“I love smiles and laughter. If one wants more smiles in one’s life, one has to create the right conditions for it.”
- Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama of Tibetan Buddhism
These things happened this morning:
- Upon waking, I posted a song by Antonio Vivaldi on Facebook. I do this most mornings. I recently took a month or so off from Facebook and have been told a few times upon my return that my presence was missed, which made me pretty happy.
- I was sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor and the cat got in my way. Again. I pushed her, forcefully, out of my way and cursed at her. To be clear, I didn’t kick her outta my way or even push her with excessive force, but there was an air of “WTF dude?” in her screechy little meow.
- I went over to tend to Lucky the Golden Retriever, my pet-sitting charge this weekend. After I fed him, chastising myself the whole time for getting testy with the cat, I took him for a walk. In the middle of this walk, I turned up a street and Lucky didn’t seem to mind at all. This is rare because Lucky always seems to get a little miffed when I walk him because I don’t take him on the same walk as Rosemary, his human and my parents’ neighbor does. Right after I made the turn, the very same Vivaldi song came radiating out of … well … nowhere really. It just seemed to be emanating from a string of hedges.
- Before I went to Rosemary’s, I texted my Mom and told her I would be at the family Easter gathering this afternoon after telling her yesterday that I wouldn’t be there. She texted and told me that I had made her glad.
- Before I took the walk, my father came outside and gave me a gift. I hugged him and told him happy Happy Easter. Then me and Lucky went for the Vivaldi walk.
- Last night, I went to a multiple-martial arts event with some friends. I don’t pay attention to MMA, but a couple guys suggested it as an alternative to the weekly poker game we play and it was good to get out and be with the guys in a social setting. After the fight, me and a couple guys talked on the way home about the crowd at the fight, motorcycles and our collective ongoing frustrations with the opposite sex. As my friend Mitch said, the change of scenery was pretty therapeutic. This is the same guy who routinely “gets” my topics for our AA home group meeting and recently took over for me as co-chair of that meeting. It’s safe to say me and Mitch pretty much “get” each other. I could say the same thing for all the folks who attend my home group meeting. Including another Mitch, who’s room I took over when he left the sober-living, or “squat,” house we both were residents of almost three years ago.
- Later today, I’m going to get a new laundry basket. My roommate needs one so I’m going to get him one and I really hope he doesn’t take it as a sign of frustration at the fact that he routinely uses one of my laundry baskets. I hope he takes it as a sign that I realize we need an additional laundry basket, so I bought one. And I hope it makes him smile.
- When I got home from Lucky’s house, I mopped again and noticed Buttons the cat needed water. So I filled her water bowl. She didn’t smile because, unlike dogs, cats don’t smlle. But she did lick my fingers with her sand-paper tongue before she drank. I took that as a good sign.
When all these things happened, it made people, a dog and a cat smile. Me, the Mitches, my Da, Lucky, my sainted Irish Mam, and Buttons the cat. So what’s the profound message I garnered from all these instances of kindness, friendship and love?
I don’t have a profound message. It’s really a pretty simple message. Create and contribute to conditions of positivity, laughter and kindness all around you every minute of every day. You will find yourself a happier person because of it.
That is all.
Happy Easter.
My Zen Brain 