Learning Joy from a Child

Athena teaches me about joy, happiness, and wonder on a daily basis. Athena is my 2 year old daughter. Her life is simple. Most days she lives in a state of pure happiness. She spins in circles and is constantly in motion exploring her world. I marvel at her. She constantly sings to herself, usually songs she makes up herself, but I occasionally catch snippets of songs I know. If Athena is not singing, she is babbling on in a joyful tone and exploring. Her heart is full of love and she is always available to give you kisses, or looking for her father to beep her nose. I am learning to enjoy the world through Athena’s eyes and to value the lessons that she teaches.

When Athena turns her attention on you, her eyes light up and her love for life is infectious. She has a radiating spirit. I often joke that it takes me 20 minutes extra to do the weekly grocery shopping because she must stop and talk to her adoring public. Athena is unencumbered by what others think of her. She moves through the world in perfect bliss. Just yesterday, she put her shoes on the wrong feet and stood up with open arms proclaiming to whoever was listening, “I did it!” I love her enthusiasm and how she cheers herself on. Her other favorite phrase is “I love it.” Athena is sheer joy in motion. When you thank her for anything she will reply in her sing song voice, “You are very welcome.” I have determined from all that Athena does that she lives in the perfect state of grace. She is as close to godliness as any of us will get. This is what Jesus must have meant when he said that the kingdom of God belongs to a child. As Matthew Fox said in his article Creation Spirituality, “To experience a personal cosmology, become a child again—not an adolescent, but a child—and thereby become a player, a playful being in the universe……If we can learn to delight again and play again, then we will learn wisdom again.” The universe is a Childs playground; for Athena this all too true. To spend time with her is very intoxicating and reminds me of the joy of living. She is a constant reminder to live in a state of happiness.

Peace Is A Choice

When I think about peace and tranquility, I often have the mental image of a Yogi doing meditation under some tree in a remote place in the world—or on top of a lotus flower. Peace is a luxury of those who do not live in the western rat race. I have told myself in the past that I am too busy for peace, that I have too many obligations to sit still for 15 minutes in silence. Nevertheless, I am learning to change my thought system.

Can peace really be achieved? To me, peace means intentionally slowing down on the inside so that you concentrate on the little things like taking a deep breath even when your world is going a million miles an hour on the outside. In every moment of the day (especially when my kids are screaming), I must make the conscious decision of not getting stressed out by the never ending to-do list and the self imposed deadlines. Peace is a choice. It means restructuring my life. I have found that meditation is about turning your life from a reactionary model to a proactive model. Instead of just getting up in the morning and starting into my day, it means sitting in silence and pondering my vexation, slowing down my heart rate, and paying attention to the parts of my body that hurt. In these quiet moments of self talk I achieve a clarity that sets the stage for everything that happens later in the day. Over the last 3 years, I have become addicted to meditation and doing the ‘Course in Miracles’. Meditation saves me from being a crazy mom and a frantic person. I am no longer backing my car into trees or running around in a panic. Instead, every morning I intentionally wake up before the kids to have my solitude. It is like getting a massage for the brain every morning. Quite frankly, meditation is my morning cup of coffee. Without it I am lost.