The Ministry of Happiness

Happiness, the Solstice & IDoH

Spring in the Mojave, flowers and snow in the Desert

From the end spring new beginnings ~ Pliny the Elder

So much on my mind tonight as I sit down for my weekly post, but first things first.  Happy International Day of Happiness, and a really nice bit of synergy happy Spring Solstice as well.  The following is a really amazing piece of writing by Deng Ming-Dao about the solstice.

It is the time of the equinox, when day and night are briefly equal.  This day signals the beginning of spring, the increasing of light, and the return of life to the frozen earth.

Of course, this day only represents a moment in time, spring has been long since returning and we know that summer will soon follow. The cycle of the seasons will continue in succession.  There is no such thing as a true stopping in time, for all is a continuum.  Nature makes its own concordances a mere outgrowth to its movement; it is we who see structure and give names to patterns.

But who can begrudge temporary pleasures to a solitary traveler?  Let us go out and enjoy the day, revel in the coming of spring, rejoice in the warming of the earth.  For though the ground may be covered with frost, movement and growth are taking place all around us.   Beauty bared fills our eyes and makes us drunk.  As we wander the endless mountains and streams, filling our lungs with the breath of the forests, let us take comfort in being part of nature.  For life has enough misery and misfortune.  Philosophy reminds us enough of the transience of life.  Give us the charm of the ephemeral, and let it silence all who would object.

I took this advice yesterday, I knew that today would be grey and rainy and so in the afternoon I took a stroll. It was a gorgeous day, warm, sunny along my path the rosemary and lavender bushes were in bloom and I took sprigs from each and rolled them in my had.  The smells of spring surrounded me.

I had a lot on my mind on my walk, my Granny’s memorial service is coming up and it will be both a hard and wonderful day.  Hard for the obvious reasons, wonderful for the people I’ll get to see.  Family I don’t often see will be there, including my brother who I see far too infrequently.  We’ll get to share a pizza, a joy for both of us living outside of New York.

I’m also trying to work out one last little adventure before I go back into the working world in June.  Belize, Cuba, Key West and Hawaii have all been rolling through my mind and I need to make a decision tomorrow.  Picking any of them is not hard, what’s hard is the realization that I’m back to a time when I can’t do all of them.

I’m also starting to get into moving mode, I have a start date, June 1st and now I have to do all of the things it takes to get me and all of my possessions 400 miles south and into a new living situation.  I’ll be busy but happy, I’m looking forward to my newest beginning, the job sounds exciting and I get to explore the Mojave Desert and am close to adventures in Utah and Nevada.

So right now, my head is swimming with so much going on inside.  It’s ground me to a halt physically and I’ve been a bit lazy this last week.  My last hurrah for sleeping in and being a night owl, time to start adjusting back to more “normal” default world schedules.

We all go through this my friends, the wheel never stops turning.  Each ending is but a new beginning, it’s spring again, the world is waking and growing and so should we.  Take some time to get some sun on your nose and have a happy day my friends. ~ Rev Kane

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