What we need to do is remind ourselves to consecrate every day, take time out at least once a day to quietly experience being alive. And the simplest way to that is to just pay attention to our breathing, which is another wonderful reason to be joyful. Breath is the key to life. Each breath feeds the fire of the heart.
Most of us don’t eat gourmet food three times a day, but we are blessed with sufficient food, and I don’t just mean enough to provide the basic calorie intake to keep us alive. We are blessed with all the associations of a loving mother that comes with the taste of some food, the memories of discovering new wonderful tastes every time we eat them again, and the love that we imbibe with food made by those who care enough about life to prepare good food, a spouse or a friend. I believe that food made by people who love to feed people has special nutritional properties with their love.
If you think that nobody cares enough about you to prepare delicious food, please get a banana and pay attention to it. What a marvel of packaging, flavour and nutrition God provides to you! It grew, it made its way to you and it will sustain you. Now I can hear you arguing that it was provided by a chain of commerce. What if that chain was forged to that banana to you with out any of the links being aware of the chain’s purpose? Might be, and even if it isn’t, the banana is still pretty amazing in its colour, utility, taste and ability to keep us alive. Think about those who only ate bananas, and remained very healthy. And think about bread. I know that it is not much more than grain, salt and water but think about what that means. Bread, naan, chapatti, roti or whatever you call it provides us with the elements of the earth. The process of growing, threshing and milling the grain transforms the earth into a form that we can use. It is the optimism which leads to that confidence.
Almost every spiritual tradition uses the fruit of the earth to impart spiritual nourishment along with the calories, whether as communion, Prasad, dates at Iftar or Karah Prashad in some Gurudwara. I would invite you everyday to take a few minutes to pay attention to the joy that is imbibed in food. Find something simple to eat, maybe a piece of fruit and take time to eat it with focus, eat it slowly, pay attention to the colour and texture than the smell, and the smell, and the taste. Charles Camilleri,
All of us have enough to drink and hope that everybody enjoys at least one drink a day like first cup of tea, juice or a glass of milk in the breakfast. Throughout the day we enjoy a wide variety of things to choose from tea, coffee, lassi, juice and a whole lot more. But how often do we appreciate the miracle that is the liquid we drink? We are 70% water. Without a steady supply of water we would only live a few days. Having access to water is really reason to be joyful, throughout the day. Sit in a comfortable chair with a large glass of water and take a small sip of water. Notice something about the water as you swallow. Feel it with you, feel the water’s presence. Take more small sips, noticing different about the water each time until you drink one third of the water. Now take more small sips, this time noticing something about yourself each time. Keep sipping and noticing until two thirds of the water is gone. Now spend time with the remaining third of the water, notice its relationship with the glass, its relationship to you and your relationship to other things in the room.
So, there are a number of really elemental reasons to be joyful. Celebrate them everyday. Is this simple? Yes, but that doesn’t mean easy. We are all too often caught up in the drama of the day, our pain, effort of work, the demands of family and friends to be full of joy. Yet, we each have a few minutes to celebrate the fire, earth and water and remind our selves to be joyful. We must remain happy and joyful with the facilities whatever provided by God to us, individually and collectively. Be happy and live life joyfully.
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