“H” FOR HAPPINESS.

Someone recently suggested I offer a workshop on finding one’s joy and happiness. I was a bit stunned because I don’t know what the guidelines would be. But I suppose I do have a few ideas.

One: Find your tribe(s); and, two: find your fun!

In the last 20 years, I have discovered the joy of being with people that share my values, my spiritual path, and certain practices that I do. Coming into these groups was like coming home.

The first is my 12 Step fellowship (and, since, other 12 Step fellowships). The second is my Focusing community. A third is a group of women here in Costa Rica who meet once a month simply to support each other (and eat good food). And, I have been thinking another tribe of mine may the…artists! 🙂

Recently, I joined “Honda Red Riders,” so I have finally found my biker community! 🙂 How cool is that?!

 

Below are two photos of the first biker group to invite me on a ride with them: Traveller’s for the Kingdom. The leader reminded me of a silver-back gorilla taking care of his troop (when he stopped traffic with his bike to let us go across a road)! What a feeling of being protected! Loved it. 🙂

And my new biker friends, Jacquie and Konrad, who are teaching me many important things about riding, like what to wear.

So, I invite you to look for your tribes. Connection, camaraderie, companionship — are some of the many gifts of community. We are, after all, social mammals, meant to relate with and respond to each other. It is by “togethering” that we find our emotional balance and spiritual power…our joy and laughter. Just as I wrote that I never feel alone when riding my Honda, it is also important to make sure I do not spend too much time in solitude. Being with “safe” others who bring out the best in me and to whom I can offer my love and affection makes life all-the-more meaningful. Seek and you shall find!

Secondly, FIND YOUR FUN!

One day, while Focusing, I realized that “there is so much love in happiness.” (And, yes, there is so much happiness in love as well.) If you allow yourself to do those things that make you soul-happy, then you will be filled with love and with a full and thankful heart. As The Course in Miracles says, “God’s will for you is happiness.”

Happiness takes a while to become part of our lives. We must do a lot of psychological and emotional healing with practices that free us from the traumas and core beliefs of our past. Doing this, finding your community, and then committing to seeking those activities that make you come alive will help you find “a new freedom and a new happiness,” as 12 Steppers say.

For me, riding my Honda is SO MUCH FUN! Not only do I behold amazing beauty, but I feel the air, smell the delicious scents of Costa Rica, explore new places, and, well, just enjoy myself to the fullest!

Go ahead. Life is too short (or too long) to not find your happiness and fun, whenever you can.

When you feel the beauty, know the love, and live the power, you will be well on your way to FINDING YOUR FUN!

H. For Happiness. H for Honda Happiness. 🙂