, and I shunned her for seven of those years. Read more >>
Welcome Snow Drops!
“You are a most welcome sight, beloved snow drops!” I exclaim joyfully. The first signs of spring are upon us, and peeking out of the ground is solid proof. They’re a little late coming up this year, but I say better late than never. Usually, by the middle of January, those sweet and lovely little snow lilies (or snow drops) poke up through the snow. This year, they cheerfully announced themselves the first week of February, just before another couple of snow dumps. Have a look. Read more >>
Is Self-Care Selfish?
Is it Selfish to take care of your “Self” first? I’m saying taking care of the “self” first is not selfish, unlike what many of us were taught. It’s a very important aspect of acquiring and maintaining excellent health. Personally, I been active in taking care of my health for many years. An ongoing development process began in the 1980’s. When my health underwent significant shifts, Read more >>
Inner Child Work
Feel the energy on this old family picture. It’s a wedding, and it appears to be a somber summer day in the late 1950s. Perhaps this is an ideal time for me to do some inner child work. Since the 1980s and 1990s I did much inner child work along with my therapist, as well as on my own, once I finished therapy. This year, during Mercury retrograde, I used this photo in a visualization to work with my inner child. Read more >>
Abundance!
In Chapter three of my book I write about my childhood recollections around having money. I didn’t know what to do with money when I was five years old. Having money was an enormous responsibility, to my childish way of thinking. Read more >>
Being Authentic
What does “being authentic” mean? Here might be a good example of authenticity. I hurried home from work yesterday so that I could spend quality time with my cousin who I’m just now getting to know. I also — finally — met her husband for the very first time, even though they have been together for many years. Why, after all this time are we — not until this moment — getting to really know each other? Could it be Read more >>
Monkey-Mind
Koan: Meditate Well-Being
As I change my views about well-being, updating my profile is a must. After all, a writer’s profile resonates much the same as an intention. While journeying along in this life, my aspirations inevitably must change, as seeking vital well-being requires. The profile description has changed several times already since beginning blogging in 2010. The most recent was Read More >>
Vital Well-Being
Is it possible to support my vital well-being while between jobs? It’s a situation which tends to make me a rather anxious. I remind myself I have been through rough spots several times in my life. In fact, I’ve come through several massive life changes — what I call “dark night of the soul” stuff. No matter how huge the challenges, I’ve always maneuvered through financial issues successfully to reach a new plateau of vital well-being. Read more >>
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