Up@dawn 2.0

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Happiness is Remembering


There are the moments of happiness that are coated in accomplishment and you are happy because you created something for yourself—you’ve manifested a particular reality by setting goals and intentions and you’ve succeeded! For example, the happiness that will be found all over my face next Saturday as I walk across the stage, receiving a piece of paper that recognizes four years of my precious time spent studying and working. My intention to hold my own Bachelor’s degree in my hand is becoming a reality and the happiness of completing this endeavor is satisfying to say the least. Yet this is a fleeting happiness, it will sustain me for a solid month (Christmas & family help with this sustainment) and then I will need to create new goals and intentions in order to satiate my growing mind. I will always be proud of myself for achieving this feat, but the happiness that courses through my body because is temporary and will fade. From my personal experience, the happiness that remains at a finger’s reach, that has the power to permeate all my moments throughout my days is the happiness I find when I remember. When I remember that my brain is composed of more neural connections than stars in the sky, when I remember that there are stars in the sky, shining at us from millions of years away, and that the same organic matter that beautiful mountains, peaceful rivers, and mighty Baobab trees are composed of is the same matter that I am composed of. When I remember that we were all born on this Planet, which happens to be a breathtaking paradise that nourishes us and provides everything we could possibly need to thrive here. When I remember that we have the ability to love unconditionally, or that my friends know how to make me laugh. When I remember that a burning star full of fire is what wakes me up every morning, and that every night there will be a luminous mirror in the sky, moving the waves of the ocean. I remember that this life is full of wonder and negative & positive emotions/events are just part of it. It is what it is. It is an honor to be a part of the human experience.
 Image result for psychedelic woman nature

            Nature is the source of my soul. It seems negligent to put nature under the umbrella of “tool” but I simply mean that nature is where I first saw myself, where I first learned to remember who I am and what it means that I’m a human soul on this Earth. I realize that I am nature as much as I observe nature. If we listen, we can understand nature as well. For example, climate change is a response by Nature that we as humans have chosen to deem political but indeed is a simple message by Nature. Earth is a living, breathing consciousness and exists whether humans exist or not. She will continue to do her thing, it is up to us whether or not we get to frolic on her mountains and shores or not. Nature is comforting presence, you remember you are part of something huge and magnificent. When I get swept up in the worries that is daily life like grades, and deadlines, rent, politics, and social media, nature is always there to run through my lungs and remind me that it’s all good. We all get to wake up to the sun. The sun is going to explode one day but it’s okay, right now it’s providing nourishment to millions of plants and warmth to billions of creatures. It’s okay to have a day of downpour rain and it’s okay to feel cloudy sometimes. All emotions are an experience. Nature reminds me that although my dreams and plans are intense and extensive and it feels like we (humans) run the world, we are small in the grand scheme of things & are only but a minute in the timeline of the universe. These reminders bring me happiness throughout my life. Lsd is beginning to receive a name for itself in the mental health field and for good reason too: lsd can be used as a tool to remind, if you will, what the essence of the human experience is. It breaks down the constructs you’ve been conditioned into over the years. These constructs are not necessarily bad, in fact they help us function in every-day life, which is why you don’t see a lot of people living their ordinary days on lsd. But we do live in a society with constructs on how to act in public, inhibits certain impulses and reactions, time, etc. Personally, when I experienced psychedelic mushrooms, I could see with my own eyes that the trees breathe, that there is an energy coursing through the planet, through the ground, through the pedals of grass, through me, and through you. We are connected to nature in an extremely intimate way and I am reminded of this connection every time I observe nature. This is why my favorite form of exercise is hiking. I find that if I do not spend some time outside every day (yes even in the winter) I am a very grumpy girl. I think that may be a lot of people’s problems, their lack of connecting with our true Home, Earth. Connecting with nature reminds me that waking up to the sun is TRULY an enormous blessing and to be thankful for these “little” things is what will bring us the greatest happiness. Our need as humans to always work towards something can be beneficial and is what has gotten us in rocket ships and doing brain surgeries but the feeling of “not good enough” can also be source of our greatest pain. It’s great that we are growing and wanting to do the best we can do but we must take a second and look around and remember that all is okay. That being is enough. That we are One with Nature, and if the mountains can do no wrong, then neither can we. Can you imagine if every time someone saw the sun, or the moon, a tree, another human, a mountain, a hill, a bee, or anything in Nature and we were brought waves of happiness?? We would be happy all the time. This can be our reality. All we have to do is remember who we are, what we are, and what an amazing magical realm we’ve been born into. Remembering is where I find happiness.

5 comments:

  1. http://philoshap.blogspot.com/2017/12/final-report-1st-installment.html

    http://philoshap.blogspot.com/2017/12/music-happiness-latham-crihfield.html

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  2. ^^^ These are where I commented on other's posts :)

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  3. Wonderful statement, Madelin.

    "Can you imagine if every time someone saw the sun, or the moon, a tree, another human, a mountain, a hill, a bee, or anything in Nature and we were brought waves of happiness?? We would be happy all the time." That actually might be counterproductive, if "happy all the time" made us complacent about addressing the still-legion causes of unhappiness in our world. But I totally endorse the drift of this sentiment: we forget nature and "our place in space," and consequently lose perspective. Just opening our eyes to the wonders of our world and our improbable presence in it SHOULD alleviate much of the "normal" stresses of everyday life.

    Good luck, and congratulations!

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  4. I loved reading this! Thank you for sharing.

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  5. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this installment. We are a part of an amazing universe. If only more individuals could find such contentment in this as you clearly have.

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