Category: Commentary

The Art of Happiness – Excerpts and Reflections 1

Hello Readers, It’s been quite a while since I’ve written on this space. As those of you who have read my posts know, this blog, which I started in 2014, has provided a venue for whatever has been most significant or meaningful in my life at a particular time. It began as a travel and food blog, morphed into a place to vulnerably expose my story writing, jumped to a promo site for my film, then briefly reverted to a recipe blog. The beauty of this is that it’s really a place to reflect and if anyone wants to jump in and read what I have to share – all the better.

My current status has led me do what I sometimes need to do when I feel like things are just not quite right. When I feel like my life is off kilter. Skewed. I study. I don’t do yoga. I don’t meditate. I don’t pray. I study. So, I went to the library with no particular book in mind. I roamed through the stacks, perusing book titles, then stopped abruptly when I came upon The Art of Happiness – A Handbook for Living, written by Howard C. Cutler from extensive interviews and time spent with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I’ve always been fascinated with the notion of happiness and as a philosophy student/professor, I, of course, explored it privately and with my students over the years. Yet, I still never have come up with a satisfactory answer to what it means to be truly happy and how to get there. So, I thought, ok here’s the book I’m going to study first.

After reading the first several chapters and taking notes, it occurred to me that I would be helping myself and possibly others if I summarize some of the points that resonate with me. So, for the next entries over the course of however long it takes, I’ll tell you about the book. I think it’s very important to mention that the book is not promoting Buddhism, but one cannot help but see the Buddhist influence on these ideas. Don’t be afraid of this. No matter what your faith or lack of, you might find it interesting. My method will be to first give direct quotes and paraphrases from the book then reflect personally on that section. I want to do it this way because you might find the excerpts valuable but my reflections distracting or unhelpful. Perhaps you want to read the excerpts. Do some of your own reflecting without my input, then come back and see if we had similar or different reactions. In any case, it will be here for you. Maybe you’ll need to read the book for yourself. If one thing within these pages helps one of you today, then I’ve done something good and that will make me happy. 🙂

For the most part, I’ll progress in a linear fashion, start to finish, but today I wanted to begin with a meditation offered by the Dalia Lama to a large gathering (Chapter 7, page 129). I’m starting here because I often feel that when I’m reading “self-help” books, it takes a while to get to something specific that I can do right now. And this is what happened in this book as well. I had to wait until page 129 for a mind exercise. Tomorrow, I’ll start from the beginning, but for now, give this a try.

“So…let us meditate on compassion today. Begin by visualizing a person who is acutely suffering, someone who is in pain or is in a very unfortunate situation. For the first three minutes of the meditation, reflect on that individual’s suffering in a more analytic way – think about their intense suffering and the unfortunate state of that person’s existence. After thinking about that person’s suffering for a few minutes, next try to relate that to yourself, thinking, ‘that individual has the same capacity for experiencing pain, joy, happiness, and suffering that I do.’ Then, try to allow your natural response to arise – a natural feeling of compassion towards that person. Try to arrive at a conclusion: thinking how strongly you wish for that person to be free from that suffering. And resolve that you will help that person to be relieved from their suffering. Finally, place your mind single-pointedly on that kind of conclusion or resolution, and for the last few minutes of the meditation try to simply generate your mind in a compassionate or loving state.”

~~~~~~~

Reflections

In the beginning of the blog, I said, I don’t meditate, I study. Well, of course I’ve TRIED to meditate. I set my phone timer for some minutes, thinking I’ll do a few more minutes with more practice. I sit on the floor cross legged, hands on knees, sitting tall, eyes closed. Clear my mind. Hmmmmmmmm. Clear my mind. Wait did I eat breakfast yet? Hmmmmmmm. I wonder how long I’ve gone. Hmmmmmmmm. My butt hurts a little in this position, maybe tomorrow I’ll sit on a pillow. You get the picture. I’m not good at meditation. I give up pretty quickly. What I liked about the meditation above was that it was actually something I am SUPPOSED to think about. Very clear direction and something we can all do. Because we all know someone other than ourselves who is suffering right now.

The word suffering might be off-putting to some of you. Perhaps too intense or dramatic. Maybe you want to just think about someone who is having a rough time. Someone who has an illness. Someone who has recently lost a loved one.

More tomorrow.

Love, Trish

When Pigs Begin to Fly

This morning was a clicking kind of morning. You know the sort when you start by looking up one thing on Google and it turns into 10 clicks and an hour later. That was me, until I clicked on the lyrics to a song called “When Pigs Begin to Fly” and a myriad of thoughts flooded my noggin. Here’s how it started. I was doing research for my new story (Chapter 1 coming soon. Read it here!) so I began by looking up historical information about a town called Duxbury MA – the fictitious town in my story, Deluxbury, MA, is based on this Boston bedroom, coastal community. I read about the shipbuilding industry that began in the mid 1700’s and progressed to 1840. Part of my story will incorporate 1840 happenings, so next I searched for music from 1840. This is where I came across the song “When Pigs Begin to Fly.” I was particularly drawn to that song title because last summer I attended the wedding of my dear friend Ann Unwin’s daughter Morgan at the Inn at Leola Village. When we arrived to check in, we noticed the guys at the desk were all wearing ties with varying patterns of flying pigs. We asked, “What’s with the ties?” As the story goes, when the new owners took over the inn, they were told they would make a go of it “When Pigs Begin to Fly!” Apparently Pigs are flying somewhere, because the inn is a wonderful place and seems to be thriving.

Although I had previously heard the saying, I really had no idea of its origination. As far as I can tell the original song was written as a joke about women’s rights and the idea of cremation. I don’t know about you, but I don’t associate these two ideas. However, in the mid 1800’s, both concepts were seen by some as absurd – women will have the right to vote and people will opt to burn in this life rather than an afterlife – when pigs begin to fly. Apparently pigs are flying somewhere, because cremation is quite popular and wow, women can vote and wear comfortable clothing. (But, alas, a woman will be president of the U.S. when pigs begin to fly.)

Here are the lyrics

When the Pigs Begin to Fly.

I’ve got the gift of prophecy, As I will quickly show.
The secret of the future Most infallibly I know;

I’ll give you a few straight tips.

And I will prophesy
Of some strange things to happen. When the pigs begin to fly.

Chorus.
When the pigs begin to fly, oh! won’t the pork be high,
Tho’ they are the most unlikely birds that ever flew in the sky;
I see no reason why they never should have a try-
Much queerer things will come to pass when the pigs begin to fly

Some folks they want cremation, And are very much perplexed Because they say they’d rather burn In this world than the next.

They’re bound to make a ‘ash of it. If they cremation try,
They’ll settle this burning question When the pigs begin to fly.

Chorus.
When the pigs begin to fly, oh! won’t the pork be high,
Tho’ they are the most unlikely birds that ever flew in the sky; I see no reason why they never should have a try-
We’ll all adopt cremation when the pigs begin to fly.

We hear a lot of women’s wrongs And also women’s rights,
They want to wear the breeches, Do the old and ugly frights.

The rights they need are marriage rites, For Home Rule they should try;
We’ll send old maids to Parliament When the pigs begin to fly.

Chorus.
When the pigs begin to fly, oh! won’t the pork be high,
Tho’ they are the most unlikely birds that ever flew in the sky; I see no reason why they never should have a try-
Old spinsters will be ministers when the pigs begin to fly.

The force of folly and of fashion Could no further go,
You must confess that ladies’ dress At present is a show.

With ruffs, puffs, cuffs, and muffs, and stuffs, Dame Nature they defy,
I do believe they’ll dress like Eve
When the pigs begin to fly.

Chorus.
When the pigs begin to fly, oh! won’t the pork be high,

Tho’ they are the most unlikely birds that ever flew in the sky; I see no reason why they should never have a try-
They’ll only wear their natural hair when the pigs begin to fly.

A day will come when ev’ry belle
Will dress with simple taste;
She won’t puff out her figure
And screw in her dainty waist.
High heels, low bodies, dress improvers. Chignons she’ll decry,

Drop powder puff, and all such stuff, When the pigs begin to fly.

Chorus.
When the pigs begin to fly, oh! won’t the pork be high,
Tho’ they are the most unlikely birds that ever flew in the sky; I see no reason why they never should have a try-
Each female saint will never paint when the pigs begin to fly.

Upon further clicking I came across a Broadway musical and this sweet song/animation by Sandra Boynton. Her version, about the love and encouragement a parent can give to a child, is one of hope and achieving dreams.

Take a listen.

https://youtu.be/ffhSkKviw1I

For myself, I find I’m in constant flux. Sometimes I feel like the sarcastic pessimist from the 1840’s song. “Yeah, the world will get better, people will stop judging, stop killing, when pigs begin to fly.”

But some days, I’m a dreamer, I look into the sky and am certain I can see pigs fly…

How about you?

Acknowledgements:  Thanks Sarah Satrun for allowing me to use your flying pig illustration. I love it!