By Oriah Mountain Dreamer — 2012
This third and final installment in a series by Oriah Mountain Dreamer deals with reawakening to joy and a sense of gratitude returning to her life after a divorce.
Read on www.elephantjournal.com
CLEAR ALL
Pleasure can be a boon or a burden, depending on our relationship to it. It can leaven laborious days, or lead us to waste them. The pleasures of a mild stimulant such as caffeine can be harmless or even beneficial, but the pleasures of amphetamines can be deadly.
What is happiness, and is it achievable? Moreover, is the pursuit of happiness really where we ought to be putting our efforts, or as people of faith and morals, are there other more virtuous pursuits that we should be pursuing?
For most of my life, I clung to the belief that I wasn’t happy because I “just wasn’t wired that way.”
Studies of polar researchers, astronauts, and others in isolation shed light on possible effects of social distancing, including increased forgetfulness, depression and heart attacks.
Many of us treat joy like the good china, only warranted on special occasions. Even if we know it is within our reach, we may not see it is within our control.